["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Go ahead and get started this evening.
If you would, grab a hymnal and turn to hymn number 63.
What a day that will be.
Hymn number 63.
We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
There is coming a day
When no heartache shall come
No more clouds in the sky
No more tears to dim the eye
All is peace forevermore
On that happy golden shore
What a day, glorious day
That will be
What a day that will be
When my Jesus eyes shall see
And I look upon His face
The One who saved me by His grace
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me through the Promised Land
What a day, glorious day
That will be
There'll be no sorrow there
No more burdens to bear
No more sickness, no pain
No more parting over there
And forever I will be
With the One who died for me
What a day, glorious day
That will be
What a day
What a day that will be
When my Jesus eyes shall see
And I look upon His face
The One who saved me by His grace
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me through the Promised Land
What a day, glorious day
That will be
Good singing will open with a word of prayer.
Dear Father, thank you for this opportunity to gather together tonight and sing
praises and to listen to some preaching, Lord. I thank you for all the souls that were
saved and I pray that you would just give us a ten of ears to hear the message that you played
on Brother Dillon's heart. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
For our next song, if you would, turn in your hymnals to hymn number 321.
Where he leads, I'll follow.
Hymn number 321.
We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
The promise is kind is the word
Dearer far than any message man ever heard
Pure was the mind of Christ
Sinless I see
He the great example is in pattern for me
Where he leads, I'll follow
Follow all the way
Where he leads, I'll follow
Follow Jesus every day
Sweet is the tender love Jesus has shown
Sweeter far than any love that mortals
Have known
Kind to the erring one, faithful is he
The great example is in pattern for me
Where he leads, I'll follow
Follow all the way
Where he leads, I'll follow
Follow Jesus every day
List to his loving words
Come unto me
Weary, heavy laden, there is sweet rest for thee
Trust in his promises, faithful and sure
Lean upon the Savior
And thy soul is secure
Where he leads, I'll follow
Follow all the way
Where he leads, I'll follow
Follow Jesus every day
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
This time we'll go through our announcements. If you don't have one, you can raise your hand and an usher
will bring you a bulletin. We have our Bible memory verse of the week
on the front there, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 3.
On the inside on the left there you'll see our service times listed, Sunday morning at
1030, Sunday evening 430, and our Wednesday evening Bible study
at 7 o'clock p.m. All of our soul-winning times are listed there
with the respective leaders. All those meet here at the church building.
We have our updated nursing home ministry schedule listed there.
If you're participating in that ministry, make sure to pay attention to that.
Also on the bottom we have our year-to-date stats.
Make sure just whenever you go soul-winning you're reporting those numbers to the soul-winning leader
and leaders, please text or email me the information listed there.
On the right, make sure you're continuing to pray for Mrs. Reed.
This Sunday, it's finally coming up, this week
is the fifth Sunday fellowship, family favorite dish.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone's going to bring to this. It's going to be a great time
of fellowship and the evening service. Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.
Make sure you've got your favorite hymn in mind. We're going to have a crowd pick for the evening service
as far as songs go, so make sure you're thinking about that. Also the same day
is going to be the pastoral ordination of Brother Salvador
Alvarez, so I'm sure he'd love to hear from you guys,
some texts and encouragement, let him know you're praying for him and excited for him.
It's going to be a great, great weekend for Pure Words Baptist Church, very excited.
September 7th, which is not this upcoming Saturday, but it's the
Saturday after, we're going to be starting a Saturday
soul-winning rally, and this is going to be a weekly event
and something I really hope people can participate in. It's going to be
kind of like a normal soul-winning time, except this first time that we have
the event, I'm going to cater breakfast and coffee, so make sure you
come, bring your family, there'll be lots of good food, lots of coffee. But basically,
instead of just showing up at 11 o'clock and getting maps and leaving, you know,
we're going to start the soul-winning time at 10 o'clock, we're going to have a song
related to soul-winning or salvation or heaven or something like that, and one of the men
of the church is going to preach a 10-minute soul-winning
challenge for everyone, and so that's going to be a good opportunity for people to get
some time preaching and hopefully get everyone encouraged, filled with
the Spirit before we go out soul-winning. After that, then we'll hand out maps and go out,
so I hope you'll join us for this, this Saturday soul-winning rally.
That's September 1st, that's going to be, or sorry, September 7th is our
first one. Normally it's going to be at 10 a.m., but if you look at the announcement there,
just because we're going to be catering food and coffee for this first event,
the food and coffee will start at 9.15. The service will start at service.
The soul-winning rally will start at 10. And then going forward, every single Saturday,
that will be at 10 o'clock. So I did send an email last night to some of the men
inviting them to preach and be a part of this ministry, so make sure you check your email
and respond to that if you are interested. October 4th
through the 6th is the Heritage of the Lord Conference
in Cedar Hill. And November 6th through the 10th is the
Faithful Word Baptist Church Missions Conference in Tempe, Arizona.
That's all we have for announcements this evening. Let's go ahead and go to our third song.
All right.
If you would,
grab a white handout and turn to Psalm chapter 126.
Psalm 126 in the
white handout.
Psalm 126
will start right on the very first verse or only verse.
The Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done
great things for us, whereof we are
glad. Turn again
our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the south,
they that sow in
tears shall reap in joy.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Then said they among the heathen,
the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had
done great things for us, whereof we are
glad. He that goeth
forth and weepeth, bearing precious
seed, shall doubtless come
again, shall doubtless come
again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him.
Then said they among the heathen,
the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord
had done great things for us, whereof
we are glad.
Good singing. As the offering plates are being passed around, turn in your Bibles
to 1 Samuel chapter number 3. 1 Samuel chapter number 3.
Good evening, 1 Samuel chapter number 3.
1 Samuel 3, the Bible reads, and the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious
in those days, there was no open vision. And it came to pass
at that time when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began
to wax dim that he could not see, and ere the lamp of God went out
in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God
was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, that the Lord
called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I,
and he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou callest me. And he said,
I called not, lie down again. And he went and lay down, and the Lord
called yet again Samuel. And Samuel arose, and
went to Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called
not my son, lie down again. Now Samuel, now Samuel
did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time, and he arose, and
went to Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived
that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go,
lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt
say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and
lay down in his place, and the Lord came, and stood, and called
as at other times Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered,
Speak, for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which
both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle.
In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken
concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end,
for I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity
which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and
he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli
that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged
with sacrifice nor of offering, nor offering
forever. And Samuel lay until the morning, and he, and opened the doors
of the house of the Lord, and Samuel feared to show Eli the vision.
Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son, and he answered,
Here am I. And he said, What is the thing that the Lord
hath said unto thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me.
God do so to thee, and more also if thou hide anything
from me of all the things that he said unto thee. And Samuel told
him every wit, and hid nothing from him. And he said,
It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. And Samuel
grew, and the Lord was with him, and did none of his words fall
to the ground. And all Israel from Dan, even to Beersheba, knew
that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord, and
the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel
in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
Amen. Alright, 1 Samuel chapter number 3.
