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[ Music ] [MUSIC] ♪ Let rocks thy side ♪ ♪ Let spring the sun go low ♪

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♪ How far has God to thee ♪ ♪ How far of liberty ♪ ♪ To thee we sing ♪ ♪ Long may our land be bright ♪

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♪ With freedom's golden light ♪ ♪ Protect us by the night ♪ ♪ Great God our King ♪ - You may be seated.

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♪ God bless America ♪ ♪ The land that I love ♪ ♪ Stand beside her, guide by her ♪ ♪ Through the line, through the line from above ♪

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♪ Down the loud trees, through the prairie ♪ ♪ Through the ocean ♪ ♪ I perform ♪ ♪ God bless America ♪

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♪ My home, free, oh ♪ ♪ Darkness of America ♪ ♪ My home, free, oh ♪ - Let us pray.

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Speak to our hearts, oh God. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray, amen. But the Lord said unto Samuel,

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look not on his countenance or on the height of his statue, because I have refused him. For man looketh on the outward appearance,

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but the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brethren, and the spirit of the Lord came upon David

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from that day forward. This is 1 Samuel chapter 16, verses seven and 13. 1 Samuel chapter 16, verses seven and 13. subject a new leader, a new leader for the nation, a new leader for the nation.

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Webster defines a leader as a person who has commanding authority, a leader has vision, he sees in the distance, and has the ability and influence to lead others to reach it. One person said that a leader should always be ahead of the people but he ought not be so far ahead of the people that the people can't see

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him. Reinhold Niebuhr, renowned American theologian who was born 100 years ago this year said, and I quote, "On the whole, people do not achieve great moral heights out of a sense of duty. You may be able to compel them to maintain certain minimum

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standards by stressing duty, but the highest moral and spiritual achievements depend not on a push but upon a pull. People must be charmed into righteousness." The leader is out front, but leaders are only leaders when they have followers. Benjamin hooks of the NAACP said that I may take a walk but if no one is following me

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I'm not a leader I'm just taking a stroll. Israel needs a new leader. They need a new king. King Saul's time is out. He's still in office but his time has run out. He has been fired by God and when one is fired by God the Lord Spirit is no longer with him. Oh he still goes through the motions but he does not

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receive the desired effect. The Spirit of the Lord is not present to motivate, to strengthen and to bless. Saul does not seem to know and accept the fact that he has been fired by God. He has the title of king without the power. He has the office but he does not have the presence of the Divine Spirit. Israel needs a new

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later. The Prophet Samuel is disturbed about this situation. He wants Saul to change. He would like to see reform in Saul's administration. So the Lord speaks to Samuel telling him not to continue to grieve over King Saul's conduct because he has rejected him from ruling over Israel. When God fires a

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person, who can rehire him? It's time to select new leadership for the nation. The The Lord commands the prophet Samuel to go to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, and to anoint one of his sons, the next king of Israel.

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God always has somebody to do his work. New leadership is constantly being developed. God is not particular about the place where he finds his leaders, because place does not make leaders.

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We oft times would like to get the person from this place or that place. I remember a church that was looking for a pastor, and so a man came from a very small town, but he was a very effective preacher in the congregation. Some people wanted to belittle him based on the fact that he had come from this small town. And one of the older deacons

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said, "I've seen a lot of big sweet potatoes in a small patch." So Samuel is sent by the Lord to The village of Bethlehem to secure a leader. Threats do not make leaders. People do not become leaders under duress.

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Nor does a leader, a true leader work for praise. Samuel says to the Lord, "How can I go to Bethlehem and anoint the next king of Israel from one of David's son?

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If Saul hears that I'm going to Bethlehem, then I'm there to anoint the next king, why, he will kill me." The Lord said, "Well, Samuel, take a calf

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and announce to the people that you've come to Bethlehem to make a sacrifice unto the Lord. So this is the command that the prophet receives. Our nation is in the process of selecting leadership for the next four years. There are several candidates in the race, two representing the two major parties,

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and others who are third party candidates will be on the ballot November the 3rd. It's a grueling process in which we have engaged that will culminate on that day And we've heard a great deal about what the country needs. We have received various prescriptions

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for the healing of the nation. We've been bombarded with news stories and television commercials. We've been reminded time and time again

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that we must decide. We are to vote. The decision is ours. But there is a lesson to be learned from ancient Israel.

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When they selected Saul, they cast lots. Now as Samuel makes his pilgrimage to Bethlehem, he is to offer a sacrifice. And both of these are related to the process

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of selecting Israel's two leaders for the kingship. But in both instances, God is in the process. The divine hand is guiding what is being done in spite of what people are doing.

