["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Thank you very much.
All right, everybody.
We're going to go ahead and get started this evening.
If you would, find a seat and grab a hymnal.
We're going to go ahead and sing our first song, hymn number 178.
Jesus loves even me, hymn number 178.
Hymn number 178.
We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
I am so glad that our Father in heaven tells of his love in the book he has given.
Wonderful things in the Bible I see.
This is the dearest that Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves even me.
Though I forget him and wander away,
Still he doth love me wherever I stray,
That to his dear loving arms would I flee,
When I remember that Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves even me.
Oh, if there's only one song I can sing,
When in his beauty I see the great theme,
Then shall my song in eternity be.
Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves even me.
Good singing will open with a word of prayer.
Dear Father, thank you for this church and thank you for this opportunity
that we have tonight to gather together and sing praises unto your name
as well as hear preaching from your word.
I pray that you would bless the remainder of this service at this time and give us a ten of ears
to listen to the message tonight. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
For our next hymn, if you would, turn in your hymnals to hymn number 75
on Jordan Stormy Banks.
Hymn number 75.
We'll go ahead
and start there right on the first.
Jordan Stormy Banks I stand and
cast a wishful light
to Canaan's barren
happy land where my possessions lie.
I am bound for
the promised land.
I am bound for the promised land.
Oh who will come and go
with me? I am bound for the promised
land. All o'er those
wide extended plains shines
one eternal day.
There God the Son forever
reigns and scatters night
away. I am bound for the
promised land. I am bound
for the promised land.
Oh who will come and go
with me? I am bound for the promised
land. No chilling
waves or poisonous breath can reach
that helpful shore.
Sickness and sorrow, pain and
death are felt and feared no
more. I am bound for the
promised land. I am bound
for the promised land.
Oh who will come and go with
me? I am bound for the promised
land. When shall I reach
that happy place and be
forever planned?
When shall I see my Father's
grace and in his bosom
rest? I am bound for the promised
land. I am bound
for the promised land. Oh
who will come and go with
me? I am bound for the promised
land.
Alright, good evening everyone.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church for our midweek service. If you don't have a bulletin
go ahead and raise your hand. Usher would be glad to bring you one. On the front
is our Bible memory verse of the week, Hebrews chapter 6
verse 7. Really great chapter. Hopefully everyone's working hard
on this chapter. And on the inside, you'll look on the top left, there's our
service times listed. Sunday mornings at 10 30 AM, Sunday evenings
at 4 30, and our Wednesday evening Bible study of course at 7 o'clock.
All of our soul winning times are listed there. And
I just want to make a note, I highly encourage everyone to participate in our new Saturday
soul winning rally. It's been a very receptive time and
things are going really well with soul winning. Especially this month. Soul winning seems to have been
really really good this month. I don't know if it's just fall, people like to
talk to people more, they're not as angry because it's hot. I don't know. But it's been great.
And so whatever it is, I like it. Our nursing home ministry schedule is listed there.
As well as our salvations. Keep up the great workouts
on soul winning. It definitely has been a great month. On the top right
is our list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for Mrs. Reed for her pregnancy.
And finally, coming soon, next service
we're going to have a really great day. I made the food order.
It's going to be coming out of your nostrils. You're going to say please stop feeding me
Mexican food. It's going to be wonderful. So I'm really excited for that.
Pastor Shelley is excited too. I had the opportunity to
be on the Baptist Bias podcast last night and we talked about that for a little bit.
He's excited to come up here and see everyone and preach for us on Sunday.
So it's going to be a great time. We're going to give the Fur family a proper
send off and we're very excited for them of course. And so make sure
that you thank them for all the hard work that they've done throughout the years and show your
appreciation to their family this weekend. It's bittersweet but it's going to be a
great asset for the kingdom of God having them over there. So we're very excited
for them. Coming up soon, October 4th through the 6th, is the
Heritage of the Lord Conference. If you're interested in going to this conference
the schedule is on the back of your bulletin here. If you have any more
questions other than just the basic schedule you can always email
pastorshelleyatsteadfastbaptistkjvatgmail.com
But that's really all the information I have for the Heritage of the Lord Conference is the schedule
posted there. November 6th through the 10th is the Faithful Word
Baptist Church Missions Conference in Tempe, Arizona. That should
be a really great conference. Before we go to our next song let's go ahead
and go to the Lord in prayer as a church for our prayer list at this time.
Dear Lord, thank you so much for the opportunity to be gathered together as
a church this evening. Thank you for our members and
laborers. Thank you for the salvations we've had this month. I pray that you would
continue to lead our soul winners to people that are receptive to the gospel
and that you would just soften hearts out there of the people we speak to.
That they would be receptive and desire to know the truth.
And Lord we pray for the requests of our members this evening that you would just
give us your ear Lord and answer these prayers according to your will.
We pray for brother Alex who desires to move here, who's looking for
a job. Just pray that you would bless him for the job he needs.
And just pray Lord for brother Kevin
who's also looking for a job. I pray that you would help him to find one that allows him to
come to church on Wednesdays like he desires.
And we pray for Mrs. Fur for her co-worker Terry's cancer.
I just pray that you would bless Miss Terry and help her to
heal and recover. And we pray the same for Miss Remi
who's also healing from a tumor. Just pray that she would not have to
deal with that issue anymore. That she would completely heal her body Lord.
I also pray for Mrs. Reed for her brother Cole.
That his heart would be softened and that he be receptive to the gospel.
Same for brother Zach and his family members that need to be saved.
That they would just have a soft heart to the gospel and they would have a desire
to hear the truth. And pray that you would give boldness
to the people in this room to not only preach strangers the gospel
but also people they know in their lives, families, co-workers,
and friends. And Lord we just pray that you would bless our church.
That you would strengthen us, give us more laborers Lord.
We pray for this upcoming weekend that you would bless Pastor Shelley and his family as he travels here.
And bring him here safely Lord. We also just want to pray for the Fur family.
That you would bless them and their move and all the logistics
that come along with that. And we just pray that their move to Texas
would be a blessed one and that you would use brother Fur and his family
to help Pastor Shelley continue doing a great work at Setfast Baptist Church.
And just pray that that church would be able to do greater works than they've ever done
before through more laborers. We love you. Thank you for all that you do
for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright at this time we'll go to our next song.
Alright our next song will actually be in the white handout.
So if you would grab a white handout and turn to Psalm 67.
Psalm 67.
We'll sing that right at the beginning.
God be merciful unto us
and bless us
and cause his face to shine upon us
that by way may be known upon
earth by saving health among
all nations. Let the people praise
thee O God. Let all
the people praise thee.