Of course, last week we learned about Hophni and Phinehas and their grievous
sins, the fact that they were perverting the house of the Lord, causing
people to hate the service of God, and lying carnally with the women
at the congregation of the house of the Lord. And God
promises to kill his sons and replace his house
with someone else. And that brings us to verse 1 of 1 Samuel 3.
The Bible says this, And the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. And again
in this chapter, we're already seeing this repeated theme that God is wanting to point out
to us, that serving God is also for children. It's not just
something that adults do, it's not just something that old people do,
but rather this is something that even children can get involved
in. And I think a lot of churches purposely exclude
children, purposely like putting them in children's church where they're just playing
around, playing games, playing video games. I went to a church as a child one of the
handfuls of times that I ever went to church, and it was literally just you walk in and there's
Xbox 360s everywhere and just the walls covered with TVs and that was
church, right? But you know sometimes churches may, they may not
purposely exclude the children in that sense, but sometimes
people just forget about kids and forget about the fact that the service includes them too
and that they're here to learn the word of God as well. And so I would just
encourage all the parents in here to teach your children to take church
seriously. And you know your children, they can pay attention in church once they
reach a certain age. Obviously I'm not talking about babies and toddlers here,
but once your kids grow up to a certain age level, you know church should not just
be a time where they sit around playing with toys or scroll on their tablet
or something like that. They should actually be paying attention to the preaching. Why?
Because we see here that Samuel was a child, yet he
ministered unto the Lord. You know what are some of the ways that children
can minister unto the Lord? Well you know I've seen countless children
especially at Steadfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill where there's a ton, tons
of kids at that church, over a hundred children, and I've seen many of them do
complete chapters of the Bible by memory. And honestly
children might be able to do this better than adults. They got those fresh young minds
and so this is one of the areas that your children can serve God is just by doing that
Bible memory verse. This week my wife was teaching our kids
John 3 16 and even though they're little, they're getting John 3 16.
So you don't want to just forget about the opportunities that your kids
have to serve God as well. You know something else, don't be afraid to take out
your children's soul winning. That's a great opportunity for them to
serve the Lord and to hear the Gospel over and over and over again so
that when they get older hopefully they will call upon the name of the Lord themselves
and trust in Him. You know as they get older and they can read
make sure that they're being taught to read the Bible. You know what I'm just saying here is
don't forget about your children's spiritual walk with God. It's important for them.
And when you look at a great man of God like Samuel, it didn't just
start when he was an adult. It started as a little child ministering
unto the Lord. Let's keep reading in verse 1. Notice what it says. It says
in the word of the Lord was precious in those days.
There was no open vision. And
what that word precious is referring to is simply that
the word of the Lord is hard to find during that time. Something that's precious
is of extreme value and it's hard to find. You know you're not going to just be
walking down the streets of downtown OKC and find just pure diamonds
laying around. Why? Because diamonds are precious. They're rare.
And what the Bible is saying is that at this time the word of the Lord
was rare and there was no open vision. And while
thankfully you know the word of the Lord is not rare in our society
I mean we have King James Bibles everywhere. If someone wants to have a Bible they can
find it. Yet I think there's a modern day parallel with this in the sense
of it's rare to find a good church.
It's rare to find a church that has a good vision
where they have the pure precious word of God and there's just an
open vision in that church. And you want to know how I know that it's rare
is that people still move from all over the world and from all over
America to go to a good church. And when I went
and visited Germany this year there's people driving from other countries
on a monthly basis just to go to a good church.
Why? Because in a lot of places in this world the word of God is precious.
Meaning it's rare. And even in the United States of America where thank God you definitely
can find a church that's saved. You definitely can find a church that has the right gospel
but that doesn't mean that just on every street corner in America you can find an
absolutely great church to go to. Go to
Psalm 119. I'll read Ephesians
118. The Bible says this, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. So the Bible
explains that when you're saved your eyes are now enlightened.
And here in 1 Samuel the Bible is saying that there was no open
vision. Now the first step in finding a good church is just going to
find a church where their eyes are enlightened. And a lot of people haven't even gotten
to that step in America yet. Why? Because a lot of people are going to places like the
Catholic church where news flash, the clergy of the Catholic
church, their eyes are not enlightened. They may have
a Bible or something that calls itself a Bible but any person that
gets up and teaches that you get to heaven by doing good works, that you
get to heaven by repenting of your sins or by following a list of
rules or by confessing to a priest, that's a person whose eyes
are not enlightened. That's a person who's still in darkness and the people that
follow those people are still in darkness as well.
Not only is it just hard to find a church often times in many places in this world
that's saved, on top of that it's even harder to find a church that
actually has the word of God and is using it well. Look at Psalm
119, 105. The Bible says this, thy word
is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto
my path. So notice, remember in 1 Samuel it's saying
that there was no open vision. You know in one sense once you're saved
your eyes are enlightened and you have vision and you can see. But beyond
that there's vision when it comes to your daily life and
your daily walk with God. The Bible says that thy word is
a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Meaning that if you're not letting the Bible guide your decisions,
if you're not letting the Bible shape your opinions and teach you what the right
way is, you are in darkness. You are in a sense not having
any open vision. So not only is it important to find a church
where they're enlightened when it comes to salvation, but also it's one that uses
the word of God as the light to our feet, as the lamp
to our path, or lamp to our feet, light to our path.
And here's the thing, the Bible says that thy word is these things.
Makes me think of the churches that are using false Bible versions. You know they
have a defective light. They're holding a flashlight that has no batteries
in it and it's worthless at that point. You know it's so important to have
the pure words of God, the unadulterated perfect
King James Bible. Look at verse 2, it says,
And it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down
in his place and his eyes began to wax dim that he
could not see. So notice it was just talking about how there was
no open vision and then we get this picture of Eli.
He's an old man and what is he doing in his old age? He's just laying around.
He's not doing much and what happens to his eyes? His eyes
begin to wax dim that he could not see.
And what I think that this is a picture of, this is a
picture of someone that does not read the Bible. The Bible is saying
that the word of the Lord was precious in those days. It was rare. There was no
open vision and then we get this picture of Eli. What is he doing? He's
laying down. He's not doing anything. He's not being a spiritual leader. He's not
accomplishing anything for God and what's happening? His vision
is going dim. He's going blind and this is what happens
to the Christian that stops reading the Bible. You know there's no such thing
as a Christian that doesn't read the Bible but just serves God faithfully
their whole life and they're just really shaking up the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ
and they're just preaching great sermons and they're leading
great churches. That doesn't exist. And you know what happens
when a Christian stops reading the word of God, when they get backslidden
when they no longer make Bible reading a priority in their life, you know what happens?
