Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20230226 - Contending Faith - 1 Samuel 1

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#20230226 - Contending Faith - 1 Samuel 1 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Colorado, to learn more about the many
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resources available, through abounding Grace, Media, or to
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tune into our live stream Services.
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Visit us online at Calvary. Co dot church or download our
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free Calvary Church app now. Let's open our Bibles and study
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God's word. I'm at.
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All right. So Pastor Ed touched on an
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important principle last week? I heard in one of the services
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and as I was passing by downstairs and children's, I
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don't remember which one it was. But it went something like this,
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that it was based on Matthew chapter 5 Jesus gives us a
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promise in the middle of the Beatitudes, and he says Those
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Who hunger and thirst after righteousness, will be filled.
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Dad never holds out on. You does not.
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I'm back if you're hungry for him, if you're thirsty for him,
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this morning, he will move in your life.
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It also goes on and pass your at alluded to this that in the
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physical, you eat, when you get hungry, right, your stomach
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rumbles, you feel a little bit faint, or whatever you feel
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hungry. And so you go and find something
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to eat and that's how it works in the natural.
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But in the spiritual as you eat, you get hungry as you spend time
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with the Lord, as you commune with him as you spend.
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And time in the word, as you allow the holy spirit of God to
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move on you and to speak to you. It creates an appetite for more.
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You should never come away from a time saying, you know, I think
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I've had enough of the Lord. I think I had my fill I think
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I'm done for right now and I know from the first two services
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and talking to many of you that there's a lot of people that are
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part of this community that are going through.
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Incredible difficulty that may not.
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You be here this morning and that's great.
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But It might be, it might be something that you were going
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through and I want to encourage you as you go through that,
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sometimes the Lord wants you to. Just wait.
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It's uncomfortable but he has something for you but there are
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other times where the spirit of God begins to stir you and rise
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up in you and he wants to do something in your life that
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you're going to have to contend for.
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You're going to have to take a stand.
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You're going to have to step forward in faith and allow the
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Lord to have his way in your life.
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At this particular church, we have a vision.
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We have a motto and it's very simple.
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Just says, when disciple and sent, We want to introduce
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people to Jesus, we want to teach them who he is, and then
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we want to scatter the church out so that way they can tell
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other people about who he is. And so just as the body is made
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up of many different gifts, the body is also made up of many
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different phases of life in Generations.
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It's made up of people who are farther along in their walk,
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people who are newer to the Lord and each generation each phase
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of life has something. Different that you can learn
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about the Lord. If you're taking notes, I want
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to encourage you to do an exercise.
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I want you to write down one, maybe two people, just keep the
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list short, that have had great impact on your life spiritually.
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I want you to think through that.
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What is the Legacy that has been left to you?
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What is your spiritual Heritage? Somebody who has spoken truth
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into your life at a crucial points.
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Maybe there's somebody else who just walked alongside you.
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More of a Ministry of presence, but I want you to consider that
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and write that down. Then I also want you to consider
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as you pass through life, as you pass by others, and your job
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school work. Wherever you go, what is the
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spiritual Legacy that you are leaving behind you in your wake?
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What are the things that you would hope to leave behind?
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And is that happening? But I think it's a helpful
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exercise because a lot of us don't think about our Legacy
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until we hit the end of our life or we sense that we're near the
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end of a season. And what happens is that doesn't
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leave you a lot of time to then do something about it but the
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Bible teaches us to number our days so that we may gain a heart
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of wisdom. The Bible wants us to be mindful
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and aware of what is going on. So as I did this exercise, I
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thought through some things and one of the first ones that Came
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to mind was my grandfather and my grandfather is gone home to
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be with the Lord, but when he was here, he was very faithful.
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He had dyslexia, it was difficult for him to read, but I
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remember 5:30 every morning. My grandfather would get up and
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he would spend an hour reading. The Bible didn't come easily to
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him was very difficult. He never even finished junior
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high, but he made that time with the Lord, that appointment for
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God to speak to him and have his way.
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But you see my grandpa did not like pastors.
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At all, he had been burned. He'd been in some unfortunate
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situations. He was not a fan and I remember,
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I didn't know that. I was seven, maybe eight and I
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came to my grandpa on his site. Grandpa.
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I think I want to be a pastor Well, it's not really the vision
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he had for my life but he was not happy.
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You got very Stern, got very quiet.
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I remember him coming over to me and grabbing both of my
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shoulders, not aggressively but gently and just saying boy if
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you do that you better take it extremely seriously.
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You see we don't play around with our faith, this isn't
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something that we hold Loosely to, it's Time of the week where
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we show up and we have spiritual fantasy or we do make believe
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any of that. Jesus is real.
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Jesus is moving. Jesus is here in the room, he's
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praying for us, the spirit of Lori.
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And so another one, I thought of, I had a friend, who was a
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pastor, who was a World War Two vet.
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He married his wife when she was 16 and he was 18, Pearl, Harbor
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happened two weeks later. And he went, and he fought in
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the War for the duration of the war.
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He was not a Believer when he went.
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He became one throughout the course of the war and he came
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home different and I asked him. If you were going to impart
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something to me what would what advice would that look like?
