Surviving and Thriving in Times of Change

Pastor Don isn’t sitting around twiddling his thumbs, waiting for Rick to come back. The anointing of the combined leadership of this church and the purpose of the Holy Spirit is very clear at PCC, that Pastor Jeff has been set among us for another generation of leadership if Jesus tarries. So this is a place not just with a past, but also a future.

But let’s not get ahead of the story because I’m not going anywhere. By God’s grace and provision, Anita and I hope to live out the remaining ministry of our lives among the people of God that He’s placed us with for these 26 years in Redwood City. However, roles and specific assignments are changing, and the burden of the world and the burden of a multitude of churches and pastors is more and more upon me.

You have been more generous than probably any church in the world. Lauren, could you help us with this microphone business? If it’s a problem with these things, and if I need to hold a mic, I’ll do that. You have been more generous than could ever be expected, unselfish and continuously releasing me to whatever it is the Lord would send me to do.

But the fact is that right at Peninsula Christian Center in this church, there is this growing and significant outreach in the greatest and most needy mission field in the continental United States, and that’s according to the statistics of census and others. San Mateo County stands in that place, and I believe God will continue to raise us up a standard of His purpose in this county, in the San Francisco Peninsula, in Northern California.

I believe this church has such an incredible role, and we are seeing from a practical sense, an outpouring of God’s Spirit in such an incredible and specific way. The last two months, I wish we could just stop and talk about even last Sunday, what happened in the prayer room of this church, so significant, what God is doing.

And that brings us, I think, to a very important understanding. Everywhere we turn, we see the signs of transition and change. Hasn’t this been an incredible week? Premier Na and Premier AAT in Washington at the same time, scandals rocking our White House, and the Iraq intervention seeming to come close last night. At least in the news, there was a comment that probably within two weeks, if nothing changes, there will be another military intervention against Iraq.

Let me talk about transition for a moment. That’s an interesting word. We all use it. It means a passing or a passage from one condition or place to another. Transition is the operative word for change, true change positively. Of course, the word transition leads us from an earlier stage to a later stage of development or formation.

We know these transitions personally: adolescence, college, career, marriage, midlife, retirement, death. In fact, one of my friends says these are the battle of the bees: baldness, bifocals, bridges, bulges, Ben Gay, and bunions. Another friend of mine says, really what happens is furniture disease. That’s when the chest falls into the drawers.

Transitions and changes, we know them corporately as well in family, and some of us have gone through incredible transitions in that area. Government, economy, church, society. These are all transitions that you cannot stop. This week, the Holy Spirit has been dealing with me in such a tremendous way. Out of two chapters, 1 Samuel 9-10, and I just pray that I’ll be able to at least begin some things the Lord has been saying to me.

In 1 Samuel 9-10, I see a clear pattern in a very familiar Bible story for us, a clear pattern for a personal life, one man’s, but as related to a woman’s life and a pattern for the corporate as well, in this case, a nation. 1 Samuel 9-10 is certainly a pattern for a church.

I was kept awake several nights as the Lord just began speaking to me. I felt led to read it and as he has been dealing with me, I covet for you that your ear is open, a kind of clarity in hearing the truth. This is because I want to speak to you on this subject, principles of personal victory in periods of transition.

I hope you’ll not only open your Bibles right now, but also have a pencil or a pen in your Bibles open. If you don’t mind writing in the scripture, because we’re going to read the scripture not once and then go over it, but we’re going to read the scripture specifically as I give you these points.

So again, 1 Samuel 9-10 is the location. You can’t write everything down, but I believe the Holy Spirit will bring revelation to you. As always, we need to be true to the context of the scripture. This is God’s holy word, and its order and arrangement are as vital as anything that you take out from the scripture.

The Book of Samuel was probably written by Samuel himself, at least up to chapter 20 of the first Samuel. The rest of it, the authorship is probably the prophets Nathan and Gad, whom Samuel raised up in leadership and who succeeded him in the prophetic rule. But in chapters 9 and 10, that we’re looking at this morning, the context is perhaps the clearest example of a transition.