Is that their eyes start to wax dim and they start to become
blind. Often times they're blinded by pride
because one of the reasons that you're supposed to read the Bible is that your heart is not
going to be lifted up above your brethren and when someone isn't doing that, you know what happens?
Their heart is lifted up above their brethren and I've seen it so many times
where someone stops reading the Bible and you just see a change in that person.
You see the pride in their life and you see that they're no longer
making wise decisions. They're often saying really foolish things. You can
tell that their opinions are being drawn from men from the world and not
from the word of God and something just changes in them and what is it
that changed is that they stopped reading the word of God. And you know Eli
here is a picture of a lot of old independent fundamental Baptist churches
where they're kind of just lying around, they're just getting
old and they're just waiting to die. You know old age
does not mean that you have to stop serving God. You know I really wish
that these old independent fundamental Baptist churches, even though that some of the preachers may
be old, even though that their congregations are full of boomers pretty much and that's it,
that doesn't mean that they still can't preach good sermons but what would it take?
It would take them actually to realize that the word of God is precious
and in this instance I mean of high value and read it
and then your eyes won't go dim. Then your church wouldn't be so blind
to a lot of heresies that are out there like repent of your sins
that you wouldn't be creeping in to many old independent fundamental Baptist churches.
Or you know the false doctrine of Zionism wouldn't be creeping in
if your eyes were open, if you were spending time in the word of God, you know the pre-trib
rapture wouldn't be creeping in. You know I saw a sermon this week
by this old IFB pastor where the whole subject of the
sermon was what happens to children in the pre-trib rapture.
Like you know you're saved and your parents just get raptured up
and kids are left behind. It just sounds like a funny movie
or a funny book you know you could write about like a kid's adventures after his parents
just got raptured or whatever. Man maybe that's what the wrath of God is, the world
being run by children. But here's the thing like why are
we even talking about what would happen during the pre-trib when there is no pre-trib?
It's like man you're not spending enough time in the word of God
you're blind in this area and now you're taking a whole Sunday to talk about what kids
should do when their parents are raptured. Come on Eli
you need to get off your butt and get to work. This could happen to a person
this could happen to a church, this could happen to a nation. And
if you look at the United States of America you know when our nation was
started we were a nation that was truly enlightened. We were enlightened
and it was just coming off of the enlightenment period. And you know really what the real
enlightenment was was believing the word of God and applying it. And you know
I'm going to preach a whole sermon on this soon. But if you read the original
state constitutions of the original 13 colonies
it was explicitly stated that our laws
are based off the Bible that in order to hold an office
of any authority in the government of your state you had to make an oath
or affirmation that you believe that the Old and New Testaments were inspired
by God and that you believe in the Holy Trinity and that you believe in the
deity of Jesus Christ. You know in many states even to have a business license
you would have to make the exact same affirmation
they didn't allow any type of pastors or clergy to be in the government
and that wasn't because they despised pastors they actually explicitly said hey
their work is way too important to be distracted with the civil government.
And so most of the states banned pastors from this. What am I saying? I'm saying
that our country when it was started had its eyes open. They had
clear vision. Our nation had a clear vision. Why? Because we believed the Bible
as a people. And now you look at our country and it's just
like we are blind. Our whole country is blind
and our country is represented by an old man who's going deaf
and blind and mute all at the same time and he can't walk and
he can't control his bowel movements and it's just like this is a picture of America.
It's just you're getting old you're doing nothing and you're just ready to die.
And what would it take to reverse this? It takes the word of God.
It takes reading the Bible. Now
go to verse 3 it says an heir, that word heir just means before
and before the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark
of God was and Samuel was laid down to sleep. So the Bible is saying
that Eli was doing this before the lamp of God
went out in the temple of the Lord and that will be brought up later on in this book but this idea
of the lamp going out of the temple go to Exodus
chapter 27. Exodus 27.
Why is this a significant event
that the Bible mentions? Look at verse number 20
of Exodus 27. It says and thou shalt
command the children of Israel that they bring the pure
oil olive beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burn
notice always in the tabernacle of the congregation
without the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall order
it from evening to morning before the Lord it shall be a statute
forever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.
So notice in the temple as 1 Samuel
puts it or in the tabernacle as Exodus 27 puts it
what's supposed to happen? You're supposed to be having this lamp that's lit with oil
that is on all the time. It's never supposed to be
extinguished. Why is that? Well obviously because this is a picture
of the Holy Ghost. Oil is often a picture of the Holy Ghost. Fire
is often a picture of the Holy Ghost and if you read the New Testament we know that we're
sealed with the Holy Spirit of God until the day of redemption
picturing the fact that Christ is never going to leave us or forsake us
we're always going to be saved that we can never lose our salvation and so
when the lamp goes out it kind of ruins that picture
just kind of like how marriage is a picture of salvation but when someone gets
divorced it kind of ruins that picture doesn't it? Because guess what
God's not going to put you away. God's not going to make you lose your salvation and
in the same way it should be till death do us part yet people break that. Well this lamp
was supposed to be a picture of salvation yet later on we will see that
this light does go out. Also I think that this lamp
is also just a visual representation of God's
blessing on them. Just seeing this lamp burning it's a visual
reminder to the people of the God that they serve
and it's just something they could see and just remember hey this is a commandment that God gave us
why are we doing this? Why are we making sure this stays? Well because God told us to and it's just a
reminder of God. Now go to Revelation chapter 2
Revelation chapter 2
So let's think about this in the context
of that second picture of God's blessing. So in
Revelation 2 Jesus is talking to the church at Ephesus and look what he says
in verse 5. He says remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen and repent and do the first
works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will notice
remove thy candlestick out of his place except
thou repent. You know if you read Revelation 1 Jesus
explains that the candlestick represents the church and how Jesus
has the church in his hand and he can remove that candlestick from a church
whenever he wants to and he's threatening to do that here to the church at Ephesus
because they left their first works they left off soul winning I believe
they left off preaching the gospel and so God's basically Jesus is basically
warning them hey I'm gonna remove my blessing from you I'm gonna remove my
stamp of approval of you being a church if you don't repent
what's so funny about that is think about this this is the church of Ephesus
this church hasn't been around for that long and it just goes to show that
us as human beings we're prone to wander we're prone to stray
so quickly. You know God wants this lamp in the
tabernacle to always be lit but how long really did that last for
not very long did it and think about the old covenant
even you know God's giving us God's giving people the commandments
to follow but how long did it take for man to sin
not very long at all it's in Genesis okay just immediately basically
right and so just all of this is to make you think about how
quickly man strays from God because think about it Paul
started that church and yet here we are in Revelation and he's already threatening
to remove it we see that happen today we see you know churches like
First Baptist Church of Hammond Indiana where there was a great pastor
Pastor Jack Hiles then what happens his pervert son-in-law takes over
and you know ends up going to prison for all of his
perversion and the church just isn't the same as it used to be
go to Titus chapter number three Titus chapter number three
