April 27, 2025 • 59 mins
The efforts you make when no one’s watching are the ones God uses to shape you. Just because you don't see the outcome yet doesn’t mean He’s ignoring you; He's positioning you. Keep showing up while you wait.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
1 Samuel 3, verses 1-11
1 Samuel 4, verse 1
1 Samuel 1, verses 5-7, 12
Galatians 6, verse 9
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I have a sneaking suspicion that we have a lot
of visitors today. How many of you travel to visit
with us today?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
God bless you? Well, that's the whole church.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I could just preach what I've preached last week because
it's all visitors.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Today.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We've got about one hundred of our evam, heart and
soul from.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
All over the world. Thank God for y'all. It's been mentioned,
but I didn't get down on it yet.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
They're baptizing today over six hundred people at all of
our locations.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You said five hundred, but I heard six. Might be
seven by the time God gets through. Yeah, look at that.
That's going to be amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
And there's still time for you to sign up as well.
If you believe that God is calling you to be
baptized today, be an awesome step of.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Faith for you to take.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Go down in that water, leave your shame, leave your sin, leave.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
It all behind.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
The mercy of God is why, and he can make
you a new creation. Well, today, just like any other day,
I'm going to open my Bible and share with you,
but it is not just like any other day. This
is a special week. This is the final week of
one of my.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Favorite series that I ever preached before in my life.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
The series was called Called and we're finishing it up today.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
We've talked about so many.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Bible characters, and y'all can bring it down a little bit,
thank you. We've talked about Abraham and Moses, and Martha
and Simon, Simon, Peter, and we talked about who else
do y'all remember Jacob, Martha, Saul, the artist formerly known
as Saul who became Paul the Great Apostle.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And today we only have one.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Person left to talk about. And one thing that I
think is kind of cool about this series. You've kind
of gotten an overview of a lot of the different
Bible stories, and through that I might put out a
book called called One.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Day just with these stories, because it was based.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Around everybody in scripture that God called their name, but
he called it twice, so Martha Martha, Moses, Moses, Abraham, Abraham,
and today we're going to do the final person, Samuel Samuel.
Now my challenge is, I don't know how much of
this story you already know. And if you turn your
Bible to First Samuel, see there's a whole book called Samuel.
(02:46):
So I can't share everything, but there's actually a sequel
to Second Samuel. So I asked one of our church members,
how much do you know about Samuel? I was trying
to figure out how much background to fill in, and
she said, the only thing I know about Samuel is
that he spent the night in the lions Den, and
(03:07):
not Samuel.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That's Daniel.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, but so touch your neighbor and say, we got
a lot of catching up to do.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
You're a little behind, but I love that man.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I don't ever want you to feel intimidated come into
this church because you don't.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Know all these Hebrew and Greek words.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I don't know him either, and I paid to go
to school to learn him. I have to look him
up every week to preach them to you. And you know,
the Christian life isn't about how much of the Bible
stories you can quote or how spiritual you can look,
but it's just about trusting.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
God from this stay forward in your life with all
that you have. And so doesn't matter to me if
you know this story or not.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I actually think if you don't know the story, you
can hear it fresh sometimes and it puts you in
an advantage. So today I want to take us to
one verse to start out, and its first Samuel chapter three,
verse ten, for the final sermon in my called series.
And I'm so glad you made it out for this
today the word of the Lord says for Samuel three
(04:16):
verse ten. And the Lord came and stood calling, as
at other times Samuel Samuel, and Samuel said, speak for
your servant heres in that cool scripture, and the Lord came.
(04:38):
How many want the Lord to come today? How many
want the Lord to come today into your home? How
many want the Lord to come today into your emotions?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
How many want the Lord to come?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And the Lord came and stood calling as at other
times Samuel Samuel, and Samuel said, speak for your servant heres,
And today I want to talk to you. Here's my
subject about all those times you didn't see, all those
(05:09):
times you didn't see Father opened your word that we
might behold your wonder and your glory, and perhaps show
us something today that would be so specific that we
would not miss your presence in this moment. We thank
you for being God and every season of our life.
And I thank you now for the right now word that.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You are going to speak in Jesus' name.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Amen, you may be seated, And why don't y'all bring
out my screen today so I can do a little
teach you preachy, preachy teachee any country music fans in
the house. I heard a country songwriter say something the
(05:55):
other day that I thought was an appropriate opening for
our sermon time together. All right, So he's a Grammy
winning country songwriter. He's written many number one hits. He's
about fifty seven years old.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
He's been at it a long time.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And he was in an interview and he started explaining
to the younger songwriter who was interviewing him why he
still cuts his own grass with a push lawnmower. He said,
I still cut my own grass. I've won all these
Grammys and Billboard Awards and CMA Awards, but I still
cut my own grass with a push mower.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I go out there and I sweat and I cut
the grass.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
And my neighbor said to me one day, why do
you still cut your own grass. Surely you can afford
somebody to do that for you and do something more
valuable with your time, like write another hit song or
win another Grammy.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And he said, no, I definitely could.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
But the reason that I still cut my grass myself
is because it is one of the only, if not
the only, thing left in my life that I can
do and see an immediate.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Return on with my eyes.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
It's one of the only things left, if not the
only thing left in my life that the grass can
look bad one minute and better the next. Songwriting isn't
like that, he said. I might write a song today
and five years later somebody records it on their album.
And that's assuming it even gets recorded. Cutting the grass,
(07:29):
I can cut a row right now and smell it
and see it and bask in it. Every Man who
likes to cut your own grass, say I did that.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I did that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
That grass might grow back in three days, but for
the next three days, let the devil know, and let
those grass blades know. You can't grow back yet, because
I just cut you down.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I did that.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You know, in songwriting, the most successful songwriters of all
time who end up in the Songwriting Hall of Fame
don't get every song that they wrote recorded. That means
they'll go in and write a song the best they
can and it will never ever even see the light
of day. In fact, keep this statistic in your mind
(08:17):
the next time you hear a song on the radio.
That for the professional songwriter who writes a song every
day Monday through Friday, that's about two hundred songs per year.
Which most of these professional writers will write two hundred
songs a year, only one of those will end up
being on the radio if they're lucky. That is a
(08:39):
successful statistic. Of course, many more write thousands and they're
never heard. But for everyone that you hear on the radio,
one hundred and ninety nine were written but they didn't
get recorded. Not even did they not get released or
on the radio. They didn't even get recorded one hundred
(08:59):
and ninety nine times out of two hundreds. So that
means that one hundred and ninety nine times that a
songwriter shows up to work they know they're going to
fail that year, hoping for the one time that maybe
something will happen.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That's special, and we can see the result of it.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So he said, the way I deal with this failure
rate is I cut my grass. I don't have to
wait five years for the grass to go down. I
cut it, I look at it. I cut another row,
I look at it. It is one of the only
things left in my life that has a visible and
immediate return. So no matter how many grammys I win,
(09:36):
I'm always going to cut my own grass. Why are
you talking about this, Pastor Steven, Because I wish serving
God was like cutting grass.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That's what I wish.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I wish serving God preaching sermons was like cutting grass.
I wish I could watch sin go down lower while
I was preaching to you today. You know how powerful
that would be if I could see your shame going
down like grass, just cutting it down, just mowing down
all of the bad mindsets as you're cutting grass. Don't
(10:09):
some of you wish that parenting and raising kids was
more like cutting grass. Come on, where I could see
that I took that bad attitude and I cut it down,
and it might grow back, but I can cut it
again in a week and at least for three days,
you're not going to talk back to me. But kids
(10:30):
aren't like that, So in the meantime, you got to
buy a lawnmower and cut the grass. Because most of
the efforts that you make in your life that will
be the most valuable will be the least visible.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
At first.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Most of the efforts that you make in your life
that are the most valuable will be the least visible
at first. This is contradictory to every cultural impulse that
we have that encourages us to post every time we
work out. If you post every time you work out
(11:09):
as proof that you work out, I don't think you're
working out right, because the proof that you work out
should be you. When you don't work out, we will
see it when you're not working out. But if you're
only posting to show us that you worked out, I'm
afraid that you're distracted from the real benefit of the workout.
That is a side rant in the text that I
(11:29):
read you from First Samuel, chapter three, verse ten. It
is one of those amazing moments in the life of
a prophet named Samuel. Samuel, of course, would go on
to be the prophet that would anoint the first king
of Israel, whose name was Saul. He would also anoint
the replacement for Saul, whose name was David, because while
(11:50):
Saul was the people's choice, David was God's choice. And
when Saul was anointed to be a king, he didn't
even want to be a king. In fact, God didn't
even want his peace people to have a king. He
wanted to be their king. He was their king, but
they wanted a king like the other nations. Samuel would
go on to anoint not only David, but he would
(12:11):
go on to administer justice all throughout the Kingdom of Israel.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
In his reign, he would go from Dan de.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Birsheba yearly and seasonally in a circuit in order to
administer justice. See, in the time before the kings, they
had judges who were appointed by God seasonally. In other words,
they were not necessarily going to be there for long,
but they were given a job to do to bring
the people back to God in the way that they
could as deliverers. Samuel was the last judge, and he
(12:42):
anointed the first king. So we begin to see that
his life is a very transitional moment in the nation.
But the Bible says in First Samuel, chapter three, verse ten,
that one night, as he was sleeping in the temple
at his usual place, the Lord came and called to Samuel,
and he said his name Samuel.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Samuel.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Now, reading this on the surface is a really good
story about a man who hears God's voice and responds.
