Sermon Audio
When Jesus saw the crowds in Galilee, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. In that moment, He knew there was not enough of Him to go around. He turned to the disciples and said, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” When confronted with an afflicted world, Jesus’s resolved to summon and to send out more servants like Himself. At the time, only He was filled with the Holy Spirit; but He anticipated a day when that would change. Soon after ascending to His eternal throne, King Jesus would send the same Spirit who anointed Him to serve an afflicted world to anoint us to do the same.
1 Samuel 16:14-23 provides us with an Old Testament picture of this New Testament reality. God’s newly anointed king, David, serves the soon-to-be former king and severely afflicted Saul. Like David and because of Jesus, we have been anointed by the Holy Spirit to serve an afflicted world as stewards of creation, students of experience, stalwarts of peace, and servants of God’s Kingdom.