so what do we have to do about this fact that we're just
prone to wander prone to stray Titus 3 8 says this
this is a faithful saying and these things I will that that will affirm
constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to
maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men
so what are we supposed to do you know we know our human nature we know that
we're prone to sin we're prone to quit we're prone to wander from God
what do we have to do we have to affirm these things that the Bible says
constantly you know what that means that means coming to church
and you'll probably hear several several times in the course of a year
about salvation and you'll hear several several times
about baptism and you'll hear just countless amounts of times about
the importance of soul winning and the importance of abstaining from fornication
and the importance of not drinking alcohol and the importance of modesty
and of women wearing dresses and of men working hard and providing for
their families why because we need to affirm these things constantly
all of us need it constantly that we why
may maintain good works because you know
just like anything in this world it needs maintenance you can't just let a car sit for
forever and expect to start it up nice and good in 20 years
you can't expect Eli to be sitting down doing nothing
letting his eyes wax dim and then all of a sudden he's going to change things around
on a dime no what does it take again it takes reading the Bible
to get vision to affirm constantly the things that are written in the word of
God to maintain good works let's go back to first Samuel
three verse number four verse number four
says that the Lord called Samuel
and remember he's a child and he answered here am I and he
ran unto Eli and said here am I for thou callest me
and he said I called not lie down again and he went and lay down
so notice God is the one that's calling
Samuel but Samuel's a child and when he hears the voice of God
calling him what does he do he actually ends up going to Eli
but notice how he does it he runs and I think that this is an
awesome example of a very obedient child
this child he just hears his voice harken to by
someone and what does he do he thinks that it's Eli he just runs to him
children that's a great example to follow that when your parents
tell you to do something that you do it quickly you don't sit there
and drag your feet you don't sit there and whine and complain and ask why
you know Samuel just thought that Eli was calling him and he just ran
to go see what he wanted and you know that is an attitude that you should learn
as a child that you should carry over to the workplace
that bosses shouldn't have to beat their employees over the head with a stick
to get them to do anything you know nothing makes me
cringe more than seeing employees drag their feet
be disrespectful to the boss ask questions why
I mean I've already seen it this week and it just blows my mind
that people are like this that people will mouth off to their boss for their boss
asking them the most simple easy things in the world
it's not like they're being asked to run NASA or something it's like
do this simple task it's like why is that in our contract is that in my job
description just like what is wrong with you or hey you know
work starts at 6 a.m. the boss comes and talks to you at 559 come back to me
in 60 seconds I've seen this situation happen
and it's like this is a terrible example and it started as that person
being a child and not being taught this principle that when authority
tells you to do something you just do it quickly and you know there
wouldn't be as many police shootings in this world if people weren't fighting
the cops too because I never just see videos of cops just walking
up to random black people and just shooting them in the head no usually it's
people fighting back punching them going for their weapon
not listening to them trying to put someone else in danger and then they get shot
by the police but you know it's funny how I've had tons
of experience with police officers because of our protests I've had more interaction
with police officers than probably any non-police officer that I know
and never one time have I ever been hit or maced
or tased or shot why
because I'm not a retard that's really why
you know and I've been pulled over before and I've never had my
body dragged out of the vehicle and shot no it's just
do what they say just be polite
actually stay there let me read for you Galatians 4.18 it says
but it is good to be zealously affected always in a
good thing and not only when I am present with you you know
Samuel's attitude here makes me think of zeal he hears something
he hears what he thinks is Eli and he just runs to do it
and us when we hear the voice of the Lord when we read something in the Bible you know we should
do it we should just run to do it you know most people and
God bless people I want people like this here I'm happy
that these people come to church I'm happy that these people get saved but most people what they do
they get saved and years go by and they
maybe have changed one or two things in their life maybe they come to church every once in a while
you know maybe they pick open their Bible every once in a while but
ideally what would happen is someone gets saved and they learn something that God wants
them to do and they just run and do it and then they come to church the next time
and they hear the voice of the Lord and they learn something else that they should do and they just
run and do it immediately not just dragging your feet and saying like oh yeah
someday maybe ten years from now I'll become a soul winner no they just they hear one
sermon on soul winning or they read the Bible and they just do it
you know those people are few and far between that's why there's not very many people like Samuel
in this world but what made Samuel special what made him
different if you want to be special if you want to stick out be like this
where you hear something and you just run and do it you have zeal
look at verse six verse Samuel three it says and the Lord called yet
again Samuel and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said here
am I for thou didst call me and he answered I called not my son lie down again
so once again he thinks that it's Eli look at verse seven
now Samuel did not yet know the Lord neither was the
word of the Lord yet revealed unto him now
what this is saying I think is the fact that he's not yet saved and
it's kind of interesting that it says the word of the Lord was not yet revealed unto him yet the
word of the Lord was just calling him multiple times but I think what it's what it's
saying by revealed was that his mind had not yet understood that this was
the word of the Lord and this is just an obvious fact
that you know if you're a soul winner that oftentimes people need to hear the gospel
multiple times before they get saved and so
you don't need to worry or freak out that you gave someone the gospel one time
and they didn't understand it you know don't just write that person off as a
reprobate necessarily sometimes people need to hear it over and over and over and over
again you know I know this one lady that told me that Pastor Menes
gave her the gospel like seven times before she ever got saved and so
hey I'm glad Pastor Menes didn't give up on that girl you know the Bible says that
an heretic after the first and second admonition
reject now that's a heretic that's someone that's actively opposing you
trying to teach something different than what the Bible says but when someone is just ignorant
or when someone's just confused when someone's just confusing Eli
for the Lord here you know they need to hear the word of God more times and it needs to be
revealed to them more times 1 Corinthians 3 6 I'll read
for you says I have planted Apollos watered but God
gave the increase you know there's going to be people in your life where you knock on
their door and you're the first person they've ever heard the gospel from and that
might be you just planting a seed in their heart and it might take time
going on maybe they visit another church with a saved pastor and they
hear the gospel again and it waters a little bit waters a little bit maybe they see
a reel by Pastor Mejia on Instagram and it's about the gospel
and it waters them waters them and then maybe in a year from now we knock on their door again
and you're ready to reap that harvest that's what it takes often times for
people to get saved so you should never be discouraged when you go out soul winning you don't get
someone saved right away because people's souls it's a long term investment
that we're making we're making a long term investment in this community knocking
on doors sometimes planting sometimes watering sometimes
reaping look at verse 8 it says and the Lord called Samuel
again the third time and he rose and went to Eli and said
here am I for thou didst call me and Eli perceived that the Lord had
called the child therefore Eli said unto Samuel go lie down
and it shall be if he call thee that thou shalt say speak Lord
for thy servant heareth so Samuel went and lay down in his place