On the surface of this story, we see Samuel as
somebody who really gets it right the first time.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You can't do much better than that.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And the Lord came and stood calling, as at other times,
Samuel Samuel, and Samuel said, speak for your servant.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Heres. By the way.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Interesting side note, the name Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Heard by God, heard by God.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
The reason he was named Samuel was because his mother
had trouble getting pregnant, and when she finally got her baby,
she named him Samuel.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Because she felt like God heard.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Me finally, so she named him as an answer to
her prayer, and he becomes the answer to the entire
nation's prayer for somebody who can bring the presence of
God back.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
The thing that.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
You're praying about is bigger than the prayer that you're praying.
She's praying on one level for a baby, and God
is thinking on another level to raise up a prophet.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
She's praying that she might have a son.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
But God is preparing to send someone to annoying a king.
And it all starts right here when the Lord came
and stood calling As at other times.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Samuel, Samuel.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
What got my attention about this was how it said
the Lord was calling As at other times. And I
don't know if you noticed that, but when it says
he called As at other times, it made me want
to back up and see what was happening in the
rest of First Samuel chapter three. If you go all
the way back to the beginning of First Samuel chapter three,
(14:56):
you get a pretty great story that I want to
share with you today about what was happening at the
moment that God called Samuel. And I believe there are
some people here that God has brought and He is
calling you, and He has been calling you, but you
do not yet recognize that he's calling you, so you
(15:19):
are calling it something else. God is calling you to
a deeper level of faith. You don't yet recognize that
God is calling you to a deeper level of faith,
so you just call it the devil is attacking me.
God is calling some of us in this season to
increase our service, but we don't recognize that God is
(15:41):
calling us to increase our service, So we call it
people are taking us for granted. When you don't know
that it's God calling you, you call it what it's not.
When you can't see it immediately, you call it what
it's not. So you do something and you think it
was work worthless? What if it was not worthless what
(16:03):
you did? What if it was just in the womb
getting ready to come forth? I will show you this
from First Samuel, chapter three, verse one.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
The Bible says, now the boy Samuel.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
What does that mean.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
It means that he was in a place where a
man was in charge, and the word of the Lord
was rare in those days, there was no frequent vision.
But he was doing what he was supposed to do,
even though the place where he was was not reflective
of the values that he believed.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
The Bible says that Eli was a.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Very bad priest who had two sons named Hofney and Phineas,
who were doing all kinds of things in the temple
that they shouldn't have done. Not only were they taking
the sacrifices that the people brought for themselves, but they
would sleep with some of the women who came to
volunteer at the temple and Eli.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Their father was more concerned.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
About his sons being happy than he was about God
being holy.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
He was more concerned about not ruffling them than he
was about being right with God.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And all of this is.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Happening in the temple, which is, of course, not the
temple that would later be built.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
It was a tabernacle.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
It was a portable structure that was set up until
the temple would be built. But Samuel was there ministering
to the Lord as a boy in the presence of Eli.
And the word of the Lord was rare in those days.
There was no frequent vision.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
So notice this, and you have.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
To notice this that before Samuel went on to do
all of the great things that we would see him do,
he was doing stuff that nobody saw in a situation
that he didn't want to be in. And because he
was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli,
(18:08):
God was able to honor his service, even though the
situation he was in was not the situation he would
have chosen to serve in. I'm saying this just in
case you hate your job. I'm saying this just in
case you hate your apartment and your landlord. I'm saying
this just in case you hate having to go to
chemo right now, but you still have to go. I'm
(18:30):
saying this just in case you are in a season
that you did not select. But to know that Samuel
was able to minister to the Lord, and the Lord
was able to mature him because as he ministered to God,
God matured him. And sometimes where you want to be
and where you are don't match. But there is a
(18:51):
ministry where I am, if I will do what I'm
called to do where I am, And I know what
I'm talking about because this is not the first church
that I served in. I served in a church before
this church that was falling apart. And as the church
(19:11):
was falling apart, a group of men came to me
and said you should be our pastor because.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
They wanted their pastor gone.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
And when he said it to me, a part of
me thought that could be cool. And they start saying
all this nice stuff like when you preach, it reminds
us of Billy Graham. Wow, talk about an exaggeration, talk
about a sales job. But it sounded kind of good,
(19:40):
and I listened to him for about twenty minutes, and
I was driving home, and when I got home, Holly
was home.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
From teaching school.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
She was teaching seventh grade at the time, and she
was waiting on the porch. And we were newlyweds, you know,
second year of marriage, third year of marriage.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Something like that, and still working through all of this.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
And as soon as I saw her on the porch,
the Lord spoke to my and said, you go on
that porch, and you make a vow with your wife
right now that you will not do anything that will
dishonor this pastor. You do not skip any of the
steps that I want to use to develop you. You
do not sow anything that you do not want to
(20:18):
later reap in your life in this situation.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
And I'm going to tell you this.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I think the first important ceremony that I did with
Holly was our wedding day. And I think the second
most important ceremony I did with her was on our
porch that day, where I decided that as we are
planted in this church, we will make a decision that
while we were here, even if we hate it here
in certain ways, even if there are people trying to
(20:45):
get in our heads and get in our ears and
tell us that if we just angle and position like this,
I think that was our moment with God where God
was seeing could he trust us with you? And I'm
not saying I'm perfect, baby, but I got that one right.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I got that one right.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Can you imagine if I would have got stuck in scheming.
Can you imagine if I had gotten stuck in trying
to steal something that wasn't even mine. Can you imagine
if I would have let that affect me. And I'm
not saying this because I don't think that you should
lead this church. I'm saying this because I wouldn't have
been able to start this church if I had listened
(21:29):
to what they said.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So when I look at the camera and say, welcome.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Our EPAM all around the world, I am very well
aware that the ministry that we have today is largely
connected to all those times you didn't see where we
could have done something that we shouldn't have done and
didn't do all that from verse one and Samuel isn't
(21:57):
even in the lines then, yet he's just ministering to
the Lord in the presence of Eli and the word
of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Watch this was rare in those days, you're like, not anymore.
We got the word of God.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I got it on my phone, I got it in
I got it in English, I got it in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I'm learning a little Spanish.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Little what's it called dua lipa. I know I'm trying
to make you critage. I know it's dual lingo abby.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
But the Bible says the word of the Lord.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Was rare in those days, not because he wasn't willing
to speak, but because he couldn't find people who were
willing to listen. When God finds one person who will
listen to him, really listen to him, watch what he
can do. The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord
in the presence of Eli, and the word of the
(22:50):
Lord was rare in those days. There was no frequent vision,
you know, in those times, they didn't have great Bible
books like Galatians or the Gospel of John. Jesus had
not yet come, and it was like God stopped showing up.
It was like God stopped showing up to meet with them.
They were still doing sacrifices, but it was rare that
(23:11):
they really heard from God.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
And I think it's rare that we really do.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Not because of the lack of access to God's word,
but because of the lack of attention that we give
to it.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
It has never been easier to have the Bible in
your ear.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Right Like right now, I could be listening to for
Samuel three and you wouldn't even know it, but.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It was in your other ear. I had that on
noised cancelation. That was really weird experience.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Just now I couldn't hear anything, Isn't it like that?
Got the word of God in one ear, the world
in the n the word of God in one ear,
and a constant feeding frenzy on my phone in the other.
And this isn't a message about put down your phone,
but I just want to point out some similarities.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
That the word of the Lord was rare and there was.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
No frequent vision. Now, look, the Bible says at that time.
At that time, Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow
dim so that he could not see, was lying down
in his own place. The lamp of God had not
yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the
temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
And then the Lord called.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
To Samuel wait a minute. Verse ten says he called
to Samuel as at other times. So watch this for
everybody who was frustrated because you feel like you didn't
get it right the first time. Watch what God is
willing to do to call Samuel. The Lord called Samuel
(24:57):
and said and he said.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Here I am and ran to Eli, who.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Was the priest, who was his authority, who's the only
one he knew to go to, and said, here, I
am for you.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Called me. But Eli said, I didn't call you. Light
out again. Go back to Ben.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
You need some melotonin, boy, get some sleep, It says.
The lamp had not yet gone out, so this is
in the middle of the night. So when laid out
and the Lord called again Samuel, and Samuel arose and
went to Eli and said, here, I am for you.
Called me, But he said, I didn't call my son
(25:37):
light out again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord,
and the word of the Lord had not yet been
revealed to him. So what I see here in this passage,
if we could bring it together for a moment, is
a man who.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Would go on to preach God's word to the entire nation.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
First Samuel, for to one put it on the screen
says that Samuel's word in the fullness of time, for
Samuel four one came to all Israel.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Look at that, in the.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Fullness of time, Samuel's word came to all Israel.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
The entire nation heard his words.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
He spoke for God, He spoke of righteousness, he spoke
of repentance.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
The entire nation heard his words.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
But before the nation could hear him, he had to
learn to hear God. And there are some things in
your life right now that before God can do externally
what you want to see him do externally, there are
some things that you have to learn internally so that
you can hear God, so that they can hear you,
(26:51):
so that you can get it on the inside so
that God can do it on the outside. There are
some things that we are waiting for God to manage,
and God is waiting for.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Us to mature.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Because the Bible says that he was just a boy.
He was a called boy, but just a boy. He
was an anointed boy, but just a boy. He was
a boy brought from a barren womb. But he was
just a boy. But he was more than a boy
because he was a boy that God had appointed to
be in a place that God had assigned him to do.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
A task that.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
God had appointed at a time that God had designated.
Now in the meantime, he does not yet know the Lord.
But that does not mean that he will not know
the Lord.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
And I want to.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Say this to everybody who's discouraged right now about your
not yet situations.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
You know, I'm not really yet able to deal with this.
