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A King is Chosen

Saul and David were specifically chosen by God to be king – Saul because there was no king prior to him and David because Saul messed up. Let’s take a look at what happens when God chooses someone for a specific task and consider our response when God calls us to a specific task.

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Anointing – a religious ceremony that indicates someone or something is now to be employed for a sacred purpose.

2 characteristics of God’s anointing:

1. God chooses

  • 1 Samuel 9:15–16 – 15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel.”
  • 1 Samuel 10:1 – 1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel?”
  • 1 Samuel 16:1 – 1 …I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
  • 1 Samuel 16:3 – 3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.”

2. God chooses regardless of position, power or influence

  • 1 Samuel 9:2 – 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
  • 1 Samuel 9:20–21 – 20 As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?” 21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”
  • 1 Samuel 16:6–7 – 6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
  • 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 – 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

2 results of God’s anointing:

1. Filled with the Holy Spirit

  • 1 Samuel 10:6 – 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
  • 1 Samuel 16:13 – 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.
  • Joel 2:28–29 – 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

2. A changed life

  • 1 Samuel 10:6 – 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
  • 1 Samuel 10:9 – 9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart.
  • Ezekiel 36:26–27 –  26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The anointing points to Jesus

  • Luke 4:18 – 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

Big Idea: What has God called you to do?

  • 2 Corinthians 1:21–22 – 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
  • Ephesians 2:10 – 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.