O let the nations be glad
and sing for joy
for thou shall judge the
people righteously
and govern the nations
upon earth. The nations
upon earth see love.
Let the people praise thee O God.
Let all the people praise
thee. O let the nations be
glad and sing
for joy. Then shall
the earth yield her in Greece
and God in our own God shall bless us.
God shall bless us and all the ends
of the earth shall
fear him. Let the people praise thee
O God. Let all
the people praise thee. O let
the nations be glad
and sing for joy.
Amen. Good singing. As the offering plates are being passed
around turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter number 7.
1 Samuel chapter number 7.
Good evening.
1 Samuel chapter number 7.
1 Samuel chapter number 7 the Bible reads
and the men of Kirjath-jearim came and
fetched up the Ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab
in the hill and sanctified Eliezer his son to keep
the Ark of the Lord and it came to pass while the Ark abode
in Kirjath-jearim that the time was long for it was 20 years
and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel saying if you do return
unto the Lord with all your hearts then put away the strange gods
and Ashtaroth from among you and prepare your hearts
unto the Lord and serve him only and he will deliver you out of the hand
of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did
put away Balaam and Ashtaroth and served the Lord
only and Samuel said gather all Israel to Mizpah
and I will pray for you unto the Lord and they gathered together to
Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord
and fasted on that day and said there we have sinned against
the Lord and Samuel judged the children of Israel and
Mizpah and when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were
gathered together to Mizpah the Lord of the Philistines went up against
Israel and when the children of Israel heard it they were afraid of the
Philistines and the children of Israel said to Samuel cease
not to cry unto the Lord our God for us that he will save us out of
the hand of the Philistines and Samuel took a sucking lamb
and offered it for a burnt offering holy unto the Lord
and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him
and as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering the Philistines drew near
to battle against Israel but the Lord
thundered a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines
and discomfited them and they were smitten before Israel and the men
of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and
smote them until they came under Beth-kar. Then
Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shin and called
the name of it Ebenezer saying hitherto hath the Lord helped us so the Philistines
were subdued and they came no more into the coast of Israel
and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel
and the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel
were restored to Israel from Ekron even unto Gath
and the coast thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands
of the Philistines and there was a peace between Israel and the Amorites
and Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life and he went
from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and
Mizpah and judged Israel in all those places and his return
was to Ramah for there was his house and there he judged
Israel and there he built an altar unto the Lord. Let's bow our heads
forward in prayer. Father in Heaven we thank you for this day and we thank you so much for our church
and we just ask that you help us pay attention to your word and let's preach.
Amen.
Let's start reading verse 1. The Bible says,
And the men of Kirjath-jearim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord
and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill
and sanctified Eliezer his son to keep the ark of the Lord.
And the men of Kirjath-jearim that the time was long for it was
20 years and all the house of Israel lamented after
the Lord. So if you kind of remember the timeline of the most recent
couple of chapters in 1st Samuel chapter number 4 the ark of God
was captured and recently they finally got the ark
back but the Israelites were presumptuous. They looked into
the ark of the Lord and God killed 50,070
of them and remember it's not 70 of them like the modern version say
it was 50,070 of them and so here we are
in this story and now for some reason they get the ark of God
they don't put it back into the tabernacle where it was before
now they're just kind of putting it in some guy's house. They're sanctifying some guy
to keep the ark of the Lord in a person's house.
Now go to 1st Samuel chapter 3 while you're turning
there I'll go to I'll read for you Joshua 18 1 it says this and the whole
congregation of the children of Israel assembled together
at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of the
congregation there. So when the worship of the Lord
was brought to Shiloh was actually during Joshua's day
and that continued all the way up until the time of 1st Samuel because it says
in 1st Samuel 1 3. Did I say 1st Samuel 3?
1st Samuel 1 3 it says this and this man went up
out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto
the Lord of hosts notice in Shiloh and the two
sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas the priests of the Lord were there.
So why not now is the question. They had the
ark of God in Shiloh all the way from Joshua to
1st Samuel. Why are they not doing that now? Well remember because
the glory of the Lord had departed from Israel and God's kind of doing
a reset right now on their nation. They're not going back to Shiloh
the ark isn't going back to Shiloh. Why? Because God had kind of removed
his blessing from that area at that time and so now
they're doing something different. Now I want you to notice number
one this evening the leadership of Samuel. The leadership
of Samuel. Look at 1st Samuel chapter 7 let's keep reading in verse
number three. 1st Samuel 7 verse 3 it says
and Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel saying
if ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts
then put away the strange gods and Ashtoreth from among you
and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve
him only and he will deliver you out of the hands
hand of the Philistines. So notice I mean the Israelites
they just had bad thing after bad thing happening to them. You know they lose
in battle to the Philistines. The Philistines take the ark of God. They get the ark
back. Great news right? 50,070 of them die.
Then they consecrate the ark to go into Abinadab's house
and it stays there for 20 years and right now Israel's kind of been in this
state for a long time where they've had no leader. And finally
we see a leader rise up here and who is it?
