(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, well there in 1 Samuel chapter number 2, started a brand new series last week. We find ourselves in chapter 2 this evening and if you remember last week Hannah was barren and she prayed to the Lord for a son. God gave her Samuel and of course now she is rejoicing. If you look at verse number 1 of 1 Samuel 2, it says this, and Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. Now go to Philippians chapter 4, leave your place in 1 Samuel chapter 2 throughout the sermon Philippians chapter number 4. You know we see here Hannah for years and years and years she's been struggling with this issue. It's very raw to her emotionally, very serious issue in her life and God finally answered her prayer, blessed her with a son, and her response is prayer. You know that's always a pretty good response in the Christian life, whether you're going through something positive, whether you're going through something negative, you know that is the safe bet in our lives is always to respond to situations with prayer. Look at Philippians chapter number 4 verse 6, it says, Be careful for nothing. It's not talking about being cautious, it's talking about being full of care, being anxious. It says, Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, notice these next two words, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. You know we ought not to forget to thank God in our lives. When we pray for something we pray for something and God finally blesses us with the thing we desired from God. You know we better not forget to thank God for those things and oftentimes I feel like us as Christians we're kind of like spoiled brat kids where we ask for what we want and we just run away and go on with our day. You know kids should say thank you to their parents when their parents fulfill their requests and us as God's children we should say thank you to God, we should bless the Lord's name when God is good to us. Go back to 1 Samuel chapter number 2. Now if you saw there in verse 1 she said, Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. It's kind of a weird phrase that we wouldn't really say today. When I hear the word horn I think of big horned sheep. If you've ever been up north there's these you know wild sheep that live in the wilderness and they have these gigantic curled horns and they just look like really powerful beasts. And I looked up the word horn in the dictionary and this is one of the definitions. It says this, a symbol of power or strength as in the Bible. So it's actually one of the definitions is how the Bible uses it, a symbol of power or strength a source of strength. When she says mine horn is exalted in the Lord what she's saying is that her strength comes from God. You know she's doing well right now she's being blessed right now and she's recognizing that this isn't because I'm special this isn't because I'm powerful rather my strength or my horn is exalted in the Lord. Look at verse 2. The Bible says there is none holy as the Lord but there is none beside thee neither is there any rock like our rock. Go to Romans chapter number 9. Now here is a great foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ and she's saying you know there's no other rock like our rock like our God. And why does she call God our rock? Well look at Romans chapter 9 verse 33 it says this, as it is written behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Who is that stumbling stone? Who is that rock of offense? It's the Lord Jesus Christ and so far in both chapters of 1 Samuel we've just seen the Lord Jesus Christ pictured a ton already. Why? Because contrary to what the dispensationalists like to teach Jesus actually is the point of the whole Bible and in the Old Testament every single book of the Bible is pointing towards the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament people were not saved by works. People were not saved by keeping the commandments or doing the sacrifices rather they were saved by putting their trust in the Messiah to come. Now of course there were details that they didn't know about Jesus but you can read the Old Testament and know there's going to be a Savior there's going to be a Messiah he's going to die for the people sins he's going to be resurrected you know the Old Testament does teach all those things. Look at 1 Corinthians 10 if you flip over a few pages 1 Corinthians 10 just in case you have any doubt of who this rock is talking about look at 1 Corinthians 10 verse 4 it says this and did all drink that same spiritual drink for they drink of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. You know one of the definitions of rock in the Bible is simply just the Lord Jesus Christ and what she's saying she's saying that is there's neither is there any rock like our God. You know there's no other religion that even compares to Christianity I mean have you ever tried to read the Book of Mormon before I mean it's just unbelievably obvious that it's not the Word of God that it's not inspired you know raise your hand if you've ever tried to read some of the Quran before has anyone in here tried to do that? It's terrible it's terrible I mean it was written by an illiterate pedophile so it kind of makes sense and the type of people that believe in Islam are the type of people that love illiterate pedophiles often cases but you know there's no comparison to Christianity when you put Hinduism when you put Buddhism when you put hedonism when you put you know the religion of humanism all of this compared to Lord Jesus Christ is a complete joke and anybody who actually loves truth will find the truth all that seek will find all that knock it will be answered unto them if you want to know the truth you know where you'll arrive in your life you'll arrive at the cross of Jesus Christ you know in my life before I got saved I was a person where I thought hey I want to know the truth and I was seeking truth and I was trying to watch videos online about truth and you know I found a documentary I don't remember which one it was exactly but I remember at the end pastor Menes gave the gospel presentation I said you know what that's the truth and I called upon the name of the Lord why because there's no other rock like our God there's no other religion there's no other prophet out there that even compares to Jesus Christ and when you're exposed to that when you have a sincere heart when you want to know the truth you're gonna say yep I recognize this is the rock right here this is the true God look at verse three of first Samuel two verse three she says this talk no more exceeding proudly let not arrogance e come out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are wait notice there's nothing for us