Vale Community Church · Sunday 19 July 2026
How to Read the Bible
1 Samuel 15
"Go, attack the Amalekites." Some passages need more prayer than others. How do we read a hard text like 1 Samuel 15 without explaining it away, or getting it badly wrong?
In a nutshell
What we heard on Sunday
If we misread the Bible, there's a danger we'll mislive our lives.
Dan began in Albania, shouting "car coming!" to the kids playing football in the street, not knowing that in Albanian it sounds like a very rude word. Same sounds, completely different meaning. We hate being misread ("That's what I said, but that's not what I meant"), yet we live in a culture desperate for the benefit of the doubt and slow to give it.
We do the same with the Bible. "Just take it literally," someone told Dan, quoting 'I do not permit a woman to teach', while wearing the gold the same passage mentions. We all interpret; nobody hears 'raining cats and dogs' and looks for pets. So give Samuel the benefit of the doubt we want for ourselves.
Observe, interpret, apply
Observation asks what it meant back then: who, when, where, why. Skip it, and Philippians 4:13, written from prison about being content in plenty or hunger, becomes a hype verse for a last-minute winner. Interpretation asks what the author meant: Matthew 18:20 isn't about low attendance, but about two believers in conflict. Application asks, 'So what? Now what?' Be the one who's kind, forgiving and gentle. "All of us will experience success sometimes, but you can experience his peace all of the time."
Reading 1 Samuel 15
It's tempting to decide the God of the Old Testament is a different God. But do the observation. The Amalekites preyed on the weak, the old and the vulnerable, and God had warned for generations. This was "an act of justice rather than an act of imperialism": no plunder, no getting rich. "I'm not building an empire for you. I'm building a kingdom." Yet Saul spared King Agag and the best livestock, the ultimate trophies, and blamed the people. He was becoming the very thing God had called him to end.
Every page points to Jesus
On the Emmaus road, Jesus explained 'what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself'. Saul points to Jesus by contrast: the anti-kingdom king, using God to build his own empire. David wasn't perfect, but he was pointed in the right direction, and when Nathan confronted him, he didn't resist. Are we so different from Saul, obeying the parts we already agree with, but not what God says about our money, sexuality or forgiving our enemies?
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.Luke 24:27
Three words and a final move
Observe. Interpret. Apply.
And let every page point to Jesus.
Get the Bible right, Dan said, and we can get our living right, our loving right, our dying right, and one day our resurrection right. And it didn't have to end like this for Saul. "Whoever we are this morning, it doesn't have to end like this." God really wants you.
Three things to try this week
The challenges from Sunday
- 1Read with three words. Take a familiar verse and ask what it meant then, what the author meant, and 'so what, now what?' for you.
- 2Be the one who is kind. Where there's conflict, don't gossip or post about it. Go and be the reconciler.
- 3Stop building your own empire. Name the part of God's word you've been obeying 'more or less', and bring it to him like David, not Saul.
For your own time with God, or your Life Group
Questions to reflect on
Don't try to answer all of these. Pick the ones that get under your skin. The ones marked Just you and God are meant to be private — a moment of quiet rather than a go-round-the-circle.
Getting started
- Have you ever been badly misunderstood in a text message, or badly misunderstood someone else's?
- Any language-learning or holiday phrasebook disasters to confess?
Read 1 Samuel 15:1–23
Read it together, slowly. Then, before any of the questions below: what do you notice about Saul? About Samuel? About God? What do you find hard?
1 Observe, interpret, apply
- "That's what I said, but that's not what I meant." Why are we so quick to want the benefit of the doubt, and so slow to give it? How might that shape the way we read the Bible?
- Dan's imaginary friend Joe snapped because his mum had just died. When has knowing the backstory changed how you saw someone?
- Read Philippians 4:10–13. How does knowing Paul wrote this from prison change what verse 13 means?
- Read Matthew 18:15–20. What is verse 20 really about? What difference does that make the next time you're at odds with another Christian?
- Do you tend to jump straight to 'what this means to me'? Which of the three steps do you usually skip?
2 Reading 1 Samuel 15
- Read verses 2–3. Dan admitted this passage made him squirm. How does it make you feel? It's fine to be honest.
- Dan encouraged us to look up what the Amalekites were known for. Read Deuteronomy 25:17–18. What do you notice?
- Why does it matter that Israel was to take no plunder? Look at verses 3, 9 and 19.
- Read verses 13–15 and 20–21. Saul does 'more or less' what he's told, and blames the people. What does keeping Agag and the best livestock reveal about him?
- Read 1 Samuel 8:19–20. "The problem was never that they wanted a king. They wanted a king like everyone else's." Where are you tempted to want what everyone else has?
- Dan longed for people to look at us and not be able to tell whether we're conservative or liberal, because they "just see the justice of God and the mercy of God all at once." What would it take for Vale to be known like that?
- Just you and GodWhere are you building your own empire, in small ways no one else sees?
3 Every page points to Jesus
- Read Luke 24:13–27. How might it change your Bible reading to expect every page to point to Jesus?
- Dan warned against turning the David series into a TED talk: good advice for a better you. What's the difference between good advice and good news?
- Read Psalm 51:1–4. When they were confronted, Saul resisted and David didn't. What makes the difference?
- Which parts of God's word do you find hardest to obey: what he says about money, sexuality, forgiving your enemies, or something else?
- Just you and God"It doesn't have to end like this." Is there something you need to bring back to God today? He wants you.
Three words and a final move
- Dan's prayer asked for hearts that "observe carefully and interpret faithfully and apply generously." Which of those do you most need?
- Try it together: take Philippians 4:10–13 or Matthew 18:15–20 and walk through all four steps out loud. Observe, interpret, apply, and ask how it points to Jesus.
Read it well
Open a passage, then take one step at a time.
Praying together
- Pray for humble hearts that read God's word carefully, and obey all of it, not just the parts that suit us.
- Pray to be protected from building our own kingdoms, and for God's kingdom to come in Marston Moretaine.
- Close together with Dan's prayer: "Give us David's heart and a heart that runs back to you."
If you'd like to go deeper
A passage a day this week
A note for Life Group leaders
How to use this well
Fewer questions, deeper answers. One or two from each section is plenty for an evening. Let the conversation go where it needs to go.
Guard the private ones. The 'Just you and God' prompts aren't for going round the circle. Give people a quiet minute with them; anyone who wants to share can, and nobody has to.
Let the hard passage be hard. Some will find 1 Samuel 15 deeply troubling, and Dan admitted it made him squirm. Don't rush to a tidy answer. Let people say it's hard, then do the observation together.
Keep it humble. Dan touched on women in ministry, sexuality and politics, and your group will hold different views. The aim is humble, careful reading, not winning arguments.
Don't skip the practice. Walking a passage through the four steps together is where this message becomes a habit. Take your time.
Vale Community Church · Marston Moretaine
The full message is on the VCC YouTube channel. Scripture quotations are from the NIV.