For the past two weeks, I have been talking about what makes a true leader. As we know, much of the wisdom that Christians follow is from God’s Word in the bible, so today we will learn from the bible how God appointed his leader, the king of Israel. The people of Israel wanted their own king like the other nations. In order to teach them, God showed them the problem of kingship through the reign of Samuel, yet they still asked for a king. Finally, the mighty God appointed Saul as their king.
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Last week, we learned that the people of Israel sinned against God but came back to him, so the mighty God forgave their sins and delivered them out of the hand of the Philistines. Today I will continue to follow our series, what makes a true leader 2. In these passages, we will learn who a true leader and king is for the people of Israel and the people of God.
From today I will start a new series, what makes a true leader. We will focus on 1 Samuel 7:2-14. Before I talk to you, I want to summarise the lessons that we learned previously. First of all, 1 and 2 Samuel were written in a period of kingship from God to humans in Israel. The people of Israel originally served God as their king but wanted humans to be their king. As time passed, they had turned away from God and followed idols. Because of this, God appointed Samuel as the leader of Israel.
There is a Korean proverb. It says, “첫 단추를 잘 꿰어야 한다.” This means, “the first button should be well connected. Otherwise, other buttons will go astray.” The similar English proverb is “start off on the right foot.” The first step is very important to all of us. You may think you are starting your journey in your company, school, or family. But the first thing to do is to start with our God at all times. Then you will be blessed by God and take the direct path.
At this time of the year, most people will have had a look back at this last year and be making resolutions for the year to come. Especially this year many of you might have found the year hard because of the Covid-19 Pandemic. We have heard that many people in this world have been unable to move around and have lost their loved ones and their jobs. We are not quite sure of how long this Pandemic will continue or when it will be over. As we know, we are living in difficult times. And some of you will be wondering how to survive in this new uncertain world.
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