In chapter 13, you see Saul makes a bad decision. 14, a rash vow. And then 15, he blatantly disobeyed God. He's becoming a self-controlled, willful king. And because of this, he's caused himself to no longer be adequate to be the Lord's king. And so, therefore, God sends Samuel to anoint a new king. And at this point in scripture, we see that there are many lessons for us to learn in this past passage in the relationship to God. So please turn with me to verse 24 of First Samuel, chapter 15. Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord in your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. Now, therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being the king over Israel. As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. So Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you. Also, the glory of Israel will not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man that he should change his mind. Then he said, I have sinned, but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel and go back with me that I may worship the Lord your God. So Samuel went back following Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord. Then Samuel said, bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death has passed. But Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, because Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, for Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for myself among his sons. But Samuel said, How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate to you." So Samuel did what the Lord said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, Do you come in peace? He said, In peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Then it came about, when they entered, that he looked, and Eliab, and thought, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance, or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Then Jesse called, amid a dab, and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. Next, Jesse made Shammah pass by, and he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. Thus, Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, Are these all the children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest. And behold, he is tending the sheep. Then Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here. So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose and went to Rama. Thank you, Brother Josh. Have you ever visited the islands in Lake Erie? Kelly's Island or Puddin Bay? Oh my goodness. Yes. Okay. All right. Here I thought, these are all Buckeyes and they haven't been up to Lake Erie to visit the islands. Well, if you've ever been to Put-In-Bay up there in Lake Erie, then you surely saw the 352 foot monument to Oliver Hazard Perry. And here's a picture of it on the screen as you look at it. And not only is there this huge monument, but there's a figurine of him there as well that looks like this. And he's famous for... people are going, I don't know, there's just a monument of Perry up there put in bay. Well, he's famous as the naval commander on Lake Erie in the War of 1812. I think, you know, you live in Ohio, you should know some of these historical facts about the state of Ohio. In fact, his naval successes on Lake Erie were crucial in protecting the people of Ohio and the Ohio Valley. So it was pretty important. We don't learn a whole lot or usually remember a whole lot about the War of 1812, but right here in the state of Ohio is one. What's interesting to me is on February 19th, 1812, Adoniram Judson and his wife Anne sailed for India as missionaries. America's first foreign missionaries. They had been married one week and left for India. Not too many people, if you would say to somebody, hey, have you seen the Monument of Perry at Put-in-Bay? Well, yeah, I think I've seen that up there. Well, how about Adoniram Judson? Have you heard of him? Who's he? Never heard of him. Well, when Judson and his wife Anne left and even when they arrived in India, the East India Company wouldn't allow them to enter because the East India Company, a British company, didn't want them converting people and they became Christians and now they'd have to treat them better. And so they they wouldn't even allow them to enter. And so they left and they went to the land of Burma. Today that place is called Myanmar. In fact, that's a fairly recent change in the name. And you might remember back on November 19th when I met with Ong Kyaw Moe. He was here with us that day. We talked about possible outreach into the land of Burma or what's now called Myanmar. One of one of the biographers of Judson's writes this about them when they arrived in Burma. There was not there was not one known Christian in that land of millions. And there were no friends in that robber infested, idolatry infected, iniquity filled land. But when you when people in general think about individuals, oh, yeah, Oliver Hazard Perry. Yeah, I've heard of him. Adoniram Judson, who's he? You see, he's a nobody compared to Perry. But in God's eyes, he's a somebody because he played a very important part in God's eternal kingdom and what God is accomplishing here on the earth. That comparison can be given to David as well, King David. And when David was chosen as king, I mean, who remembers David? I mean, after all, it was