I'm not really yet able to flow with this. I'm
not really yet certain about this. It ought to encourage
you to know that the one who spoke the word
of God to the entire nation started out not yet
knowing the Lord.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
And watch this.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
He didn't yet know the lad Lord, even though he
lived in the church. He did not yet know the Lord,
even though he served in the tabernacle, for the word
of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. How
(28:22):
many times will God talk to somebody that he wants
to call.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
As many times as it takes. I thought you'd be
happy about that. I thought you'd celebrate.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
That, because sometimes I don't get.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
It right the first time.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Sometimes my first response is not my best version. Sometimes
I don't show up like I wanted to. And now
I find myself in regret. But it makes me feel
good to know that even if I get on the.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Wrong ship, God will put a fish outside the wrong ship.
That's Jonah, not Daniel or Samuel. But I'm gonna preach.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
About all these people today because it really doesn't matter
how fast you can run. It matters how much faster
God is to get to you and bring you back.
I'm calling somebody back today. I'm calling somebody back today.
Back to your right mind, back to your first love,
back to your original intended design, back to it. Because
(29:34):
God said, I'll call you back, I'll call you back.
I was trying to get your attention, but you didn't listen.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I'll call you back.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I was trying to get your attention, but you ran
to drugs to stuff the hole that you should have
filled with me. But I'll call you back because where
you've been putting those drugs, I.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Have a deposit that I want to put And.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
After I deliver you from what you put in my place,
I'm gonna do something that you would not believe if
I I told you. He called him again, and Eli
finally got it. He said to Samuel, go lie down,
and if he calls you, I think this might be God.
(30:14):
If he calls you. He should know this. By the way,
he's the priest. He should not be guessing that this
is God's voice. But sometimes those who have walked with
God the longest are the weakest in their ability to
perceive him. He said, I think this might be God.
(30:35):
So here's what you need to do. Go lie down,
and if he calls you, you shall say, speak.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Lord for your servant.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Here's which is so cool because now we know that
Samuel means heard by God. And since he was the
answer to the prayer that his mother prayed, since she.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Was heard by God.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Now the one who was the answer to her prayers
is learning to hear the God who heard her.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Oh, I just love that.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Just let me sit in that for a minute.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
That they heard his words.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
He heard God's words because he had a mom who
prayed and God heard her words.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Let me give you your mother's day sermon. Early, God
heard you.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
He heard you, He heard you. God show you this.
This is so crazy to me. Hannah, who was the
mom of Samuel, was also the wife of a man
named Elkana. Are y'all bored with all this background? I
love this stuff. I live for this stuff. I want
to show you this stuff. I live for this stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
This woman had a very, very, a very a very.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Difficult decision to make, and so do you. Here's the
decision she had to make. Am I going to keep
going to the House of God even with the broken heart?
Am I going to keep bringing this before God? Because
she couldn't have a child. And what made matters worse
in First Samuel chapter one is that the Bible tells
(32:22):
us that her husband, now her husband loved her. Elkina
loved her, but he also had another wife, which was
common in those days, and her name was Panina, and
so Elkina would try to make up the difference when
he would go to Shiloh to sacrifice. They would travel
like twenty miles to go sacrifice every year, the Bible
says verse five, But to Hannah, he gave a double
portion because he loved her though the Lord had closed
(32:43):
her womb. So he's trying to do what men do,
fix situations that we can't fix. And verse sixcess that
her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her
because the Lord had closed her womb.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
So it went on year by year. It went on
year by year. As often as she went up to
the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
This other woman, Penina, the other wife who was able
to have children, would provoke Hannah year after year and
make fun of her and mock her, and post all
of her pictures of her beautiful mother's days with all
of her kids. And she would provoke her year after year,
And as often as Hannah went up to the house
(33:37):
of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore, Hannah
wept and would not eat. So I'm giving you this
situation for a reason, because I need you to understand
something about Samuel and something about you. But in order
to understand Samuel, you have to understand something about his mother, Hannah,
And that is this that year after year she could
(34:00):
not have a baby. They would go and sacrifice and
she would pray, God, give me a baby, and Panina
would have another baby, and she would have none. The
next year rolls around, I'm going back again, and she
would go and she would pray, and she would.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Ask God, and she would sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
God, please give me a baby. Now you might not
be praying for a baby today. You may be praying
for one of your children that you already have. You
may be praying for a certain thing that you need
God to do in your body. You may be praying
about a mental illness. You may be praying about a
way that you want God to give you clarity. It's
been kind of foggy, So I need you to put
yourself in the situation of Hannah today and not just
think about if I have a kid or if I
(34:40):
don't have a kid. This represents all of those things
in our hearts that we carry with us where there
is an empty space, but we keep going to the
House of God anyway. And what blessed me about Hannah
is what blessed.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Me about Samuel. Let me explain.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
If you fast forward to the time that we read
about in First sin Old chapter three, verses one through eleven.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Samuel is a boy now not a baby.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
So eventually God gives Hannah.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
What she asked for, a baby.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
But she had to take the baby back to the
temple and dedicate him to the Lord, because that's.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
What she vowed she would do.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
If God gives me a boy, I'll give him to you, Lord,
I'll let him serve you.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
So after she had weaned him.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
She took him and she put him there in Eli's temple,
which she knew.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Was corrupt, but she had no other choice, and she.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Had to trust God that God is going to take
care of this, even though I can't.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
She had to trust God that I'm sending my.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Kid to this crazy school and I know what goes
on there, but I know the God who goes before
my kid that I'm sending to this school. And in
giving her child to God, it meant that she spent
almost every day of her life away from this boy.
Now God ended up giving her five other children.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Because you will never outgive God. You will never outgive God.
You will never outgive God.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
You're whining and crying about that little twenty dollars that
you loaned your friend this week.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
You didn't loan it to them. You loaned it to
the Lord.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
And the Lord will pay back with interest those he
can trust with his substance. And every year she would
go to see Samuel, her boy that she gave to God,
she would bring with her a little ephod which was
what the priest would wear, a little linenipha that she
(36:33):
had made custom for him, and she'd have to kind
of guess how big it should be, because she hadn't
seen him for a year. So if you were to
see Hannah go into the temple at this point in
her life, you would see a proud mother, mother of
a future prophet. Her bumper sticker would have said. And
(36:57):
you would have seen her with her little Ephah that
she had made for him. Oh, he's growing up so much.
Here's the new Ephah. And you would have seen her
going to the temple and sacrificing and being blessed and
seeing her boy. But what about all those times you
(37:18):
didn't see when Hannah went to the temple year after
year after year, with her rival in one ear and
God in the other, and her rival saying, why do
you keep serving a God who won't even bless you
with a baby? Look how blessed I am.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
I know people don't say that to us directly, but
don't they make us feel that way sometimes?
Speaker 1 (37:46):
And yet she went. Notice what it says.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
In verse seven, This is the real verse that I
want to preach about. It says that Hannah, you're like
you said you were preaching about Samuel. I can't preach
about Samuel without preaching about Hannah because I think what
Samuel did was based on something that Hannah did that
he never even saw.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Before he was even born.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
His mom would go to the temple year after year,
and as often as she went up, circle went up.
As often as she went up to the house of
the Lord, she used to provoke her. Stop and let's
break this down back to the top of the verse.
It went on, circle went on.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Year by year. As often as she went up to
the house.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Of the Lord, her rival used to provoke her. Therefore,
Hannah wept, Circle wept. Here's my whole message in a sentence.
She wept, but she went up anyway.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Listen to me.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
This might be the word to snatch you out of despondency,
This might be the word to shake you out of lethargy.
Is that Hannah wept? But she went up, And God
did not silence her enemy. But she went up anyway, And.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
God did not give her her prayer request.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
But she went up anyway, and she went up weeping.
And she went up, and while she would go up,
she would weep, and when she would get there, she
would weep. But it went on year after year, and
she went up. So I see a picture in this
text of a woman who was willing to keep coming
(39:47):
back even if I don't see the thing that I
asked God for. I'm going back not by sight, but
by faith. See a picture of every person who is
in this church right now, feeling unrecognized, feeling insignificant, feeling
(40:08):
like life is not cutting grass and you are sowing
seed and you are not seeing anything right now. I
want to remind you that you can go up weeping,
you can go up hurting, you can go up confused.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
You can go back.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Because Samuel heard the voice of God and thought it
was the voice of Eli, and he went to Eli.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
But God said wrong.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Guy, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back,
go back, go back, And you can have all your
fancy definitions of faith that you want. But I think
sometimes real faith is just a simple ass.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Go back, go back, go back, go back. You go
back and do it again.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
You go back and love them again, You go back
and serve again, You go back and drop it again,
you go back and pray again, you go back and
think him again. You go back, and you go back,
and you go back and you go back.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
You getting the point.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Because Samuel learned how to do this through something that
a woman did.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
That he never even witnessed.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
Her persistence led to his purpose, the only reason he
had it in him to go back to Eli, no
matter how many times it took.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
I heard you call, I'm coming back. Go back and
lie down. I'm coming again, go back and lie down.
Where did he get the persistence to keep coming back
like that?
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Because he had a mom, Because he came from a
womb that was barren, And every time she tried to
have a baby she couldn't, and every time.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
She tried to consent, she couldn't.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
But she kept crying out to God, and she cried
until she conceived, and she came back until she conceived,
and she prayed until she conceived. And I am preaching
to somebody today who has become convinced that God is
not with you and the devil is a liar, because
(42:22):
that same woman who left.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
The temple all those years with an empty womb.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Came back one day carrying a priest's robe.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Because if you'll go back enough.
Speaker 6 (42:35):
Times, all who all those times you didn't see when
she went back and prayed anyway.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
When she went back and sacrificed anyway, when you showed
up at worked and smiled at hateful people. Anyway, go
back smiling, and you shall come home rejoicing. Such seven
people say, go back many times as you gotta do it.
(43:08):
Go back, pick up your bible again.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Go back. I know the.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Bible was drive the last time you read it, but
there shall be showers of blessing upon you.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
In due season. Go back.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
In that amazing holly. She stayed there and she prayed.