and the Lord came and stood and called as at other times
Samuel Samuel then Samuel answered speak
for thy servant heareth and the Lord said to Samuel behold
I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone
that heareth it shall tingle so notice
Eli tells Samuel hey you know I think the Lord's calling
you you need to go lay down and if the Lord comes to you again respond to him
and speak and say hey I'm your servant I'm ready to listen to you and
notice how it says in verse 10 that the Lord came and stood
and called as at other times you know it's very possible
that this situation was an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ
because it says that the Lord stood to me this doesn't really sound
like like a dream or something like that it sounds like
the child is seeing the Lord here and of course if you're seeing the Lord
if you're seeing the face of the Lord you know it's not God the Father it's the Old Testament appearance
of Jesus Christ and of course the word of God is Jesus Christ so that's another way
you can look at it as well but notice what he says he says I'll do a
thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone
that heareth it shall tingle now keep your place there go to
2 Kings chapter number 21 2 Kings
chapter number 21 this is kind of a strange phrase your ears
tingling this isn't really something that we use in our modern
day speech the only thing that I can think of is we talk about hey were
your ears burning and that usually means like we were just talking about you and you walked in
and like hey were you listening to us but that's not at all what this is saying when it's talking
about your ears tingling look at verse number 12 of 2 Kings
21 therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel behold
I am bringing such notice evil upon Jerusalem
and Judah that whosoever heareth of it both his ears
shall tingle and when you see this phrase your ears
tingling it means that you're hearing something that's extremely
negative you're hearing extremely bad news and it's
causing your ears to tingles and look at verse or go to
2 Timothy chapter 4 as well 2 Timothy chapter number 4
there's kind of a there's kind of a similar
mention in the New Testament as well or 2 Timothy chapter number 4
for the time will come
oh sorry verse 3 of 2 Timothy 4 verse 3 for the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having
notice itching ears and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth and shall be turned unto fables so it kind of
seems like people in the New Testament are described when they don't want to listen to the truth
when they don't want to listen to sound doctrine they don't want to hear anything negative even if it's true
those are the people who have itching ears but yet when you hear something
super negative the Bible refers to it as someone's ears tingling
now go to verse number 12 verse number 12 of
1 Samuel chapter 3 now let's see
if this matches up because the message he's about to get from
the Lord is a very negative message verse 12 it says in that day
I will perform against Eli all the things which I have
spoken concerning his house when I begin I will also
make an end what were the things that God promised to do
considering the house of Eli he promised to literally kill his children
Hophni and Phinehas and to replace Eli's house
that's a serious curse and so he's saying hey
when people hear this it's going to cause their ears to tingle this is negative news
this is a negative message that he's giving and he's saying when I begin to do this you better
believe it's going to happen I will also make an end verse 13
for I have told him that I will judge his house forever
for the iniquity which he knoweth because his sons made themselves
vile and he restrained them not so notice God
is super super angry not only with the sins of Eli
or the sins of Hophni and Phinehas but with the fact that Eli as
their father knew their wickedness and did not
restrain them go to Proverbs chapter number 29 now
what's the lesson there for us the lesson for us is that God
can also be very angry with us if we don't restrain our children
because we have an example here of God being super angry at a dad
for not restraining his kids look what the Bible says Proverbs
29 verse 17 correct thy
son and he shall give thee rest yea he shall
give delight unto thy soul and that is the exact opposite
situation that Eli finds himself in where he has no delight in his soul
what he has is his ears are tingling because he heard the news that
his sons are going to be literally killed by God now look at the
next verse verse 18 I find this very interesting what did we just
read in first Samuel chapter 3 that the word of the Lord was precious
there was no open vision what happened Eli knew of his
son's wickedness and he did not punish them here in Proverbs 29
it says correct thy son and he will give thee rest look at verse 18 where
there is no vision the people perish
but he that keepeth the law happy is he you think that's a coincidence
that in first Samuel 3 we learned that there's no vision
and Eli didn't correct his sons then in Proverbs the Bible is telling you hey
correct your sons why because when there's no vision
the people perished and by Eli
not having clear vision clear judgment from the word of God
of knowing my sons are doing wrong so I need to
stop them I need to correct them he was blind in that sense what happened
the people perished what people his sons literally died
and so this proverb is true in the most literal
sense that where Eli had no vision his sons
literally perished they literally died and you know us as parents
if you have children you need to get a vision for your children
you know you need to get a vision that's in accordance with the word of God
not a vision of what the public school system wants for your kids
or what the world is saying is what's best for your kids but rather the vision that the
Bible gives you that's going to give you the clearest vision and you know one of the visions
God gives us is to correct our children and there's a huge
attack today on corporal punishment on spanking your
children but you know I would rather spank my children and people think I'm mean
or not like me than my kids turn out like Hophni and Phinehas
and literally die go to Proverbs 13 flip the page
Proverbs chapter number 13
verse 24 he that spareth
his rod hateth his son but he that loveth
him chasteneth him betimes you know think of that
word hate and when people think of hate and you say what's the opposite
of hate what they normally think of is love think about love love is
both an emotion and it's an action right the Bible
says that love is the fulfilling of the law so in that sense
love is very much an action meaning that you're not sinning and you're doing
the things that God told you to do well it's really the same thing with hate
hate oftentimes is both a emotion and an
action and you can hate someone by your actions
even if you don't necessarily feel animosity towards them even if you don't think that you feel
any loathing of that person yet your actions can be hateful towards
that person and the Bible saying here is that if you spare your rod if you decide not
to spank your children your actions are hateful
towards your child now here's the thing if you wouldn't talk to parents that don't spank their kids
and you say do you love your kids all of them will say yes and I'm sure
all of them when they see a picture of their son or their daughter they have a pleasant emotion
and a feeling of love towards their child but their actions
whether they're aware of it or not is actually extremely hateful to their child
it is a hateful action to not correct
your children why because when children are young that's the easiest
time to mold them and to give them character and to make
them a good person and when you decide that I'm going to withhold that
training period from my children I'm not going to apply the rod I'm not
going to spank them you know what you're hating them because you're allowing them to grow up
without character and with a bunch of problems that's going to cause them to face
serious consequences and while sometimes the consequences aren't that
severe you know you see people grow up today and they're not disciplined and they can't
hold down a job and so they have money problems you know that's not as bad as
Hoffney and Phineas their problems are literally being killed by God
why because obviously they never were taught any boundaries
in their lives they apparently thought hey I could just sleep
with women in church and I could just cause people to abhor the offerings of the Lord
why because they were never corrected obviously and the Bible straight up
says that Eli did not restrain them and so God was angry at
Eli for that he was not just angry at the kids he was angry
at Eli you know when kids turn out bad
not because of their own free will but because you didn't discipline
them mom and dad you know God's angry at you for that
and while sometimes it's too late and your kids are growing up
and there's really nothing you could do you know those of us in this room that have younger
kids ought to make the decision now that you're not going to be hateful towards your child