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I want to be a pastor. I was probably in high school at
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this point and he goes, you know, over the course of your
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life you'll have many things that Vie for your loyalty.
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There are many things that want to have your energy that will
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seek to draw you in and suck up your time and I would encourage
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you that that energy and that loyalty in that time is given to
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you. For Jesus it's not given to you
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for ideas of man fads Trends in the culture politics, whatever
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it might be things that we give our energy to and we put all of
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our life. We poured into that belongs to
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Jesus. Because Jesus is Worthy, and
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Jesus has given us something. When he bought her life for a
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price, and following Jesus is both costly.
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It's also disruptive, but it's also beautiful.
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The Lord has called you to something beautiful and when you
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follow him you don't pay the price.
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Just once discipleship is paying the price and paying the price
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and paying the price, you take up your cross daily and you go
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after Jesus not because Jesus wants things to be difficult but
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because things are difficult and he invites us to partner with
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him to die to ourselves John Wimber was a pasture.
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He said this about discipleship, the economy of the kingdom is
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quite simple. Each new Step will cost us
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everything we have gained to date every time he crossed a new
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threshold. It will cost us everything that
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we now, have every new Step May cost us all of the reputation
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and all of the security that we have accumulated up to that
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point, and a disciple will always do that.
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Psalms 145, we read this morning but Verses 4 through 7 in the
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message read like this generation after generation
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stands in awe of your work. Each one tells stories of your
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Mighty acts your beauty and Splendor.
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Have everyone talking I compose songs on your wonders, you're
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marvelous doings our headline news, that could write a book
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full of the details of your greatness.
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The fame of your goodness spreads across the country and
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your righteousness is on everyone's lips.
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You see, I cherish the stories that have been passed down to me
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as a younger believer. And as I'm growing, I have kids,
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I want to really understand how I can make my floor.
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They're sealing I want my kids to surpass me and devotion and
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love towards Jesus and understanding who he is, and
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what they will do to follow him. That is the goal is to instill
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courage to instill expectancy into the Next Generation.
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They come across something. They've never been to before.
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They don't know, you don't know what you don't know.
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And so somebody older who's a Believer who's been down that
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road can say, you know what, the Lord has the power to heal.
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The Lord has the power to speak to that.
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The Lord has the power to get you out of this situation.
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And what you do is you take your heart in your faith and you
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place it into the Next Generation.
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For them to carry forward. You see our country is in a
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place of a lot of turmoil today. We see economic turmoil, we see
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spiritual turmoil, we had covid the Fallout of that the war in
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Ukraine. What's going to happen in
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Moldova? All these different things that
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are going on around us? But you know what?
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Jesus doesn't feel. He doesn't feel fear and we have
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not been given a spirit of fear in Matthew chapter 18, verse 20.
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It says in Jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has
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been given to me in heaven and on Earth go.
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Go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations, baptizing them
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in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy
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Spirit, teaching them to observe all that.
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I have commanded you and lo. I Am With You Always even to the
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End of the Age, we want to be of people who are pregnant with the
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purposes of God, that the Lord is doing something inside of us
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that we can't contain. But you see if the mission is
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always somebody else's job, then we're never doing the mission.
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And so, Jesus wants us to contend for those that are
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around us, and where the presence of God is the church is
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glorious. But when the presence of the
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Lord, or the people ignore what the Lord wants to do, they don't
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allow him to move. What is Left Behind is scary.
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Churches and up being buildings that become museums it become
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monuments to the past, they become mirages of life in the
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culture. And what ends up happening is
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they taught the lost with life, but they never impart it.
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People come searching and they don't find Jesus.
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And we don't want that. To be said of us and nothing
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will work as hard against you as apathy.
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And that's ironic, but it's true.
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So, we find ourselves in first Samuel first, Samuel chapter one
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context, Eli is a judge. He's the priest who has become
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the high priest has become the judge of the nation.
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The judges, a leader. The last judge that we read
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about with Samson, Samson died by Suicide.
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He had great moral failure in his life.
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The Lord used him at times, but Samson did.
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Not always make himself available.
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The Philistines had the entire nation under their thumb and so
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we see Samuel are not Samuel. I'm sorry.
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Eli rise to prominence within the culture and we don't know
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the whole story, but at some point, the people of God were no
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longer dominated by the enemy. But the problem was the priests
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had gotten lazy. Eli had a great ministry.
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But he wasn't a great dad. Perhaps his kids were priest at
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the temple and Shiloh and they were awful people, they would
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come against the Lord. They would blaspheme him.
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People would get drunk in the temple.
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They would literally sleep with women on the doorstep of the
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temple. It says in 1st Samuel, zero fear
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of the Lord, no respect for who the Lord was first.
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Samuel chapter 2 verse. 12 says, now, the sons of Eli were
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corrupt, they did not know the Lord, these are the religious
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leaders. And so in first Samuel chapter 3
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verse 1, the result is the word of the Lord was rare.
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In those days? There was no widespread
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Revelation translation Ministry, messages or ministries of God
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were hardly ever heard or seen? The spiritual life in this
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country, went on and on and on, in the Liturgy and the methods
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and the Traditions that they had completely by the flesh.
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The spirit was not leading the sons of Eli.