the it was the Chu dynasty in China. In Greece, they were marketing yo-yos, you know, that 1000 B.C. marketing yo-yos. And of course, Ramses the 11th was the king who had already ascended the throne in Egypt. And people who study history say, oh, yeah, Ramses. Who is David again? Oh, you mean that shepherd boy that was out there in the wilderness that somehow became king of Israel? Oh yeah, I think I've heard of him. But in God's eyes, David is the one whose focus falls for us in the Word of God as we look at his life. And so what we're about to embark on is a study into how God specializes in taking nobodies and making them into somebody. They're not necessarily well known to people in general, but to God, they're His choice. Now, when we do this, we're going to see God's ways with His people, and we might not like it. Just to be quite honest, we might not like it. We might think that God is too slow. We might think that God is too harsh. We might think that God requires too much. And we might think at times, maybe this has happened to you, that you have a better plan than God does. Certainly, we're going to see that in the life of David. But the key thing here is we see all of these things about God and how he's at work in the life of David. The real key issue all along the way is how you respond to what God is doing, just like David did. Our response formulates in us creates in us that hunger for God to make us people with the heart after God, just like David was a man after God's own heart. You know, the alternative to this is pretty frightening if you think about it. The alternative is to become like Saul. And that really is fairly frightening. We'll see in the weeks to come, Pastor Del kind of warned me about this, but I think Saul was a believer. On Wednesday night, all of you who missed Wednesday night heard the reasons for that. You can read the reasons in 1 Samuel 10 and 1 Samuel 28. Because when Samuel comes back from the dead, he says to Saul, you and your sons will be with me. That's a big one. But as a believer, and you look at the life of Saul, you say to yourself, boy, I'm not convinced he was a believer because look what happened to his life. That's what happens when your heart goes in the other direction and is not drawn toward God. So at the time that we have this morning, we're going to focus on the first 13 verses of chapter 16, and we're going to consider together three persons and their bearing on our problem. Because what's amazing to me is that the problems that people face in Scripture are the same kind of problems that we face. As we begin a new year and you begin to read your Bible through again, did you ever say to yourself, why did God ever write the Bible like this anyhow? I mean, why didn't he just say, chapter one, all you need to know about God. Chapter two, all you need to know about yourself. Chapter three, all you need to know about your neighbor. Chapter four, what's going to happen in the future? Wouldn't that have been better? You see, sometimes we have a plan we think is better than God's. God writes the scriptures like this because these are real people in real time, in real places who interacted with God and what God did in their lives, whether they responded well or not. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 says these things were written for our example and for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come. And so from the three persons that we're going to focus our attention on and our problem, there comes three principles as well. And these principles help us to begin the spiritual journey of developing a heart for God. I think it's a great way to start the new year. Don't you? So here's number one. in verses 1 through 3 and also verse 7. We're going to consider first God and our problem. Now you heard Brother Josh say when he was preparing to read the scriptures that Saul had made a bad decision in chapter 13. He made a rash vow in chapter 14 and in chapter 15 he just blatantly disobeyed God. And so he disqualified himself to serve as the Lord's King. But it created a problem for Samuel. I hope you noticed in verse 35 of chapter 15, it says, for Samuel grieved over Saul. And then chapter 16, verse 1, Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul? So apparently there's some time that has gone by here. But the question that comes up is this, right? Why is Samuel grieving anyhow? God has made it clear that he's rejected Saul. Well, you have to think about Samuel. I mean, Samuel's situation was he was the last of the judges. Do you remember the time of the judges? People did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king in Israel in those days. So in 1 Samuel chapter 8, when Samuel says, OK, God is going to give you a king, I'm sure in Samuel's heart, He's kind of excited. We're going to have a king. Things are going to be so much better. We'll have stability in our nation. And this is how things are going to go. And Saul disqualifies himself and Samuel is down. Has that ever happened to you? You think to yourself, OK, this is so good. This is what God has done in my life. And this is how it's going to go. And then it doesn't go that way. You wondered what in the world am I going to do now? I think that's where Samuel is. God says to him in verse one of chapter 16, how long will you grieve over