to boast in you know I'm sitting here talking about Christianity is so much better than every other religion and amen it is you know it's not because of me it's not because of us it's not because of this church it's not because of the new IFB it's literally just because of God that's why and so don't talk exceeding proudly let not arrogance e come out of your mouth it's not us that makes Christianity special it's Christianity that makes us special it's Jesus that makes us special and you know I hope and I pray I sincerely pray this that someday this church right here is a powerhouse of a church not just for our own honor or glory but I want this church to have a big influence in Oklahoma I want to reach a lot of people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and I sincerely pray to God that someday he will give us laborers to be a church like that and that God will guide me and teach me how to be an effective leader so that we can do that together as a church but look no matter what happens to this church whether we stay this size or whether we become a really big church just realize that there's never any reason to be prideful because any success that we have is only because of God and you say oh well you're diligently following all the principles in the Bible yeah but they're not my principles God gave them to me he wrote it down in a book you know the generations have passed it down God's preserved his word through the generations I didn't do anything to receive the King James Bible we didn't do anything to receive it and so there's no reason for us to be prideful there's no reason for us to have arrogance in our mouths look at verse 4 it says this the bows of the mighty men are broken and they that stumbled are girded with strength it's basically saying like hey these really strong people are failing epically and these weak people are all of a sudden very strong what's it teaching us it's teaching us that you know having God's blessing is so much more important than being physically mighty and you know I think a lot of churches when they do get big they kind of lose sight of this you know for a woman like Hannah who's experienced affliction who's experienced humility who's had a need in her life that she's been praying and asking God for and then seeing God fulfill that in her life she recognizes hey that's not because of me that's because of God but oftentimes in our lives or maybe in a church's life everything's going really well you're really successful you have a lot of money you have a big building you have a big staff you have everything going on and you might think that it's because you're mighty but you know let us never get that way because God humbles the proud if you decide to get prideful that's when God's gonna knock you down a notch so you know if we want those things if we want God to exalt us if we want our horn to be exalted in the Lord what we should do is stay humble and stay needy to the Lord continue to ask God for things I'll read for you first Corinthians 127 says this but God have chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God have chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty you know this kind of makes me think about the new IFB in a sense because the new IFB while it's growing while it's getting bigger you know we're still relatively small movement that relatively small group of people you know we don't have the mega churches and we don't have all the huge giant facilities that a lot of these old independent Baptist churches have you know we don't have the Bible College money and all that stuff and when I look at the old IFB I think like you know these guys physically speaking they're pretty mighty aren't they and you might look at us physically speaking you might say that we're weak group that we're a small group that we meet in a storefront and we don't have all the you know a ton of money and stuff like that but you know the Bible says that God's chosen those things to confound the mighty and isn't it funny how us little new IFB just a few people just a few pastors you know pastor Anderson has reached so many millions of people just himself to where he's reaching these people and these guys are getting plugged into church these people that he gets saved and they're going to these mighty churches they're going to these huge independent fundamental Baptist churches being a blessing to them and then oftentimes the old IFB will get mad at that and they'll say oh what are these what are these foolish weak people coming in here that believe in the post-trib rapture what are these foolish weak people doing in here that you know don't believe that the Jews are still God's chosen people it's like well you know that's God using the weak things of this world to confound the things that are mighty and so you know us as a movement I hope that we continue to have a low view of ourselves and a humble view of ourselves so that God can continue to use us to have influence and use us to reach people that we would never get like these old moss back deacon independent fundamental Baptists that just hit cruise control on their Christianity and just think oh our church is set we're good to go no you should never be satisfied in that sense obviously we should be content you know you should never be satisfied with you know I'm done growing we're done as a church trying to you know preach better sermons we're done trying to reach more people no you should always be striving for more in that sense I'll keep reading says and base things of this world and things which are despised hath God chosen yay and things which are not to bring to not things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence you know who God wants to use God wants to use someone that doesn't want to take the glory on themselves he wants to use people that are gonna say hey no flesh is gonna glory in the presence of God you want God to use you well give God the glory in your life don't take it for yourself that's a sure way for God to stop using you now look at verse number five of 1st Samuel chapter 2 says they that were full have hired out themselves for bread and they that were hungry ceased so that the Baron hath born seven and she that hath many children is waxed evil so it's saying you know just like this mighty man he's falling this weak man is getting strong this person that's really well to do financially all of a sudden he's having to hire himself out just to eat bread you have this barren woman all of a sudden she's having seven kids you know what this is teaching us is that God can change the circumstances in our life at any moment he wants to you know don't ever trust in men don't ever trust in princes don't ever trust in riches because God can change