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And that's scary for us this morning to think about in some
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places. There are lots and lots and lots
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of churches that are run without the spirit and guess what.
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A lot of people don't even know they don't even miss him because
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they don't know what to miss. Maybe it wasn't imparted to them
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by generation before them but Ministry without God is scary.
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So, So first Samuel, chapter 1 verse 7.
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Verse 1. It says now there was a certain
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man around with him zopim of the mountains of Ephraim and his
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name was Arcana. The son of jeroboam, the son of
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Eli, who the son of tohu in the son of Zeus and Ephraim might
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and he had two wives, the name of one was Hannah, the name of
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the other was Pnina Pnina their sorry Pnina had children but
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Hannah had no children. So this man went up from his
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City yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts
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in Shiloh. Also, the two sons of Eli hophni
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and phinehas, the priests of the Lord were there.
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If you taking notes this morning and I want you to write a
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thought for me, as we're talking about contending in the spirit
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of God rising up in you, I'll Khanna was a faithful faithful
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man. The priests were corrupt.
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Everyone knew it. It was an Open Secret.
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And so, Al Cana would have had, every reason not to go up yearly
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and worship, he could have found an excuse.
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I've been in that church, the Hypocrites, whatever, but I'll
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kind of knew that just because somebody chose to not walk with
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the Lord, It was not a reason for him to abandon God.
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So year after year, he was faithful, he would go up, he
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would Worship the Lord, he would take his two wives.
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That's who wives are not, what the Lord would have.
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Anytime you see polygamy and scripture, you see, tension, you
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see struggle Strife, you see family issues.
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But even when we invite difficulty into our family, God
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still wants to heal that and God was still honored by all Kana
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coming. Each year to him.
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And so I kind of was making a choice that you know what, I'm
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not going to go by what I don't know because I don't know why
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these guys are in charge but I am going to stick to what I do
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now and I do know that God is good and he's worthy of My
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Worship. So if you're taking notes, the
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first thought I'd have you write down as continuing Faith,
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doesn't work with what it is. But rather, what should be We
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don't walk by sight right, continuing Faith, doesn't work
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with what we see with. What is we don't give up, we
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don't get discouraged because something is an obstacle and it
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comes up in our life. Jesus promised us that living in
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this world, we would have many trials, but Faith Works based on
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what should be. Jesus taught us how to pray in
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the Lord's Prayer. Let your will be done on Earth
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as it is in heaven. We want to see the kingdom in
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the will. Of the Lord established here
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among us and our culture, Samuel Lee, Logan bringle, who is a
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Salvation Army. Commissioner wrote this thought
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you said in order to Bear the same type of fruit, we must
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become the same type of tree. You have to conform.
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Is he fruit. Doesn't just appear in your life
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that has to be tended. It has to be nurtured, you don't
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just walk over and pick something off the tree that
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you've never invested in. You have to pay attention to
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what you're doing and I'll Connor was doing that for his
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family and people in the culture.
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It sounds like we're largely going along with what the
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priests were doing. And so what was happening was a
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corporate industrial model had hijacked.
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Act the ministry model that God had for his people and people
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were not getting the Lord, they were getting tradition methods
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that they lacked. Sometimes this happens in our
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families, it's easy for us to stop bearing fruit for us to get
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out into the weeds, for us to feel like we're doing well at
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Ministry of the Lord is happy with something in our life, but
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we neglect, maybe not on purpose.
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The ones that he's given us in our home for us to take care of
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intend to But when we share our story with each new generation,
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it's powerful. So we'll pick up here in verse 4
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and so it carries on and says, whenever the time came for
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elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Pnina his
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wife and to all her sons and daughters, she has at least
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four, right? It's plural least two sons, at
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least two, daughters, maybe more but to Hannah he would give a
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double portion for you see He loved Hannah and it says that he
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would give her the double portion.
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Although the Lord had closed her womb, when Hannah would go up to
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worship, Pnina would go with her children and she would see that
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and Hannah would go alone. And Hannah would enter the house
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of God by herself verse 6 says in her rival also provoked, her
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severely in order to make her miserable because the Lord had
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closed her womb. And so it was year by year when
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she went out to the house of the Lord that she provoked, her,
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therefore, she wept and did not eat You sound kind of wanted to
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lead his family, but there were some things that were out of the
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orbit of his control. He could not give Hannah what
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she desired the most, but what he could do was be faithful to
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the Lord, be faithful to this Legacy.
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And we see when God moves in their family will see the
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birthing of a great prophet. The Lord will move through
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Hannah and Hannah is Faith to bring about Redemption for an
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entire nation. If you've seen the movie, The
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World War 2 movie Saving Private Ryan.
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You'll be familiar with the scene where they storm Normandy.
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They're coming, they land on the beach.
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There's machine-gun Fire coming and they're running up the beach
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and people are getting mowed down.
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More people are not making it than making it as a similar
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parallel here, to the culture, right?
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Because there is a wide road that leads to destruction, and
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there's a narrow road. That leads to Salvation And in
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the movie is, this is happening. I'm Tom Hanks, plays the
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sergeant and he goes and is a grenade that goes off right next
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to him and he can't hear his ears are ringing and a private
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is panicking. He is fearful And he runs up to
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him. And he says, sir, where is the
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Rally Point? And Hanks yells back to him.