Give them Verse fifteen. Verse fifteen is so annointing. We
got to go to verse twelve to get to fifteen.
Give them Verse twelve. Verse twelve says that when Hannah
was there praying, she continued praying before the Lord. She
continued praying before the Lord. She continued praying before the Lord.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Did God not hear her the first time?
Speaker 3 (43:48):
No? God heard her the first time. God just understands
something called due time, due time. Everybody say time, not
d o time, Due time, do time. It means that
(44:08):
God knows when Samuel needs to show up.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
God knows when her wound needs to open.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
God knew how to give her an enemy to keep
her praying.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
God knows when it needs to happen.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
God knows when to start the wheel turning. God knows
when the to'll fill you back up again. God knows
when they need to say no, when they need to
say yes, knows when to shut a door, knows when
to open a window, knows when to tear off a ceiling.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
God knows.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
It's almost like Hannah Red Galatians six'.
Speaker 7 (44:48):
Nine galatians six', nine says and let us not.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Grow weary I'm doing god.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
For in?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Do season?
Speaker 7 (45:00):
What season?
Speaker 1 (45:01):
Do season? What season?
Speaker 3 (45:04):
Do? Season now high five to three people And say i'm.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Doing good.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
I'm.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Doing good put it in. The chat i'm. Doing good i'm.
Doing good i'm. Doing good i'm. Doing good i'm.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Doing, that yeah but you don't have your. Baby yet i'm.
Doing good i'm. Doing good Why the bible told Me
in galatians, six' nine let us.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Not grow weary. Of Doing good.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
So i'm, not.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Feeling good but. I'm doing good it, doesn't Look good but.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
I'M doing good i can't see the grass going. DOWN
right now i can't see the money coming, UP right
now i can't see.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
The season painting what there is? A DO season and
i know. WHAT to do i know.
Speaker 7 (45:59):
What to do i'm.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
A do good i'm gonna.
Speaker 7 (46:02):
Praise this name i'm gonna workship. Him right here i'm
GONNA pray like i. Believe the answer he's already, in
the temple laying. On the bed, He heard me. He
hears me.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Shake, Your neighbors say. I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
He'll goose season.
Speaker 7 (46:28):
I'm A so shall i, See some grass i'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Cut it down and let.
Speaker 7 (46:32):
It grow back the Word of the lord will not,
faith the grass fase. The flower Face but The word of,
god will say, forever and, ever somebody south forever for
a light and momentary afflictions are producing in us a
(46:57):
far exceeding.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Way of. Glory that's.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
Amazing that's amazing all those times YOU didn't See.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
I see hannah coming with her ephot again.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
For her baby it was all those times you didn't
see her coming with no baby clothes that made her
produce a sign whose words Would. Come to israel they
heard his words Because he, heard God's words because god.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Heard her words and.
Speaker 8 (47:37):
You're telling me your. Life doesn't matter you're telling me
you're thinking. About killing yourself you're telling me you almost
thought about not coming.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
To church Today and the lord can speak to you and,
you Can, say speak lord.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Your servant tears you can't hear if. You're not here
AND that's why. I keep coming.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
I DON'T know if, i showed you but his mom
did something before he was born that was, instilled in
him even though she wasn't the. One raising him and
he Came back to Samuel, or to eli?
Speaker 1 (48:27):
What'd you?
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Say, WHAT me Okay i guess i'll. TRY that again
i think sometimes we make. It too Complicated sometimes all
god wants to say to you is let's.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Try this again.
Speaker 3 (48:42):
Let's, try this, Again your dummy let's.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Try this Again that's the lord's. Nickname for me and
it's all those times.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
YOU didn't see i think It's amazing that hannah was
able to leave her Son. With the lord don't you
little boarding school action never. Heard A kid but i
think was even more amazing than the fact that she
vowed and gave Him to The lord when god gave.
(49:19):
HER a baby i think what's even more amazing than
what She did when god gave her a baby is
what She did. When GOD didn't and i think sometimes
the greatest faith in your life is that you come
back From temptation when god doesn't take, the temptation away
(49:42):
but gives you the grace to stand.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
UP under it.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
I think it's when You pray for god to send
you the relationship, and he doesn't and you press into him.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
THAT much deeper i Think.
Speaker 3 (49:54):
It's when god asks you to change the other person's
behavior and he doesn't. CHANGE your approach i think it's
When you ask god to take the strain off of you,
and he doesn't so he puts the. STRENGTH in you
I think what hannah did was amazing that she gave
her Baby to the lord when. HE was born i
think it's even more amazing that she kept going While.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
Waiting on god.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
I'm done preaching you can stand to your Feet because
the lord had a word.
Speaker 4 (50:31):
For somebody today.
Speaker 3 (50:54):
How many of you have had times in your life
Where you've seen god do something. Amazing for You you
praised him, for those times and you should also wants
you to learn How to praise him for all the
times you didn't see that.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
HE was doing i can't get off of it doing
something for. A due season the important.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
Thing. Would Be look when god Finally spoke To Samuel,
in first, samuel chapter, three verse, ten, HE said speak.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
I, hear you god and verse Eleven says.
Speaker 3 (51:39):
The Lord, said, TO samuel behold i am about to
do A thing in israel at which the two ears
Of everyone in, israel will tingle and it would be.
A devastating thing eli and his two sons would both
die in the, heat Of battle so god could. Raise
Up another because god's transition are. Not always pretty but
(52:03):
in the process, of verse, eleven, HE says behold i
am about to do A thing in israel that will make,
everybody's spine, tingle ears tingle.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
Two ears tingle this is going to. Be so big
god is going.
Speaker 3 (52:21):
To do Something but if samuel had been born at,
any other time he could not have been The.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
One that god used to bring.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
The change about so Every year that hannah went to
worship That she thought god, Was ignoring her god was.
Not ignoring her god was positioning her to bring forth
from her womb what.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
The nation needed and sometimes it's not about, what we
want it's.
Speaker 8 (52:52):
About Do.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Time what god does. Is HIS business what i do
until he. Does is worship. TITH companies tif i just
(53:23):
SAW this while i. Was preparing, today right now, in
this moment.
Speaker 3 (53:31):
She can lead you, in worship spontaneously without any lyrics,
on the screen. WITHOUT any planning i did NOT tell
her i. WOULD call her i did NOT prepare her i.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
WOULD call her i didn't do. Any OF that but i,
just called. HER tif tif i didn't.
Speaker 3 (53:49):
Even have to.
Speaker 1 (53:49):
Call her twice.
Speaker 3 (53:52):
She just came, and right now with your hands, lifted
in worship lead them.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
For one minute and. It didn't worship whatever flows, from
your heart just do. It right now, m h.
Speaker 5 (54:08):
Oh we. TRUST your teeth i can trust you d's because,
you know bads. You, KNOW best.
Speaker 9 (54:23):
JEEZE i know i, Can, trust you jeez because your,
way IS bad so. I will swender.
Speaker 1 (54:38):
I will surrender.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Your, way IS bad so.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
I will swaner.
Speaker 5 (54:49):
I, Can. Trust, you jeez hey that. Way wonder show
if we, do this straight they, show out up. GO
on away i can be and so they show and
(55:14):
not get a weird this. Shower and nothing that's what happens.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
When you so, so come on clap your Hands.
Speaker 1 (55:25):
And thank god so let me tell.
Speaker 3 (55:27):
You why.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
Why can?
Speaker 3 (55:36):
She do that because, She did that she did that
since she was. A little girl her dad, is a pastor.
AN amazing man i MET him when i met her
MOM and dad, I was like.
Speaker 1 (55:51):
I get it i get.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
While you're awesome but then they told me stories how
she used to be in, the church alone hours and
hours and hours pounding four chords, on a piano Just singing.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
Till god game and somebody said to me the other,
day They said, When tiff, sings GOD comes and i knew.
Speaker 3 (56:22):
What they meant that sounds bad if you just take it,
out Of context because god.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
Is ALWAYS here but i knew.
Speaker 3 (56:27):
What THEY meant what i, loved about IT and why
i called you OUT.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
Here is i want all of them to get a picture, of.
Speaker 3 (56:34):
Their life to realize that it is what you did
until this season.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
That made you able TO do what i just called
you to do. In this moment. So it's.
Speaker 3 (56:53):
Wonderful it's wonderful it's a great picture because you're doing
things right now. That seem insignificant you feel all, alone
right now you feel like it doesn't, matter right now
and you cut the grass and it grows back higher, And,
you go GOD why am?
Speaker 1 (57:05):
I even bothering but remember there is.
Speaker 3 (57:08):
A Due season what god does, is his business and
what you do until he. Does is Worship so when,
god Calls you When. God called samuel he was ready
because he had Ministered. To The lord maybe god has
you in a season of your life where you're. Ministering
(57:30):
to him it's not about. People appreciating you it's not about.
People acknowledging you it's not about comparing yourself. To other
people it's not about your rival in your ear telling
you how you should.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
Be further along it's not.
Speaker 3 (57:43):
About your insecurity it is about what you are doing.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
Until due season they shall walk. Andnot get weary they
shall walk.
Speaker 3 (57:54):
And not faint that's what happens when you Wait.
Speaker 10 (58:00):
On the lord it's because she did it in a
church alone that she can do it in. This Room
today and i'm, Trying to say god.
Speaker 1 (58:11):
Is preparing you god. Is preparing you would you huk
three people and tell them Wait, On the lord Wait,
On the lord Wait. On the lord do.
Speaker 3 (58:23):
Not grow weary in well doing you shall receive.
Speaker 1 (58:27):
In two season.
Speaker 2 (58:30):
Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
you who give generously.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
To this ministry is because of you that this.
Speaker 2 (58:37):
Ministry is possible you can click the link in the description,
to give Now or visit elevationchurch dot org slash podcast.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
For more information and if you, Enjoyed the podcast. You
can subscribe you can share it.