your circumstances at any moment for good or for bad and oftentimes you know God changes our circumstances to test our faith you look at a guy like Joseph in the Bible we did his circumstances change fast he went from being basically the favorite son of his father to being sold into slavery by his brothers to be in a prison at a super low point in his life you know what he was a man that was full of faith he stayed loyal and true to God he held fast his integrity and then God changed his circumstances again and he became the second in command of all of Egypt and so Hannah is recognizing this like wow you know everything that I have comes from God and God could give me more anytime he wants to and God could take it all away anytime he wants to you know that's why the Bible says that we should walk circumspect meaning we should we should live our lives purposefully not just I'm struggling for the exact work not being complacent with our lives you know a lot of Christians they are just complacent they do the same things every day they don't take their spiritual life seriously but you know we should because God can change our status in this life any time he wants to I'll read for you Matthew 6 33 says this but seek ye first the kingdom of God in his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you you know Hannah was a woman that sought the Lord first and because she sought the Lord first God did give her the requests of her heart God did exalt her and here we are in 2024 and we're reading the prayer of Hannah I mean that's pretty cool that's a huge honor bestowed upon that woman why because she actually lived out this verse she actually did seek first the kingdom of God look at verse 6 the Bible says the Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up you know this is another humbling thought not only can God just change your life circumstances at any time God can literally just kill you at any moment every single breath you take is a gift given to you by God and that can be taken away from you so fast it's not even funny you know you could do you could be in a head-on collision out in traffic you didn't even know what happened you didn't even see it coming and all of a sudden it's lights out and you either wake up in heaven or if you're unsaved you wake up in hell you know I saw a really terrible video the other day of this random act of violence where this psychotic guys went to a gas station just executed a random person here in Oklahoma I mean what a what a terrible thing that is and what a sick world we're living in and here's the thing you just got to realize that as much as you want to prepare as much as you want to train as much as you want to carry firearms and medical gear and I'm all for those things I hope you do those things you know men protect your family but realize that you could die still at any time you're not bulletproof God can take you home at any moment and so because of that we should worry more about pleasing God than about all our physical preparations and this applies to not just you you know as a person we should take this same principle and apply this as a nation you know what to God as a nation we weren't so worried about how many billions of dollars are we gonna spend on the CIA this year and make sure we have all the right intelligence of our enemies how many Lockheed Martin missiles are we gonna purchase this year how many drones how many drone strikes is Obama gonna make right no rather than just how godly can we be as a nation how much of the Bible can we implement how much should we of the Word of God follow as a nation that would give our nation safety that would give our nation prosperity and tranquility look at verse 7 the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifted up you know again this idea of God just changing your circumstances very quickly when it comes to your finances of course there's an aspect of just diligence and hard work and a lot of people that aren't even saved in this world today they leverage the principles of the Bible and they're able to become rich by doing so but there's also the aspect as Christians here of God's blessing and sometimes maybe if the person isn't the best with money they don't really know how to handle finances the best but they're a godly person and God just blesses them anyways or maybe God just knows that you could never be rich you can never handle a lot of money so it doesn't matter what you do or how hard you work God just keeps you from becoming too wealthy because believe it or not having a bunch of money is not always a blessing a lot of times more money more problems and you know if you're poor you don't have to worry about if your wife actually loves you because you know that she does because she married you not because of your money married you for other reasons all right and you know look at verse 8 it says he raises up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dung hill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's he have set the world upon them you know spiritually speaking God has made all of us rich I mean we have so many blessings spiritually speaking first and foremost being that of salvation just the fact that God gave us the gift of eternal life and that no matter what our life is like here on earth when we die we spend eternity with God in heaven you know that's riches right there and not only that I mean God has given us so many great things to enjoy here on this earth I mean if you have a family that's a great blessing from God if you have a car that's a blessing if you have a home that's a blessing we have great clean food that is available to us to eat we have a lot of freedom and prosperity in this country we have a lot of physical beauty to enjoy sunshine fresh air you know I get so sick and tired going out soul-winning and you knock on someone's door and you ask them if they believe in hell and they're like oh yeah we're in hell right now and it's like no because you know your children are too beautiful for this to be hell and it's too beautiful weather outside right now for us to be in hell and you know what I just ate a nice steak and that's too great for this to be in hell and you know I had a great cup of coffee this morning and that's not gonna happen in hell and no God has given us a great life here and honestly doesn't matter where you live on earth if you're saved you are rich but especially us here in America especially us here in the heartland I mean this is a place that's blessed by God this is a great place to be and God has truly brought us up out of the dust look at verse 9 says he will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness and I love this last part or by strength shall no man prevail you know this