In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: There are a lot of people who've decided they're going to live their lives the way they want to live them, do what they want to do. There comes a time in their life when they haven't prayed, don't know how to pray, not sure they even believe in God. Friends are gone, money is gone, or their reputation is gone, whatever it is.

The truth is they don't have anything. They may have a lot of stuff. They may have a lot of money, a lot of this, a lot of that, but when you're empty in your heart and you don't have God and you can't pray to God and know that He's hearing and answering your prayer, you are in serious trouble.

Guest (Male): King Saul had a lot going for him. He was tall, handsome, and as Israel's first king, he was powerful and wealthy. He had a very promising beginning but made some very poor decisions that led to a disastrous ending. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll see how to avoid Saul's mistakes and keep from getting out of step with God.

Dr. Charles Stanley: What happens when a person gets out of step? We've been talking about walking in step with Him and we talked about what is required of that. Second, what can you expect? Then, how do you walk through those difficult times in step with Him? Well, the question now is, what about what happens when you get out of step, when you choose to walk without Him in your life or walking out of step, out of sync, ignoring Him, doing it your own way?

I want to turn with you to 1 Samuel. In 1 Samuel, here is a perfect example of a young man who had it all together. It couldn't have been better for him. He had everything going for him and he chose to walk not in step with God's plan and purpose for his life, but out of step. I'm not going to read you a passage of scripture because I want to take you through these chapters and show you what happened in the life of Saul and apply it to your life and my life because it is so applicable.

The scripture says that Samuel the prophet, God told him to go to Jesse's house and choose one of his sons to take Saul's place because I've rejected Saul. So he goes to his house and he says, "Jesse," they had a sort of a big dinner. He says, "I want you to bring in all your sons and let me meet them." So he brings them all in and the first one that comes in is a tall, handsome guy. Samuel says, "This must be the one." God says, "He's not the one."

He went through all of his brothers and finally he said, "Well, Jesse, is this all of them?" He said, "Well, sort of. One of them, my youngest son, is out in the sheep field, but he's just got a bunch of sheep out there." He said, "Call him." Well, his name was David. Now you know the story. So he calls David in and God says, "He's the man." So he appoints David. David is still shepherding sheep and then he goes down to meet his brothers.

There's this big warfare going on, the Philistines on one side of the valley and the Israelites on the other side. Here's Saul and he's scared to death. He's the king and he's the commander and all of his soldiers are all afraid. Young David the shepherd boy walks up and the first thing that happens is his brothers say, "What are you doing here? Why don't you go back to your few sheep?" which was another cutting way to say you only have a few sheep out there.

Anyway, he says to Saul, "I'll take the challenge." Saul says, "Put on my armor." "I don't need any armor." He knew what his armor was. His armor was God and his weapon was the sling, but it was the spirit of God in that stone. It was going to hit his target. So he goes out and he slays Goliath, makes him a big hero.

Saul says, "Well, well, well, I want him to serve me." So he brings him into his fold and he's serving Saul and he goes out and fights for Saul and plays on the harp for Saul and so forth. But here's a big mistake. When he came back from fighting with Goliath, the scripture says in the eighteenth chapter that it so happened when he came back that the women sang as they played and said, "Saul has killed his slain his thousands and David his ten thousands." Can't you imagine how they put emphasis on the ten?

Saul has killed his thousands, David has killed his ten thousands. Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him and he said, "They've ascribed to David ten thousand but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the throne?"

The scripture says in verse ten, it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul and he raved in the midst of the house with his hand as usual. A harp was there that David was playing his harp and a spear was in Saul's hand and he hurled the spear toward David to pin him to the wall in the midst.

Let me say this about spears. In those days, they were heavy. In those days, they were long. In those days, they were very sharp. A man who could throw one could throw one a very long way and hit a bullseye. When it hit you, it just went right on through you. He intended to kill David. If you'll notice what the scripture says, the scripture says that an evil spirit from God.