Speaker 2 (58:49):
With your friends you can click, the share button take
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
Tag Us.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
At elevation church thanks. Again for listening. God bless you
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I have a sneaking suspicion that we have a lot
of visitors today. How many of you travel to visit
with us today?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
God bless you? Well, that's the whole church.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I could just preach what I've preached last week because
it's all visitors.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Today.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We've got about one hundred of our evam, heart and
soul from.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
All over the world. Thank God for y'all. It's been mentioned,
but I didn't get down on it yet.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
They're baptizing today over six hundred people at all of
our locations.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You said five hundred, but I heard six. Might be
seven by the time God gets through. Yeah, look at that.
That's going to be amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
And there's still time for you to sign up as well.
If you believe that God is calling you to be
baptized today, be an awesome step of.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Faith for you to take.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Go down in that water, leave your shame, leave your sin, leave.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
It all behind.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
The mercy of God is why, and he can make
you a new creation. Well, today, just like any other day,
I'm going to open my Bible and share with you,
but it is not just like any other day. This
is a special week. This is the final week of
one of my.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Favorite series that I ever preached before in my life.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
The series was called Called and we're finishing it up today.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
We've talked about so many.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Bible characters, and y'all can bring it down a little bit,
thank you. We've talked about Abraham and Moses, and Martha
and Simon, Simon, Peter, and we talked about who else
do y'all remember Jacob, Martha, Saul, the artist formerly known
as Saul who became Paul the Great Apostle.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And today we only have one.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Person left to talk about. And one thing that I
think is kind of cool about this series. You've kind
of gotten an overview of a lot of the different
Bible stories, and through that I might put out a
book called called One.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Day just with these stories, because it was based.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Around everybody in scripture that God called their name, but
he called it twice, so Martha Martha, Moses, Moses, Abraham, Abraham,
and today we're going to do the final person, Samuel Samuel.
Now my challenge is, I don't know how much of
this story you already know. And if you turn your
Bible to First Samuel, see there's a whole book called Samuel.
(02:46):
So I can't share everything, but there's actually a sequel
to Second Samuel. So I asked one of our church members,
how much do you know about Samuel? I was trying
to figure out how much background to fill in, and
she said, the only thing I know about Samuel is
that he spent the night in the lions Den, and
(03:07):
not Samuel.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That's Daniel.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, but so touch your neighbor and say, we got
a lot of catching up to do.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
You're a little behind, but I love that man.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I don't ever want you to feel intimidated come into
this church because you don't.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Know all these Hebrew and Greek words.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I don't know him either, and I paid to go
to school to learn him. I have to look him
up every week to preach them to you. And you know,
the Christian life isn't about how much of the Bible
stories you can quote or how spiritual you can look,
but it's just about trusting.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
God from this stay forward in your life with all
that you have. And so doesn't matter to me if
you know this story or not.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I actually think if you don't know the story, you
can hear it fresh sometimes and it puts you in
an advantage. So today I want to take us to
one verse to start out, and its first Samuel chapter three,
verse ten, for the final sermon in my called series.
And I'm so glad you made it out for this
today the word of the Lord says for Samuel three
(04:16):
verse ten. And the Lord came and stood calling, as
at other times Samuel Samuel, and Samuel said, speak for
your servant heres in that cool scripture, and the Lord came.
(04:38):
How many want the Lord to come today? How many
want the Lord to come today into your home? How
many want the Lord to come today into your emotions?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
How many want the Lord to come?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And the Lord came and stood calling as at other
times Samuel Samuel, and Samuel said, speak for your servant heres,
And today I want to talk to you. Here's my
subject about all those times you didn't see, all those
(05:09):
times you didn't see Father opened your word that we
might behold your wonder and your glory, and perhaps show
us something today that would be so specific that we
would not miss your presence in this moment. We thank
you for being God and every season of our life.
And I thank you now for the right now word that.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You are going to speak in Jesus' name.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Amen, you may be seated, And why don't y'all bring
out my screen today so I can do a little
teach you preachy, preachy teachee any country music fans in
the house. I heard a country songwriter say something the
(05:55):
other day that I thought was an appropriate opening for
our sermon time together. All right, So he's a Grammy
winning country songwriter. He's written many number one hits. He's
about fifty seven years old.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
He's been at it a long time.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And he was in an interview and he started explaining
to the younger songwriter who was interviewing him why he
still cuts his own grass with a push lawnmower. He said,
I still cut my own grass. I've won all these
Grammys and Billboard Awards and CMA Awards, but I still
cut my own grass with a push mower.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I go out there and I sweat and I cut
the grass.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
And my neighbor said to me one day, why do
you still cut your own grass. Surely you can afford
somebody to do that for you and do something more
valuable with your time, like write another hit song or
win another Grammy.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And he said, no, I definitely could.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
But the reason that I still cut my grass myself
is because it is one of the only, if not
the only, thing left in my life that I can
do and see an immediate.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Return on with my eyes.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
It's one of the only things left, if not the
only thing left in my life that the grass can
look bad one minute and better the next. Songwriting isn't
like that, he said. I might write a song today
and five years later somebody records it on their album.
And that's assuming it even gets recorded. Cutting the grass,
(07:29):
I can cut a row right now and smell it
and see it and bask in it. Every Man who
likes to cut your own grass, say I did that.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I did that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
That grass might grow back in three days, but for
the next three days, let the devil know, and let
those grass blades know. You can't grow back yet, because
I just cut you down.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I did that.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You know, in songwriting, the most successful songwriters of all
time who end up in the Songwriting Hall of Fame
don't get every song that they wrote recorded. That means
they'll go in and write a song the best they
can and it will never ever even see the light
of day. In fact, keep this statistic in your mind
(08:17):
the next time you hear a song on the radio.
That for the professional songwriter who writes a song every
day Monday through Friday, that's about two hundred songs per year.
Which most of these professional writers will write two hundred
songs a year, only one of those will end up
being on the radio if they're lucky. That is a
(08:39):
successful statistic. Of course, many more write thousands and they're
never heard. But for everyone that you hear on the radio,
one hundred and ninety nine were written but they didn't
get recorded. Not even did they not get released or
on the radio. They didn't even get recorded one hundred
(08:59):
and ninety nine times out of two hundreds. So that
means that one hundred and ninety nine times that a
songwriter shows up to work they know they're going to
fail that year, hoping for the one time that maybe
something will happen.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That's special, and we can see the result of it.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So he said, the way I deal with this failure
rate is I cut my grass. I don't have to
wait five years for the grass to go down. I
cut it, I look at it. I cut another row,
I look at it. It is one of the only
things left in my life that has a visible and
immediate return. So no matter how many grammys I win,
(09:36):
I'm always going to cut my own grass. Why are
you talking about this, Pastor Steven, Because I wish serving
God was like cutting grass.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That's what I wish.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I wish serving God preaching sermons was like cutting grass.
I wish I could watch sin go down lower while
I was preaching to you today. You know how powerful
that would be if I could see your shame going
down like grass, just cutting it down, just mowing down
all of the bad mindsets as you're cutting grass. Don't
(10:09):
some of you wish that parenting and raising kids was
more like cutting grass. Come on, where I could see
that I took that bad attitude and I cut it down,
and it might grow back, but I can cut it
again in a week and at least for three days,
you're not going to talk back to me. But kids
(10:30):
aren't like that, So in the meantime, you got to
buy a lawnmower and cut the grass. Because most of
the efforts that you make in your life that will
be the most valuable will be the least visible.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
At first.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Most of the efforts that you make in your life
that are the most valuable will be the least visible
at first. This is contradictory to every cultural impulse that
we have that encourages us to post every time we
work out. If you post every time you work out
(11:09):
as proof that you work out, I don't think you're
working out right, because the proof that you work out
should be you. When you don't work out, we will
see it when you're not working out. But if you're
only posting to show us that you worked out, I'm
afraid that you're distracted from the real benefit of the workout.
That is a side rant in the text that I
(11:29):
read you from First Samuel, chapter three, verse ten. It
is one of those amazing moments in the life of
a prophet named Samuel. Samuel, of course, would go on
to be the prophet that would anoint the first king
of Israel, whose name was Saul. He would also anoint
the replacement for Saul, whose name was David, because while
(11:50):
Saul was the people's choice, David was God's choice. And
when Saul was anointed to be a king, he didn't
even want to be a king. In fact, God didn't
even want his peace people to have a king. He
wanted to be their king. He was their king, but
they wanted a king like the other nations. Samuel would
go on to anoint not only David, but he would
(12:11):
go on to administer justice all throughout the Kingdom of Israel.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
In his reign, he would go from Dan de.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Birsheba yearly and seasonally in a circuit in order to
administer justice. See, in the time before the kings, they
had judges who were appointed by God seasonally. In other words,
they were not necessarily going to be there for long,
but they were given a job to do to bring
the people back to God in the way that they
could as deliverers. Samuel was the last judge, and he
(12:42):
anointed the first king. So we begin to see that
his life is a very transitional moment in the nation.
But the Bible says in First Samuel, chapter three, verse ten,
that one night, as he was sleeping in the temple
at his usual place, the Lord came and called to Samuel,
and he said his name Samuel.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Samuel.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Now, reading this on the surface is a really good
story about a man who hears God's voice and responds.
On the surface of this story, we see Samuel as
somebody who really gets it right the first time.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You can't do much better than that.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And the Lord came and stood calling, as at other times,
Samuel Samuel, and Samuel said, speak for your servant.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Heres. By the way.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Interesting side note, the name Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Heard by God, heard by God.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
The reason he was named Samuel was because his mother
had trouble getting pregnant, and when she finally got her baby,
she named him Samuel.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Because she felt like God heard.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Me finally, so she named him as an answer to
her prayer, and he becomes the answer to the entire
nation's prayer for somebody who can bring the presence of
God back.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
The thing that.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
You're praying about is bigger than the prayer that you're praying.
