Do as the Occasion Serves You for God is With You

1 Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul’s head. He kissed Saul and said, “I am doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession.* 2 When you leave me today, you will see two men beside Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah, on the border of Benjamin. They will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father has stopped worrying about them and is now worried about you. He is asking, ‘Have you seen my son?’

3 “When you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at Bethel. One will be bringing three young goats, another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a wineskin full of wine. 4 They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept.

5 “When you arrive at Gibeah of God,* where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the place of worship. They will be playing a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre, and they will be prophesying. 6 At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person. 7 After these signs take place, do what must be done, for God is with you.

          The King James version says,

 

        “ and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. 7 And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.”

 

1. To become a new man there first has to be the death of the old man.

A.  You must be born again

B.  Moses chose rather to suffer the afflictions of the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

C.  Obedience through faith comes first, then understanding.  Saul was obedient to Samuel first,  but it is always the Spirit that supplies the understanding.

 

2.  Rachel’s sepulchre....Rachel crying for her children and would not be comforted.

A.  A mother’s love makes it hard for a person to prioritize the Father’s will above the  family.

B.  He that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom.

C.   Rachel died on the road the Bethlehem.  Though she was deeply loved by Jacob she did not bear the, “Child of Promise.”

D.  Paul, also of the tribe of Benjamin, said, “When it pleased God who separated me from my mother wound to reveal his grace in me, I went not immediately up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me.....

E.  Saul is tempted to go home because his father is worried about him. 

3.  Do as the occasion serves you, for God is whith you.

A.   The life of a Christian is

          1.  A journey

            2.  An adventure

             3.  Scary

             4.   Exciting           

             5.  A pilgrimage

             6.  An exploration

 

          4.  The Lord told the Disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the father.  Having received the gift of the Holy Spirit they lived their lives simply, “Doing as the occasion served.”

A.   Peter spontaneously preach the most understandable version of the Gospel that had ever been preached.

B.    Peter was just “Doing as the occassion served”  when he said to the man at the gate called beautiful,  “Silver and gold have I none but such as I have I give unto you.”

C.    Before the Sanhedrin Peter and John said, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than God Judge. For we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard!”