Transition is relevant in both personal and corporate life because, as you remember, in chapter 8, Israel demanded a king like other nations had. They wanted a leader who could be over the people and whom they could look up to. Now, I hear many people say that God never intended them to have a king because he was the king. That’s not true. In fact, in the early books of Deuteronomy under Moses, God gave an order as to how kings under Israel would survive. So God was, in fact, the kingship needed to be walked out, just like the prophetic role and the priestly role. In reference to the coming of Christ, there needed to be that example, but it was a king after God’s heart.

The people insisted on a king, and Samuel, who was the last judge and the first in the prophetic order, had to deal with the wishes of God’s people and with the ultimate purposes of God. Ultimately, of course, it was to establish the kingdom as envisioned by the people first, but eventually as prepared for by God, and God already had that in motion. Of course, with David setting under the feet of Samuel in the kind of prophetic atmosphere, this transaction that is taking place that we’ve looked at on this chart, this transaction from the last judge to the first king.

Let me say something about this. Most of us will never be able to be like Samuel when we are replaced or when there is a transition in which we must take a different role. That is an occasion for most of us to be filled with resentment, bitterness, anger, and frustration, asking why someone else is taking our role and place. Most of us hold on in a way, we don’t have this ability.

Samuel, who was the last judge in the area, walked out God’s purpose, even though he had concerns. He became a bridge, a transit for the purposes of God, which is very marvelous. The man involved here is Saul, and before I delve into what God has put on my heart, I need to clarify some things because we must be true to the context of the scripture.

Saul was anointed as king because he fit the people’s desire, but God had something to happen. Although he was a king after the heart of the people, he also successfully defeated the enemies of God’s people and laid a foundation for Israel as a nation. Up to that point, they had just been a series of divergent tribes. He set a better moral example than any other king in Israel. He had one family, was committed to one woman domestically, and had a superior family experience. Any father who could raise a son like Jonathan couldn’t be all that bad.

Scholars for years, especially evangelical scholars, have put such a negative perspective on Saul. He’s considered willful, flawed, naive, degenerate, reluctant, and so forth. All these characteristics are commonly associated with him. However, if you want to know about Saul, you should study the Israeli writers and commentaries of the Israeli writers. They see Saul as the foundation of the nation, and he is among the Israelis what George Washington is to Americans.

Almost all scholars portray Saul negatively, but new scholarship is changing that. We’re beginning to balance things out. Here’s a new quote from Youngblood, who has written the newest commentary on 1 Samuel that I know of. He says up front, “I am one of the minority of writers who must say to you, ‘Yes, he’s disobedient in many instances and presumptuous and so forth, but you need to also understand that he was kind and thoughtful and generous and courageous and very much in control and often very willing to be led of God.'”

It’s true that most of us hold leaders up to an unrealistic expectation, and then when they fail us, we come down hard on anybody who fails us in leadership when we know ourselves that we’re not together.

I thought someone said a very significant thing yesterday, and this is not a defense of our president, and I believe what Bonnie brought, that there’s a balance here between judgment and purposes of God and so forth, but isn’t it how many of our lives could stand the scrutiny of every aspect of our life being looked into by private investigators? How many of you would like to have that had? Many of you would like every detail of your life on the front pages of the newspaper? Well, let me tell you, this is one man who wouldn’t, and whether or not you respond to that, I am glad that’s not at least at this point, the case of my life.

Well, this is enough about background, but I think it’s very important that we see this balance. It’s imperative, but I don’t want to be sidetracked. Let’s go now to the end of this story. If you have your Bibles open, I hope you do. 1 Samuel 9 and 10. We’re looking now at 1 Samuel 10:1-9.

That’s the real end of this story. Chapters 9 and 10 of 1 Samuel end with a relatively insignificant young man coming into being anointed and empowered and being in the center of the will and purpose of God. That’s the way these two chapters end. I’m not asking you, I’ve given you context. Saul fails. He doesn’t live out all of God’s purposes. But I want you to understand that the way the series of events in 1 Samuel 9 and 10 are ordered, they end this way.