That's the man Samuel and one of the lessons we can learn
from this is that there's always a prepared place
for a prepared person because here's the thing
Samuel didn't just appear out of thin air in 1st Samuel chapter number
seven because you know if you were just living in the nation
of Israel at this time all of a sudden there's this guy Samuel that stands up
and he's just like hey return to the Lord and this might be the first time you've
seen him for a lot of people but we know having read the Bible that
there was a lot of backstory to Samuel that led to the moment of him becoming a
leader starting as a child as a little child
you know God spoke to Samuel and remember Samuel ran to Eli said hey
you're you're calling me because he mistook the voice of the
Lord for Eli and so from a very young age
Samuel started having a relationship with the Lord and sometimes people think
when they see a leader when they see a great business leader or they see a
pastor that they respect that's a really good preacher sometimes
people may think like oh man this guy just came out of nowhere
but no he didn't come out of nowhere he was preparing for a long
time and there's a prepared place for a prepared person
you know what if Samuel hadn't decided to sanctify himself
to be spiritual to walk with the Lord you know we wouldn't be reading this
right here Israel still would have been in their
same state of being without a leader go to Titus chapter number one
Titus chapter number one and you know we need
today to have men and women to have the desire to be godly leaders in
the way that God wants them to be you know one one leadership capacity
that all of us can be is that of a soul winner
you know God wants us all men women children
to go out and do what lead someone to Christ
and here's the thing if you're going to do that you're not going to just wake up
one day without having ever learned how to give
the gospel without having reviewed the verses that you're going to talk about
or memorize the verses and then all of a sudden you're going to
be a fantastic soul winner that's not going to happen
but you know what there's a prepared place for a prepared person
and if you want to be a leader someday and lead someone to Jesus Christ
well the preparation should start today you say i'm not a soul winner i don't
know how to do that well today is the day that you start
your backstory you know we we read samuel's backstory
started when he was a child and here he is standing up as a leader
for the whole nation you know you want to be a leader you
want to be a soul winner someday start preparing today you know we need
leaders in churches today not just pastors but we need men that
could serve and assist in the work of the ministry
there is a lot of work that goes in to a church
you know i worked full time for a church for steadfast baptist church for four
years and let me tell you there is a lot of
labor that goes into church and there's a lot of people at
steadfast baptist church that are godly men that have prepared
themselves to be able to assist and lead in the ministry
people that are ushers people that are safety team members
song leaders bible readers you know these are important positions
that we need help in in churches today but you know what it's going to take
it's going to take someone that's actually spiritual that actually
takes church seriously and do that faithfully for a long time
and then they'll find themselves in that position of leadership you
know you don't really have to go seeking for leadership
if you just prepare yourself if you're just diligent in your work
if you're someone that's just faithful to the work of god leadership will find
you you know i promise you that if you just
dropped you know pastor shelley or pastor
jimenez in a different country with no church they would become leaders
you know why because they've been faithful for decades and decades and now
today they're very godly men they're very
capable leaders why because all the work that they put in for decades previously
why is samuel standing up right now well because he's put in the work he's been
faithful he has a backstory of being a godly
person and so now he's in a position of leadership you know we need
also ordained men in this world men that want to stand up and be a deacon
be a evangelist or be a pastor but let me tell you something
getting to one of these levels of ordination it's not going to just
happen by accident it's not going to happen
overnight it's going to happen by someone being faithful to the lord for a
long long time and i think about men like
pastor jimenez and pastor anderson that were ordained as pastors in their
but here's the thing it's not like they just started serving god
in their 20s they already were serving god for well over a decade
almost two basically by the time they were pastors
and so people people might despise them and be like well this pastor's so young
but it's like but hold on he's been serving god for two decades basically
he's been being faithful for two decades and so there's a prepared place
for a prepared person it doesn't matter your age
it doesn't matter your you know secular education
what matters is the spiritual preparation that you've been putting in
for a long long time look at titus chapter number one
it says for this cause left i thee in crete that thou should have set in order
the things that are wanting and ordained elders in every city as i had appointed
thee if any be blameless the husband of one
wife having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly
so notice already in the qualifications of a pastor
one of the things that you have to be the husband of one wife
and you have to have faithful children not accused of riot
or unruly you know this fulfilling this verse does not happen in just six months
it doesn't happen in a couple years just this qualification alone
takes years and years and years to be met
let's keep reading it says for a bishop must be blameless
as the steward of god not self-willed not soon angry not given to wine no
striker not given to filthy lucre but a lover of
hospitality a lover of good men sober just holy temperate
holding fast the faithful word and and notice this next phrase
as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort
and to convince the gainsayers so notice just like samuel from a child he was
taught the word of god he walked with god for a long time
before now here in first samuel 7 he's stepping up as a leader
same thing for a pastor a pastor is supposed to hold fast the faithful word
as he hath been taught meaning he himself has been a follower for a long
time he's been taught the word of god he's
lived the life to meet the qualifications and then
he could step up as a pastor and what is this teaching us it's teaching us that
there's a prepared place for a prepared person and you know this
is true in just every area of life you know when it comes
to getting married hey there's a prepared
woman for you when you're a prepared man you know i
promise you if you're a really prepared man
that's put together your your life is put together
you've got a place to live you've got a car you know you know how to not dress
weird you know how to talk to people you know
you you could do more than like five push-ups
i guarantee you there's a prepared woman for that man
but here's the thing you want to get there you're not there at this point
well you know what you need to do you need to start preparing today
and rather than thinking like here's my proverbs 31 checklist of everything i
demand in a wife it's like why don't you just make a
checklist for yourself like here's my preparation checklist
okay i got to six push-ups check now i'm gonna go for like 10 next week
all right and then it's like all right i have a
car that runs that's not going to break down on the first date
all right i looked up a youtube video about how you know how to dress
i mean this isn't this is needed in america right now okay you know i found
out that you're not supposed to wear the same
color tie is shirt all right i'm just saying
this is i'm just trying to help you okay i'm not mad at anyone i love you guys
i'm just trying to help you right now there's a prepared
woman for a prepared man you know there's a prepared job for a prepared
worker you gotta you know you got a super good
resume you've put in the work you've been faithful
oh yeah there's someone that'll hire you it'll happen right
hey you want to preach there's a prepared pulpit for a prepared preacher
you're you're filled with the spirit of god you know the bible really well
you can preach i guarantee you there's a pulpit out there for you because we need
more preachers in america we need more people like samuel in america
that are going to stand up and be leaders but that you know just like
there's a get quick rich scheme there's like a
become a leader quick scheme too and samuel didn't take that
route you know he didn't go ordain himself he
didn't go lol baptist church style and get
ordained by a congregation you know he walked with god for a long
time until god approved of him and god rose him up as a leader