She's praying on one level for a baby, and God
is thinking on another level to raise up a prophet.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
She's praying that she might have a son.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
But God is preparing to send someone to annoying a king.
And it all starts right here when the Lord came
and stood calling As at other times.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Samuel, Samuel.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
What got my attention about this was how it said
the Lord was calling As at other times. And I
don't know if you noticed that, but when it says
he called As at other times, it made me want
to back up and see what was happening in the
rest of First Samuel chapter three. If you go all
the way back to the beginning of First Samuel chapter three,
(14:56):
you get a pretty great story that I want to
share with you today about what was happening at the
moment that God called Samuel. And I believe there are
some people here that God has brought and He is
calling you, and He has been calling you, but you
do not yet recognize that he's calling you, so you
(15:19):
are calling it something else. God is calling you to
a deeper level of faith. You don't yet recognize that
God is calling you to a deeper level of faith,
so you just call it the devil is attacking me.
God is calling some of us in this season to
increase our service, but we don't recognize that God is
(15:41):
calling us to increase our service, So we call it
people are taking us for granted. When you don't know
that it's God calling you, you call it what it's not.
When you can't see it immediately, you call it what
it's not. So you do something and you think it
was work worthless? What if it was not worthless what
(16:03):
you did? What if it was just in the womb
getting ready to come forth? I will show you this
from First Samuel, chapter three, verse one.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
The Bible says, now the boy Samuel.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
What does that mean.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
It means that he was in a place where a
man was in charge, and the word of the Lord
was rare in those days, there was no frequent vision.
But he was doing what he was supposed to do,
even though the place where he was was not reflective
of the values that he believed.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
The Bible says that Eli was a.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Very bad priest who had two sons named Hofney and Phineas,
who were doing all kinds of things in the temple
that they shouldn't have done. Not only were they taking
the sacrifices that the people brought for themselves, but they
would sleep with some of the women who came to
volunteer at the temple and Eli.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Their father was more concerned.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
About his sons being happy than he was about God
being holy.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
He was more concerned about not ruffling them than he
was about being right with God.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And all of this is.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Happening in the temple, which is, of course, not the
temple that would later be built.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
It was a tabernacle.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
It was a portable structure that was set up until
the temple would be built. But Samuel was there ministering
to the Lord as a boy in the presence of Eli.
And the word of the Lord was rare in those days.
There was no frequent vision.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
So notice this, and you have.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
To notice this that before Samuel went on to do
all of the great things that we would see him do,
he was doing stuff that nobody saw in a situation
that he didn't want to be in. And because he
was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli,
(18:08):
God was able to honor his service, even though the
situation he was in was not the situation he would
have chosen to serve in. I'm saying this just in
case you hate your job. I'm saying this just in
case you hate your apartment and your landlord. I'm saying
this just in case you hate having to go to
chemo right now, but you still have to go. I'm
(18:30):
saying this just in case you are in a season
that you did not select. But to know that Samuel
was able to minister to the Lord, and the Lord
was able to mature him because as he ministered to God,
God matured him. And sometimes where you want to be
and where you are don't match. But there is a
(18:51):
ministry where I am, if I will do what I'm
called to do where I am, And I know what
I'm talking about because this is not the first church
that I served in. I served in a church before
this church that was falling apart. And as the church
(19:11):
was falling apart, a group of men came to me
and said you should be our pastor because.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
They wanted their pastor gone.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
And when he said it to me, a part of
me thought that could be cool. And they start saying
all this nice stuff like when you preach, it reminds
us of Billy Graham. Wow, talk about an exaggeration, talk
about a sales job. But it sounded kind of good,
(19:40):
and I listened to him for about twenty minutes, and
I was driving home, and when I got home, Holly
was home.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
From teaching school.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
She was teaching seventh grade at the time, and she
was waiting on the porch. And we were newlyweds, you know,
second year of marriage, third year of marriage.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Something like that, and still working through all of this.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
And as soon as I saw her on the porch,
the Lord spoke to my and said, you go on
that porch, and you make a vow with your wife
right now that you will not do anything that will
dishonor this pastor. You do not skip any of the
steps that I want to use to develop you. You
do not sow anything that you do not want to
(20:18):
later reap in your life in this situation.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
And I'm going to tell you this.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I think the first important ceremony that I did with
Holly was our wedding day. And I think the second
most important ceremony I did with her was on our
porch that day, where I decided that as we are
planted in this church, we will make a decision that
while we were here, even if we hate it here
in certain ways, even if there are people trying to
(20:45):
get in our heads and get in our ears and
tell us that if we just angle and position like this,
I think that was our moment with God where God
was seeing could he trust us with you? And I'm
not saying I'm perfect, baby, but I got that one right.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I got that one right.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Can you imagine if I would have got stuck in scheming.
Can you imagine if I had gotten stuck in trying
to steal something that wasn't even mine. Can you imagine
if I would have let that affect me. And I'm
not saying this because I don't think that you should
lead this church. I'm saying this because I wouldn't have
been able to start this church if I had listened
(21:29):
to what they said.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So when I look at the camera and say, welcome.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Our EPAM all around the world, I am very well
aware that the ministry that we have today is largely
connected to all those times you didn't see where we
could have done something that we shouldn't have done and
didn't do all that from verse one and Samuel isn't
(21:57):
even in the lines then, yet he's just ministering to
the Lord in the presence of Eli and the word
of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Watch this was rare in those days, you're like, not anymore.
We got the word of God.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I got it on my phone, I got it in
I got it in English, I got it in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I'm learning a little Spanish.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Little what's it called dua lipa. I know I'm trying
to make you critage. I know it's dual lingo abby.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
But the Bible says the word of the Lord.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Was rare in those days, not because he wasn't willing
to speak, but because he couldn't find people who were
willing to listen. When God finds one person who will
listen to him, really listen to him, watch what he
can do. The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord
in the presence of Eli, and the word of the
(22:50):
Lord was rare in those days. There was no frequent vision,
you know, in those times, they didn't have great Bible
books like Galatians or the Gospel of John. Jesus had
not yet come, and it was like God stopped showing up.
It was like God stopped showing up to meet with them.
They were still doing sacrifices, but it was rare that
(23:11):
they really heard from God.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
And I think it's rare that we really do.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Not because of the lack of access to God's word,
but because of the lack of attention that we give
to it.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
It has never been easier to have the Bible in
your ear.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Right Like right now, I could be listening to for
Samuel three and you wouldn't even know it, but.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It was in your other ear. I had that on
noised cancelation. That was really weird experience.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Just now I couldn't hear anything, Isn't it like that?
Got the word of God in one ear, the world
in the n the word of God in one ear,
and a constant feeding frenzy on my phone in the other.
And this isn't a message about put down your phone,
but I just want to point out some similarities.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
That the word of the Lord was rare and there was.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
No frequent vision. Now, look, the Bible says at that time.
At that time, Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow
dim so that he could not see, was lying down
in his own place. The lamp of God had not
yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the
temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
And then the Lord called.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
To Samuel wait a minute. Verse ten says he called
to Samuel as at other times. So watch this for
everybody who was frustrated because you feel like you didn't
get it right the first time. Watch what God is
willing to do to call Samuel. The Lord called Samuel
(24:57):
and said and he said.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Here I am and ran to Eli, who.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Was the priest, who was his authority, who's the only
one he knew to go to, and said, here, I
am for you.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Called me. But Eli said, I didn't call you. Light
out again. Go back to Ben.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
You need some melotonin, boy, get some sleep, It says.
The lamp had not yet gone out, so this is
in the middle of the night. So when laid out
and the Lord called again Samuel, and Samuel arose and
went to Eli and said, here, I am for you.
Called me, But he said, I didn't call my son
(25:37):
light out again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord,
and the word of the Lord had not yet been
revealed to him. So what I see here in this passage,
if we could bring it together for a moment, is
a man who.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Would go on to preach God's word to the entire nation.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
First Samuel, for to one put it on the screen
says that Samuel's word in the fullness of time, for
Samuel four one came to all Israel.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Look at that, in the.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Fullness of time, Samuel's word came to all Israel.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
The entire nation heard his words.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
He spoke for God, He spoke of righteousness, he spoke
of repentance.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
The entire nation heard his words.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
But before the nation could hear him, he had to
learn to hear God. And there are some things in
your life right now that before God can do externally
what you want to see him do externally, there are
some things that you have to learn internally so that
you can hear God, so that they can hear you,
(26:51):
so that you can get it on the inside so
that God can do it on the outside. There are
some things that we are waiting for God to manage,
and God is waiting for.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Us to mature.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Because the Bible says that he was just a boy.
He was a called boy, but just a boy. He
was an anointed boy, but just a boy. He was
a boy brought from a barren womb. But he was
just a boy. But he was more than a boy
because he was a boy that God had appointed to
be in a place that God had assigned him to do.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
A task that.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
God had appointed at a time that God had designated.
Now in the meantime, he does not yet know the Lord.
But that does not mean that he will not know
the Lord.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
And I want to.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Say this to everybody who's discouraged right now about your
not yet situations.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
You know, I'm not really yet able to deal with this.
I'm not really yet able to flow with this. I'm
not really yet certain about this. It ought to encourage
you to know that the one who spoke the word
of God to the entire nation started out not yet
knowing the Lord.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
And watch this.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
He didn't yet know the lad Lord, even though he
lived in the church. He did not yet know the Lord,
even though he served in the tabernacle, for the word
of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. How
(28:22):
many times will God talk to somebody that he wants
to call.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
As many times as it takes. I thought you'd be
happy about that. I thought you'd celebrate.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
That, because sometimes I don't get.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
It right the first time.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Sometimes my first response is not my best version. Sometimes
I don't show up like I wanted to. And now
I find myself in regret. But it makes me feel
good to know that even if I get on the.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Wrong ship, God will put a fish outside the wrong ship.