Does that mean that God sent an evil spirit to kill David? No. What that really means is that God allowed what was going on inside of him to overcome him. Here we see when this comes onto Saul, which is not some disease, but what's going on inside of him, his jealousy. You put pride and disobedience and guilt and then there is jealousy. Here's this young shepherd boy when he's been anointed the king and here's this young shepherd boy coming on the scene and he tries to kill him.

Jealousy is a dangerous thing. It can be jealousy over little things. Jealousy wrecks marriages. It wrecks businesses. It wrecks friendships. It wrecks all kinds of things. This is what's happening. He's very, very jealous of him. Then, for example, the scripture says in the ninth verse of the nineteenth chapter, now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand and David was playing his harp.

Saul tried to pin him to the wall again with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence so that he struck the spear into the wall and David fled and escaped. Then Saul sent messengers to David's house that is he sent a group over there to kill him. He tried to kill him himself twice, set him up in the war to kill him, and now he's sent some of his soldiers to kill him. That doesn't work either.

He and Jonathan are best friends. One of the things about companionship and friendship that you read in the Bible that the friendship between Jonathan and David were awesome because what happened is their love for each other separated Jonathan from his own father Saul because he asked him the scripture, "Why you trying to kill him? He serves you. He's gone to battle. He's fought for you. He's done all of these things for you. Why are you trying to kill David?"

He doesn't have a reason for that but here's what happens. Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What's he done?" Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down. So Jonathan knew that his father decided to kill him. Look what's happened. His pride and his disobedience and now his jealousy is just eating him alive. It's tearing him up on the inside.

He's not only jealous of David but and trying to kill him, but it's reached the stage he's willing to kill his own son because his son loves David. Jealousy will destroy you. Jealousy eats like it's like termites. It's like acid to a person's soul and heart and mind and spirit. It goes on day after day among people. For example, here's a wife who gets jealous of her husband. Maybe she has a reason if there's a sense of reason of jealousy. She doesn't like the attention he gets maybe. She doesn't like where he is in life.

She doesn't like this and she doesn't like that. Or the man who can be just as jealous of his wife. He brags about how beautiful she is, but then he hates every guy that looks at her. Jealousy is a terrible thing. It's so insidious and it's deep down inside and it gnaws and eats and churns away. That's what's going on inside of him. When that's going on inside of a person, they can't think right. They don't make wise decisions. They don't think right.

They certainly not thinking about God. They're not spending time in the word. They're not spending time in prayer. If they were, they'd be confessing their sin before Almighty God, but they're not. There's no sense of repentance in here even though he says, "Oh, I've sinned," but there's no evidence that he has changed.

He started out being prideful, deliberate, willful disobedience until his jealousy absolutely destroys him. He can't make a wise decision and now he makes the fourth big mistake. Here's what he does. A person who seeks unwise counsel, ungodly counsel, steps out of the will of God. Here's what he does. He goes to a witch, to a fortune teller, to a soothsayer. He says to his men, "Find me somebody like that."

Because here's what had happened. He tried to pray. God didn't answer his prayer in this twenty-eighth chapter. God didn't answer his prayer. God didn't give him any dreams. The Urim and Thummim, which the priests would use to find the Lord's will, that wasn't working. Now Samuel died. The prophet died. David's gone and here he is and God's not answering his prayer. I want you to think about this. There are a lot of people in that shape who've decided they're going to live their lives the way they want to live them, do what they want to do.

There comes a time in their life when they haven't prayed, don't know how to pray, not sure they even believe in God. Friends are gone, money is gone, or their reputation is gone, whatever it is, and the truth is they don't have anything. They may have a lot of something, a lot of stuff. They may have a lot of money, a lot of this, a lot of that, but when you're empty in your heart and you don't have God and you can't pray to God and know that He's hearing and answering your prayer, you are in serious trouble.

This is where Saul is at this point. So they find this woman and so he goes into her and naturally she knows that it's against the law. In other words, three times in the Old Testament you destroy the soothsayers, fortune tellers as we would say, those people, those witches, those diviners, they're not to be left alive. So she knows this and she says, "You're jeopardizing my life."