is just something that our carnal flesh wants to do is to think that we have to be strong to make it in this life we have to make the preparations we have to rely on ourselves but really you should always balance that knowing that God can change our circumstances at any time and that blessing and safety really comes from the Lord look at verse 10 it says the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces out of heaven shall he thunder upon them and it says this the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed once again who are we seeing in the book of 1st Samuel the Lord Jesus Christ you could stay there I'll read for you Matthew 25 31 says when the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory so here Hannah is just praying to the Lord but yet she's also giving us a foreshadowing foreshadowing of the millennial reign of Christ and the Bible here is saying that the Lord will judge the ends of the earth you know someday there's going to be a physical kingdom that Jesus Christ rules and reigns in this earth you know don't let the Preterists confuse you and say that everything in the Old Testament's already fulfilled we've already had the millennial reign of Christ no that's actually coming in the future and our status in that kingdom is based on how we live right now verse 11 it says this switching gears a little bit here says and Elkanah went to Rhema to his house and it says and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest you know I love this verse and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 11 I love how the Bible is highlighting for us that a child is serving God and today a lot of Christians have the idea that Christianity is only for adults or even some people like John MacArthur teach that salvation is only for adults you know John MacArthur says that salvation is an adult experience I had never heard that before I found that out this weekend through Pastor Anderson sermon he says salvation is only for adults but here not only does the Bible not teach that not only can children get saved but children also can just serve God and minister before the Lord so many churches today are excluding the youth they have a separate program for the youth where they're not really seriously teaching them anything in the Bible you know I thank God that our church is family integrated why because we want our youth here to minister before the Lord and as they grow and mature to do more for God not just put them in a timeout for 18 years and then expect them to be mature Christians when they move out of their home it doesn't make any sense but look about look at Ecclesiastes 11 verse 9 it says rejoice oh young man in thy youth and then the Bible kind of takes a sarcastic tone here says and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee in to judgment if I was saying yeah you want to just rejoice in your youth and being young and just enjoy your youth and not care about the things of God you go ahead and knock yourself out but realize that you'll be judged for those things you're not going to escape judgment for those things verse 10 it says this therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and youth are vanity and you know I like how Samuel didn't waste his childhood on a bunch of vain things he didn't waste his childhood playing video games all night every night and then waiting from high school and thinking he's gonna conquer the world when he's done nothing with his life thinking he's ready to spiritually lead a wife after doing that for 18 years thinking that he's ready to lead children I mean this is what a lot of the youth are doing today they're graduating from high school and they've spent their entire youth doing nothing but being vain wasting their time but look at Ecclesiastes 12 flip the page what does God want for us well look at verse 13 it says let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil the Bible says that the whole duty of our lives is to fear God and keep his commandments and teenagers today they think that their whole duty in life is to make tik-tok videos and to spend their whole life on social media and to just waste away their childhood and their youth but I'm telling you you're gonna regret that if you live that type of a life you just spend your youth not focusing on the things of God not caring about anything spiritual you will live to regret that decision you know I got saved when I was about 16 years old which is pretty young but I wish that I had gotten saved younger you know I've read the Bible a certain amount of times now I've gone soul winning for a certain amount of years right now but how much more would I have done if I would have been saved even earlier in life but I will tell you this when I got saved as a teenager I did not waste my teenage years I will say that because when I got saved and when I was a teenager I can say that I honestly loved reading my Bible and that I honestly loved going to church and I honestly loved soul winning and I honestly loved the preaching of God's Word you know there was a time around 2017 I was attending what was at the time Verity Baptist Church Vancouver which is now Sure Foundation Baptist Church and that church was filled with young people that were actually extremely zealous and extremely on fire for the things of God and that was a great thing to be a part of and I'll tell you it breaks my heart and it makes me sad when I see teenagers and when I see young people where it's just so obvious that they don't care about the things of God we're just so obvious that their parents are dragging them to church they don't want to go soul winning they don't want to read the Bible I'm just telling you you know it's better to fix this heart issue in your life now rather than getting older and just realizing that you wasted so much time and having that regret you know I'm glad to hear that Samuel did not waste his youth and you know you can't teach someone to not be apathetic you can't force someone to care about the things of God I wish you could but you know I wish I could just exhort young people the children in this room to just get your heart into Christianity now and not wait until you've wallowed around in the pigpen for five ten fifteen years not you know go the course of this world where you know most women in this world what they're doing is they're going to college they're getting tons of debt they're sleeping around they're getting STD STDs they're waiting to have children and they wake up thirty years old realizing no one wants to marry them because they're used and dirty and that's where a lot of people are at right now what would be better is just as a youth saying I'm not going to go down that road I'm going to serve God you know and