That's Jonah, not Daniel or Samuel. But I'm gonna preach.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
About all these people today because it really doesn't matter
how fast you can run. It matters how much faster
God is to get to you and bring you back.
I'm calling somebody back today. I'm calling somebody back today.
Back to your right mind, back to your first love,
back to your original intended design, back to it. Because
(29:34):
God said, I'll call you back, I'll call you back.
I was trying to get your attention, but you didn't listen.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I'll call you back.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I was trying to get your attention, but you ran
to drugs to stuff the hole that you should have
filled with me. But I'll call you back because where
you've been putting those drugs, I.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Have a deposit that I want to put And.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
After I deliver you from what you put in my place,
I'm gonna do something that you would not believe if
I I told you. He called him again, and Eli
finally got it. He said to Samuel, go lie down,
and if he calls you, I think this might be God.
(30:14):
If he calls you. He should know this. By the way,
he's the priest. He should not be guessing that this
is God's voice. But sometimes those who have walked with
God the longest are the weakest in their ability to
perceive him. He said, I think this might be God.
(30:35):
So here's what you need to do. Go lie down,
and if he calls you, you shall say, speak.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Lord for your servant.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Here's which is so cool because now we know that
Samuel means heard by God. And since he was the
answer to the prayer that his mother prayed, since she.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Was heard by God.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Now the one who was the answer to her prayers
is learning to hear the God who heard her.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Oh, I just love that.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Just let me sit in that for a minute.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
That they heard his words.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
He heard God's words because he had a mom who
prayed and God heard her words.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Let me give you your mother's day sermon. Early, God
heard you.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
He heard you, He heard you. God show you this.
This is so crazy to me. Hannah, who was the
mom of Samuel, was also the wife of a man
named Elkana. Are y'all bored with all this background? I
love this stuff. I live for this stuff. I want
to show you this stuff. I live for this stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
This woman had a very, very, a very a very.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Difficult decision to make, and so do you. Here's the
decision she had to make. Am I going to keep
going to the House of God even with the broken heart?
Am I going to keep bringing this before God? Because
she couldn't have a child. And what made matters worse
in First Samuel chapter one is that the Bible tells
(32:22):
us that her husband, now her husband loved her. Elkina
loved her, but he also had another wife, which was
common in those days, and her name was Panina, and
so Elkina would try to make up the difference when
he would go to Shiloh to sacrifice. They would travel
like twenty miles to go sacrifice every year, the Bible
says verse five, But to Hannah, he gave a double
portion because he loved her though the Lord had closed
(32:43):
her womb. So he's trying to do what men do,
fix situations that we can't fix. And verse sixcess that
her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her
because the Lord had closed her womb.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
So it went on year by year. It went on
year by year. As often as she went up to
the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
This other woman, Penina, the other wife who was able
to have children, would provoke Hannah year after year and
make fun of her and mock her, and post all
of her pictures of her beautiful mother's days with all
of her kids. And she would provoke her year after year,
And as often as Hannah went up to the house
(33:37):
of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore, Hannah
wept and would not eat. So I'm giving you this
situation for a reason, because I need you to understand
something about Samuel and something about you. But in order
to understand Samuel, you have to understand something about his mother, Hannah,
And that is this that year after year she could
(34:00):
not have a baby. They would go and sacrifice and
she would pray, God, give me a baby, and Panina
would have another baby, and she would have none. The
next year rolls around, I'm going back again, and she
would go and she would pray, and she would.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Ask God, and she would sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
God, please give me a baby. Now you might not
be praying for a baby today. You may be praying
for one of your children that you already have. You
may be praying for a certain thing that you need
God to do in your body. You may be praying
about a mental illness. You may be praying about a
way that you want God to give you clarity. It's
been kind of foggy, So I need you to put
yourself in the situation of Hannah today and not just
think about if I have a kid or if I
(34:40):
don't have a kid. This represents all of those things
in our hearts that we carry with us where there
is an empty space, but we keep going to the
House of God anyway. And what blessed me about Hannah
is what blessed.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Me about Samuel. Let me explain.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
If you fast forward to the time that we read
about in First sin Old chapter three, verses one through eleven.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Samuel is a boy now not a baby.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
So eventually God gives Hannah.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
What she asked for, a baby.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
But she had to take the baby back to the
temple and dedicate him to the Lord, because that's.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
What she vowed she would do.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
If God gives me a boy, I'll give him to you, Lord,
I'll let him serve you.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
So after she had weaned him.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
She took him and she put him there in Eli's temple,
which she knew.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Was corrupt, but she had no other choice, and she.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Had to trust God that God is going to take
care of this, even though I can't.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
She had to trust God that I'm sending my.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Kid to this crazy school and I know what goes
on there, but I know the God who goes before
my kid that I'm sending to this school. And in
giving her child to God, it meant that she spent
almost every day of her life away from this boy.
Now God ended up giving her five other children.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Because you will never outgive God. You will never outgive God.
You will never outgive God.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
You're whining and crying about that little twenty dollars that
you loaned your friend this week.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
You didn't loan it to them. You loaned it to
the Lord.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
And the Lord will pay back with interest those he
can trust with his substance. And every year she would
go to see Samuel, her boy that she gave to God,
she would bring with her a little ephod which was
what the priest would wear, a little linenipha that she
(36:33):
had made custom for him, and she'd have to kind
of guess how big it should be, because she hadn't
seen him for a year. So if you were to
see Hannah go into the temple at this point in
her life, you would see a proud mother, mother of
a future prophet. Her bumper sticker would have said. And
(36:57):
you would have seen her with her little Ephah that
she had made for him. Oh, he's growing up so much.
Here's the new Ephah. And you would have seen her
going to the temple and sacrificing and being blessed and
seeing her boy. But what about all those times you
(37:18):
didn't see when Hannah went to the temple year after
year after year, with her rival in one ear and
God in the other, and her rival saying, why do
you keep serving a God who won't even bless you
with a baby? Look how blessed I am.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
I know people don't say that to us directly, but
don't they make us feel that way sometimes?
Speaker 1 (37:46):
And yet she went. Notice what it says.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
In verse seven, This is the real verse that I
want to preach about. It says that Hannah, you're like
you said you were preaching about Samuel. I can't preach
about Samuel without preaching about Hannah because I think what
Samuel did was based on something that Hannah did that
he never even saw.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Before he was even born.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
His mom would go to the temple year after year,
and as often as she went up, circle went up.
As often as she went up to the house of
the Lord, she used to provoke her. Stop and let's
break this down back to the top of the verse.
It went on, circle went on.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Year by year. As often as she went up to
the house.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Of the Lord, her rival used to provoke her. Therefore,
Hannah wept, Circle wept. Here's my whole message in a sentence.
She wept, but she went up anyway.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Listen to me.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
This might be the word to snatch you out of despondency,
This might be the word to shake you out of lethargy.
Is that Hannah wept? But she went up, And God
did not silence her enemy. But she went up anyway, And.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
God did not give her her prayer request.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
But she went up anyway, and she went up weeping.
And she went up, and while she would go up,
she would weep, and when she would get there, she
would weep. But it went on year after year, and
she went up. So I see a picture in this
text of a woman who was willing to keep coming
(39:47):
back even if I don't see the thing that I
asked God for. I'm going back not by sight, but
by faith. See a picture of every person who is
in this church right now, feeling unrecognized, feeling insignificant, feeling
(40:08):
like life is not cutting grass and you are sowing
seed and you are not seeing anything right now. I
want to remind you that you can go up weeping,
you can go up hurting, you can go up confused.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
You can go back.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Because Samuel heard the voice of God and thought it
was the voice of Eli, and he went to Eli.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
But God said wrong.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Guy, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back,
go back, go back, And you can have all your
fancy definitions of faith that you want. But I think
sometimes real faith is just a simple ass.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Go back, go back, go back, go back. You go
back and do it again.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
You go back and love them again, You go back
and serve again, You go back and drop it again,
you go back and pray again, you go back and
think him again. You go back, and you go back,
and you go back and you go back.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
You getting the point.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Because Samuel learned how to do this through something that
a woman did.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
That he never even witnessed.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
Her persistence led to his purpose, the only reason he
had it in him to go back to Eli, no
matter how many times it took.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
I heard you call, I'm coming back. Go back and
lie down. I'm coming again, go back and lie down.
Where did he get the persistence to keep coming back
like that?
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Because he had a mom, Because he came from a
womb that was barren, And every time she tried to
have a baby she couldn't, and every time.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
She tried to consent, she couldn't.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
But she kept crying out to God, and she cried
until she conceived, and she came back until she conceived,
and she prayed until she conceived. And I am preaching
to somebody today who has become convinced that God is
not with you and the devil is a liar, because
(42:22):
that same woman who left.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
The temple all those years with an empty womb.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Came back one day carrying a priest's robe.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Because if you'll go back enough.
Speaker 6 (42:35):
Times, all who all those times you didn't see when
she went back and prayed anyway.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
When she went back and sacrificed anyway, when you showed
up at worked and smiled at hateful people. Anyway, go
back smiling, and you shall come home rejoicing. Such seven
people say, go back many times as you gotta do it.
(43:08):
Go back, pick up your bible again.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Go back. I know the.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Bible was drive the last time you read it, but
there shall be showers of blessing upon you.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
In due season. Go back.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
In that amazing holly. She stayed there and she prayed.
Give them Verse fifteen. Verse fifteen is so annointing. We
got to go to verse twelve to get to fifteen.
Give them Verse twelve. Verse twelve says that when Hannah
was there praying, she continued praying before the Lord. She
continued praying before the Lord. She continued praying before the Lord.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Did God not hear her the first time?
