Don’t Give Up! -- Part 2

I want you to notice what it says in verse 8.

It said, "He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal.

And Saul's men began to scatter.

So he said, 'Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offering.' And Saul offered up a burnt offering." Here's what I want you to know.

It was...

God had never called Saul to be a priest, and so it was outlawed.

It was not legal for him to offer a sacrifice.

Only the Levites, the priests, were allowed to offer a sacrifice.

But because Saul got pressured by the people to do something, and he was asking himself, "Do people like me? What do they think of me as a leader?" It pressured Saul to step out of his place of obedience and to step into disobedience.

There are some people today that because of peer pressure around you, you're doing things that you know you shouldn't do, but people have pressured you into doing them.

Because you're asking yourself this question, "Do people like me?" There are people today that are here that are living in compromise because you feel the pressure of people wanting you to do some things that violate your conscience and violate your convictions, but you're doing them because the question that you ask yourself is, "Do people like me?" I believe that many of us struggle with this.

Many of us can compromise our future for a moment of applause.

Do people like us? And I want to tell you that Saul was asking himself this question, "Do people like me?" Ultimately, if that's the question that you're asking, you will crash and burn.

Ultimately, you will compromise your faith.

Ultimately, you will water down the message.

Ultimately, you will try not to be offensive.

You'll try to speak in terms that everybody likes.

You'll make sure that your message does not offend anybody, and you will sabotage your future.

Saul, little did he know it, but at that moment of asking, "Do people like me?" Saul was giving up the keys to his future.

Number two, don't give it up.

Not only don't let people-pleasing pressure drive you from your place of obedience, but don't give it up.

Avoid assuming roles that God has not anointed you to step into.

Saul was not called to be a priest.

He was called to be a king.

Samuel had anointed him, had taken oil and poured it over his head and said, "God is calling you to be a king of Israel." Anointing means that someone is given the authority and power to fulfill a task upon their lives.