They end with this relatively insignificant young man from a relatively insignificant family and a very insignificant tribe. They end up with him anointed and in the center of the will and purpose of God. 1 Samuel 10:9 says, “When he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart and all the signs came to pass that day.”

Is there anyone here this morning that wouldn’t like that to happen in their life? Is there anybody in this church who wouldn’t like to walk out something of God and let God turn you? Give you a new heart. Now, let me quote for you as well, 1 Samuel 10, “Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and you will be turned into another man.”

Anyone here would like that to happen? Anybody here would like to be anointed by God for another purpose in such a way that your anointing and spiritual experience would become a proverb among the people of God for generations? Anybody here like to have that kind of record for the next generation? I’ll tell you something, if you jump ahead in this whole story and not see, you’re missing something very significant. To be turned into a new man, to be given a new heart, to be so filled with the Spirit, to have such an experience with God that there would be a prophet, a proverb among the people of God for generations about the time of your anointing, what a fantastic thing.

Well, let me quickly move on. This story ends with what I believe is true in any personal or corporate transition that can be fulfilled. In other words, there are three things that I believe are God’s desires in any personal or corporate transition. And we’ve looked at personal transitions: adolescent, midlife, college, marriage, career, midlife, retirement.

These three desires of God in any personal or corporate transition, society, family, church, government, economy. And when I give you these three, I’m gonna challenge you with me this morning to covenant with God that these three things, these three Godly desires are possible for any transition you’re going through right now. And I’d like to look at them with you quickly because these three things happen to Saul.

In other words, at the end of this process, now we’re gonna look at how he gets to this process. But at the end of this process, what’s the goal? What happens to this young man that I believe are Godly desires for every one of you here this morning during the corporate transition of this church, and during the personal transitions that you are in?

First, an unquestionable anointing is a specific spiritual experience, an enablement, and an empowerment of God that others look at and see evidence of for generations. Hear me this morning.

You can’t be kept from these transitions. With life, people fail us, marriages fail, children fail parents, parents fail children, and churches, governments, society, and families are rocked by transitions. And I want you to understand this. But for every godly person like Saul in this instance who ends up in the transition with this kind of anointing, there’s a pile of other Christians who end up in a transition angry and resentful because their opinion hasn’t been heard or done. Unquestionable anointing. How many of you this morning would say, “In whatever transition I’m in, I want to go through that, so at the end of that transition, there will be an unquestionable anointing upon my life?” Would you say yes with me to that?

Yes. Second, Saul ends up with a clearly defined purpose with meaningful direction in his life. In fact, it’s a refreshing vision. It’s a redirection, it’s a thing he never could have dreamed of in all of his life. I believe that when we allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish the transition in our life, I don’t care whether we set the transition up or not, I don’t know what the events of these, uh, what the end of these events happening in our nation will be.

I lived through Watergate. How many of you were here through Watergate, in the threatened impeachment and ultimate resignation of a president? Do you want to go through that again?

This nation was rocked by events that staggered all of us, and it was years until we had our self-image back again, until we believed as a nation that we could do it. It put a blanket over our hopes and aspirations. But you see, transitions aren’t always ordered by us, but we must go through them.

The point is, Saul didn’t set this up, but at the end of this transition, he not only ends up with a phenomenal anointing of God on his life, but he also ends up with clear, meaningful, purposeful direction, direction he didn’t have when the transition started. How many of you will say with me this morning, “By God, in whatever transition I’m going through, I’d like to end up this transition with a clear redirection of my life?”

Can I see your hands? Yeah. That’s terrific.

Thirdly, there was vital, even radical, personal change, individual newness, refreshment, and vigor. In fact, the Bible says he was given a new heart and he was turned into another.

Maybe some of you are very pleased with the person you are. Someone commented about my hair this morning and I said to them, “Yes, so many colors and so few hairs.”

How many of you would be willing to say this? “There is a vital need for radical change in aspects of my life. I would like to believe that as I go through this transition or whatever the transition is, that when I get to the other side of this transition, I will be radically changed.” Is this something you’d like to see happen in your life?