notice number two the message of samuel we see the leadership of samuel notice
number two the message of samuel let's read verse three again
it says in first samuel 7 3 and samuel spake unto all the house of israel
saying if notice this word ye that means you
all if ye do return unto the lord with all
your hearts then put away the strange gods and
astroth from among you and prepare your hearts unto the lord
and serve him only and he will deliver you out of the
hand of the philistines notice the audience here
who is samuel talking to he's talking to the children of israel
he's talking to god's people here notice what he didn't say he said
man if those wicked philistines would just
get their nation right god will be pleased with us again
god will heal this land again he doesn't say man if the moabites if the ammonites
will just stop causing their children to pass through the fire
then you know god will show mercy again to us notice
who he's talking to he says if ye do return to the lord with all your
hearts then put away the strange gods and astroth from among
you go to second chronicles chapter seven
second chronicles chapter number seven you know this is the message
that needs to be coming from leadership today
that the problems that we have in this world
the problems that we have in america can only be fixed
by one group of people and it's you and it's me and it's people that are
saved it's god's people you know the fate of
nations the fate of cities the fate of areas it
doesn't depend on whether or not the catholic church
is doing right news flash they're never doing right it
doesn't matter whether or not the heathen
are following the law of god they'll never follow the law of god
what matters is what god's people are doing look at second chronicle seven
verse 14 notice this it says if my
people if my people which are called by my name
shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their
wicked ways then will i hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land notice who it is
that it depends upon for the land to be healed it's god's
people and today there's an attitude out there
that says man if we could just fix the republican party
man if we could just get the democrats to stop aborting babies
then america would be fixed america would be better you know if we could just
help conservatives and help republicans get the right
tax plan and the right foreign policy and the right ideas about who our allies
should be who we should go to war with then america will be better that's
completely wrong that's not what the bible teaches and
today so many christians have been brainwashed into thinking
how we fix america is by fixing them is by fixing the world when really how
any area is fixed is by fixing ourselves and really our land our nation is just
simply a reflection of ourselves because isn't the land here in first
samuel reflection of the children of israel
i mean we had the leadership of hofni and phineas
and eli were they great spiritual leaders no they were not
two of them were reprobates one was a bad dad one was someone that didn't
correct his children so one was someone that wasn't a great
spiritual leader right and the children of israel
were they great no they were presumptuous and broke god's law and
looked into the ark of the lord and they were trusting in the ark to
save them right rather than trusting in god they
weren't right with god and so you say man i want our area to be
blessed by god you know i want oklahoma city to be an
area that's blessed by the lord i want our state to be blessed our nation to be
blessed you know what it starts with it starts
with you and it starts with me you know you can complain all you want
about the sins of our country and about the state of america that we're in
but let me tell you the reason why we're in the state is because of the state of
christianity because churches like this are not on
every corner in america preaching like this is not at every
church in america most churches today love people like
andy stanley and hate people like pastor shelley
most people they love joel osteen but they would hate pastor anderson right
and what is that it's showing a reflection of our nation's heart
and so you want our nation to get right it starts with christianity getting
right that's why samuel said if you would
return to the lord if you would put away the false gods if
you would humble yourself and return back to god hey then he would
heal our land so you know you really have no
right to complain about our situation in america if you
wake up and don't read your bible if you don't care about going soul
winning if you skip church if you don't have
godly standards in your life you know if you're not dressing right
if you're drinking alcohol if you're not praying to the lord
you're the problem you're the reason why god's not healing our land
not joe biden not donald trump those are just reflections of us
and so get mad about it all you want but notice his message
was for god's people to change go back to first samuel chapter seven
notice number three the result of samuel's preaching
look at verse four it says then the children of israel did put away
balaam and astaroth and served the lord only go to jeremiah excuse me
jeremiah 23 jeremiah chapter 23 and you know what we see from this verse
is that hard preaching works hard preaching works notice you had a
prepared man you had a man that was filled with the
spirit of god he had the message of god he preached that message and you know
what they did they put away balaam and astaroth
and served the lord only and you know we don't want to get jaded
about you know the power of the word of god and the power of church
and think like well you know because the world's wicked
you know why are we even trying as a church is it even worth it to come to
church and to listen to hard preaching you know
it doesn't really seem like there's a ton of people just flowing through the
door here's the thing that may not be true
today but you reap what you sow and you could
reap what you sow for good or for bad and you know we should be sowing into
this church is lots and lots of hard preaching
why because when you sow the word of god it's going to have an effect
maybe not everyone will listen and maybe not everyone in church
will listen to the preaching of god's word and take it to their heart but you
know what some people will and that's who i'm preaching for is for
people that actually care about the word of god
and will make changes and you know samuel here by preaching this message
it wasn't in vain because he caused people to turn to the lord
and that's a great thing jeremiah 23 verse 28
says the prophet that hath a dream let him tell a dream
and he that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully
what is the chaff the wheat saith the lord is not my word like as a
fire saith the lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces
you know people that are carnal might look at our church
and say you know this isn't really a special church
there's not a hundred people here tonight you guys meet in a storefront
you guys are in oklahoma city well here's the thing
little as much when god is in it and guess what the preaching of the word of
god actually makes an effect and actually
can change lives and it doesn't matter what things look like to the eye
the bible says that his word is like a fire
and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces
and here's what's cool we can go out and go soul winning and knock on
someone's door and we could bring this hammer to their
life and you know they could have been a
catholic for the last 50 years and we just break their entire false
religion with with our hammer in 15 minutes
we go talk to someone who's unsaved whatever false religion they're at
you know we have the hammer right here that could break
any rock in pieces and we need to have faith and trust
that the word of god is powerful that it's going to accomplish what god has
set out to do and here's the thing once we get someone
saved if they come and visit this church if they listen to the preaching of god's
word you know god's word is like a hammer to
our hearts as well you know when when a topic is preached
about maybe a sin is preached against that we're guilty of in our lives you
know once you have the holy spirit that word of god is going to hit you
like a hammer it's going to burn like a fire in your bosom
and you know i believe that preaching works
you know why it worked for me here i am today
i did not rate i was not raised in a christian home i did not grow up reading
the bible i did not grow up going to church or
caring about the things of god but you know what what made my heart
change and what made me love god and what made me love serving god
it's the word of god when i hear the word of god being
preached when i got saved it was a it was a fire in my bosom it
was a hammer that broke my world into pieces
and you know i mean that in a good way and ever since
i heard the word of god ever since i heard it preached
you know my life has been changed for forever
and you know what my my desire for my life
is to be steadfast unto the end and to serve him unto the end