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Well anywhere, but here, right, we're taking fire.
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This is not sustainable, we can't stay here.
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We're not going back to the boats.
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We're not staying here. So we have one option so they
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move up the beach to a sandbar, and the private says no.
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No. But scary.
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I'm staying here. And Tom Hanks, says to him, you
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can't We have to clear the beach for those who are coming you
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stay you die. We contend not only for what we
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see going on right now, but for those who are coming Al Cana, as
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he was moving forward, was not just worried about who was there
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already. But he would lead Samuel who was
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not there yet to go into Ministry and redeem the nation.
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And so what we see is elkanah and Hannah when they would go up
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year after year, they believed in the Fastness of God.
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They believed in a big God, they believed in a faithful.
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God, who was good? There was a lot.
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They didn't understand in that was hard for them, but they
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still pursued him. And so, he would give her the
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double portion because he had great love for her and the Lord
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had closed her womb. We don't read that she wasn't
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able to reproduce because there's anything wrong with her.
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This was a timing thing. The Lord was having her weight
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on his timing that's extremely difficult to do, but God was
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actually at work in the way Di and accomplishing something in
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her. And so we see that it's changed.
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Pnina has terrible character and she has tons of children Hannah.
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Pretty awesome. Lady loves the Lord.
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Very Godly has no children. And on the surface, this would
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be very hard because in the culture it was said that
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everyone A woman hoped that the Messiah would spring from her
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line that she would bear the savior of the nation.
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So, there was a spiritual component and if you couldn't
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reproduce and have children culturally, they believe that
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there was something wrong with you.
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God was against you, but you see that?
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That wasn't the case at all. But Hannah didn't know what was
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going on. And so and when she would go up
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to worship and they were faithful to do this.
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And you know what, take this opportunity to dig at her and
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her most vulnerable and painful places.
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And what would happen in the inverse is that it would then
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drive her to weep and she want to eat because she had no
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appetite and so they would worship and then she would cry.
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And I wonder how many of us today are here in the house of
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God and you're miserable. It's possible to be crushing
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your spirit to be brokenhearted to show up.
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And people ask you, how are you? I'm good bless God.
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And inside, you know, it's a lie.
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All right, we're Hollow, we're hemorrhaging, we're struggling
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Proverbs 13 12. It says, hope deferred makes the
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heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.
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And so in this season of struggle, it was hard.
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But she persevered, she went with Al Cana each year.
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She did her Duty, she was there, and then she would grieve if
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you're taking notes. The next thought I would have
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you consider is that continuing Faith isn't focused on
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competition but sustainability, she could have lashed out at the
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Lord being upset, you can control this.
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Why aren't you? She could have lashed out at
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Pnina. Every year every time like
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vanina, you're the worst or she could have lashed out at on
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Kana, even though I kind of loved her deeply, you know, she
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could have been upset with him or irritated.
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But what we see is Hannah goes in a prayer her prayer closet
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and she contends with God not with people.
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She's not worried about competition.
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She's worried about sustainability.
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And so if you'll pick up with me in verse 8, it says then I'll
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contact her husband said to her Hannah.
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Why do You Weep we why do you not eat?
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Why is your heart grief? He doesn't get it or maybe he
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does get it and he's trying to comfort her.
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But either way, it's not the same what a laconic can offer
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her in his love is not what she's upset about she loves Al
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Cana, but he doesn't get it. But I'll Kana knowing this
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story. It's not a surprise that happens
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every year you can see in this passage is wrestling probably
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with his own insecurities. He's wrestling with.
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Why am I not good enough for Hannah?
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Like I don't know. You wonder, I don't know,
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scripture doesn't say you wonder if Al Cana wondered.
26:09
Maybe. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
26:12
I don't know, probably not because Pnina has kids, but I
26:14
don't know. And so there's a lot of
26:16
insecurity here. But it continues on.
26:20
Am I not better to you than ten cents?
26:23
So Hannah Rose after they had finished eating and drinking and
26:26
Shiloh. Now, Eli the priest was sitting
26:29
on the seat by the doorpost of the Tabernacle of the Lord, Eli
26:33
was a judge. It was his job to watch over
26:36
what was happening inside of the temple.
26:38
At the very least even if his kids were terrible and his
26:41
watch, he made sure the worship was going to be done, well, and
26:45
that he was going to fulfill his duty and here.
26:49
Anna. She was in bitterness of the
26:51
soul and she prayed to the Lord and she wept in anguish, then
26:57
she made a vow and said, O Lord, of hosts.
26:59
If you will, indeed look on the Affliction of your maidservant
27:02
and remember me Not forget your maidservant but would give your
27:07
maidservant a male child. Then I will give him to the
27:10
Lord, all the days of his life and no razor will come upon his
27:14
head. You see, Hannah took it to the
27:18
Lord because she understood what she wasn't fighting was not, she
27:22
wasn't fighting Pnina. She wasn't fighting God in her
27:27
life, Hannah knew. Just like, scripture tells us
27:31
that what was happening, would only be brought forth in the
27:35
spirit, right? And so, Hannah goes in there her
27:37
prayer closet. She goes into the temple, and
27:39
she begins to pour out her heart to the Lord, and she's an
27:43
English. She's upset, but she doesn't
27:45
become venomous. She understands that we don't
27:47
fight against flesh and blood, but we're fighting against
27:50
things in the spiritual Realm. The pastor.