that you're going to do what the Bible says that you're going to have clear vision and that you will
spank your children why because it's the best thing for them
go to Proverbs 22 Proverbs 22 let's look at a few more verses on this
Proverbs
22 verse 15 foolishness is bound in the heart
of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far
from him you know God's not really that mad at the kid for being foolish
all kids are foolish he's mad at the parent that has Proverbs
22 15 and knows that their child's foolish but decides not to
drive that foolishness far from his child that's who God's mad at flip the page
look at Proverbs 23 Proverbs 23 13
withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him
with the rod he shall not die thou shalt beat
him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell
so notice if you spank your kids the Bible's saying they won't die and they won't
go to hell what happened with Eli's kids he didn't restrain them
he didn't punish them and what did they do they died and they went to hell
how do we know they went to hell because the Bible says that they were sons of Belial
they were reprobates so these Proverbs I mean this isn't just general
wisdom here these are the truest verses in the most literal sense
of the word if you spank your kid they won't die often times
and if you spank your kid it'll deliver their soul from hell go back to
1 Samuel chapter 3
now verse 14 is very interesting it says and therefore I have sworn
unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house
shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering
forever go to Leviticus chapter number 4 Leviticus chapter number 4
so God's saying hey I have sworn that
Eli his house they're not going to be able to just sacrifice a bull and
make this situation okay they're not going to be able to just sacrifice a goat
and for me to just be appeased and forget about this situation there's going to be no more
sacrifice that's going to appease this situation why does he say that well
because often times that was how things were done look at Leviticus chapter 4
verse 3 it says if the priest now that's what
if the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the
people then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock
without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering so notice
if the priest sinned they were to go make an offering
for their own atonement of their sin not to be forgiven of their sin
not to be given salvation but to basically have their fellowship restored with
God to be on good terms with God and they would make these offerings and it
would basically restore them but in 1st Samuel he said you're not going
to be able to do this this is not going to be an option for you and for your house
go to Numbers 15 why the question is why is it
that Leviticus said that this is what the priest is supposed to do but
in the case of Hophni and Phinehas this is not an option for them
Numbers chapter number 15 verse 30
it says this but the soul that doeth
ought presumptuously that word presumptuously means
showing presumption in conduct or thought as by saying
or doing something without right or permission
unwarrantedly or impertinently bold or forward
so someone that's doing something presumptuously they're taking it upon themselves
they don't care what the rules are they don't care what the authority is they don't care what the punishment is
they're just completely self-willed and are going to do whatever they want it says but
the soul that doeth ought presumptuously whether he be born
in the land or a stranger the same reproacheth the Lord
and that soul shall be cut off from among his people
because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken
his commandment that soul shall be utterly cut off
his iniquity shall be upon him what's the difference
between the priest that sins and has the option of going and making a sacrifice
and Hophni and Phinehas in the house of Eli well these guys were sinning
grievously presumptuously it's not like
hey we're all sinners no it's like hey we're not all committing
serial adultery in the house of God that is a huge
example of sinning presumptuously having no regard for
the Bible no regard for God no regard for God's
people what is that that's someone that's just completely untoward
froward presumptuous and
if Hophni and Phinehas are just going to blatantly despise the word of
the Lord then a sacrifice is not going to be an option for them they are going to be cut off
they're going to be killed and eventually they're going to drop into hell and you know what this makes me think of
is the fact that false prophets are not going to receive
any mercy from God you know it's one thing if you are a
soul winner or a preacher or even a pastor and you sin because guess
what everyone sins and you know what God will show mercy on his children
God knows how weak we are God knows that we just are flesh here
and he will have mercy on us when we ask him for forgiveness when we seek
his face when we repent but here's the thing when it comes to false prophets
God doesn't care about them why because they're sinning presumptuously
they're not saved they know they're not saved and they're teaching
people lies that will literally send them to hell you know God's not going to
just give that person an opportunity to receive mercy from him no God's
going to cut that person off and sometimes we may see it
in our lifetime and sometimes we won't see it until the great white throne judgment
but you know what we will see every single false prophet like Hophni and Phinehas
cast into the lake of fire someday and there will be no mercy for them
go to Hebrews chapter number 10 Hebrews chapter number 10 now how does this
apply to us? Obviously
it's one thing for a reprobate reprobates are not going to receive any mercy
you know we obviously being saved all of our sins have been
forgiven from a salvation perspective but look at Hebrews chapter
10 verse 26 it says this for if we now that's Christians
if we sin willfully after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins now remember in Leviticus if the common people sin
there's an offering they had to do if the congregation sin there's an offering that they had to do
if the priests sin there was an offering that they had to do and then they would be back on
good terms with God but the Bible is saying here us if we sin
willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins
we're not in the Old Testament you can't go sacrifice a heifer or a goat to get
back on good terms with God what do we have to look forward to when we sin
presumptuously willfully look at verse 27 but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour
the adversaries think about that what do we have to look forward to when we sin
as God's people God's chastisement and he goes on and
explains that more in Hebrews chapter number 12 but you know we obviously talked about
the reprobates but hopefully that doesn't apply to anyone in this room but apply
this to yourself you know when you know the truth when you know what
God's will for your life is when you know for example like in context
like Hebrews chapter 10 is talking about when you know that you're not supposed to forsake
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is and you just
do it presumptuously you don't care you despise the word of the Lord you know
what's going to happen to you there's no more sacrifice for sins for you you can't go sacrifice a goat
and get right with God you know what's going to happen God's going to punish you God
is going to chastise you and while oftentimes in our life God's very long suffering
and merciful and gives us many chances you know eventually in our life if we just
despise the word of the Lord we've heard the preaching we've read the Bible
we know what's right and we don't care we do what we want anyways God
will come down on us God will punish us just like Eli
should have done to his children because God's not a negligent father like Eli
no he's actually going to make sure that he restrains his children and if you think you can go out
and just live the most sinful life being saved you have another thing coming
you know God will make sure that he punishes you in this life for that
go to verse number 15
verse number 15 now think about where we are in the story here
God is coming to Samuel and he's saying
hey everyone's ears are going to tingle when you hear this message what's the message
I'm going to kill Eli's sons and I'm very angry at Eli
because of the fact that he didn't restrain them from their vile acts
this was God by the way speaking to a child
what does that tell you about the philosophy today from churches
that children shouldn't be in the main congregation and children are being
scarred and damaged when Pastor Anderson gets up and screams faggot
or Pastor Shelley gets up and screams queer like God Almighty God
literally came to this child and started talking about how he's going to
kill Eli's sons and that he's pissed at Eli
for not restraining them that's to a child and when you think
about this like when I think about the age of Samuel here I'm guessing that he's