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In the midst of all things related to the electoral process, Thou is the mysterious hand of the eternal. And God moves in a mysterious way. He can even cause the wrath of men to praise him.

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I remember reading of a very critical period in the history of the city of Dallas, involving our people. It was a very dark day and some of the civic leaders were concerned about getting black people, certain federal consideration in taking

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the census, the national census, and getting some employees at the post office. And so they did the usual things that we do. They got together petitions, they wrote letters, they wrote letters to the White House and to various people in government. But it seemed that with all that had been done that they could not get through

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to the president. So they met and they were giving their reports and they had all failed to get any results. They weren't able to get even direct contact with the persons who had the power. It was a Reverend Maynard Jackson, who at that time was the pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church in Dallas. He said,

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"Well, I've got some contact. Let me handle it." And so they did. Because he had a relative who was the valet to Franklin Roosevelt. And so what the valet did, he received the word and he took this message and pinned it to the pillow of the president. So when the president went to bed that night he found it pinned to

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his pillow. And it was not long after that that they got direct results. They began to get some people hired in all of those positions. God moves in a mysterious way, strange and mysterious way God moves and he is moving through the Prophet Samuel in shaping the course of the nation. So we've always, after all

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All is said and done. We've got to leave some room for God to act. Because if we don't leave any room for God

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to act in the situation, he will make room. Now we are citizens of two worlds. We cannot afford to renounce our citizenship

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in either one of these worlds. We are citizens of heaven and we are also citizens of this earth. We pay taxes in Travis County. We vote and we still engage in praying. We have obligations to the Lord and to Caesar. The scripture says, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things

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that are God's." So while there is a wall of separation between church and state, the wall is not designed, neither can it shut God out. God, you see, while we have church and state, we talk about that wall that separates church and state, it doesn't keep God out. He's not just over here with the church. God is the God of

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both the church and the world. He is Lord of all and we must recognize that. So Samuel goes to Bethlehem following God's orders. There at Bethlehem he prepares the sacrifice and he calls Jesse to the sacrifice and tells him to bring his sons and he begins to look at the sons. He begins to size them up. You

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know how we are. When we see people we begin to size them up and we begin to make some conclusions based on how they look. Sometimes we look and we already have written certain people off just by the way they look. And sometimes we have already promoted certain people to certain positions just by the way

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they look. They look impressive so maybe they ought to be the leader because they sure look good. And we all have a tendency to to reach these conclusions many times based on how people look in their clothes. You know if he's tall and He's handsome.

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And he -- his clothes fit him rather well. He gets a real good mark. I remember having a young man in the church I pastored before coming here.

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He was tall and handsome, and the young ladies would like to have him to take them to the dance, but they found out that he was all messed up in his mind. (laughter)

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See, he looked good on the outside, but his mind was all messed up. So it means a great deal to have the better way of evaluating people. And when he looked and he saw this son, alive, tall, and handsome, oh my, my, he would make a great king.

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great king for this nation and he admires his height, how he looks the part and and so often I guess he may have said well we've had a king like this before we've had the Saul who's tall and handsome they selected Saul on that basis and so maybe he was thinking of a look-alike and that certainly was not

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not good. A lot of people make those selections. I remember a lady who was on the pulpit committee for one of the great churches of our country and the minister had passed and they were looking for another place. She said well now let's let's see if we can't make a great improvement on the kind of looks

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we have coming from the pulpit this next time. We've had this minister you know for 30 years and you know he was not handsome and all of that but that's true we can't select a handsome, and so they did select a handsome one, but he did not stay but just about three months. They were basing it on how he looked on the

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outside. And so Samuel, even the prophet of God is saying, well now this man Eliab will make a good king, but God speaks to him. No, no Samuel. No, no, no. that's not the way I evaluate my leaders. Not that way. You see, man, you're looking at it just from the human stand. You're looking at it just from those

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characteristics. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Well, they look at the sons he does. Samuel looks at the sons that are paraded before him one by one. Each time God said, "No, no, this is not the one."

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Each time God speaks. And it seems that they have finished. "Well, say, well, Jesse, do you have another son?" He said, "Oh, yes, I've got one, but that's my youngest.

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"He's a baby boy, he's out there keeping sheep. "I don't think you want to see him." "Oh," he said, "send for him immediately." In other words, we will not sit down until he comes.

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When young David came before them, the Lord spoke to Samuel and said, "This is the one. "This is the one." Young, seemingly inexperienced,

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but somehow God has given direction that this is the one. This is the one. And so David is anointed as the King of Israel.

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King of Israel, humble town of Bethlehem, but from this humble town comes the one who is to lead God's people. So it's important that as we contemplate on this election

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at this time, that we look at the issues and those persons who best represent the positions on issues that will benefit the people and not on how they look on the outside.