a lot of men today they grow up and they don't work hard at their job they might go get the liberal arts degree and rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and they do the same thing they waste four years committing fornication drinking alcohol and they come out of college and they're just a complete loser a complete brain-dead idiot why because they just decided oh I'm just gonna walk in the ways of my heart and whatever I want to do I'm gonna enjoy childhood and youth but you know what it's vanity and everyone always regrets it but you know what Samuel I guarantee you didn't regret serving God from a child I guarantee you Timothy didn't regret serving God from a child you want to know why young Timothy became a pastor because he was serving God as a teenager as a child and so that's why he was able to do that look at verse number 12 verse number 12 of 1st Samuel 2 says now the sons of Eli who is the priest were sons of Belial they knew not the Lord now flip back to 1st Samuel 1 one chapter back look at verse 3 says and this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh and the two sons of Eli Hophni and Phinehas notice this the priests of the Lord were there so here we see that the sons of Eli were priests but what's significant about them is not just the fact that they're priests but the fact that they're priests who are reprobates who are actually children of the devil now I think there's a lot of lessons we can learn from this the fact that Eli's sons were reprobates is that just because you're godly and just because you're saved doesn't just automatically guarantee that your children will be saved and it doesn't automatically guarantee that your children will be godly you know there is an aspect of free will when it comes to raising children but that being said because of this it shouldn't cause you to just throw up your hands and give up it should cause you to take your parenting very seriously and say I'm gonna make sure that I work really hard to set a good example to read the Bible with my family to pray with my family to lead them spiritually because it's not guaranteed that they'll get saved and you know some good advice is get your children saved when they're very very young because when children are young is when they're the most receptive to the gospel in their whole life before they become corrupted by sin and you know another important lesson go ahead and turn to 2nd Peter 2 is that just because someone is in a position of spiritual leadership it doesn't automatically just make them a good person you know we take this for granted in the new IFB but you know I have family member and friends where they just any preacher that pops up on the internet they just think is a good person and any preacher that pops up and says anything they'll just immediately follow that person's advice and that's a scary thought because there's lots of false prophets why look at verse 1 of 2nd Peter 2 it says but there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you you know this church specifically has already seen this because there was a guy named Bo Ballard who is a complete false prophet who's now teaching hardcore works that you have to repent of your sins to be saved and yet I guarantee you you know at the time that he was here there was probably some people that were new in the Lord growing in the Lord and immature spiritually and they probably thought that Bo Ballard was a good guy but guess what he never was a good guy it's not like he was once a good guy and then oops he's a reprobate no he was a false teacher crept in unawares and so what you have to realize is you know just because you're going to the priest doesn't mean that person's safe you know I wish someone would tell the poor Catholics that are entrenched in that false religion that just because you're going to the priest doesn't mean that person's safe you know when it comes to false prophets not only are they usually teaching damnable heresy but they're also usually involved in disgusting sin and in just other forms of debauchery look at verse 2 says and many shall follow their pernicious ways pernicious just means harmful that means these false prophets are hurting people by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of so those people will hate Christianity because of what false prophets say and do and notice verse 3 and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumber not notice they love money they're not content and because they're covetous they have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin and we'll see that in this story as well go back to 1st Samuel 2 now it's going to kind of explain so so far we've just learned hey their sons of Belial they're unsaved their reprobates but now it's going to kind of give us a narrative of what these people were doing look at verse 13 and the priests custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice the priests servant came while the flesh was in seething with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand and he struck it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot all that the flesh hook brought up the priest took for himself so they did in Shiloh and to all the Israelites that came there and so far there's nothing wrong with that custom you know the Bible says in the New Testament that let the honors that rule well be counted worthy of double honor and the Apostle Paul explains that there's nothing wrong with a spiritual leader having his carnal needs taken care of and living of the gospel there's nothing wrong with these priests eating food and being fed for the work that they do but notice they weren't supposed to like pick out the choice meats they're supposed to just dip the hook in the cauldron whatever comes up is theirs but where it starts going wrong is here in verse 15 it says this also before they burnt the fat the priests servant came and said to the man that sacrificed give flesh to roast for the priest for he will not have sought in flesh of thee but raw so notice before the fats burnt they're wanting to consume this now what's wrong with that well let's go back to the Old Testament in Leviticus 3 in the law Leviticus chapter number 3 the Bible gives explicit detailed instructions on how these sacrifices were supposed to take place and church is not a free-for-all the Old Testament tabernacle is not a free-for-all God gave us specific instructions notice it says in verse 4 let's start in verse 4 and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them which is by the flanks and the call above the liver with the kidneys it shall he take away verse 5 is the important verse and Aaron sons notice shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice what are you