27:53
You Stanley Jones, who was the missionary to India?
27:57
He said the early Christians did not say in dismay.
28:00
Look what the world has come to, but rather in Delight, look,
28:04
what has come to the world? Henry could have had again, a
28:09
lot of excuses to not be in that Temple to not go in there one
28:13
more time. And contend for one more, one
28:17
more day. Lord, please do something.
28:20
Please remember me, please see me.
28:22
But she moves forward, and she grabs on to the Lord.
28:26
And I wonder how many of us pray like that today?
28:31
See the Saints, the older Saints.
28:33
A lot of times they would pray like a battering ram Luke 18,
28:37
right? And he would pray and it would
28:39
be consistent and you would keep coming back and you would wait
28:42
on the Lord and you didn't just pray when you felt like it, but
28:45
you prayed until you felt like it you came in to do business
28:49
with the Lord and you didn't leave until you felt like he had
28:52
heard you and our kids need to see that they need to see Faith
28:56
like that. They don't need to hear Doom and
28:59
Gloom They don't need to hear your life is so hard.
29:02
They don't need to hear all the things in the culture because
29:05
that won't fix their Gaze on God.
29:08
It will fix their Gaze on fear but we serve a powerful.
29:11
God we serve a good God and a God who is able to do more and
29:16
accomplish more than we can dream.
29:18
Micah 3:8. The prophet says, but truly, I
29:21
am full of Power by the spirit of the lord.
29:24
Your kids don't need you to force them to follow Jesus.
29:28
They need to watch you follow Jesus.
29:30
Yes, they need to see what's going on in your life.
29:33
So we'll pick up here in verse 12.
29:35
It says, and it happened as she continued praying before the
29:38
Lord that Eli he was watching her mouth.
29:44
You see, Eli, wasn't used to apparently, people coming in and
29:49
praying things silently. People would come in, and they
29:52
would pray loudly, they would do whatever and Hannah came in and
29:55
some days, you just don't have it in you.
29:58
You don't feel like you have that fight and she came in and
30:01
she could barely squeak out a whisper, right?
30:06
She's just speaking to the Lord quietly.
30:09
Her lips are moving the fumes. Coming out.
30:11
Eli thinks that She's drunk because a lot of the women that
30:15
apparently were coming to the temple were engaging in the
30:19
feast, right? The celebration, they would get
30:21
drunk and they would wander into the temple.
30:23
And then his sons would do bad things with them.
30:26
And so what they were what, you'll I was afraid was
30:29
happening. Was this was another one who had
30:32
wandered in and he wasn't going to let this happen again.
30:35
But Hannah wasn't there for that at all.
30:38
Hannah was there because she was Waging War in heaven and she Was
30:42
waging. Peace on Earth, right?
30:44
So, she was following her husband following her family,
30:47
doing what she could. But when she went into her
30:49
prayer closet, it got serious. It was her, and the Lord, and
30:54
the Lord had the power in the ability to do something and
30:57
Hannah was robbed with him. She gave the Lord undisguised
31:00
feelings, right? She didn't hold back, she didn't
31:04
pretend, she didn't worry about what he would think of her God.
31:08
Knew her heart. So she would just lay it out and
31:11
she would go. And what's interesting is that
31:14
she's praying and God has intertwining her heart.
31:17
With his, what we see is the Lord is about to answer her
31:21
prayer. But the answer To her prayers.
31:23
Actually the answer to God's desire, to see the nation
31:27
brought back. And so, we see that there's this
31:30
great Collision as she's continuing between her faith and
31:35
God's Will. And things are about to come
31:38
together and so that way, she would be able to be a part of
31:42
this concert of prayer that the Lord had and she was willing to
31:45
have a kid to give him up for the kids entire life. the desire
31:50
just weighed on her verse 12, it says she continued praying the
31:55
word in the original language is literally XI multiplied as she
31:59
prayed What does that mean? There's only one Hannah, nobody
32:07
is with her. But you know, when you go to
32:11
pray in the spirit of God, praise through you like it says
32:14
in Romans chapter 8, then the Lord is working through you.
32:18
He's doing something. The Lord is responding, there's
32:21
an anointing that happens within the room and I believe that is
32:26
Hannah was praying, and it says that she was multiplied to pray
32:30
that the Lord was engaging. Her in the spirit, was also
32:33
encouraging her to do that. And so in verse 13 we see that
32:39
she's He's said that I'm sorry knocking.
32:42
Anna was speaking in her heart. Only her lips moved.
32:45
Her voice was not heard and so Eli thought she was drunk.
32:49
So Eli said to her, how long will you be drunk?
32:53
Put away your wine. How discouraging for her, right?
32:59
She shows up. This is where I go.
33:01
If I have a problem, I want to pray in the guy who's the head,
33:05
the spiritual leader tells you. You should get out of here.