That doesn’t mean we’re necessarily dissatisfied people. There’s a difference between being dissatisfied and unsatisfied. Dissatisfaction is a kind of negative feeling, never getting what you want, but unsatisfied means no matter where you are, you see the challenge for more. Back in Trinity Church, they all wear a little button that says “Hungry for God” on it. The entire church has been wearing these buttons now for about three months. “Hungry for God.” So the point isn’t being dissatisfied, but the point is being unsatisfied. I think it was FB Myers who said, “Every Christian must learn to be satisfied with an unsatisfied satisfaction.”

Right? “I’m satisfied, but I’m hungry for more. I see something else God wants to do in releasing me into his.” So again, let’s look at these incredible three things together: Unquestioned anointing, a specific spiritual experience, clearly defined purpose, a whole new sense of redefinition, and a vital, radical personal change.

And why? I’ve asked you at each point, but I ask you with these three altogether. I’m not going to ask you to raise your hand this time, but I’m going to say to you, “Would you allow the Holy Spirit to give you a godly aspiration this morning?” I am reaching the age of 60 on March 12th. I have never been as excited in my life as I am today about my future and what God wants to do in my life. I don’t see an end, I see new beginnings. But I understand that in those new beginnings, there have to be some of these aspirations: clarity, direction, new anointing, and vital change in areas of my life and personality. I trust that’s you.

Now, we’re going to start reading. We’re not going to get through with this this morning, but this is perhaps one of the most important words I believe that God has ever brought through me to you, both to see a vision and to see a means. We’re going to start reading in chapter nine, verse one, and the first issue of this passage is, obviously, in other words, we’ve seen what the end is. The end is Saul radically changed, empowered by the Holy Spirit, anointed, and redirected. But how does it begin? It begins with an act of personal fulfillment of a specific task. Let’s read the verses. You have your own Bible there. If you need to use the transparency:

“There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, Mrs. Saul’s father, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah—a Benjaminite, smallest tribe of Israel, the Benjamites. A Benjamite, a mighty man of power.”

Let me just stop there. That phrase “mighty man of power” is used of Boaz. It is a very important phrase. It’s also used of King Jerome. It’s generally a military word, meaning brave, courageous, and outstanding. So though his house may have been small, this Kish was an outstanding man. This father had a choice and handsome son. You can circle those words, very important words. In fact, the word “handsome” here is the word that’s used for Moses, a word I spent a lot of time teaching when I taught from Exodus. These parents saw something goodly in this child. The mark of God, the stamp of the city of God, was on his face. So it is with these words: “choice and handsome son whose name was Saul.” By the way, the word Saul means “asked of God.” He was the most handsome person among the children of Israel, and from his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people.

Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost, and Kish said to his son, Saul, “Please take one of the servants with you. Arise and go look for the donkeys.” All scholars, two things are obvious in this context. One, it was a season in which these donkeys were particularly bubbly harvest this time. In other words, it was at the time when these particular vehicles were necessary and were lost. It was not unusual because they didn’t have fences and hedges as cultures did. The Israelites, both in their farming and in their raising of cattle, allowed them to graze evenly, and the cattle were separated at later times, but they grazed together.

So it was not unusual that these donkeys, having been overlooked during a period of time when they were not necessary, now becoming very critical, had wandered away or been lost. But here’s my point: how do you start this thing of transition? You want to end up with this anointing that changes your life, this direction that God has. I said to you several Sundays ago, when speaking on the business of guidance, that God frames the supernatural in the natural, in the ordinary. And the thing most of us are wanting—the anointing, the call of God, the will and purpose of God—oh God, please reveal this to me, it’ll generally come framed in something that has to do with very ordinary things in your life.