Saul? And I think Samuel was perplexed. We chose a king. He was put on the throne. You've rejected him. What's going to happen next? I don't know what to do. I'm not sure what's going to happen. Maybe you thought to yourself, you know, when I got married, I thought, yeah, this is what I'm talking about. And then things didn't go so well. And you wondered, you know, was this really the will of God for my life? And was this really the person that God wanted me to have? Sometimes people grieve in situations like that. I had a pastor tell me about two weeks ago, he said, you know, there was a time in my life when I thought that this is what God was doing and it didn't go the way that I thought. And I was not only depressed, I was mad at God. I thought he really didn't know what he was doing. It took me quite a while to work through that. And God says to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul? Now, do you remember what I told you about Adoniram Judson and his wife Anne? When they went to Burma, they labored there for six years just trying to learn the language. By the way, Judson's dictionary and the Bible that he translated is still used in Burma. He did such a good job, but it took six years. In fact, all along the way, as he tried to preach, people were laughing at him and he had to go back and try to work on the language more. And after six years, one person got saved and then there was another and then there was another. And then the British government, because of political conflict with with Burma, accused Judson of being a spy and imprisoned him. And if you read the biography, What do you think Judson thought? Lord, what's going on here? I mean, we left home and family and we came here. We learned the language. We're preaching the gospel. And now I'm in prison. And of course, his wife wasn't sure what to do either. They found themselves in the same kind of situation that Samuel was right here in 1 Samuel 16. Now, I think that if we could have asked Judson at that time when he was in prison or even Samuel at that time where he was, hey, could I ask you a question? Who is bigger, the British government or God? He would have said God. And if we would have asked Samuel, Samuel, hey, look up here, who's bigger? Saul or God? He would have said God. Because just like Mary, remember this just a few weeks ago, when Gabriel came to her and she said, how can this be since I'm a virgin? Gabriel said, for with God, nothing shall be impossible. Now, see, here's an important principle that we have to learn from these verses right here. God says to Samuel, verse 1, fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have selected a king for myself among his sons. Even when we're in difficult situations and our mind is clouded and our faith is clouded, the key principle is obedience. To hear what God has to say and to put it into practice. We might not understand all the ins and outs because God's will sometimes is secret. It's hidden from us. We don't know. But He asks us to trust Him and to walk with Him because if we trust and obey, there is no other way. There's peace of heart and mind and comfort. And I don't know, maybe we're kind of like Samuel, right? Samuel says to God, verse 2, how can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me. Did you ever say when you're looking at the will of God, well, Lord, I'm not sure that I really should do this because this could happen or that could happen. And maybe you haven't considered all the consequences of this. Maybe it's just me. These are some of the ways I pray. Lord, yeah, Mianmar? No, you don't want me to go there. I mean, think of all the consequences. And I'm getting older and who knows what would... Maybe it's just me. And I try to advise God on what He should do. You know, I've noticed He never calls me and says, Hey, Pastor Ike, what do you think I should do today? Did you ever notice that? Has that happened to you? He's given you a call and asked for advice. And so he tells Samuel, he says, listen, this is what I want you to do. And even when Samuel objects, the Lord says, OK, take a heifer with you and say, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Now, this is not duplicity on God's part. God is just saying, all right, you go and make the sacrifice because he's going to do that. And you're also going to invite Jesse to the sacrifice, verse three, and I will show you what you shall do and you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate to you. So obedience, even in the midst of not knowing what to do. Faith is obedience, even when you don't understand and when you have objections. Our part is just simple obedience. It's interesting to me, too, that in all of these verses, verses 1 through 10, 1 through 11, actually, David has no idea what's going on, right? He's out there taking care of the sheep. And so he's oblivious to what God is doing behind the scenes. And so whether it's Samuel in a situation where he's not sure what to do or David in a situation where he's oblivious to obey God is the key. This is crucial for us as we begin a new year. To think about this principle, OK, Lord, whatever it is that you have for me in 2012, because I certainly don't know what it is. Anybody here know what God has for them in 2012? I don't. But to make a resolution right now that I will obey God no matter what he says, with whatever objections I might have. Jesus said it like this. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. So here's God and Samuel's problem. I don't know what to do. I'm perplexed. We have the same problem. And God says, you trust me, you obey me, I'll take care of it. Now, as we look at verse four, the second point here in the second person and our problem again, only this time it's Samuel in our problem, just like we have a problem like Samuel in verses one through three, we have a problem like Samuel in verses four through six and verses eight through eleven. And God is the solution to the problem. We see that in verses 1 through 3, simple obedience to him. But our problem, like Samuel in verses 4 through 6 and in verses 8 through 11, is we have a tendency to focus on the external. Would you all be willing to confess that? We have a tendency to focus on the external. In Samuel, it says, we're told in verse 4, he goes up to Bethlehem. and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him, and said, You come in peace." Now that's not really too hard to understand, because they'd already heard about what was going on. Word travels fast. Saul made a bad decision. Saul made a rash vow. Saul disobeyed God. Samuel was grieving. And now, Samuel comes knocking at the door. It's like somebody knocking at your door, and you come and open it, and there stands an FBI agent. What would you think? What's going on? It's that kind of feeling that you would have. So they know that things aren't right. And Samuel shows up and he says, well, I've come in peace. I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. He also consecrated Jesse and his sons. And so there's the involvement of cleansing and purification and getting ready to meet the Lord and invited them to the sacrifice. Then it came about when they entered, verse six, that he looked at Eliab and thought he didn't say this to anybody, but this is what he thought and later records for us. Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. Now, What do you think? Has anything like that ever happened to you? Maybe when you were younger or maybe you're in that place now and you go somewhere and somebody enters the room and you think, oh, they are just drop dead gorgeous. Surely the Lord's anointed is before me. This is the girl God has picked for me. Or hey girls, maybe it's you. You enter the room and you see a handsome Knockout guy. And you say, surely the Lord's anointed is before me. But why is that? Because the focus of our attention is on the externals. Certainly this must be God's choice for us. Churches do this. The guy who's candidating to be pastor, he's tall and handsome and athletic. And they say, surely the Lord's anointed is before us. This must be the pastor God has chosen for us. By the way, that's what makes me wonder how in the world I ever came to be pastor here. That kind of thinking, because when I was in Japan, the Japanese were just straightforward about this. They said, you know, you're not exceptionally good looking, you're just kind of ordinary. And I thought, yeah, that's OK. You know, I know that's true. So you must not be guilty of focusing on the external. But this is how Christians find themselves in marital difficulties or business difficulties. They've selected a spouse or a business partner based on the externals and not the heart. I wonder why God didn't choose Eliab. I mean, there must have been something about him when Samuel looked at him, he thought, oh, this has got to be the guy. But look over at chapter 17 and verse 28. Because in chapter 17, David goes down, his father sends him to greet his brothers and take some food down, even food for the commander, some cheese. And Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard that he was there. And look at verse 28 of chapter 17. Now, Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger burned against David. And he said, Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart, for you have come down in order to see the battle. But David said, what have I done now? Was it not just a question? It's interesting to me how the Living Bible paraphrases verse 28, it goes like this. Eliab says, what are you what are you doing around here anyway? What about the sheep you're supposed to be taking care of? I know what a cocky brat you are. You just want to see the battle. Eliab is insecure, presumptuous, suspicious. It's no wonder God didn't choose him. But you don't know what a person is like on the outside. You can't see their heart. And so when God says men look at on the on the outside or the externals, the Hebrew text says men look at the face. You look at the face of somebody and you make your judgment based on that. But God looks at the heart. And that's where his focus of attention is. That's one of the reasons why I want to show all you girls, are you listening? I want to share a couple of verses with you. These are memory verses from my granddaughters. One is this, Proverbs 11, 22. As a ring of gold in a pig's nose, the swine's mouth, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. You can look beautiful on the outside, but if you lack discretion. If you're if it's just your appearance, that's all that you have. That's about as worthwhile as a gold ring and a pig's nose. Or how about Proverbs chapter 31 in verse 30? Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. These are just the external things. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. And so what is it, ladies, that God wants in you? What is it that he wants in you? Well, that's written for us in first Peter chapter three and verse four. Let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious. In the sight of God. That's what God wants. So the principle that we're learning here in these verses, particularly from verse seven of chapter 16 is this. The principle that God wants us to get down is to seek Him because He knows what's in a person's heart and not focus our attention on the outward things that we see. Now, what about the guys? I picked on the girls. But what about men? What about boys and men? Well, the standard, of course, is in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1. Men of character. The emphasis in both of those passages is an emphasis on character. Blameless. Manages their household well. If we could take off from the courageous movie, we're going to see some parts of that after lunch as we focus our discussion on that more. But men of character and integrity, men who keep their word, men who are faithful, faithful at home, faithful at work, faithful at church, men who love their wives and instruct their children by example and by teaching. Men of character, not position or prestige. And this is one of the reasons why I have a great concern for any believers who go to secular institutions or even supposedly Christian institutions of higher learning where it's just an external. They don't really believe the Bible but they say they do. Because there you meet people and you meet professors who are good looking and intelligent. And by the way, the two things that Americans value very highly just above about anything else is good looks and intelligence. If you have good looks or intelligence, OK, now you're part of the in group, but that's not God's focus, is it? And so it's very, very important that when you go somewhere, if you're going to go somewhere, an institution of higher learning, you keep that in mind. Remember what I told you about Judson? There was a time in Adoniram Judson's life because he went to Providence College that he rejected what his parents believed about the Bible. The professors who taught there didn't necessarily teach the Bible. He met a friend, a guy who became his friend, who was a deist. This guy convinced him that he shouldn't believe the Bible. It was outdated. It was antiquated. Now, keep in mind, this was in the 19th century. And that he shouldn't believe it. And he said, you know what? You're right. He told his parents. His father argued with him. They debated things together. His mother cried and prayed for him. But he said, no, that's what I believe. So how did he become a missionary? Well, it's interesting what happened. He was taking a trip and he stayed at this inn. And I imagine that the walls weren't as soundproof then as they are today. But the guy in the next room, he could hear him moaning all night. He was in pain. He was moaning and moaning. And the biographer who says this tells us that Judson laid there in his bed and he thought, is this guy going to die? I wonder if he's prepared to die. And if he does die, where would he spend eternity? Is he a Christian? And then he kind of consoled himself by saying, well, you know, my friend, he he would tell me this is just a bunch of bunk. You shouldn't concern yourself with these kind of questions. But the next morning when he was checking out, he said to the innkeeper, he said, you know that whoever was in the room next to me last night, he must have been in some terrible pain. And the guy said, oh, that guy died. He died last night. And Judson said, oh, you're kidding. He died. And he said, yeah, he died. Well, this was, believe me, this was a long time before the laws of privacy that we have today. He said, what was his name? He said, well, he was a student at Providence College and his name was, it was Judson's friend. He died in the room next to him the night that he stayed there, didn't even know he was there at the same hotel. God used that in his life. God used that shock treatment, that dose of reality because Judson thought to himself, he was lost. I know it. And so am I. And so he returned home. He asked God to forgive him. He was saved and dedicated his life to the service of God. Everybody needs this. Everybody needs a dose of reality. In the Courageous film, we saw it. the policeman whose name was Adam, his daughter is killed. That's a dose of reality. It's the catalyst by which his life is turned around. Because you see, if you just focus on the externals, it's the wrong focus. That's what we need. A dose of reality. Samuel needed the same thing. He needed to see things the way that God sees them. We need to see God's face to ascertain His will and not our wills. Because God says, no, I've rejected all of these. Then we come to verse 11. Samuel says to Jesse, are these all the children? And he said, no, I think I forgot one of them. He's still at the church building. Some of you parents can identify with verse 11. I can testify to it. Where are your folks? They left me here. Now, without mentioning any names that ever happened to you, Jake. I don't know what he said to the