Check Your Self Esteem
God’s Love Conquers Our Darkness.
Intro: Saul was the first king of Israel ~1025 BC. God had Samuel; his prophet appoint him as Israel’s first king.
II. SPS: This sermon discusses low self-esteem, using Saul’s life as an example. Hopefully, the lessons we learn will help us avoid some of the mistakes he made and reassure us of God’s love which conquers all our darkness.
III. Text: 1 Samuel 9:1-3, 15 -10:1, 9 - Saul had self-image problems.
a. The Israelites’ view of Saul and his family – 9:1-3
b. God’s view of Saul and his family – 9:15-20
c. Saul’s view of himself and his family – 9:21
i. Note Saul is going by what he thought, not what God thought. If you have low self-esteem, you are probably doing the same thing as Saul
God and Samuel honored Saul – 9:22-10:1 - Samuel prophesied great things for Saul. 10:9 – God confirmed his love and choice of Saul by giving him his Holy Spirit.
But this did not change Saul’s opinion of self. We develop a view of ourselves and our families from early life that we carry throughout our lives.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs shows the damage done to self-esteem and our psyche if we think we are not loved, appreciated and respected early in life. We develop a dark side that creates a bill of debt to fulfil those needs often by hook or crook. This is called an “existential debt”. The song “Patches” by Clarence Carter shows how this can develop and how out of control it can be.
IV. Saul struggled with his low self-esteem – 1 Samuel 10:20-24
V. He valued the opinions of people above God - 1 Samuel 15:1-28
Samuel had to remind him that obedience and submission to God was worth more than sacrifice or trying to please any person. But Saul’s darkness drove him to be a people-pleaser.
Once he tasted the power and approval of being king, he would sacrifice anything to hold on to it, even killing God’s priests, and trying to kill David, his general and son-in-law simply because he was more popular than him.
God had already given Saul the highest honor among his chosen people, King of Israel, but he could not accept God’s opinion of him and do as God commanded.
God’s love goes beyond bounds and we have been given the highest honor or all creation, to be in God’s presence and live with him for all eternity as Children of God. Do not be deceived; No amount of doing can remove your shame, guilt, and pain and make us feel worthy, loved, appreciated, but God offers all this to us if we will accept him (2 Timothy 1:8-10, Matthew 11:27-28).
Conclusion: Every person has dark side issues such as low self-esteem – it is part of being human. Only God can help you get them under control and live a life of acceptance and peace in Jesus Christ.
Intro: Saul was the first king of Israel ~1025 BC. God had Samuel; his prophet appoint him as Israel’s first king.
II. SPS: This sermon discusses low self-esteem, using Saul’s life as an example. Hopefully, the lessons we learn will help us avoid some of the mistakes he made and reassure us of God’s love which conquers all our darkness.
III. Text: 1 Samuel 9:1-3, 15 -10:1, 9 - Saul had self-image problems.
a. The Israelites’ view of Saul and his family – 9:1-3
b. God’s view of Saul and his family – 9:15-20
c. Saul’s view of himself and his family – 9:21
i. Note Saul is going by what he thought, not what God thought. If you have low self-esteem, you are probably doing the same thing as Saul
God and Samuel honored Saul – 9:22-10:1 - Samuel prophesied great things for Saul. 10:9 – God confirmed his love and choice of Saul by giving him his Holy Spirit.
But this did not change Saul’s opinion of self. We develop a view of ourselves and our families from early life that we carry throughout our lives.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs shows the damage done to self-esteem and our psyche if we think we are not loved, appreciated and respected early in life. We develop a dark side that creates a bill of debt to fulfil those needs often by hook or crook. This is called an “existential debt”. The song “Patches” by Clarence Carter shows how this can develop and how out of control it can be.
IV. Saul struggled with his low self-esteem – 1 Samuel 10:20-24
V. He valued the opinions of people above God - 1 Samuel 15:1-28
Samuel had to remind him that obedience and submission to God was worth more than sacrifice or trying to please any person. But Saul’s darkness drove him to be a people-pleaser.
Once he tasted the power and approval of being king, he would sacrifice anything to hold on to it, even killing God’s priests, and trying to kill David, his general and son-in-law simply because he was more popular than him.
God had already given Saul the highest honor among his chosen people, King of Israel, but he could not accept God’s opinion of him and do as God commanded.
God’s love goes beyond bounds and we have been given the highest honor or all creation, to be in God’s presence and live with him for all eternity as Children of God. Do not be deceived; No amount of doing can remove your shame, guilt, and pain and make us feel worthy, loved, appreciated, but God offers all this to us if we will accept him (2 Timothy 1:8-10, Matthew 11:27-28).
Conclusion: Every person has dark side issues such as low self-esteem – it is part of being human. Only God can help you get them under control and live a life of acceptance and peace in Jesus Christ.
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