In the story of the nativity and the coming of the Messiah, you remember Zacharias was in the temple according to the order of the priest, doing the will of God when the Holy Spirit spoke to him about this supernatural birth of John the son. Mary was doing her household chores, Joseph was worrying about how, as a righteous man, he could consider Mary, who was with child, and how he could deal with this situation both in righteousness and in compassion. People doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

The word hupotasso is very interesting to me. The word hupotasso in Greek is the word submit. And it comes from a combination of two words. Tasso is a verb for stand or take a stand. The word hupo is just a preposition that means under. So the word submit means to take a stand under. Now some of you hate the word submission almost with a passion because you think in terms of arbitrary submission, women being subjected to some arbitrary husband authority which demands that they either be demeaned or even abused. The Bible never teaches that kind of submission. There’s always a mutuality. But hear me, there’s a place where you stand under a role that God has placed you in, and it is the first issue of getting from here to there. You do what you’re supposed to be doing. You do the thing God has placed you in—whether it’s a relationship or a position of submission. Maybe it’s elders. The Bible says, submit to the elders. It says, submit to the authorities that are over you. James says, submit unto God. And the fact is, in the providence and will of God, the lost donkeys are the first step to the will and purpose of God.

Now, let’s talk about strangeness. But I’ll tell you, some of these mature Christians who are sitting around here and have been walking out God’s purpose, I guarantee that if you ask them how they got started on courses of God’s purpose in their life, they’ll tell you some strange things about how they happened to be in a certain place or someone happened to have seen something and brought them along.

Don and Deanna Duffy have an amazing story. They were in the little town of Dublin where Anita and I were pastoring our first church. And now, here’s a great story of lost asses, right?

It really is. This little church in Dublin had its speakers and sound system stolen. It was a brand new church and we had just been there for a few months when the speakers were stolen. We had to make a report for our insurance, and in those days, Dublin didn’t have its own police agency, so the sheriff sent out a deputy to deal with our stolen speakers.

Well, it happened to be a missionary convention, and our church was filled with mission flags. That’s a Rick Howard specialty. If you go to a mission convention as long as I’ve been around. So the church was filled with mission flags.

This deputy sheriff came into that little church and he said something when he saw those flags. He said, “This is a church that has a real [purpose].”

Being Episcopalian, he had been in a recent renewal of Episcopalians and had been spirit-filled and was hungering for something. He went back and happened to say to Don and Deanna Duffy, who happened to be friends of his, about that little church. They, along with about eight other Episcopalians, were in church the next Sunday morning.

Oh, of course. It’s just happenstance, isn’t it? Speakers were stolen. You know, I’d like to find that guy somewhere and say, “Thank God you stole my speakers.” No, I didn’t feel that way when I walked in that morning and found the whole sound system of the church gone, and we had great speakers. I know why they were stolen because there were speakers in that little church that were made to look like pipe organs, just small speakers, but they’re, and I’m sure they’re in somebody’s lowrider somewhere, you know, they disappeared somewhere in Northern California in somebody’s lowrider. But it’s just happenstance, isn’t it?

A stealing, that deputy sheriff happened to be that deputy sheriff out of many who could have been sent, who was in that relationship spiritually, who was being dealt with by God, who came at that specific time to that place, and because of that, made contact with here’s a couple sitting in this church. Many years later, of course, other transitions that have gone by now, the treasurer of this church committed to the growth and development of this church.

This happens. See, these donkeys just took off wandering, you know?

I’ve gotta watch myself. You know, my satirical nature gets carried away, and I have a lot of things I like to say, but I’m not gonna say them. These donkeys, this providential thing. But now listen, what happens when a father says to a young man who’s taller, he’s head and shoulders taller than any other young man in all of Israel?

So, you know, Kish is probably, I mean, if you get this story correct, you can see that this son is probably a foot and a half taller than his dad. And the old man says, “Saul, the donkeys are gone, and I want you to go.”

I want to say to you this morning, out of my heart, if it takes me 20 years to preach this series, I want you to understand, I have never come into a major dealing of God in my life that didn’t start out with something I argued with God about, something that didn’t make sense. Anita and I came to Redwood City kicking and screaming, she particularly kicking and screaming. We were enmeshed in this little church in Dublin, loved it. It was all young couples that had none of the old line thinking; it was a new church, fresh and breathing. Every Sunday night, we’d leave and go to somebody’s house. It was just family. And to come to this older, established denominational center with all of its problems that were then being, “How could that be the will of God?”