33:10
I don't like how you're approaching this and because she
33:13
had heavy emotions and heavy grief.
33:15
It was nothing for her to be embarrassed about.
33:17
She was engaging the Lord in a deep way.
33:21
You know, and World War Two, there was a test pilot named
33:25
Chuck Yeager. And Chuck Yeager was tasked with
33:29
the job of getting in a plane and flying until he broke the
33:35
sound barrier, speed of sound. So essentially, nobody's ever
33:39
done this. They put them in a really fast
33:42
plane and it's a, let's see what happens and checks.
33:44
Like I'll do it like okay crazy. And so he hops in the cockpit
33:49
and he gets going. And he's he relates that he hit
33:53
Mach 2.8 and things are rattling.
33:57
Gauges are not doing well, you're wondering, is this, the
34:03
end? Is this?
34:03
How I'm gonna go out? Things are coming and so
34:06
sometimes when you're continuing, you feel like your
34:09
life is shaking its rattling. There's no payoff yet but things
34:12
are hard and things are loud. And things are vibrating all
34:17
around you and says that's going on and she in Yeager is There he
34:21
said something interesting happened because he was aware
34:24
that the shear Force could shred him in a second, similar to
34:28
coming into a prayer room with the fear of God, you know, that
34:32
the Lord is powerful, he could do whatever he wants, but he
34:36
bends his ear to us and it said, that as he pushed through and he
34:41
hit 1.3, something weird happened.
34:45
He slept into the smooth momentum of the stream, he did
34:51
it. He broke the speed of sound and
34:54
in our prayer rooms as we contend is very similar, right?
34:58
You rattle, you go through things are hard.
35:01
The instrument gauge is people are saying, hey, this that you
35:05
should give up, God's not gonna do whatever and you're hearing
35:08
all these things. It's crazy.
35:10
And then all of a sudden, you're hurt You slip into the momentum
35:16
of heaven. So what the Lord is wanting to
35:18
do and that's where Hannah found herself.
35:20
And so she could have responded pretty nastily to Eli.
35:25
He was wrong, he didn't get her. She could have responded from
35:29
ego or from Pride but she doesn't take that route instead.
35:34
She responds gently and Hannah shows Great Character and she
35:39
shows great restraint here, Wimber wrote gifts and
35:43
abilities, no matter How strong are amazing or either limited or
35:46
enhanced by character. I've done a lot of gifted people
35:52
Who wasted? A lot of people who have strong
35:57
ability and you know what, it doesn't matter, there's no
36:01
anointing is no character there and so Hannah as she responds to
36:05
him in verse 15, he says, get out of here, you're drunk, but
36:10
Hannah answered and said, no. My Lord, I'm a woman of
36:13
sorrowful spirit. I have drunk, neither wine nor
36:16
intoxicating. Drink but an underlying this if
36:19
you want, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.
36:26
How many of us? Leave the prayer room and we can
36:28
say I gave everything I poured it out.
36:33
I exhausted God. If there was such a thing which
36:36
there's not But she came in, she does this and says do not
36:42
consider your maidservant. A wicked woman for out of the
36:44
abundance of my complaint in grief.
36:46
I have spoken until now, so she's honest with him.
36:51
She stays soft, she recognizes, he's doing his job.
36:55
Some people when they're challenged or they're grieving
36:59
or they're in a difficult spot. What happens is they can allow
37:02
themselves to be consumed by self.
37:06
My bitterness and what happens is you see a slow dripping acid.
37:11
That begins to release and some people's Souls, that begins to
37:15
sour them to ruin them, but our troubles can be great vehicles
37:21
that we can take to God, right? They can lead us process into
37:25
him and so in a season of pain Hannah had also made discoveries
37:30
about the Lord, what is personality is like what his
37:32
character is, like what it looks like to press in to And in
37:36
faith, I can be honest with him. He cares for me.
37:40
I'm going to continue worshiping regardless of what other people
37:42
say. That's not the point Samuel or
37:46
sorry. Eli is moved by this and said,
37:49
then he'll I answered and said we go in, peace, the god of
37:54
Israel. Grant your petition, which you
37:56
have asked of him and she said, let your maidservants find favor
38:00
in your sight. And so the woman went her way
38:03
and eight and her face was no longer set.
38:05
Its Happened is her faith. Hold up, her countenance and her
38:11
soul, right? She had been heard, she didn't
38:14
leave with a baby that he'll I had found and gave to her, but
38:17
she left with a promise. And the promise of God is just
38:20
as good as having something in hand because God doesn't lie.
38:24
People lie when they're afraid. That's not afraid of you.
38:28
God doesn't need to prove anything to you but he is
38:31
faithful and he is merciful and he does love you.
38:34
And so she goes away. Expectant, but as she goes home,
38:38
she's going to find. There's a Moment of Truth, they
38:40
have the promise of the Lord. But now what we're gonna find
38:46
out, right? I'll Khanna and I are going to
38:48
go home and we'll see what happens, but it doesn't scare
38:52
her off. She continues to go if you're
38:55
taking notes. The last point is continuing
38:58
Faith isn't just about giving good answers.
39:01
It's also about asking good questions.
39:06
Discipleship teaching, some of the follow.