why because i love the word of god and if god
did that in my life i believe that he could do that in any person's life
in this metro and so when we go out soul winning
you know you could literally be changing someone's eternal destiny and
the rest of how they live their life and so don't get jaded you know
oh i've been a couple weeks where i haven't gotten someone saved you know
maybe the word of god has lost its power no the word of god will never lose its
power and samuel here he's preaching maybe
some people wouldn't have listened to samuel but guess what
these people did and so it was worth it when samuel
was preaching go to uh jonah chapter number three jonah chapter number three
while you're turning to jonah 3 hebrews 4 12 says for the word of god is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit
and of the joints and marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart you know the word of god is very
very powerful and those of us that are saved and that are walking with god
we know this for sure is true but even if you're backslidden
even if you're a very carnal christian you know when you hear the word of god
being spoken when you hear it being preached you
know there's something deep down inside that's still cutting at your heart
because the word of god is powerful and what it takes for someone to get
saved is the word of god and what it takes for someone to start
serving god is the word of god and what it takes for someone who's
backslidden to start serving god again is the word of god you know the word of
god is the key it's going to be the key to this
church's success it's going to be the key to your life's
success you know it works for Nineveh look at jonah 3 4 says
and jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey and he cried and said
yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown
he's preaching the word of god here and it was a very short message in 40 days
god's going to smoke this place he probably said more than that too but
that was the gist of his message look at verse 5 so the people of Nineveh
believed god why because of the word of god
and they proclaimed a fast and put a sackcloth put on sackcloth from the
greatest of them even to the least of them
and god saw their works that they turned from their evil way
and god repented of the evil that he had said
that he would do unto them and he did it not
notice the power of the word of god here you know this city's
fate was to be destroyed by god jonah preached the word of god
they believed it they turned from their evil way
and god turned from his desire to destroy that city
and he did it not by the way this is what repent means it means to turn
and how you know that salvation is not by repenting of your sins
because the bible says it's not of works lest any man should boast
and here the bible says god saw their works
that they turn from their evil way so what is
works according to the bible it's when you turn from your sins
and according to the bible it's not by works that you're saved
it's not by works of righteousness which we have done
but it's according to his mercy it's according to his grace it's according to
faith alone and you know this is a great story that
shows the power of the word of god look at first samuel chapter number seven
go back there
first samuel chapter number seven verse five it says
and samuel said gather all israel to misspah and i will pray for you unto the
lord and they gathered together to misspah
and drew water and poured it out before the lord
and fasted on that day and said there we have sinned against the lord
and samuel judged the children of israel
in misspah go to psalm 69 so notice what's happening here
is that the people have listened to the preaching of samuel
samuel has told them to turn from other gods
to worship the lord and what do they do they obeyed that
and so now they're getting right with god and in the process of getting right
with god one of the things that they decide to do
is they decide to fast now this is a great time to fast
when you're getting right with the lord this would be a very good reason
to fast some people don't really know why fasting is in the bible
or it could be kind of a confusing subject to them but one of the
best reasons to fast is to afflict yourself
or to chasten yourself when you're not right with god
to get right with the lord why because you're kind of showing
like hey lord you're more important than me your my relationship with you is
more important than my carnal desire to even eat
my need for food and so i'm showing you how serious i am
about getting right with you let's look at several verses in in the book of
psalms about this psalm 69 verse 9 for the zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up and the reproaches of them that reproach
thee are fallen on me when i wept and chastened my soul
with fasting that was to my reproach i made sackcloth also my garment and i
became a proverb to them they that sit in the gate speak against
me and i was the song of the drunkards but as for me my prayer is
unto thee oh lord in an acceptable time oh god in the
multitude of thy mercy hear me in the truth of thy salvation
so notice how here what is this person doing
they're chastening their soul with fasting
and so you know you hear jesus talk about fasting in
one context there's a man that's possessed with many devils and he says
this kind goes not out by prayer and by fasting
so you know one time you might fast is when you really need
god to do something right so you're praying hey lord this person's possessed
with many many devils you know i'm fasting to try to
invoke your help for this great task that i can't do by
myself i can't do this on my own i need your help another reason is like
we see here in first amule seven where you've sinned you've been far from
the lord and you genuinely feel bad about that you want to get on the right
track so what you do is you fast and afflict
your soul literally self-affliction because
think about it you know if you're not right with the lord if you sin
what's gonna happen god's gonna afflict you god's gonna punish you
and so by you fasting you're kind of just being like hey you don't have to do
that you don't have to chase me i'm gonna
chase him myself right now i'm gonna afflict myself
you know that would be a good reason to fast
one time i had this person ask me he was about to preach his first
sermon ever and he said hey you have any advice for my first sermon ever
and i said yeah just keep it super simple only preach what you know
and don't try to be fancy or cool because nothing that you could say is
going to be cooler than what the bible has already said
and i don't know about you i like preaching that is what the bible says
because i think the bible is cool i don't think man is cool whatsoever
okay well he did not take my advice whatsoever
his first sermon ever he walks up just just imagine this in your brain okay
first sermon ever he walks up and he says i've judged the church tonight
and i have found that it is wanting it is lacking
and the title of my sermon is fasting according to the bible he's preaching on
fasting and in this sermon he's talking about
how fasting is just so easy he's like what's
wrong with you guys i mean it's so easy isn't it just easy to fast it's like
no it's literally called afflicting yourself
chastening yourself why because it's not supposed to be easy
and he's like bragging he's like i make my pregnant wife fast 17 hours a day
and you should do the same thing to your pregnant wife and i'm just like
what the hell am i listening to and this this was a dude that was like
overweight as well so he's like screaming and slamming the pulpit about
how easy it is to fast i'm just like dude
you failed you failed so hard and this is the only time i've ever done
this but i called this person's pastor who
was pastor thompson i'm just like hey you might want to listen to this
sermon this is like the worst sermon i've ever heard
and so like pastor thompson talked to the guy tried to correct him
and he didn't take any correction he quit the church and became a calvinist
it's like shock this dude's not even saved
so i just when i excuse me when i read verses like this
about how fasting is afflicting yourself it's humbling yourself i always think
about this silly person that did not
understand fasting whatsoever it's like look if you're fasting and
it's easy you're doing something wrong it's like
well i'm gonna do a i'm gonna do a fast where i only eat
sugar and you know no other foods like that's
not a fast i mean the catholics try to do this right they'll
be like well i'm just giving up video games on
fridays during lent it's like that's not a fast guys it's afflicting your soul
it's chastening yourself that's what it is
go to first amule seven
and so here you know they want god to forgive them they want god to be
back on their side they're tired of getting their butt kicked by the
philistines they're tired of getting their ark stolen
they're tired of 50,070 of them dropping dead for looking into the ark
and they're just like you know what let's just chase in our soul and get