How could it be the will of God that I leave something significant in my life and go looking for donkeys? I’m gonna tell you something.

The will of God almost always starts with that kind of a purpose. God leads you in something that has to do with submission, and generally, it’s someone who says to you, “Will you teach the Sunday school class? Would you consider doing this? Go here, would you do this?” And you begin with something that’s a simple act of saying, “Yes, sir, I’ll do that.” In that act of submission, in that ordinary aspect of your life, a son to his father, a wife to a husband, a member to an authority figure, without arguing and rationalizing, God starts to lead you.

It doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t understand why you’re asking, but yes, I will do it. And in that act of submission, in that ordinary aspect of your life – a son to his father, a wife to a husband, a member to an authority – in a simple act of submission without arguing and rationalizing, God begins a process of transition that’s going to end with anointing, redirection, and vital change in your life.

Secondly, I want you to see this. I’m going to read these words, and this is my last point this morning. Chapter 9:4-5. “So Saul passed through the mountains of Ephraim and the land of Shalisha. They didn’t find them. They passed through the land of Shaalim, they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Mites. They did not find them. When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to a servant who was with him, ‘Come, let’s get back to my father, lest he ceased caring about the donkeys and become worried for us.’”

Do you remember a little story in the Bible? If you don’t, let me tell it to you. A little story in the Bible in which a king is dying. Hezekiah, a righteous king, the most godly king that had been in Israel at that point, calls for the prophet because he wants some additional years, and not just because he’s afraid of death. He wants additional years to finish what God was doing through him. Here’s what the prophet said to him. “Here’s a bow, and here are some arrows. Take these arrows and begin shooting them into the ground.”

And then the king thought, “What a stupid thing.” So he just didn’t. It was kind of partial obedience. He took three, bing, bing, bing, and threw it back at the hands of the prophet. And the prophet’s face became red, and he said to the king, “Because you only struck the ground three times, then this is the limitation that will be imposed on your life.”

The prophet should have said, “Struck it many times, banging, ping, bing, bing, until the prophet said no more.” Isn’t that like us? If we are obedient, it’s just what we have to do. Bless God. “I’m going to do what they told me I have to do.” Do you see in these verses? Now, I have a little time left to complete this morning with you. I have time to talk about all these regions.

And by the way, it wouldn’t help anyway because even scholars don’t know where these regions are. The names don’t exist, although Israeli scholarship has a pretty good idea, at least they have. But the point is they go to one place, no donkeys, they go to another place, no donkeys, they go to another place, no donkeys. They go through another whole region, no donkeys. Finally, it’s days later and Saul says to his companion, “you know, I think we should get home because I’m sure by now my father has stopped worrying about donkeys and he started worrying about his son.” But do you see the point of persistence in obedience?

We are in a transition in the church. I think God has a marvelous pattern and plan for this church, but it’s so easy to announce one thing and then you know, you don’t get too enthusiastic response and then you back up and you start going somewhere, and somebody says, “oh, I don’t like that. And why don’t we do it this way?” And that’s true in your life. You begin to be obedient to something God said, and everything goes wrong, and you don’t find it doesn’t happen in the first five minutes. It doesn’t happen in the first day. It doesn’t happen in the first month. It doesn’t happen in the first year. Like people begin tithing. It’s happened a thousand times in this church, and I could probably count. People say, “okay, you’ve got to insist I’m gonna begin tithing,” and they tithe for a month, and then they say, at the end of the month, “well, I tithed a month, and I’m in worse shape than I was when I started.” It is no matter of saying, “I didn’t, it didn’t happen.” You know? “Okay, God, you’ve got five minutes. Come through.” Boy, it’s persistence and obedience. Saul had something that I envy as a young man. He had this: “Dad’s given me an assignment. I’m not gonna just go and look in one place. If it’s not there, I’m going to another place and another place and another place, and I’m gonna stay with this until I find these donkeys.”

