We're thinking about over the next few months, Pastor Gary has been in First Samuel,

so I'm not going to continue in First Samuel, but the idea is that over the next few months,

we're going to be looking at some of the most famous characters, some of the most interesting history,

some of the most foundational and fundamental stories of the Old Testament.

And so I'm really excited about that. When we think of where we are

in history, the Israelites are out of Egypt. They're in Israel. They've been split up into the 12 tribes.

They've been led by judges, and we've been studying those judges over the last several months.

We think of Barack, think of

Deborah, think of Gideon, think of Samson. And now the judge is Samuel. And yet the people,

because of the nations around them and because of the Philistines are pressuring them and wanting

to fight them, the nation of Israel is asking for a king. And Samuel takes it a little personally. He's a little hurt

by this because he's the judge at the time and he cries out to God and he says, God, they're rejecting

me and they're asking for a king and says, God, God says, no, Samuel, they're actually rejecting me.

Let's give them a king. Let's give them what they want, go ahead and an anoint one.

And Samuel goes and anoints King Saul. And so we're heading into this part of history.

And then Samuel anoints King David as well. And I know for me personally, studying in these chapters

through the eyes of Samuel and looking at King Saul's life, looking at David's

life, looking at Solomon's life. This was some of the most character building, some of the most

challenging, some of the most encouraging scriptures in the Old Testament. And so I'm very excited

to be listening as we're going to study the life of Saul and David over the next several

months. But just to give an overview,

I thought it was interesting when I think about this, the similarities between David and Saul,

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