39:08
The lord is not an information dump but it's rather teaching
39:13
somebody the ways of the Lord to lead them deeper into him.
39:18
It's teaching somebody to think, critically about their faith.
39:21
My wife is a teacher and she was in a situation in a classroom
39:25
with some children, and she was teaching high school as a
39:28
government class. And so they're all having a
39:31
discussion around abortion, and a lot of the people in this
39:34
particular class were Children that were Believers or were
39:38
Mormon who have strong moral grids, but did not know Jesus.
39:42
And so they, they were gathered together.
39:45
Talking about abortion and Lauren goes, you know, what's
39:49
the stance and a lot of the kids raised their hand and said, no,
39:53
like we respect life. Life is precious, which is true.
39:57
It's like good and then she goes.
40:00
Now let's talk about euthanasia. People who are suffering, people
40:04
who are in difficulty. What do you think about that?
40:07
And the kids thought about it and they thought yeah, that's
40:11
fine because you see what had happened.
40:14
Was, there was a disconnect fundamentally, the kids were
40:18
taught to pair it to repeat what the parents wanted, but they
40:22
were taught to think critically about their faith.
40:25
They couldn't make the jump from one to the other.
40:28
As we do discipleship, it can be really healthy and opening for
40:32
us to struggle. It's good for us to wrestle with
40:36
questions. If somebody gives you something,
40:38
you don't always respect it because you didn't have to earn
40:41
it. When you earn things when you
40:43
struggle, you get to know the Lord you value pieces of who he
40:47
is and what he does. And so what we see is that
40:52
Hannah was there, she was willing to go home and verse 19.
40:56
It says in a arose early in the morning and they worshipped
41:00
before the Lord before. Even went home to try and get
41:03
the promise they worship. God thank you.
41:06
God God, you're good. Thank you.
41:10
I'll Trust you for this. You see, it wasn't name it and
41:12
claim it. It wasn't something they just
41:14
came up with and claims but it was rather promised and purposed
41:20
it was something the Lord had given and put in there Catherine
41:24
Booth who was the co-founder of the Salvation Army had this
41:27
thought she said if we were to better the future then we Must
41:32
disturb the present. You see Comfort is not always
41:38
your friend. And sometimes we have to ask
41:41
uncomfortable questions that we have to go places with the Lord
41:44
draws us that stretch us and take us out of the realm of what
41:48
we like because God has something for us.
41:51
That we would have never gone to on our own.
41:54
If we weren't faithful to just let him do his thing, just let
41:57
him leave in the early church. There was a group of Believers
42:01
that were called the gamblers. And these people took their name
42:06
from the Greek idea of not regarding your life.
42:10
And so, what they would do is, they would go to places
42:13
specifically where they were prisoners and they would meet
42:15
with them, they would go to places where the plague had
42:17
broken out and people would toss bodies on the street and they
42:22
would run away because they were afraid and he's Believers would
42:26
go in and they would bury the bodies and they would take care
42:29
of the sick because they didn't regard their lives as more
42:32
precious than the ministry of Jesus and it's powerful.
42:38
They risk their lives, to show the love of Jesus.
42:41
And so I want to encourage you today.
42:43
If you're in a place where you feel apathetic turn to the Lord,
42:48
because spiritual apathy might be a more comfortable way for
42:52
your life, your spiritual life to die, but it's still fatal,
42:57
It's not good for you. God has something for you.
43:00
He made you for something. So, Hannah goes home and she's
43:03
got a now face one of her greatest fears again, right?
43:08
Because in the Hebrew culture baroness was a sign of
43:14
instability, right? Things pass through the mail are
43:17
and so if you can't have kids financially, what does that mean
43:22
for you? If your husband dies before you
43:25
What does that mean for? Where you live?
43:26
What does that mean for everything about your life?
43:30
And so, in this culture, it was extremely difficult when you
43:34
cannot do that. But Hannah has a humiliate
43:38
humility and a willingness to follow God and wrestle with hard
43:42
things. And so she goes home and she
43:45
engages How many of us are at that place in our journey of
43:49
this morning, the Lord has spoken to you or giving you a
43:52
promise or wants to do something through you.
43:56
And you haven't taken him up on it.
43:59
You're afraid. It might make sense.
44:03
You might have some really great reasons except that God can do
44:07
it. And so, you have to wonder where
44:10
I'm at with the Lord in my trust to the Lord, and I'm not judging
44:14
you or pointing the finger at you.
44:16
I have issues in my life, where I come to and I wrestle through
44:20
this deeply wrestle with it, with my wife.
44:24
But Hannah knew that either she could draw near to the Lord or
44:29
drift away from him and fear. And so she presses in so it says
44:34
and I'll kind of knew Hannah, his wife and the Lord remembered
44:37
her and so it came to pass In the process of time, you can
44:42
underline that it wasn't immediate but in the process of
44:46
time, it came about Hannah conceived and bore a son.
44:50
And she called his name Samuel saying, because I've asked for
44:54
him from the Lord, now the man Arcana and all his house, went
44:57
up to offer to the Lord, the yearly sacrifice and his vow.
45:02
But Hannah did not go up for. She said to her husband, not
45:05
until the child is weaned. Then I will take him.
