1. How many times does the average adult heart beat per minute?

20

50

70

120

Correct answer: 70

An average adult heart beats about 70 times a minute.

2. Your heart has more current running through it than a light bulb does (True or False).

Correct answer: b (False)

Current in the heart measures less than 1-millionth of an ampere. In contrast, the current running through a 100-watt light bulb is about 1 ampere.

3. Heart disease only occurs in rich countries.

Fact: The truth is that 80% of deaths caused by heart disease in the world occur in low and middle-income countries.

4. Only men are seriously affected by heart disease. Correct answer: b. (False)

Most women believe their biggest health threat is breast cancer but heart disease kills 6 times as many women as breast cancer. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States as of 2007

Transition: We have a spiritual heart as well, and we need to be careful of heart disease for our spiritual heart.

I. Saul

A. Saul Starts Off Well - Human Resource Department’s dream; Look at his resumé!

1) 1 Sam 9:1 He was from a rich family. Had wealth, power, prestige, social position.

“Son of Kish, son of Abiel… a Benjaminite, a man of wealth.”

2) 1 Sam 9:2 He was good looking.

“There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he”

3) 1 Sam 9:2 He was tall

      “he stood head and shoulders above everyone else” 

4) 1 Sam 10:22 He was humble

      Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the Lord… And the Lord said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 

B. The Ammonites - 1st time out Saul does okay.

1) When presented with a problem, yielded to the Spirit and led Israel to victory.

1 Sam 11:6 – “And the spirit of God came upon Saul in power when he heard these words”

2) Saul refuses to give in to the demands of the people to put to death those who doubted his leadership ability.

1 Sam 11:13 - “…today the Lord has brought deliverance to Israel.”

C. The Beginning of Troubles (The beginning of Heart Disease)

1) Samuel gives Saul Specific Instructions (Go to Gilgal and wait...).

2) Saul didn’t wait upon the Lord (or Samuel)

“He waited seven days,… but Samuel did not come to Gilgal” 1 Sa 13:8.

3) Saul acted on his own – Fear of circumstances, inability to trust God in the situation; used God more like a good luck charm.

“Bring the burnt offering here to me…” (v9)

4) What Have You Done? Samuel's rebuke

a) The battle is the Lord’s: Even with 600 men, Saul could have won the battle. Example of Gideon (Judges 7)

b) “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. 1 Sam 13:13. Samuel expected obedience from Saul.

c) The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, 14 but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; 1 Sam 13:13-14. Here he is still allowed to finish his reign as king.

D. The Amalekites

1) Samuel gives Saul specific instructions from God.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish the Amalekites…’ 1 Sam 15:2.

2) Saul’s Response Reveals his Heart

“Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?” 1 Sa 15:19.

E. Saul’s Heart – God Shows Saul his heart condition.

"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? 1 Sam 15:22-24

1. What does God Expect?

1) Obedience – “Hearing” the voice of the Lord is better than sacrifices or other activities

Are you a good citizen because you vote? Or, do you vote because you are a good citizen?

2) Rebellion - Rebellion and Stubbornness are marks of self-righteousness

3) Stubbornness

4) The Lord rejects Saul because of his heart condition; Saul’s heart condition caused him to reject the word of the Lord. Rejection begets Rejection

Summary - Saul did not hear, he did not obey fully what God Commanded; In his self-righteousness believed that he had faithfully obeyed God.

II. David 1 Samuel 25

A. Review of Story (1 Sam. 25)

1. Nabal Rebuffs David (v4-13)

“Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?”

2) Abigail prepares to meet David (v14-19)

“Then Abigail hurried…”

Servant’s report to Abigail v14-17

Prepared supplies to take to David and his men v18-22

3) David and Abigail Meet (v20-35)

“She fell at his feet…”

Abigail takes the blame for her husband’s actions,

Proceeds to help David see his situation from God’s perspective

4) Abigail Returns Home (v36-38)

“Abigail came to Nabal…”

She returns home, but doesn’t tell him anything until the next day because he was drunk

Tell him the next day that he barely dodged the bullet from David for his cruelty.

5) Death of Nabal (v39)

“The Lord struck Nabal, and he died.”

The shock of the near miss stuns him, then he suffers a stroke

He dies ten days later.

6) David Marries Abigail (v39-43)

“David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”

She is in danger of losing her estate because her husband is dead;

David gains the estate and prestige when he marries Abigail

B. Review of David's Past

1. When God told Samuel to anoint the next king, he was told not to look on the exterior, for God looks at the heart, and said that David was someone after his own heart.

2. When pursued by Saul in the wilderness (1 Sam. 23), he constantly inquired of the Lord as to what his next move should be.

C. A Man after God’s Heart – God uses Abigail to keep David from Sinning

1. God’s Heart: Abigail recognizes God’s hand on David’s life

(v26) And now, my lord, as surely as the LORD your God lives and as you live, since the LORD has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.

-Through Abigail, God kept David from bloodguilt, killing an innocent person

-Through Abigail, God kept David from Revenge, which is God's prerogative. David could have messed everything up.

2. Abigail points to the relationship between God and David

(v28) "Please forgive your servant's presumption. The LORD your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the LORD's battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live.

-As long as he fights the Lord's battles, he is in the will of the Lord.

-He is under God’s rule, therefore he can not take matters like this into his own hands

This is why God rejected Saul for not following God completely

3. She points David toward his future

(v30) When the LORD has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, 31 my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant."

First Samuel has recognized David as King, then Jonathan, then Saul, and now Abigail Abigail encouraged David to put the recent events in perspective; David could tarnish or destroy God’s future plans for him if he acted foolishly in the present.

B. David’s Heart (v32-35)

1. Recognizes that Abigail is the Hand of God

(v32) David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.

David recognizes that isn’t about him, it’s about God and his heart relationship with God.

2. Recognizes Her Discernment (Prophetic?)

(v33) May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.

It wasn’t her beauty that won the argument for her, it was her discernment

3. Recognizes that God used her to bring him to repentance

“…who have kept me today from bloodguilt”

34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak."

Summary: David was a person after God's own heart because he sought after God and was obedient, which was why he listened when Abigail intercepted his march on Nabal's house to kill all the men.

Conclusion: How do we become a Person after God’s own heart?

How does one have a heart after the Lord’s own heart?

1. The Battle is the Lord’s

We fight internal, spiritual battles as well as flesh and blood enemies

We aren't to get distracted by the circumstances when being obedient

2 Cor. 10 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Eph 6 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

2. Attitude, not activity

1 Sam. 15 22 But Samuel replied:

       "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices  
       as much as in obeying the LORD?  
       To obey is better than sacrifice,  
       and to heed is better than the fat of rams.  

3. God Wants an Ongoing Conversation and Relationship

Psalm 119 (A Final Word from David)

1 Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.

2 Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,

3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.