somewhere around the age of like 10 that's kind of how I picture him here
he doesn't seem like a young man like David was during David and Goliath like
this seems like a child to child like a 10 year old
would you imagine a 10 year old in most of these churches
today hearing a message like this you know it probably would wake them up
probably put the fear of God into them probably make them take church a little more seriously
you know we not we ought not to just exclude children from the church if God
didn't exclude this extremely graphic negative message
from Samuel why should we neglect the Bible from children in our church
we're not going to do that look at verse 15 it says
and Samuel lay into the morning and opened the doors of the house
of the Lord and notice this and Samuel feared
to show Eli the vision so I mean put yourself in Samuel's position
here he's a little kid he's a little kid and he's
serving one of the priests of the Lord Eli and he just had
the Lord Jesus Christ in Old Testament form come up to him and give
him this message and what does he say what's going on in his heart
he feared to show Eli the vision now listen if you
and I are honest with ourselves every preacher
experiences this emotion at some point in their life and if you're a soul winner
you've probably experienced this emotion in your life you know for me it's harder
for me to preach the gospel to my family members than to random strangers
it just is and that's probably how it is with everyone and especially when you first
start soul winning you know it might be hard for you at first you might fear
to show someone the word of the Lord or if you're a preacher if you get an opportunity
to preach behind the pulpit and you see something in the word of God
and you know the Holy Spirit is just moving you to say something you think someone might think
that I'm talking about them you might feel like oh man this is kind of uncomfortable
but really this is what separates the men from the boys right here this is why Samuel
is Samuel he had he had this feeling but notice notice what he did
says in verse 16 then Eli called Samuel and said
Samuel my son and he answered here am I and he said
what is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee I pray the highest
the Lord hath said unto thee I pray thee hide it not from me God do so
to thee and more also thou hide anything from me of all the things
that he said unto thee and you know what to God
that every person in sincerity would have this attitude that Eli has
where he says basically I don't care what God told you I just want to know what it is
you know some people will say this or think like oh yeah I want to hear hard preaching
but very few people actually want this in their life very few people actually want to be
told what they're doing wrong and where they can get better most people want to pat
in the back which is why Joel Osteen's church is packed every single week
because they go to get a pat on the back they have itching ears they don't want
they don't want someone to burn their ears they don't want their ears to be tingling
they want it to be itching for something soft
look at verse 18 notice this and Samuel
told him every wit and hid nothing
from him and he said it is the Lord let him do what
seemeth him good go to 2 Timothy chapter number 4
so there's two aspects of this there's what Samuel did
and then there's Eli's reaction let's talk first about Eli's reaction
he says it is the Lord let him do what
seemeth him good you know I was kind of getting on to Eli at the beginning of the sermon
but really Eli does have a good attitude when he actually
hears what God said and you know we have to just realize that you know
our ways are not as God's ways his ways are above our ways
we have a mind here a human mind of flesh but everything that God says
and does and everything in his word is always right and when
we you know have our feelings hurt by that or in our flesh we disagree
with that we should always have the humility to realize that whoa that
was a foolish thought whatever God said is right and you know if God
says to Eli hey I'm going to kill your sons because they're reprobates
you know Eli doesn't know better than God God knows
better than Eli so what does Eli say he says hey it's the Lord let him
do what seemeth him good and you know you'll have a lot of peace in your
life if you just stop trying to constantly fight against the Bible
fight against what it teaches and just think I really want my sodomite brother to be
saved and you're just never going to believe what the Bible says on that issue because you just want to fight against
it you should just be like Eli and say let the Lord do what seemeth him good
you know and if that means killing your reprobate sons then
hey God's going to do that God's not wicked God's not sinful God's right
but now let's focus on what Samuel did
he told him every wit and he hid
nothing from him even though the Bible records that
Samuel was afraid to do so you know this like I said this is what separates
the men from the boys right here not wanting to do something but doing it
anyways not feeling a certain way but doing it
anyways this is this is being a disciplined Christian right here
not just relying on your motivation of whether or not you want to preach someone the gospel
or am I feeling motivated to get someone saved today am I
feeling motivated to preach the Bible today and actually preach what it says regardless
of people's feelings regardless if people like me or not or am I just going to do it anyways
you know what Samuel chose even though he was afraid even though he was a child
he told him every wit you know shame on
preachers in America today that are afraid to preach to other adults
that are saved that have the same Holy Spirit as them that
this little child could look another man of God in the eye
and basically rebuke him from the word of the Lord why can't pastors today
you know make their congregation a little upset from time to time why can't
they go ruffle some feathers time to time with some hard passages
in the Bible with some negative things look what the Bible says in 2 Timothy 4
2 preach the word be instant
in season out of season reprove rebuke
exhort with all long suffering and doctrine you know just like
Samuel was given a negative message to preach here oftentimes
we as preachers us in the New Testament we are given a negative
message as well you know most of the Bible is full of negative stories
now I still think they're positive because I love the negative stories
I love them you know I find them all positive even the negative ones hey I think
it's positive that Hoff 9 Finneas are in hell I really think that's a positive story
why because reprobates deserve to go to hell people that would
commit serial adultery in the house of God and cause people to hate serving God
hey I'm glad that those people are in hell you know I'm glad that Ravi Zacharias
is in hell I'm glad that Billy Graham is in hell you know
to me that's all positive but not to everyone and there's going to be things
in the Bible that are not that pleasant to people but you know what a faithful
man of God does just tells him every wit and hides nothing from him
you know we need more preachers in America today they're going to be like Samuel and just
tell the world all of the word of God and not hold anything back you know
it's so annoying being in church and just waiting for a pastor
like he kind of gets close to saying something offensive but he just never
quites get there and it's not that just you want to be offensive for the sake of being offensive it's like
he gets close to saying the word of God and he just stops
you know the same preacher that I listened to that was preaching the pre-trib message about babies
he talked about in passing he kind of talked about abortion
he's like you know it just makes me it makes me wonder how Jesus would feel
about people mutilating these precious babies you know
it just makes me wonder how he'd feel about that and he moves on it's like I want someone
to say like hey this is murder I want someone to say like hey
abortion is first degree murder that
it's an abomination that it's disgusting that it should be completely criminal
in all 50 states not just oh get rid of Roe versus Wade
no make it criminal in all 50 states that if anyone gets a
first degree premeditated abortion that you should be put
to death that's what I want to hear why because that's what the Bible
actually teaches and that any abortion doctor that willingly
participates in the mutilation of a little child should be put to death
that's what we need preachers saying today you want to know why
conservatives are so weak on the issue of abortion is because preachers are setting the
bad example because preachers are getting behind the pulpit on Sunday saying I
wonder what Jesus would think about it and that's why you have Trump saying like oh it's fine
in the case of rape and abortion yeah rape and incest
because preachers are just leaving people with I wonder what Jesus would think
instead of saying thus sayeth the Lord instead of being like Samuel saying like I'm telling
you every whit and I'm not holding anything back you know