Now I’m gonna just, for those of you who may not be here for the continuity of this series, let me just tell you, they find the donkeys. In fact, ultimately the prophet of God says, “Hey, the donkeys are… And when you go, you’re gonna find these donkeys.” But by then he had met the prophet. The prophet gives him his own portion, holy portion of the sacrifice.

He listens and speaks with the prophet, he’s anointed, and told a whole new dimension of ministries, and given a whole new sense of direction for his life. By the time you get to the donkeys, they’re no longer relevant. Do you understand that by the time the donkeys show up, the issue is who cares about the donkeys?

My whole life has been changed, my whole direction has been changed. Everything about who I am and what I was, the whole anointing of my life has changed as I’ve faithfully submitted to do what God wanted. God has set me on a course that’s changed my life. Now, just to show you, I had 11 points to get through this morning, and we’ve covered at least two of them, and I believe that’s the Holy Spirit’s desire, that you understand something. And I will leave you with this as we end.

I can’t covet for you more than you covet for yourself. If you’re self-satisfied and don’t want vital personal change, you’re not interested in walking every day within a renewed sense of the will of God or a spiritual anointing that would be recognizable and unquestioned by anyone because they would sense that anointing, then I couldn’t talk you into being interested. But I think the majority of us say that we covet that kind of anointing, direction, and confident placing of God in our lives.

However, when we start walking out how God gets us during a transition into that kind of anointing, that’s where we begin to hesitate and question whether we want to follow through. There is a submission and a purpose in which we must walk out. Let’s bow our heads with ease.

How many of you this morning feel very specifically that you are in a vital and urgent transition in your life, perhaps potentially tragic, but very obvious and underlined? If that’s the place where you are right now, personally, may I see your hand?

It is the nature of our life, isn’t it? How many of you say, “I believe, Pastor, that God has given me a picture of what He wants this transition to end up in anointing, redirection, and change in my life”? God has spoken that to you. May I see your hands?

He listens and speaks with the prophet. He’s anointed and told a whole new dimension of ministries and given a whole new sense of direction for his life. By the time you get to the donkeys, they’re no longer relevant. Do you understand that by the time the donkeys show up, the issue is who cares about the donkeys?

My whole life has been changed, my whole direction has been changed. Everything about who I am and what I was, the whole anointing of my life has changed as I’ve faithfully submitted to do what God wanted. God has set me on a course that’s changed my life. Now, just to show you, I had 11 points to get through this morning, and we’ve covered at least two of them, and I believe that’s the Holy Spirit’s desire, that you understand something, and I will leave you with this as we end.

I can’t covet for you more than you covet for yourself. If you’re self-satisfied and don’t want vital personal change, you’re not interested in walking every day within a renewed sense of the will of God, or a spiritual anointing that would be recognizable and unquestioned by anyone because they would sense that anointing, then I couldn’t talk you into being interested. But I think the majority of us say that we covet that kind of anointing, direction, and confident placing of God in our lives.

However, when we start walking out how it is that God gets us during a transition into that kind of anointing thing, that’s where we begin saying, “Well, I’m not sure I want to do that.” I’m not sure I want to follow donkeys through all of Israel. I don’t want to be made a laughing stock – “there’s that tall, handsome, young man going after those donkeys. What a waste.”

There is a submission and a purpose in which we start to walk out the purposes of God. Would you bow your heads with ease?

How many of you this morning, rather than what I’ve said about corporate, feel very specifically that you are in a vital, potentially tragic, perhaps transitional period in your life, but it’s a very urgent transition that’s going on in your life? If that’s the place where you are right now, personally, may I see your hand? That’s a place where you are, this transition is very underlined, very obvious, very okay.

He listens and speaks with the prophet. He’s anointed and told a whole new dimension of ministries and given a whole new sense of direction for his life. By the time you get to the donkeys, they’re no longer relevant. Do you understand that by the time the donkeys show up, the issue is who cares about the donkeys?