right with god you know that's always a good thing to
do notice number four the fear of the israelites verse seven
and when the philistines heard that the children of israel were gathered
together to mizpah the lords of the philistines went up
against israel and when the children of israel heard it
notice they were afraid of the philistines
now this is a normal human emotion that right or wrong we are all going to
experience at times in our life that is fear and you know if you put
yourself in these people's situation you've just gotten defeated by the
philistines multiple times you've gotten your ark stolen you got it
back shortly but then you lost 50,070 men
and now here comes the philistines again you could see how they could maybe be a
little fearful right but the right response when we're
fearful because you know being fearful is not
something you can necessarily control right off the bat
but your response to that fear is definitely controllable
let me read for you psalm 56 2 it says mine enemies would daily swallow me up
for they be many that fight against me oh thou most high
what time i am afraid i will trust in thee so there's going to be times we're
afraid what time i am afraid i will trust in
me this is a verse that i like to teach my
children because i don't know about your guys's kids my kids get very scared
during thunderstorms during storms my kids get very scared and
i tell them hey at what time i am afraid i will trust
in you i tell them hey when you're scared you
know what you should do you should pray to the lord
you should ask him to help you you should ask him to give you bravery and
boldness you know at what time i'm afraid i will
trust in me and there's going to be times in our
life even as adults that you're going to be
afraid you know maybe you're going to be afraid
to do something as simple as confronting someone with the gospel
you know for people that are very shy that could cause people to have
fear could cause them to literally shake at just the anxiety and fear
of giving someone the gospel but you know what at what time i'm afraid i will
trust in me you tell yourself hey god wants me to
be a soul winner god is with me here you know i'm doing
god's work god's gonna protect me i'm doing what he
wants me to do you know what let's do this at what
time i'm afraid i'll trust in me you know there's been times for in my
life and maybe for some of you where you've
had to walk into church past a sea of protesters and
for a lot of people that's very scary to them for a lot of people they've never
dealt with confrontation they've never had people screaming at
them and these people that have protested us scream the most
vile things to try to really get at you you know for me the thing that pissed me
off the most and maybe i shouldn't give enemies the
lord you know information i don't know mute this no i'm just kidding is when
they is when they say nice things about my kids that really pisses me off
when they're just like oh your girls are so beautiful oh you're i'm just like
dude don't talk about my daughters like to me that almost pisses me off more
than like f you dylan f when they're just talking about how gorgeous my
daughters are these sick freaks these degenerate reprobates
that are just literal dogs that will sleep with
anything and do anything and eat their own vomit they're just disgusting
you know don't talk about my daughters don't talk about how beautiful they are
just keep my daughter's names out of your mouth how about that
but they're trying to get you riled up i'm kind of getting riled up thinking
about this right there's been protesters that have kind
of pointed firearms at people kind of at the low ready not fully pointed
at them but just kind of brought it up real quick
that could cause someone to be afraid there's been people that have showed up
to my house there's been people that have said hey
dylan i know where you live i'm coming to your house tonight and i'm going to
shoot you in the back of the head and that person got arrested on the
spot for saying that but i'm saying stuff like this will
happen in your life where you will maybe feel this
experience of fear they're feeling it here they're coming
up against a physical army but you just need to remind yourself that at what
time i'm afraid i will trust in me because you know
what if god is for us who can be against us and so here and
here's what will really help you not be fearful
is just be right with god because when you're not right with god
that would cause me to be a lot more fearful
you know if i have tons of people that hate me and want to kill me for
for evil that i have done or for harm that i have done
i might be a little afraid you know or if i know i'm living a sinful life
a wicked life i don't care about the word of god or the commandments of god
yeah i might be a little afraid but you know i could sleep like a baby at night
when i know that i'm right with the lord and you know though
thousands compass about me in the name of the lord will i destroy them
is what the bible says let's look at a couple more
on this or actually stay there first samuel seven eight it says
uh and the children of israel said to samuel notice
cease not to cry unto the lord our god
for us that he will save us out of the hand of the flistines
notice this is the proper response when you're afraid what do you do you
call upon the name of the lord you cry out to the lord this needs to be
your knee-jerk reaction in times that you're afraid
because some people they're afraid you know the protests come the calls come
the attack videos come the online haters come
the trolls come the bad publicity comes the lies and the railing and the false
accusations and the misrepresentations come and
some people are just like oh let's quit church i'm afraid
no don't be afraid trust in the lord call upon the lord pray to the lord but
you know it's a weak response as a christian just quit
serving god because you're afraid and there's a lot of people today that
quit serving god that have quit going to church
because they were afraid of persecution and there's a lot of christians that
don't even start serving god because they are afraid of persecution
you know the bible says that the fear of man bringeth a snare
you know fear is a trap in your life the devil wants to trap you with fear to
keep you from doing anything from for god
and so the proper response is to pray to the lord go to psalm 27 psalm 27
let's flip through a couple psalms quickly here psalm 27 1 it says
the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i be here the lord is the
strength of my life of whom shall i be afraid hey
why would we be afraid of anyone the lord
is the strength of our life there's a quote by a famous
general from the civil war stonewall jackson
he was a famous southern general and i'm not going to get the quote exactly
perfect but he said something to the effect of
like i don't really think or care about the time of my death because
basically unless god wants me to die then i know
i'm going to keep living and that's true you know god has
our lives and our deaths in his hand and he could preserve you through any
danger or he could kill you in your sleep really
god can just do whatever he wants and so there's no sense of really being
afraid because god's got us in his hand and
that's kind of this general's attitude and he was known for being extremely
brave he was known for you know sitting atop
his horse during a battle and not even flinching
as guns are being fired at him and it was really famous because you
know he had lots of bullet holes in his jacket and stuff like that
and people are like man this guy's like a stone wall and that's that why his
nickname became stone wall jackson because he just stood
up there on his horse and he just didn't care
i don't know if he was saved or not but it sounds like he was trusting in the
lord and you know that's how we need to be in
the christian life where we're just a stone wall
it kind of reminds me of something like the name steadfast
you know what a stone wall is it's steadfast
it's unmovable it's always abounding in the work of the lord
you know that's how we need to be as christians go to psalm 34 flip over
psalm 34
psalm 34 verse 4 i sought the lord and he heard me
and notice delivered me from all my fears you know when you pray to the lord
he may not deliver you immediately from the danger
or from the source of your fear but if you're trusting in him he can't deliver
you from fear itself and elsewhere david prays and asks god to
remove from him the fear of the enemy he didn't even
pray that god removes his enemies he just said
i pray that i don't have the fear of the enemy and you know that's how we should
be psalm 46 go to psalm 46
psalm 46 verse 1 it says god is our refuge and strength
what's a refuge well refuge is a place that you can kind of hide and shelter
down and be safe you know they have wildlife refuges
where deer can go and all this wildlife can go and not have to worry about
getting killed by cars and traffic and stuff like that
you know the lord is our refuge and strength
a very present help in trouble you know when you need help right now