Samuel is a better preacher as a child than a lot of preachers
adults in America today what a shame that is
look at verse 19 but notice in first Samuel chapter number 3
verse 19 notice we saw the character of Samuel what he's like as a person
and look at the result in his life of being like this verse 19
and Samuel grew and the Lord was with him
and did let none of his words fall to the ground
you know I'd rather preach the word of God I'd rather
preach everything that the Bible says and not hold back anything
and be hated by the world and be protested and be
death-threaded and be doxxed and be stalked but
God be with me then have none of those things and think I'm safe
but holding back from preaching the whole word of God
trying to play it safe and not telling people the full truth thinking somehow that's
going to make me safe when in reality that's the most dangerous place you could be as a Christian
you know where the safest place you could be as a Christian is where Samuel is
here where he's looking a man in the eyes and telling him that God's going to kill his
children and take away his house from being a priest and what does the Bible say
the Lord was with him you know that is the most valuable thing
you could possibly have in your life you know it is more valuable
in your life to have the Lord with you than to have
a hundred billion dollars because God's security
is more sure than the assets of a hundred billion dollars
doesn't matter how much you spend on health insurance doesn't matter how many guns
you buy it doesn't matter if you built a literal castle and dug
a moat and put some alligators in there and hired you know the
air force to patrol the air space around your castle if God wanted to kill you
he could just choke the breath out of your lungs in one second and so
on the other hand you know if God's with you who can be against
you if God's with you then hey you're good to go no matter
who's your enemy no matter what situation you're in and so you know
whenever you feel the fear of
man I don't want to open my mouth right now I know people aren't going to like me
I know this isn't going to be popular I know my family isn't going to like what I'm about to say
just think about the little child Samuel that decided to
tell him every whit anyways and as a result God was with him
God didn't let any of his words fall to the ground and look what verse 20 says
it says in all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew
that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord
you know it was obvious it was obvious to everyone that this
child was different and you know if you truly take this to heart
and this isn't just a sermon for you but you actually make the decision in your
heart that no matter how hard it is you will always say what needs to be said
you will have a clear vision you'll read the word of God you'll believe it you'll apply it to your life
you'll actually live Christianity you know this will be you too
it will be obvious to everyone that you're different
and some people teach oh yeah you get saved and your life just magically changes
no that's not true but you know if you get saved and you listen to the word of the Lord
and yeah you might be scared but you just preach the whole Bible
anyways it will be obvious that you're different from the rest of the world
verse 21 and the Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed
himself to Samuel in Shiloh notice this by
the word of the Lord we only have a few more verses to go to go to Hebrews chapter number one
Hebrews chapter number one notice says that the Lord appeared
to Samuel again and that he revealed himself
how by the word of the Lord now look at Hebrews
chapter one verse one it says this
God who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets
so in the Old Testament God used to speak audibly to people but notice verse two
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son
whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom
also he made the world now think about this
God may have spoken audibly to Samuel in fact
he did and God may have looked Moses in the face
and God may have communed as a man with his friend with certain people in the Old Testament
but guess what that does not happen in the New Testament
why because if you read the Bible if you read Hebrews 1
it plainly says that God may have done that in times past
but now he has communicated to us by his son
now the Bible says elsewhere that Jesus Christ is the word of God
so how does Jesus how does God commune with us today it's
through the Bible it's through the King James Bible
and so many preachers today the Pentecostal movement the charismatic
movement what do they do they like to speak in tongues and claim
that they're communing with God in this special heavenly prayer
language well not according to Hebrews 1 you're not because the only way that
God has communicated with us today is through his word there's no
extra revelation there's no preacher out there that gets a special word from
God Joseph Smith there's no one getting another testament
of Jesus Christ no there's the New Testament there's the
book of Matthew through revelation and that's it that's the New Testament
Mormonism is a complete joke and you know even
even people that aren't hardcore tongue talking freak weirdos
oftentimes still there's a version of charismatic preachers well they'll say
this well you know I was praying and God just
told me that's what they say God told me and I
hate that phrase because you know what if it's not a verse
in your Bible God didn't tell you God may have told
Samuel God did tell Samuel you know God may have told other men
you don't have to go there but I'll read 1st Corinthians 14 37
Paul said this if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual
let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you
are the commandments of the Lord look God may have spoken to Samuel
God may have spoken to the Apostle Paul and he could be under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit and write scripture but you know what he didn't do that to you
he didn't do that to me he didn't do that to any person that's alive on this
earth right now and any preacher that gets up and says
God told me look most of the cases they're just
liars and charlatans maybe there's some people that just
grew up in this culture and they're just used to saying this but look
if you grew up in a church where you heard this and this was the culture you
need to stop saying this because it's not true it's lying you're
putting words in the mouth of God the Bible says add thou not unto his words
so you say you know I want to be like Samuel
maybe maybe some children in this room are inspired by
this child man of God here Samuel you say I want to be like Samuel
I want God to speak to me you can you just wake up in the morning
and you just open the book of Genesis and you just hear from God
and then you go to the next one and you read Exodus and you hear from God
and then you go to Leviticus and you hear from God and you know it doesn't
matter how old you are if you're a man or a woman you could be
just like Samuel where God can talk to you
in the sense that you just open up the Bible and read what it says
when you read the Bible hey God is talking to you then
you can say hey God told me in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1
yeah you could say that all day long but don't just make stuff up
so you know Samuel is a great example why
well he was obedient he was zealous he preached the word of God no matter
what regardless of how he felt and he heard
the voice of the Lord you know let us look to
this great child example that many of us men and adults in the room can learn
from let us be like this child Samuel who has heart
sensitive to the word of God let us also read the word of God let's
pray Lord thank you for this day thank you for the book of first Samuel
pray that you'd bless our church pray that you would give us more laborers
and I just pray that every single person in here would have a steadfast heart to
stand on your word whether it feels comfortable or not
whether we may feel the emotion of fear or not that we would
choose rather to fear you above all else and just pray that you would stand with
us if we do that in Jesus name we pray amen
all righty if you would grab your hymnal we'll go ahead and sing one last song to
conclude the service hymn number 343 revive us again hymn number 343
we'll start there right on the first we praise thee oh god
for the son of thy love for jesus who died and
is now gone above hallelujah thine the glory
hallelujah amen hallelujah thine the glory
revive us again we praise thee oh god
for thy spirit of light who has shown us our savior
and scattered our night hallelujah thine the glory
hallelujah amen hallelujah thine the glory
revive us again all glory and praise
to the lamb that was slain who has borne all our sins
and has cleansed every stain hallelujah thine the glory
hallelujah amen hallelujah thine the glory
revive us again revive us again
fill each heart with thy love may each soul be rekindled
with fire from above hallelujah thine the glory
hallelujah amen hallelujah thine the glory
revive us again
good