My whole life has been changed, my whole direction has been changed. Everything about who I am and what I was, the whole anointing of my life has changed as I’ve faithfully submitted to do what God wanted. God has set me on a course that’s changed my life. Now, just to show you, I had 11 points to get through this morning, and we’ve covered at least two of them, and I believe that’s the Holy Spirit’s desire, that you understand something, and I will leave you with this as we end.

I can’t covet for you more than you covet for yourself. If you’re self-satisfied and don’t want vital personal change, you’re not interested in walking every day within a renewed sense of the will of God, or a spiritual anointing that would be recognizable and unquestioned by anyone because they would sense that anointing, then I couldn’t talk you into being interested. But I think the majority of us say that we covet that kind of anointing, direction, and confident placing of God in our lives.

However, when we start walking out how it is that God gets us during a transition into that kind of anointing thing, that’s where we begin saying, “Well, I’m not sure I want to do that.” I’m not sure I want to follow donkeys through all of Israel. I don’t want to be made a laughing stock – “there’s that tall, handsome, young man going after those donkeys. What a waste.”

There is a submission and a purpose in which we start to walk out the purposes of God. Would you bow your heads with ease?

How many of you this morning, rather than what I’ve said about corporate, feel very specifically that you are in a vital, potentially tragic, perhaps transitional period in your life, but it’s a very urgent transition that’s going on in your life? If that’s the place where you are right now, personally, may I see your hand? That’s a place where you are, this transition is very underlined, very obvious, very okay.

It is the nature of our life, isn’t it? How many of you say, “I believe, Pastor, that God has given me a picture of what he wants this transition to end up in anointing, redirection, and change in my life”? God has spoken that to you. May I see your hands? You say, “Rick, God has spoken that to me. I really see what he wants to do.”

“What he wants to do.” Okay, good. Wonderful, wonderful. Now, the question is, will you take the step, probably from some authority you don’t particularly like, do the first thing, get started in the process, and then be persistent in obedience? Stand with me. It’s wonderful to have had you today in church, and I know God’s Holy Spirit is speaking a word.

Let me say this to you. If you’re visiting the church and this isn’t a regular place for you at this point, we welcome you and hope you will make it your church. There’s a prayer room over here, and there will be some elders in that prayer room. Whatever spiritual need you have, if you just need someone to agree with you this morning because you have started, you’ve been given a new vision of the Holy Spirit, and you realize that you’re going to have to have new courage to walk out something, agree with one of these elders in prayer. They’ll be there in that room to pray with you. Don’t take lightly these moments of God’s purpose.

My whole life was changed when I was denied an appointment to Washington that I had been given by a United States Senator. It was put in the papers, and I was the hero of my high school because I was going to be a page boy to the United States Senate. And suddenly, a very embarrassed US Senator had to come through his agent back to me to say, “This isn’t my year for appointment. I made a mistake on the calendar. I don’t have an appointment this year.”

In that most disillusioning moment, my dad said to me, “Maybe you should spend a year at this Christian…” and the whole redirection of my life started. Please know, God delights to begin the transition in those moments of disillusion and disappointment. Let me pray with you, and you are dismissed.

There’s coffee and refreshments outside, probably in the Bok Hall today. Please don’t just walk out. You don’t get to know people that way. Take an opportunity to let people fellowship with you, get a cup of coffee, and spend a few moments in that. But Lord, I’m praying this morning for some friends in this service that you, like Saul, have a purpose for them.

They don’t have any idea about. If you showed them what you wanted to do, it would scare them to death. And so you just begin with a simple act of obedience and with a course of direction that will ultimately bring them to prophetic order and redirect vital change. And Lord, I pray that will be true for this church, for this society, for this nation.

In this troubling moment, we submit ourselves to your purposes. Would you just say those words with me? ‘Lord, I submit myself to your purpose.’ Would you say it again? ‘Lord, I submit myself to your purpose.’ Thank you, Father, that you hear us. Bless and anoint in Jesus’ name. Amen. And help John Elway today as well, right?