He promises her that she's going to be okay and no problem. Finally he discovers she discovers who he is. So here's what he said. He said, "I want you to bring up somebody from the dead to speak to me." I'm going to explain this in a minute. Somehow she brought up Samuel and of course she was absolutely shocked herself when she saw this.

He says, "What is the form?" She said, "It's an old man wrapped in a robe." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why do you disturb me by bringing me up?" Saul answered, "I'm greatly distressed for the Philistines are waging war against me and God has departed from me and no longer answers me." Listen, when you feel like that God has departed from you and no longer answers you, the last thing in the world you want to do is to live your life in such a way that you come to that place in life that you don't have God.

You're going to die. You have a whole eternity out there. It's all gloom. It's all dark. You have no assurance whatsoever because you have rejected the living God. You do not have to do that. If that's what you've been doing, you need to repent of your sins and turn to Christ and let Him forgive you of your sin and set you in the right path.

What happens is Samuel speaks to him and tells him what's going on and he says to him, "You didn't obey the Lord, you did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek. So the Lord has done this thing to you." He tells him some other things are going to happen to him. Finally, scripture says that Saul immediately fell full length upon the ground and was very afraid because the words of Samuel there was no strength in him. He ate no food and this was it.

Now, did this woman bring up Samuel the prophet? The answer is no. Because that means first of all the devil, because certainly God wouldn't. It was the devil first of all would never preach the message that Samuel preached to him. So what is this? This is God allowing a manifestation of Samuel and God spoke to him the truth. It wasn't Samuel doing the speaking, it was God speaking through this manifestation.

It was a miracle, no question. Because Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah and so that was a miraculous moment in Jesus' life. Now think about this. If the devil could disturb us in heaven, then there's something wrong. So there's no question that something happened here. There's no question that God spoke through all of this, but it wasn't because she brought up anybody out of the dead.

So here's what you have. You have this man who had everything going for him and what happens? He decides he can handle it, takes credit, disobeys God, didn't acknowledge the authority of the prophet, chooses to deliberately disobey God with the Amalekites. Then jealousy sets in and then ultimately because he's so consumed by it at this point, he goes to the witch and he gets this message and she says to him in one way or the other it's all over.

Then the thirty-first chapter of 1 Samuel, the last chapter, says the Philistines in verse one were fighting against Israel and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.

The battle went heavily against Saul. The archers hit him. He was badly wounded by the archers. So he said to his armor-bearer, "Run the sword through me." He wouldn't do it. So he fell upon his own sword, killed himself. Then the armor-bearer killed himself and when they found them, cut off Saul's head and carried it through the Philistine army as their victor. What a horrible way to end life.

Let me say this to you and be careful how you listen. If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you're not a Christian. Do you realize that you're guilty of idolatry? You say, "I'm not guilty of idolatry." Well, let me ask you this. If God the Father through His son Jesus Christ is not God in your life, you have decided to be God in your life. I will decide what I'll do. I will decide who I am. I will decide where I'll go. I'll decide how I'm going to spend my money. I'll decide who I like. I'll decide who I relate to. It is idolatry.

I know you don't like hearing that and I'm sorry I have to tell you, but I have to tell you. Because you see what happens, you have decided to live your life apart from God. You say, "No, now I pray to God." But you may pray to Him, but you know what? Saul prayed to Him, but it didn't work. Because he was living in absolute disobedience to God.

There are many people who think, "Well, no, I'm not a Christian and I don't read the Bible and do those things, but I believe in God and God's going to hear my prayer." There's not a single verse in the scripture to defend that kind of praying. I'm not being critical. I want you to see that it's not going to work. Because God says it won't work. He hates the things that destroy those whom He's created.

If you want life at its best, you acknowledge the living God through His son Jesus Christ. You say, "Well, I believe in God but not Jesus." Think about this. The resurrection of His son was God's shout to the world: "He's told you the truth, He is the way, now follow Him." I want to encourage you if you've never trusted Jesus as your savior to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, not on the basis of how good you're going to be, but on the basis of the cross. He died, shed His blood for you and me.