Speaker 3 (43:48):
No? God heard her the first time. God just understands
something called due time, due time. Everybody say time, not
d o time, Due time, do time. It means that
(44:08):
God knows when Samuel needs to show up.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
God knows when her wound needs to open.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
God knew how to give her an enemy to keep
her praying.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
God knows when it needs to happen.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
God knows when to start the wheel turning. God knows
when the to'll fill you back up again. God knows
when they need to say no, when they need to
say yes, knows when to shut a door, knows when
to open a window, knows when to tear off a ceiling.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
God knows.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
It's almost like Hannah Red Galatians six'.
Speaker 7 (44:48):
Nine galatians six', nine says and let us not.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Grow weary I'm doing god.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
For in?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Do season?
Speaker 7 (45:00):
What season?
Speaker 1 (45:01):
Do season? What season?
Speaker 3 (45:04):
Do? Season now high five to three people And say i'm.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Doing good.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
I'm.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Doing good put it in. The chat i'm. Doing good i'm.
Doing good i'm. Doing good i'm. Doing good i'm.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Doing, that yeah but you don't have your. Baby yet i'm.
Doing good i'm. Doing good Why the bible told Me
in galatians, six' nine let us.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Not grow weary. Of Doing good.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
So i'm, not.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Feeling good but. I'm doing good it, doesn't Look good but.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
I'M doing good i can't see the grass going. DOWN
right now i can't see the money coming, UP right
now i can't see.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
The season painting what there is? A DO season and
i know. WHAT to do i know.
Speaker 7 (45:59):
What to do i'm.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
A do good i'm gonna.
Speaker 7 (46:02):
Praise this name i'm gonna workship. Him right here i'm
GONNA pray like i. Believe the answer he's already, in
the temple laying. On the bed, He heard me. He
hears me.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Shake, Your neighbors say. I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
He'll goose season.
Speaker 7 (46:28):
I'm A so shall i, See some grass i'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Cut it down and let.
Speaker 7 (46:32):
It grow back the Word of the lord will not,
faith the grass fase. The flower Face but The word of,
god will say, forever and, ever somebody south forever for
a light and momentary afflictions are producing in us a
(46:57):
far exceeding.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Way of. Glory that's.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
Amazing that's amazing all those times YOU didn't See.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
I see hannah coming with her ephot again.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
For her baby it was all those times you didn't
see her coming with no baby clothes that made her
produce a sign whose words Would. Come to israel they
heard his words Because he, heard God's words because god.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Heard her words and.
Speaker 8 (47:37):
You're telling me your. Life doesn't matter you're telling me
you're thinking. About killing yourself you're telling me you almost
thought about not coming.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
To church Today and the lord can speak to you and,
you Can, say speak lord.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Your servant tears you can't hear if. You're not here
AND that's why. I keep coming.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
I DON'T know if, i showed you but his mom
did something before he was born that was, instilled in
him even though she wasn't the. One raising him and
he Came back to Samuel, or to eli?
Speaker 1 (48:27):
What'd you?
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Say, WHAT me Okay i guess i'll. TRY that again
i think sometimes we make. It too Complicated sometimes all
god wants to say to you is let's.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Try this again.
Speaker 3 (48:42):
Let's, try this, Again your dummy let's.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Try this Again that's the lord's. Nickname for me and
it's all those times.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
YOU didn't see i think It's amazing that hannah was
able to leave her Son. With the lord don't you
little boarding school action never. Heard A kid but i
think was even more amazing than the fact that she
vowed and gave Him to The lord when god gave.
(49:19):
HER a baby i think what's even more amazing than
what She did when god gave her a baby is
what She did. When GOD didn't and i think sometimes
the greatest faith in your life is that you come
back From temptation when god doesn't take, the temptation away
(49:42):
but gives you the grace to stand.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
UP under it.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
I think it's when You pray for god to send
you the relationship, and he doesn't and you press into him.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
THAT much deeper i Think.
Speaker 3 (49:54):
It's when god asks you to change the other person's
behavior and he doesn't. CHANGE your approach i think it's
When you ask god to take the strain off of you,
and he doesn't so he puts the. STRENGTH in you
I think what hannah did was amazing that she gave
her Baby to the lord when. HE was born i
think it's even more amazing that she kept going While.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
Waiting on god.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
I'm done preaching you can stand to your Feet because
the lord had a word.
Speaker 4 (50:31):
For somebody today.
Speaker 3 (50:54):
How many of you have had times in your life
Where you've seen god do something. Amazing for You you
praised him, for those times and you should also wants
you to learn How to praise him for all the
times you didn't see that.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
HE was doing i can't get off of it doing
something for. A due season the important.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
Thing. Would Be look when god Finally spoke To Samuel,
in first, samuel chapter, three verse, ten, HE said speak.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
I, hear you god and verse Eleven says.
Speaker 3 (51:39):
The Lord, said, TO samuel behold i am about to
do A thing in israel at which the two ears
Of everyone in, israel will tingle and it would be.
A devastating thing eli and his two sons would both
die in the, heat Of battle so god could. Raise
Up another because god's transition are. Not always pretty but
(52:03):
in the process, of verse, eleven, HE says behold i
am about to do A thing in israel that will make,
everybody's spine, tingle ears tingle.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
Two ears tingle this is going to. Be so big
god is going.
Speaker 3 (52:21):
To do Something but if samuel had been born at,
any other time he could not have been The.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
One that god used to bring.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
The change about so Every year that hannah went to
worship That she thought god, Was ignoring her god was.
Not ignoring her god was positioning her to bring forth
from her womb what.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
The nation needed and sometimes it's not about, what we
want it's.
Speaker 8 (52:52):
About Do.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Time what god does. Is HIS business what i do
until he. Does is worship. TITH companies tif i just
(53:23):
SAW this while i. Was preparing, today right now, in
this moment.
Speaker 3 (53:31):
She can lead you, in worship spontaneously without any lyrics,
on the screen. WITHOUT any planning i did NOT tell
her i. WOULD call her i did NOT prepare her i.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
WOULD call her i didn't do. Any OF that but i,
just called. HER tif tif i didn't.
Speaker 3 (53:49):
Even have to.
Speaker 1 (53:49):
Call her twice.
Speaker 3 (53:52):
She just came, and right now with your hands, lifted
in worship lead them.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
For one minute and. It didn't worship whatever flows, from
your heart just do. It right now, m h.
Speaker 5 (54:08):
Oh we. TRUST your teeth i can trust you d's because,
you know bads. You, KNOW best.
Speaker 9 (54:23):
JEEZE i know i, Can, trust you jeez because your,
way IS bad so. I will swender.
Speaker 1 (54:38):
I will surrender.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Your, way IS bad so.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
I will swaner.
Speaker 5 (54:49):
I, Can. Trust, you jeez hey that. Way wonder show
if we, do this straight they, show out up. GO
on away i can be and so they show and
(55:14):
not get a weird this. Shower and nothing that's what happens.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
When you so, so come on clap your Hands.
Speaker 1 (55:25):
And thank god so let me tell.
Speaker 3 (55:27):
You why.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
Why can?
Speaker 3 (55:36):
She do that because, She did that she did that
since she was. A little girl her dad, is a pastor.
AN amazing man i MET him when i met her
MOM and dad, I was like.
Speaker 1 (55:51):
I get it i get.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
While you're awesome but then they told me stories how
she used to be in, the church alone hours and
hours and hours pounding four chords, on a piano Just singing.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
Till god game and somebody said to me the other,
day They said, When tiff, sings GOD comes and i knew.
Speaker 3 (56:22):
What they meant that sounds bad if you just take it,
out Of context because god.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
Is ALWAYS here but i knew.
Speaker 3 (56:27):
What THEY meant what i, loved about IT and why
i called you OUT.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
Here is i want all of them to get a picture, of.
Speaker 3 (56:34):
Their life to realize that it is what you did
until this season.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
That made you able TO do what i just called
you to do. In this moment. So it's.
Speaker 3 (56:53):
Wonderful it's wonderful it's a great picture because you're doing
things right now. That seem insignificant you feel all, alone
right now you feel like it doesn't, matter right now
and you cut the grass and it grows back higher, And,
you go GOD why am?
Speaker 1 (57:05):
I even bothering but remember there is.
Speaker 3 (57:08):
A Due season what god does, is his business and
what you do until he. Does is Worship so when,
god Calls you When. God called samuel he was ready
because he had Ministered. To The lord maybe god has
you in a season of your life where you're. Ministering
(57:30):
to him it's not about. People appreciating you it's not about.
People acknowledging you it's not about comparing yourself. To other
people it's not about your rival in your ear telling
you how you should.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
Be further along it's not.
Speaker 3 (57:43):
About your insecurity it is about what you are doing.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
Until due season they shall walk. Andnot get weary they
shall walk.
Speaker 3 (57:54):
And not faint that's what happens when you Wait.
Speaker 10 (58:00):
On the lord it's because she did it in a
church alone that she can do it in. This Room
today and i'm, Trying to say god.
Speaker 1 (58:11):
Is preparing you god. Is preparing you would you huk
three people and tell them Wait, On the lord Wait,
On the lord Wait. On the lord do.
Speaker 3 (58:23):
Not grow weary in well doing you shall receive.
Speaker 1 (58:27):
In two season.
Speaker 2 (58:30):
Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
you who give generously.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
To this ministry is because of you that this.
Speaker 2 (58:37):
Ministry is possible you can click the link in the description,
to give Now or visit elevationchurch dot org slash podcast.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
For more information and if you, Enjoyed the podcast. You
can subscribe you can share it.
Speaker 2 (58:49):
With your friends you can click, the share button take
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
Tag Us.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
At elevation church thanks. Again for listening. God bless you
Host
Steven Furtick
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