Most Recent

I ❤️ MY CHURCH

Jul 26, 2026    Pastor Dave Gargano

What if the person least likely to succeed was actually the one God had already chosen? Pastor Dave opens this powerful message from 1 Samuel 16 and uses David's story to shatter the lies we've believed about ourselves. When Samuel arrived at Jesse's home to anoint a king, Jesse didn't even bother calling David in from the fields. Too young. Too overlooked. Not invited to the party. Yet God looked past every polished, qualified candidate and said of the shepherd boy, *"Arise, anoint him, for this is the one"* (1 Samuel 16:12). Pastor Dave's unique insight cuts deep: your limitations are real, but your God has none—and choosing to trust your limitations over God's power is the enemy's greatest victory over you. Like a hard drive that must be written over rather than simply deleted, our minds need God's Word to replace the lies we've carried. The call today is urgent and personal: stop counting yourself out, bring those areas of settled defeat to the altar, and receive what God has already declared over you. You are unqualified—but you are *chosen*. Now get up and walk in it.


1 Samuel 16 Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”

2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.”

But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”

4 So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”

5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

8 So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.”

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.