10 Tweets

Here's last weekend's sermon in 10 Tweets, The David Story (1 Samuel), “Dedicating,” 1 Samuel 1:1–2:11

1/ What does it mean to really dedicate our children (or anything else we value highly)?

2/ The David Story amazingly begins with a story of a woman, Hannah, deeply disappointed with her life.

3/ Out of her disappointment and depression she makes a crucial decision leading to dedicating her child to God.

4/ We can't dedicate our kids w/out coming to conviction that God is supreme & his glory is most important.

5/ In Hannah's day, children brought not only personal fulfillment but tied to family and national security.

6/ Hannah trades her dream for God's dreams and purposes.

7/ She sets aside her idol, her god, to make her life about serving & glorifying God.

8/ An idol can be a good thing that becomes an ultimate thing. Can't live without thing.

9/ Make a habit of reminding yourself that your children belong to God, not to you. Parenting is stewardship.

10/ Battle idolatry in your own heart by seeking your identity in God and investing in God's dream.

One More Thing

Hi Five Oakers, It's the weekend and there are a few things I want to share with you.

The Weekend

This weekend we launch a new series, The David Story: Finding Strength in God. It's an eight-week journey through 1 Samuel. 2 Samuel and the rest of David's story will follow.

Before the David story is the Samuel story, the man who anoints David king. And before the Samuel story is the story of his mother, Hannah. From Hannah we learn what it means to dedicate something of great value to God.

We have several child dedications and it's Mother's Day weekend, so you can imagine how happy I am that this text fell on today and not David and Bathsheba!

FYI

Sarah Bessey on "Motherhood: Transformation by Interruption"

By nature, by nurture, and by training, I'm a planner. I've always been able to make a plan, work a plan, stick to a plan. It's one of my greatest strengths, a dedication that has served me well in everything from my former work in strategic development and marketing to my life now as a writer and a mother.

Amy Julia Becker on "Ordinary Moms, Everyday Heroes: Every mom has the makings of a hero"

I wonder how many young women realized they are also embarking on a hero’s journey when they become mothers.

One More Thing

Dale Ralph Davis writes:

Hannah, therefore, shares in the fellowship of barrenness. And it is frequently in this fellowship that new chapters in Yahweh's history with his people begin--begin with nothing. God's tendency is to make our total inability his starting point. Our hopelessness and our helplessness are no barrier to his work. Indeed our utter incapacity is often the prop he delights to use for his next acts. ...Once we see where God often begins we will understand how we may be encouraged. (1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart, p. 16)