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I can remember Franklin Roosevelt who was president along with any other person during our time. And he was stricken with polio,

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Never could see him walking, he was always seated, but he was able to do, even from a so-called wheelchair, much more than many others have been able to do, as Jesse Jackson put it, "Riding a horse." So it's what's on the inside and not the outward appearance, because God looks at the heart.

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God looks at the one who has concern and compassion for people. God looks at the heart. God looks for faith and commitment in his leaders. God looks at the heart.

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God looks for those who have hope, those who have faith, and those who demonstrate love in uniting his people. God looks at the heart. God is concerned about the heart.

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And so David is anointed. has a long and eventful tenure, he has ups and downs, but so is it with every leader. We have a tendency, you know, to devour our public officials many times. More and more I've become fearful about what we expect, you know, we expect

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paragons of virtue and we don't have that, you know. All of these, all of them, no matter where they are, all of them are sinners. All of them have their weaknesses. And when we consider them, we must understand quite well

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that when we select one, no matter who's selected, that we have not elected or selected the Messiah. We have not done that. We have not done that.

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You see, we have only one Messiah. And he came to this earth almost 2,000 years ago. He came, the embodiment of God in the flesh, he alone, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

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He's the Messiah. Not President Bush, not Bill Clinton, none of these. They are struggling and they're human creatures with frailties just as all of us are.

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And sometimes we need to keep this in mind and to keep in mind that God is in charge. He's in charge. Basal was sitting on the throne

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and God had already fired him. He's still sitting on the throne and he's already sent Samuel over there and David has already been anointed as the king of Israel.

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Basal is on the throne because you see behind it all is God. - Amen. - God is on the throne And the one who is our Messiah has come to walk among us.

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He comes to live our life. He is with us. And we're going to have, just as he demonstrated in his life,

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we're gonna have some dark Fridays. Because in the end, when he gave his best, the tide of public opinion turned against him. He was falsely accused.

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He was unjustly condemned. He was placed on a cross between two thieves on that dark Friday, and he died. So we have our dark good Fridays.

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We have them times when we don't see the sun. Times when we don't see the moon or stars. Times of darkness when the dead get up and walk the streets.

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We have our dark Fridays. We have our dark Fridays when goodness and truth are on the scaffold. We have our dark Fridays when we are placed in the tomb

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and the tomb is sealed and we are left there. And everybody thinks that it's over forever. We have our dark Fridays. But the good news is that we also have Easter Sunday morning

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that there is a getting up morning because God is in control, that God rules this world. Although the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.

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Because we have a day of victory, and that is good news, because God is in charge. And so my brothers and sisters, no matter what the outcome is,

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sure, go and vote, do your best to participate in the process, But remember that ultimately God is in charge. Kings are removed.

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Kingdoms are shaken. But God is in charge. So I say to you, lift up your hearts because God is in charge.

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Though the waters be troubled and mountains carried into the midst of the sea, lift up your hearts. God is in charge.

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The Lord of hosts is with us. God is in charge. He's the King of glory. Who is this King of glory?

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The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. He is in charge now, not only on election day, but he will be in charge forever.

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Thanks be to God that he's in charge. He's in control of his world. And what it is ours to do is to be workers together with Him.

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As we come now to the hymn of invitation, we extend the privilege of the church for you to come and unite with the people of God. Put your hand in God's hand

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and seek to live according to His commands. Invite you to come. The door of the church is open. Have thine own way, Lord.

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♪ Shall I await ♪ ♪ Shall I await ♪ ♪ The call of the mountain ♪ ♪ The call of the lake ♪

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♪ O'er the earth bend thee ♪ ♪ And over me ♪ ♪ Why are you waiting ♪ ♪ Even when I'm sleeping ♪

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♪ Have I no way, Lord ♪ ♪ Have I no way ♪ ♪ Search me and try me ♪ ♪ Yes, there's a way ♪

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♪ Brighter than stars ♪ ♪ Watch me just now ♪ ♪ As in thy presence ♪ ♪ Humbly I bow ♪

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♪ Have thine away, Lord ♪ ♪ Have thine away ♪ ♪ Strong and weary ♪ ♪ Healthy I pray ♪

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♪ Power of love ♪ ♪ Surely is mine ♪ ♪ Touch me, I will be ♪ ♪ Savior divine ♪

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♪ Have thy own way, Lord ♪ ♪ Have thy own way ♪ ♪ Lord, by me ♪ ♪ Have some to say ♪

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♪ Still with my spirit ♪ ♪ Dear Lord shall speak ♪ ♪ Christ the great ♪ ♪ Always ♪

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♪ In me ♪ [ Music ] [BLANK_AUDIO]