supposed to do you're supposed to burn the fat that's God's Word God specifically instructed burn the fat well look at verse 16 of 1st Samuel 2 and let's see what they were saying what was the problem with what they were doing here it says this and if any man so that's some person that's just going to the priest to do his service to God any man if any man said unto him let them not fail to burn the fat presently and then take as much as thy soul desireth so these people are coming up to the priest they're saying hey whoa the Bible says to burn the fat you should burn the fat first then take as much as you want what are you guys doing notice what their response is says nay but thou shalt give it me now and if not I will take it by force and what this is a picture of is spiritual leadership just not caring about the Bible and today our country is full of churches where a man stands behind the pulpit he's got a Bible open before him but he does not care what it says and here are these priests they're spiritual leaders they're doing the job of a priest they're supposed to be burning the fat but when they see Leviticus chapter number three you know what they say screw Leviticus chapter number three and today we have a lot of preachers that say screw Leviticus chapter number 20 they say screw second Peter chapter 2 screw the book of Jude you say well that's that's crude how you're saying it no what's crude is just despising the Word of God that's what's crude what's crude is calling yourself a priest and threatening to physically assault someone if they don't allow you to pervert the Bible it should be the exact opposite you should be afraid to be physically assaulted you did pervert the Bible you know if someone stood behind this pulpit and started preaching work salvation I would physically grab them and throw them out of the room and any pastor or preacher that actually cared about the gospel would do the same thing and these poor people are coming up to the priest just being like hey why are you not burning this first can't you just burn it and then hey we'll take care of you we'll still tie you could still have a paycheck you just can't pervert the Bible you know people today should worry less about is the pastor getting paid as a preacher getting paid and just worry more about it the person's preaching the Word of God let's let's pay people to actually preach the truth I mean I would pay money for someone to preach Leviticus 20 in America our country should invest in that but instead people are paying money to Joel Osteen people are paying money to Andy Stanley who's bringing sodomites behind his pulpits look at verse 18 verse 17 I'm sorry this is why this is so important look at verse 17 wherefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord obviously but here's you know underline this phrase for men abhorred the offering of the Lord just like second Peter says that because of false prophets it's going to cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of and you have bad leaders when you have unqualified leaders when you have sons of Belial preaching the Word of God you know what it causes it causes men to abhor the Lord it causes men to abhor the service of God and so many people today in America have a bad attitude towards church have a bad attitude towards pastors not because pastor Shelley or pastor Anderson or pastor Jimenez but because they went to one of these guys type churches they went to Hoffnien Baptist Church you know they went to Sam Gipps Church they went to this we went to Peter Ruckman's Church and you know going to those type of churches will make you not like Church I'll be honest you with you when I was a child I was sure very few times probably I can count on one hand the amount of times I went to church I remember one time I went to this rock and roll fun Center and I don't know what they believed I was a little kid I just remember I thought it was so faggot II because the music was just super feminine and it was the swinging in the swing and everyone had their hands up doing this and even as a child I was just like this is so weird like I don't like this you know what I mean and in my in my mind I thought like I don't really like church but it's not that I didn't like the Bible it's not that I didn't like preaching I hadn't been exposed to that yet I just didn't like seeing men swinging and swaying in church thought it was freakin weird you know and normal Americans think that stuff is weird you know those churches are full of single divorced women because it's catered towards emotion it's not full of hair legged men look at verse 18 says this but Samuel ministered before the Lord notice again being a child girded with a linen ephod so again he's serving God as a child moreover his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice you know a quick note here I really love how Hannah is a present mother that's investing in her chill in her child's spiritual walk you know she cares about her son serving God she's a present mother and in verse 20 it says and Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife and said the Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord and they went under their own home and the Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters and the child Samuel grew before the Lord so notice Hannah went from being completely barren to including Samuel having six children and what what an amazing triumphant story that is and again it just goes to show that God is wanting and willing to bless people that put him first Hannah was a woman that put God first and it's not that God wants to keep blessings from us or God doesn't want to give us the thing the desires of our heart but oftentimes the reason we don't have those things because we're not putting the Lord first not always but oftentimes that is the case and so if you want something from God you know don't just seek that thing seek God first and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you look at verse 22 it says now Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel and how they lay with the women that are assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation so notice not only were they involved with this weird thing with the sacrifice but they're also just committing fornication or who knows perhaps adultery who knows if these men or if these women that they were with were married just rampant adultery rampant a fornication and says that his father knew of it look at verse 23 it says and he said unto them why do you such things right here of your evil dealings by all this people nay my sons for it is no good report that I hear you make the Lord's people to transgress you know here Eli's being very weak you know saying no good