in the present there's only one person you can call and
that's the lord you can't call your best friend
you can't call the police you know if you need if you need help
right now there's one person that could help you and that's god
and so when you're afraid hey call out to him go back to first amule seven
first amule seven psalm 118 6 says the lord is on my side i
will not fear what can man do unto me
hey the lord's on my side what can man do to me right
but the important thing is that the lord's on my side right
and that i'm pleasing in a sight that he's on my side that he's on my team
that i'm on his team then there's no need to be afraid and
here's the thing just just get this into your heart and
into your mind if you are striving to serve god
if you know in your heart that you love the lord
you're trying to do what's right you love the word of god you love church
you love soul winning just just realize you have no reason to
be afraid there's no reason to be afraid because
it is a iron clad guarantee that god is on your side
because if you draw nigh to god he'll draw nigh to you
is what the bible says notice number five this evening
in first samuel seven nine the prayer of samuel
verse nine and samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering
holy unto the lord and samuel cried unto the lord for
israel notice and the lord heard him
so remember when before the children of israel they're in battle
and they say hey go get the ark maybe the ark will save us
god didn't hear them then when they were trusting in the ark but notice what
happens when they're trusting in the lord
then they call upon him and he hears them right go to romans chapter number
10 here's the thing when you're trusting in
the lord and you call out to him he hears you
he'll deliver you but people that aren't trusting in the
lord you know they're trusting in some sort of
religious memorabilia they're trusting in their beads they're trusting in their
crosses they're trusting in their idols you can
call all day long god's not going to hear you god's not
going to hear you you or care about your cry romans 10 9
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord jesus
and shall believe in thine heart that god hath raised him from the dead
thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
for the scripture saith whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed that mean that word ashamed right there
it doesn't mean that you're not going to feel embarrassed or something like that
ashamed in the bible often means forsaken
so he says whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed that's saying that
if you believe in jesus which how does that work you believe in
your heart you confess with your mouth that's someone that believes in jesus
christ you'll not be ashamed meaning you won't
be forsaken and you know a good truth from this is
that you're never going to lose your salvation
once you put your faith in jesus christ he's not going to forsake you
you're never going to be ashamed you're never going to be waiting and be like oh
man the lord left me let me down the lord
forsook me you know if you want to pain yourself
last night i did a podcast on the baptist bias we we reacted to a
documentary that was supposedly debunking once
saved always saved and it was a painful documentary to watch
it was very poorly made but let me just tell you
the bible teaches all over the place that once you're saved you're always
saved and here's another just great verse for
that is saying that when you believe on him
you're not going to be ashamed because here's the thing if i believed on him
but then i had to maintain my salvation by living a good life by not sinning
well then i would be ashamed he would forsake forsake me
because i sin every day and only a holier than thou pious drudge false
prophet would stand up and say well i've attained
though i'm holier than you i actually live a
perfect life you know i don't sin anymore i only have pure godly desires
you know these guys were talking about i can't relate to paul in romans chapter
seven you know i can't believe when i hear
preachers preaching out of roman seven where paul's talking about how he does
the things that he doesn't allow and that he's like
desiring things that he knows is wrong and vice versa the internal struggle
that we have between the new man and the old man these people
were like oh i just can't believe when preachers
relate to that you know that that's like the standard for christianity it's like
yeah man you're better than paul you're better than every single preacher in the
world and that's why you're not going to lose
your salvation you know why i'm not going to lose my
salvation because of the grace of god that's why
not because i'm awesome or i don't sin anymore no
i still sin the only reason i'm not going to lose my salvation
is because whosoever believeth on him shall not
be ashamed and in this story we're going to see
that the lord delivers them from the philistines why because they called upon
the name of the lord in faith before they're trusting in the
ark god help us yeah you're trusting the
ark you're gonna lose but then you call upon
the name of lord when you're trusting in god and he hears you look at verse
number 12 of romans 10 for there's no difference
between the jew and the greek for the same lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of
the lord shall be saved yes
you must call upon the name of the lord to be saved
and you know what if the israelites here and of course they're dealing with a
physical situation but honestly this represents salvation
and i'm just going to reiterate this again i know i've already said it but
before they were trusting in an inanimate object to save them
what does that represent well that represents the person
that's trusting in their good life to save them
or their religion to save them or their priest
or their whatever their church to get them to heaven
right and guess what that doesn't save you
that's going to fail you every single time now here
in first samuel seven samuel's preached to them the word of god
they've listened to the word of god they're desiring
to be in fellowship with the lord they call upon him
are they trusting in the ark anymore now they're trusting in the lord right
and he's going to deliver them and it's the same thing with salvation
that when someone stops trusting in their good life
or whatever dead works that they're trusting in
and they trust in god and they call upon him god will hear them
god will save them and this is why it is completely
accurate to say that this is how you believe
calling upon the name of the lord is how you believe because think about it
before trusting in the ark doesn't matter it's
it's dead works doesn't matter if you call it the lord but here their heart
has changed where they're putting their faith and
once they put their faith in the lord what do they do
they call out to the lord is this making sense to you
this is why when you go soul winning and you
get to the point where you preach someone the whole gospel you've asked
them questions to thoroughly check that they understand
everything and sometimes so winners may even ask this be like
hey you know when i first got here you were trusting in the ark okay no you
don't mean to say that exactly but you say hey when i first got here you
were saying that you think you have to repent of all your sins to be saved
that you have to be baptized to be saved but you know i've showed you that
salvation is only by faith in jesus christ have you
changed your mind and you know what nine out of ten people
say yes i've changed my mind okay hey if
you've changed your mind let me show you real quick uh this whole
time i've been telling you that all you have to do
to get to heaven is believe on jesus christ all i've been showing you is
believe believe believe the question is how do we believe let me
show you i show him romans 10 9 through 13 and i just say hey if you
believe these things will you just say a quick word of prayer with me
and ask god to save you right now you could just repeat after me
and say yes and then we pray dear jesus i know i'm a sinner i know that i
deserve hell but i believe that you died on the cross
that you were buried and rose again that you paid for all of my sins i'm
only trusting in you to save me and not in myself
please save me and give me eternal life amen you know what has happened to that
person they changed from trusting in the ark
to trusting in the lord they called upon the name of the lord
and guess what god heard that and god saved them
go back to uh first amule seven first amule chapter number seven
calling out to the lord is how you put your trust in him
which is why the bible says that at what time i'm afraid i will trust in you what
are we supposed to do call upon the name of the lord hey
whether it's spiritual or physical salvation you know how you get
delivered calling upon the name of the lord
it's the same look at first amule seven eight it says in the children
of israel said to samuel cease not to cry unto the lord our god for us
that he will save us out of the hand of the philistines and samuel took a