45:08
That he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever.
45:12
See Hannah probably wasn't in a hurry to give up the baby that
45:16
she'd been praying for and waiting for.
45:18
But what was going to happen? Was the Lord had set out a
45:22
destiny, a path for Samuel. And if Hannah was too
45:26
controlling or tinkered or meddled in his life, she was
45:29
going to mass with, what the Lord had called that child to.
45:33
And as parents, we understand the fear, but you also can't get
45:37
in the way of what the Lord is doing.
45:38
Doing and so she calls him Samuel, because it means heard
45:43
of God. She saw the tenderness of the
45:45
Lord, in being heard, everything came to pass.
45:50
So it kind of goes up and makes his own vow.
45:53
And in verse 24, it's time now when she had weaned him she took
46:00
him up with her with three bowls 185 flower in a skin of wine and
46:04
brought him to the house of the Lord and Shiloh.
46:07
And the child was young, it's probably three years old
46:10
culturally, then they slaughtered a bowl and brought
46:13
the child to Eli. And she said, oh my Lord, as
46:17
your soul lives, my Lord. I am the woman who stood by you,
46:21
here praying to the Lord. Now she's going to encourage
46:24
Eli's Faith. Remember that?
46:27
God came through, for this child, I prayed the Lord has
46:32
granted my petition which I asked him.
46:36
Therefore, I also have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives,
46:39
he will be lent to the Lord. And so what happens, what is
46:44
this? Family do difficult times the
46:47
giving up their child to the Lord they worship.
46:52
Their kids were literally their sacrifice of worship the, after
46:57
their kid to the Lord. And they said here, Lord, have
47:00
your way with them. I can trust you, you're good?
47:04
Yes, he led doesn't have a good track record.
47:06
That's true. His kids didn't turn out well,
47:10
but there is something in this where Eli will help Samuel along
47:14
a little bit and what you see in Eli is that some of us are
47:18
really good at discipling, other people's kids.
47:22
But not our own and his grace for that children grow.
47:26
They have free will. They can make their own
47:28
decisions but I want you to remember to invest in your
47:32
children. We need to remember that.
47:36
We have to be spiritually. Tenacious.
47:39
Everything is not just brought to us.
47:42
Sometimes the Lord asks us to contend in to allow for that
47:48
partnership and that tension to happen in order to birth
47:50
Something Beautiful in us. So I'm going to ask the worship
47:55
team to come back and I want you to consider if the Lord is
48:02
having you contend for something this morning, what is it?
48:07
Maybe it's health and maybe it's a prodigal and maybe it's a
48:10
marriage, maybe it's you. Maybe you're here and you find
48:15
yourself spiritually. Just Dad.
48:18
And you know what? You've been okay with that.
48:20
You've been comfortable and the Lord is touching you in the
48:24
spirit of God. Insane.
48:26
It's not. Okay, you need to repent and
48:30
stop sinning sinning against the Lord Job.
48:33
Chapter 5 verse 7. It says, yet man has been born
48:36
into trouble as surely as the Sparks Fly upward.
48:42
Right, we find ourselves in trouble.
48:45
It's almost like we can't help it.
48:46
We're sinful people. But we have to take that to the
48:50
Lord. And if you do, even if you find
48:53
yourself here, this morning and you're spiritually dead, you
48:55
need to know that. Jesus is a prolific grave
48:58
robber. He has the ability and the power
49:02
this morning as we've been talking, and he's been praying
49:04
for you to bring you back to life.
49:09
Let the spirit of God moved freely in you again.
49:13
And if you're here this morning and you don't know, Jesus, I
49:16
want to encourage you. That Jesus is God.
49:20
He understands your inability to fix things on your own.
49:24
He understands that you have Brokenness and sin in your life.
49:27
And so what he did is he left heaven and came to Earth.
49:30
Earth he lived among us so that we can see him and relate to
49:34
him. And then he died on our behalf
49:38
brutally crushed in murdered in order to be a sacrifice for sin
49:43
to make a way for us to have relationship with God.
49:48
And if you don't know Jesus this morning, I want to encourage
49:50
you. You should come with me to
49:53
Jesus. I'll never regret it.
49:58
I don't know your situation, I don't know where you're at, but
50:00
if you naturally dead in your sin, what a dead person needs is
50:05
to be reborn. You need to be born again.
50:09
You need to allow the spirit of God to touch you and to bring
50:12
you to life and he has that power this morning.
50:18
So if you're here and you don't know Jesus, I would like to pray
50:22
for you and I know that it's scary and it could be
50:26
intimidating but also know that it will always be worth it.
50:31
Is there anybody here? Who would slip up their hand who
50:35
would like to give their life to Jesus?
50:36
I can pray with you. Okay, it could be some on the
50:42
radio, some online. none of you here this morning and you're
50:48
just Wrestling with the Lord. You have a lot of questions.
50:53
You don't have a lot of answers. I want to invite you to press
50:56
into God. We're going to have pastors up
50:59
here at the front. We would love to pray with you.
51:03
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible.
51:05
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51:09
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51:13
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51:20
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51:20
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Visit us online at Calvary Co dot church or download our free
51:28
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