report is the understatement of the year it's like your sons are perverting the service of God they're causing people to hate the service of God hate church they're committing fornication at church they're committing adultery at church which is a sin worthy of death and your response is well it's not a good thing I heard of you I mean what if and I hope you know your kids don't go to public school but what if they what if they did and you got a report card that said or you got a phone call well you know your son or daughter's in trouble what's going on well it's not really a good report it's like what they do well they're just committing fornication openly in the classroom it's like that's a little more than no good report like that's insane that's a huge sin and these guys just laying with women at the door of the tabernacle that's not just no good report that's that merits a much bigger reaction from him look at verse 25 says if one man sin against another the judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall treat for him notwithstanding they harken not unto the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them so Eli's a weak leader here and his sons don't respond to his correction because his correction super weak and obviously he must have just been a weak leader when it came to his children but you know what where was Eli's heart in this situation go to first Samuel to just skip down a few verses to verse 29 because today there's the same problem in America where a lot of parents don't want to correct their children and a lot of people think spanking your children is abuse or wrong but we desperately need parents in America to correct their children today look at verse 29 the Bible gives an insight into Eli's heart why he was this way verse 29 wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering which I have commanded in my habitation and notice this and onerous thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the cheapest of all the offerings of Israel my people you know what was Eli's problem here was that he was honoring his children above God now this is very common in human nature for people to be partial to be favored towards their children that's a natural feeling but it becomes a problem when you honor your children above God you know what this makes me think of is nepotism now if you don't know what this is this is the definition of nepotism patronage bestowed or favoritism shown on the basis of familiar relationship as in business and politics now usually when people talk about nepotism it's in the context of business or politics the mayor hires his son as a secretary in the office or whatever or you know you have a plumbing company called Johnson and Sons which honestly I don't even care about that but I think also nepotism is a serious problem in a lot of churches today and there could be spiritual nepotism that goes on and I'm just gonna say this I think it is a very bad idea for fathers to ordain their children into the ministry I just think it's a really bad idea and let me give you a list of some pastors that were ordained by their dad or they took over after their dad Joel Osteen Tyler Baker Franklin Graham and Graham Jesse Jackson Jack Scott he was the son-in-law of Jack Hiles Martin Luther King jr. you know that that person who's burning in hell right now for denying the virgin birth for denying a lot of things in the Bible he was ordained by his dad Bishop John Francis now I didn't know who this guy was but here's his quote I found a quote of his online he says in 1985 my father Bishop TG Francis ordained me as an evangelist and in 1988 the pastor of the famous Pentecostal firstborn Church of the Living God 71 White Lion Street I become I became the youngest pastor in the UK at the age of 22 well I wonder why you became the youngest pastor maybe because your dad ordained you and you know that's not impressive to anyone I'm looking at that and I'm horrified by that because I'm thinking very few people in this world would ever be qualified to be a pastor at age 22 but it also just happened to be the guy that was ordained by his dad no that's not the case and the fact that your Pentecostal tells me yeah definitely not qualified I know that for a fact now here's the thing I'm not giving you these lists of men to say anyone who's ever ordained by their father's automatically a really bad person I know of a saved pastor that was ordained by his father now even though he's saved I would not recommend that people go to his church don't really like the guy personally but he was ordained by his father but that's not to say like I said that you're automatically a bad person you know everyone has some sort of preference to their children that's not natural but here's what I think this is honestly why I'm mostly against dads are dating their sons because I think it's detrimental to the preacher that's getting ordained himself because if you get ordained by your dad let's say you are a qualified man of God you sincerely love God you have a good heart you want to serve God you want the office of a bishop and let's say you sincerely are qualified for it here's a problem with being ordained by your dad is that for your entire life in ministry you're gonna have a big question mark over your head and why do that to yourself you really are qualified really can do the job you really can get ordained by some man of God why do that to yourself and get ordained by your dad to where everyone's gonna have this question mark hanging over your head to say well was this guy actually qualified or was he just put through because of dad it doesn't really matter how great of a person you are you could be a very spiritual good person and you could still be a little impartial towards your children why because that's just human nature and so you know it's just safer to go get ordained somewhere somewhere else and you know there's let me say this too there's nothing wrong with training your child there's nothing wrong with giving your child advice on on how to go into the ministry or how to run a church or be a pastor I think that's great but when it comes to getting training I think you should get training and sent out by someone that's not your relative because it kind of proves it to yourself and it kind of proves it to everyone else now there's this funny quote I found it says this and it's from the perspective of a pastor it says I know you may say I'm biased but I know no one is capable and competent as my son I see so much potential in him why can't others see that it makes eminent sense to make him the Sunday school superintendent and the treasurer and the greeter and the song leader and our weekly bulletin editor and the speaker selector and the purchasing