In order that you and I could do what? That we could walk in step with Him, that we could experience life at its best, that we could have the kind of life that He intended for us to have. I encourage you, look at your life. Likewise, if you already believe and know that you are, is there pride lurking in your heart? Are there areas in which you know that you are absolutely disobeying God and rationalizing it? "Well, everybody does it. Nobody's perfect. All my friends. I mean, what do you expect? All the Christians aren't saints." We agree that we're not perfect, we are saints but not perfect.

Rationalization doesn't work. You may think all these things, but the bottom line is this: when will you accept the truth of God's word and live an obedient life and watch Him do His best in your life? It's yours for the asking, but He won't force it. It's a loving invitation, so strong that He let His son die and be crucified for your sin and mine to say, "This is how much I really love you no matter who you are."

Father, how grateful we are for Your patience and love and forgiveness. How we do pray today that the Holy Spirit will take this message and drive it deep into people's hearts. If they're believers, to acknowledge have these things been found in my life? If they're those who've never trusted Christ, to ask themselves the question, "Where is my present lifestyle leading me?" There is an end. There are consequences. Enable them, Father, to be honest and make a wise decision to trust You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Ultimately, Saul’s jealousy and willful disobedience destroyed him. That’s why we must avoid rationalizing or excusing our sin. Today’s edition of In Touch reminded us that the believer who consistently seeks to obey the Lord will walk faithfully with Him for a lifetime.

A replay of this message is available by clicking on "Today on Radio" at intouch.org, and look around for many helpful resources to encourage your faith in Jesus Christ. You can order a copy of today’s complete message online at the bookstore. The title is "Getting Out of Step," or order the entire "In Step with God" teaching set. Again, that’s intouch.org. To call or text, it’s 1-800-IN-TOUCH. You can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357.

Which job is more important? The teacher of adults or the preschool worker? The pastor or the usher? Stay with us. Today's Moment with Charles Stanley is coming up.

Guest (Female): Have you ever forgotten something God taught you when you were reading the Bible? When we take note of what God reveals to us, it helps us to apply it to our lives. With the Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Journal, you can keep track of your spiritual journey and be transformed by God's truths. This journal features artwork of Dr. Stanley's 30 Life Principles, lined pages for writing, a prayer journaling section, and more. To order, call 1-800-IN-TOUCH or go to intouch.org/journal.

Guest (Male): Does your prayer life need a jump start? With the In Touch Praying with Purpose cards, the time you spend talking with God will take on a whole new level of energy and intimacy. Beautifully designed and easy to use, or to share with a friend, there are prayers to lift up each day of the month along with corresponding Bible verses and more. For your set of Praying with Purpose cards, call 1-800-IN-TOUCH or go to intouch.org/store.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to In Touch. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that facilitate the spread of the gospel. Here’s a Moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Paul's writings are absolutely incomparable, there's nothing like it. But what good would they do if he wrote them and they remained in a prison cell? After a while, those who governed the prison said, "Let me have those old manuscripts and let me throw them away, let me burn them." Tychicus took the message to these many churches. Each of those churches was very important.

The truth is this: Tychicus was very important in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Personally, I think about the people around me who help me. I could never do what I do without them. Every single one of them is important. You see, oftentimes those who are serving in places that may be less prominent feel like that what they're doing is less important. It is not less important.

I don't know where you serve the Lord in your church or maybe in some ministry. What you do is very important in the eyes of God. There's no such thing as "less than," no such thing as being unimportant. We're all important. We have different roles. Every single role is important in the eyes of God.

So I simply want to say to you, God's call to us is the call to be faithful to whatever He requires of us. The rewards are not always according to the size as far as we're concerned. It's our faithfulness, doing our best. That's what God's looking for. So I would simply ask you, what way are you serving to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ? Whatever it may be, don't underestimate it. If God's called you to do that, it is very important. Remember: obey God, leave all the consequences to Him.

Guest (Male): Learn more about fulfilling your role in the family of God when you visit us at intouch.org. Is there someone who needs the truth you heard today? Share it with them and then tell us what happened. Up next on In Touch, you probably want to get the most out of life, but do you know how? When we return, you’ll hear how believers can maximize their God-given potential on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley.

This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.