Sermon Study Guides

    In the book of 1 Samuel, God begins to turn the nation of Israel into a kingdom. The four main characters in 1 Samuel are: Eli, a priest; Samuel, a prophet; Saul, Israel’s first king; and David, who would replace Saul. The kingdom of God is not about what’s on the outside; it starts with the heart.
    Eli failed as a priest because his heart was not fully devoted to God. He prioritized his sons over his devotion to his God. Saul was outwardly impressive, but he did not serve God wholeheartedly. Shortly after being crowned king, he completely disobeyed God’s plain instructions.
    So God looked for a man who was devoted to God on the inside—in his heart. In order to find this person, God sent Samuel to Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse, to check out his sons. God wanted to see how Samuel would evaluate the situation.
    Even Samuel, a veteran prophet of the Lord, couldn’t see past the outer appearance! He was impressed by the eldest son Eliab, but the Lord said no. “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Seven of Jesse’s sons were brought before Samuel, but the Lord had not chosen any of them. The youngest, David, was out tending the sheep. He was the man after God’s own heart.
    God’s gaze penetrates to our inner being, our motivations, our deepest desires, our affections. We need to focus on the heart.
    What does it mean to have a heart after God’s own heart?
In the Bible the heart is the seat of our emotions as well as the source of our intellect, will, and beliefs—what we would typically attribute to the mind. In the Bible, the heart represents the whole inner person.
    Repeatedly in the Scriptures the Lord is described as searching the heart and testing it.
What is God searching for? A heart is after his own heart. God looks for character—faithfulness, love, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-discipline—a heart in which He comes first in all things. 
    You need a new heart. The human heart in its natural state is broken beyond repair, “deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our hearts don’t need to be renovated; they need to be replaced. God says in Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). God says in Jeremiah, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33b).
    Yet even new hearts can be tempted and sin. Thankfully, new hearts can be cleansed through confession and repentance.  
    Let God shape your heart in the secret place. When Samuel stood before Jesse and his sons, David was out in the fields, faithfully caring for the sheep, protecting them from lions and bears. In the secret place, out in the fields, when no one is looking, God was developing David for his destiny and drawing him into deeper relationship with Himself. 
    God shapes us and grows us in order to prepare us for our purpose. God was preparing David to kill Goliath and eventually to become king.
    Like David, let God shape your heart in the secret place and trust that He is preparing you for your God-given purpose.