sucking lamb and offer it for a burnt offering holy
unto the lord and samuel cried unto the lord for israel
and the lord heard him and as samuel was offering up the burnt offering the
philistines drew near to battle against israel
but the lord thundered with a very great thunder on that day upon
the philistines and discomforted them notice and they
were smitten before israel so notice
just like hard preaching works and samuel preached the word of god
and it worked it caused people to change you know what also works
prayer also works when you call upon the lord
to deliver you it works and when someone is unsaved and they put their trust in
christ they call upon him hey no one's going to be ashamed it's
going to work every single time when you call out to the lord for help
he will hear you it will work notice number six the victory of the israelites
verse 11 it says and the men of israel went out
of mispa and pursued the philistines and smote them until they came under
beth car so notice finally here in first samuel
seven you know finally we get a positive
chapter here finally some good is happening here i
mean before it's just like reprobate leadership and
they're just like defiling the house of god they're laying with the women
at the door of the tabernacle god's killing hoffman and phineas
you know the glory of god's departing from israel they're getting smoked by
the philistines the ark is stolen by the philistines hey
yeah we got the ark back 50,000 70 over are dead but what happens
is they get a leader and all of a sudden everything changes
why because everything rises and falls on leadership
when you had eli hey i think eli was saved i think we'll see eli in heaven
but he was not a great leader and so the nation was not in a great state
but all of a sudden here comes a godly leader here comes a man with a vision
with the word of god who's right with god and all of a sudden
everything gets changed around why because everything rises and falls on
leadership good leadership will bring you victory
in life it doesn't mean that your your life is
going to be perfect because some people you know this could
happen at a church right churches go through ups and downs
churches go through lawsuits churches go through protesters
and you know that's not necessarily a reflection of whether
what you're doing or not is right or sometimes you know women
they could get discontent because the finances are aren't great
you know there could be ups and downs in life and still have a good leader
but here's the truth though is that at the end of the day good
leadership will ultimately lead to victory
good leadership will ultimately lead to victory
while you'll have ups and downs when you have a good leader
hey there'll be victory you know in a church
if you have a godly pastor if you're following a righteous preacher
there may be ups and downs but if you stick it out
if you ride the ups and downs if you follow that person if you follow the
lord you'll stand before the judgment seat
of christ someday and you'll realize like hey we were led
to victory when when god rewards us for our works
when god you know gives us crowns of righteousness
for the works that we've done it'd be like yeah but you know
life wasn't really all that fun yeah but it's not really about life
it's about the kingdom of god it's about the kingdom of heaven
and things that are eternal and you know just
ladies you got a husband in this room that goes to a great church
your husband's a good man if he's coming willingly to set fast baptist church
you know he's taking your family here he's leading you spiritually
you know maybe not everything's perfect in your life right now but i'm telling
you that if your husband sticks out serving god
he'll lead you to victory he will lead your family to victory
you know you'll see your children grow up someday and get saved and love the
lord and he'll lead your family to victory
but we need good leaders in our country we need good leaders in
churches we need good leaders in families because everything rises and
falls on leadership go to look at verse number 12
first samuel 7 it says
then samuel took a stone and set it between mispa and shen
and called the name of it ebeneezer saying hitherto have the lord
helped us and and just notice how samuel here
why is it that god used this man why is it that this guy's such a great leader
notice the humility here he says hitherto
hath the lord helped us and this is what a good leader does
a good leader glorifies god a good leader gives the credit to other
people rather than just taking the credit on
themselves and here why is it that samuel's such an effective leader
why is it that he's used by god well because when he leads them to victory
he doesn't say like oh yeah you know i've slain my thousands
i've slain my ten thousands right he's not singing his own praises
what is he doing he's saying hitherto hath the lord helped us
and just you know a tip for you if you want to be a leader if you want to be
used of god you want to be a great man like samuel
you know always give the glory to god for your accomplishments
don't ever try to just bask in the glory of it or take it upon yourself
because that's the surest way for god to humble you for god to
abase you rather if you want to continue to be used
by him as a faithful servant give all the glory to him
verse 13 so the philistines were subdued and they came no more into the coast of
israel and the hand of the lord was against the
philistines all the days of samuel and the cities which the philistines had
taken from israel were restored to israel
from ekron even unto gath and the coasts thereof
did israel deliver out of the hands of the philistines and there was peace
between israel and the amorites and samuel judged israel all the days of
his life and he went from year to year in circuit
to bethel and gilgal and misspah and judged israel and all
those places and his return was to raima for there
was his house and there he judged israel and there he
built an altar unto the lord so you know first
samuel chapter 7 it's a refreshing chapter in this story
isn't it you know it's not too often especially in the old testament where
you see pretty much everything going right
so just just bask in this for a minute because it'll immediately change
all right this is just human nature it'll immediately change
pretty soon here but you know finally we see a positive chapter where things are
going right you know god is causing the philistines
to be kept out of their coasts all the days of samuel's life he's led
them to victory they're prospering they're right with
god and you know he this may be shocking to you but here's
the thing in your life in my life when we actually humble ourselves when
we actually maybe afflict ourselves with some fasting every now and then
when we actually follow the man of god when we actually you know do what's
right and seek the lord and turn from our
wicked ways and seek his face you might find that
your life prospers too you might find that your life could be
like a first amuel chapter number seven as well
when you're actually doing what's right but many people today it's just human
nature you read it in the bible you know how quickly we turn astray
from the lord and it doesn't have to be that way
you know we could choose to do what most people aren't doing
do the hard thing and be faithful humble ourselves
do what's right last verse here this evening go to james chapter number four
james chapter number four
you know you don't have to wait until your life gets so hard
like these guys you don't have to wait until you're just defeated in battle
after battle you know people are getting killed god's
like destroying and cursing your nation you don't have to wait till it gets to
that point you know what you can do james four look at verse eight draw nigh
to god and he will draw nigh unto you
cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts
ye double-minded let's pray lord thank you for this chapter in the word of god
and the encouragement that we can draw from
it i just pray that you would bless leaders in our life bless pastor
shelley and thank you for his leadership and
thank you for a man that's dedicated himself for so long so that great works
for god like this can be happening just pray
that you would knit our hearts unto him and that you would help us to humble
ourselves to afflict ourselves from time to time
and just to truly desire to seek your face to call upon you
when we need help and just pray that you would help us to
have a burning desire to lead others to call
upon the lord the lord and be saved we love you in
jesus name we pray amen
all right if you would grab a hymnal we'll go ahead and sing
one last song to conclude the service hymn number 93 in your hymnal
art thou weary art thou languid hymn number 93
hymn number 93 we'll start there right on the first
art thou weary art thou languid art thou sore distress
come to me
if he be my guy
diadem
that his brow adorns
if i ask him to receive me will he say me
not till earth and not till heaven pass away
finding falling keeping struggling is he sure to
bless saints apostles prophets
martyrs cancer yes
good