family later, but I imagine it was something like, how could you forget me? Well, that's kind of what's happening here in verse 11, right? Jesse says, oh, well, no, they're still the youngest. You know, we can go in and get him. I just wonder. how much Jesse was responsible for Eliab's attitude that we read about in chapter 17 and verse 28. You see, as a parent, be sure that you have an equal evaluation of every one of your children. Obviously, Jesse didn't think it was important to have David there. And as a parent, cultivate mutual respect among your children so that they'll have a mutual respect for each other. Obviously, Eliab did not have respect for David. We saw that in chapter 17 and verse 28. So there's an important principle here. Number one, obedience characterizes a heart for God. And in these verses, seeing things as God sees them, it characterizes a heart for God. And we only see the external, so we have to seek God's face and God's help to know what's in a person's heart and what he has for us. There's one more in verses 12 and 13, and that is David and God's solution to the problem. God's solution to every problem usually typically involves an individual. When God wants to bring his people out of Egypt, he chooses Moses. When God wants to take his people into the promised land, he chooses Joshua. And the will of God is accomplished when God's person in God's time and in God's place, when it all comes together. That's when the will of God is accomplished. And we see that here is God is beginning already to choose the person that he wants. 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9 says this, The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his. So David is God's solution to the dilemma that Samuel is facing. And verse 12 says, So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ready with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. The Jewish historian Josephus says, this is just a Jewish tradition, that Samuel leaned over and whispered in David's ear, you are the next king of Israel. Now, how about that for shock treatment, you just came in from taking care of the sheep, kneel down, pour oil on his head, you are the next king of Israel. And so then verse 13 says, So David asked Samuel if he could have the horn of oil to have it bronzed and put on the mantle in his tent. Then immediately he got online and checked out Macy's to see what kind of crowns were available and if there were any purple robes for kings. Isn't that what verse 13 said? What was David's response? What did he do? Did he get online and check out crowns? What did he do? Went back to taking care of sheep. This is the third principle. Humility and patience characterize somebody that has a heart for God. Obedience, seeing things as God sees them, and humility and patience. These characterize the things of those who have a heart for God. Does that describe you? Oh, yeah, that's that describes me, Pastor Ike. I'm a person of humility and patience. At an Irem Judson became such a man. 21 months in prison there in Burma, finally released, completed the translation of the New Testament. Do you remember what the biographer wrote that I read to you earlier? He said when the Judson's arrived in Burma, there was not one known Christian in that land of millions. There were no friends in that robber infested, idolatry infected, iniquity filled land. Here's what the biographer says at the end of his biography. The work progressed and gospel power began to open blind eyes, break idolatry, shackled hearts and transform the newly begun converts into triumphant Christians. On April 12, 1850, at the age of 62, Judson died. By the way, during the 38 years that he was in Burma, he came back to the U.S. once. One time in the 38 years. His English was so poor, they had to get an interpreter to interpret for him in the churches that he visited. That's how much he spoke Burmese and had forgotten English. Judson had spent 38 years in Burma, although he had waited six years for his first convert. Sometime after his death, a government survey took a census to find out how many Christians there were, and there were 210,000 Christians. I'm impressed. God took a nobody and made him into somebody. He transformed him into a force mightier than the darkness of Burma. You know what? You might be here today and just think that you're an ordinary person. I am. Japanese told me you're just an ordinary person. But like David, here's the key question for you and me. Are we willing this day to commit our lives to Jesus Christ and see what He will do? I can't think of a better time to make a New Year's resolution than right now. To say, God, here is my resolution for the New Year. Give me a heart for You. Make me into a person who has a heart for You just like David did. Will you do that? As Pastor Del comes to lead us in our closing song, Psalm 42, not written by David, But he would concur with it. As the deer pants for the streams of water, so my heart thirsts for you, O God. Is that true of your heart? Does your heart thirst for God? Well, this is an opportunity, even while we're singing, if you wish you can come forward, but whether you come or not, to make a resolution in your heart to say this New Year, give me a heart for you. A heart like David had. Develop that heart in me. That should be our prayer.