agent and the cafeteria manager and the thermostat administrator and yes someday looking into my crystal ball on my knees before God I can see him being the lead pastor here if such a thing exists having said that I find it really quite sickening when some parents think their son or their daughter is the cat's meow they're always trying to promote their own family members it's just so blatantly obvious but as for our boy I think we could all agree that it's not nepotism or favoritism on my part he's plainly just got the goods we can't hold him back just because he's my son that would be tantamount to reverse discrimination now what's this little joke illustrating it's just illustrating our human nature that we're not the best people to judge our family our wife's character a husband's character our children's character you know we love them so much that we often overlook a lot of problems and don't really give them the best leadership that they need oftentimes or the best correction that they need oftentimes and so like this pastor from his perspective he's saying yeah I mean my son should literally run every single thing in the church because obviously he's the greatest but you people you people man you think so highly of your son but I see all their problems you know and that's just a common attitude but I think it's great to have children serving in the ministry and if you have children that want to be song leaders great that's wonderful when it comes to the office of a bishop you know the most important office that exists that shouldn't be taken lightly and if you can't get ordained by someone that's not your father that's a problem that's a problem and so you know I think it's a really bad idea now what if someone does it well someone does it you know while I'm against it once it's done I'm gonna treat that man of God like any other man of God and I'm gonna respect him for holding office of a bishop and if that ever happens in the future I hope you do the same someone is ordained by their dad respect that man of God follow that man of God he still holds the title of a bishop but I'm just saying before then yeah I would be against it after then let's give them the respect that they deserve there verse 26 of first Samuel 2 says and the child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men for sake of time I'll just mention quickly you know in the New Testament that says the same thing of the Lord Jesus Christ so here he is a picture of Jesus Christ verse 27 and there came a man of God unto Eli and said unto him thus saith the Lord did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt and Pharaoh's house did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest to offer upon mine altar to burn incense to wear an ephod before me did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at my own offering which I've commanded in my habitation and honourest thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the cheapest of all the offerings of Israel my people wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should would should walk before me forever but now the Lord saith be it far from me for them that honor me I will honor and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed you know here is a good picture of replacement theology and here the house of Eli could represent the Jews but the Jews lightly esteemed God didn't esteem the Lord Jesus Christ so God said you know what I'm done with this house I'm gonna find me a new house verse 31 the behold the days come that I will cut off thine arm the arm of thy father's house that there shall not be an old man in thine house and thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation and all the wealth which God shall give to Israel and there shall not be an old man in thine house forever the man of thine whom I shall not cut off from mine altar shall be to consume thine eyes and to grieve thine heart and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age and this shall be assigned unto thee that shall come upon thy two sons Hophni on Hophni and Phinehas in one day shall they die both of them and I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind and I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before mine anointed forever it shall come to pass that everyone that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread shall say put me I pray thee into one of the priests offices that I may eat a piece of bread and you know I'll close on this here God's saying Eli I'm gonna replace you I'm gonna replace your house and you know what I'm gonna literally kill your sons and the lesson we should learn from that is that there is a God that judges in the earth and oftentimes the wicked you read Psalms like Psalm 37 Psalm 73 and we could have this attitude like how long Oh Lord is it gonna be until you judge these wicked people and we know that all these reprobates someday will spend eternity in hell but you know what sometimes God judges them in this earth as well and you know if I know for a fact someone's a reprobate someone's a false prophet causing people to hate the God of the Bible I have no problem in just praying for those people to die early myself and God did that and God is not sinful or wicked when he does that that's righteous judgment and it was righteous for God to literally kill Hophni and Phinehas and it should make us realize wow there is a God that judges in the earth and that applies to the wicked you know who else that applies to applies to us and so if we're gonna do the service of God especially if you want any type of leadership in church you want to be a soul-winning leader you want to be a song leader you want to be a preacher you maybe want to be a pastor someday how much more should you fear the Lord you know James 3 says brethren be not many masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation realize that if you're a spiritual leader in any way shape or form God will judge you harsher than the average person don't just go and become a priest Hophni and Phinehas when you're gonna be committing adultery the doors of the tabernacle and perverting the words of God you know don't just jump into oh I'm gonna be a preacher I'm gonna be a pastor oh I have to be a pastor so bad I have to be a pastor you know realize what a serious thing that is let us live our lives circumspectly let us no matter who we are where we find ourselves in life fear the Lord let's pray Lord thank you for this day thank you for this chapter in your word I just pray that you help us to glean these lessons to apply them to our lives pray that you bless our church with more laborers I'll promote everyone in here to truly love your word to spend every day reading it love you just and pray