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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Find a hymnal and turn to hymn number 180. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Hymn number 180. Hymn 180. We'll start there right on the first. There will never be a sweeter story Story of the Savior's love divine Love that brought Him from the realms of glory Just to save a sinful soul like mine Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me Foundless as the universe around me Reaching to the farthest soul away Saving, keeping love in ones that found me That is why my heart can truly sing Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me Love beyond our human comprehending Love of God and Christ, how can it be? This will be my theme, an ever-ending Great redeeming love of Calvary Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me Good singing will open with a word of prayer. Dear Father, thank you for this opportunity that we have tonight to gather together as a church and to sing praises unto you. I pray that you would receive our praise, Lord, and I pray that you would bless the remainder of this service at this time. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. For our next hymn, if you would, turn in your hymnals to hymn number 194. Since Jesus came into my heart, hymn number 194. We'll start there right on the first. What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart I have lied in my soul for which long I have sought Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Floods of joy o'er my soul like conceived billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart I am seized from my wandering and going astray Since Jesus came into my heart My sins, which were many, are all washed away Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Floods of joy o'er my soul like perceived billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart I'm possessed of a hope that is steadfast and sure Since Jesus came into my heart And no dark clouds have downed down my pathway obscure Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Floods of joy o'er my soul like conceived billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart There's a light in the valley of death now for me Since Jesus came into my heart And the gates of the city beyond I can see Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Floods of joy o'er my soul like conceived billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart I shall go there to dwell in that city I know Since Jesus came into my heart And I'm happy, so happy, as onward I go Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Floods of joy o'er my soul like conceived billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart Good evening everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. This time we'll go through our announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. On the front is our Bible memory verse of the week, Hebrews chapter 6 verse 8. We're making good progress through this chapter. If you look on the inside, on the top left is our source times listed. Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m., Sunday evening at 4 30, and our Wednesday evening Bible study of course at 7 o'clock. Our soul winning times are listed there. All of those meet here at the building. And of course pay special attention to the Saturday rally. Definitely would love it if you guys would help us with that soul winning time. It's been great. Our nursing home ministry schedule is listed there. If you're a preacher or a musician in that ministry, please make note of those times and dates. Also we have our year to date stats for soul winning. And in September we had one of the best months of the year. So great job on soul winning. 54 salvations for this month. Definitely great work. We want to keep up that momentum and faithfulness to soul winning for the rest of the year. So great job on that. On the right hand side is our prayer list for expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for Ms. Whitney Reed for her pregnancy. Also upcoming events this week. It's finally here. The Heritage of the Lord Conference hosted by Steadfast Baptist Church. Really excited for that. I'll be driving down right after work on Friday. We're excited to see everyone. And if you can make it there, definitely would encourage you to do that. Should be a great time. But Lord willing I will be back of course by Sunday to preach here. And I'm looking forward to that as well. So not this upcoming weekend, but the weekend after that. We're going to have Pastor Jonathan Shelley from Steadfast preaching for us here in Oklahoma City. Definitely looking forward to that. And a little farther down the calendar, November 6th through the 10th is the Faithful Word Baptist Church Missions Conference. We're very excited to be supporting that and to be going to that if you're able to. It's going to be a great conference. On the back is a schedule for the Heritage of the Lord Conference. If you're able to make it to that, maybe take a picture of that with your phone. You can reference that throughout the conference. But that is the schedule for the Heritage of the Lord Conference. At this time, let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a church for our prayer requests. Lord, thank you for this day. And thank you for our church. And Lord, we just pray for unity between the brethren and this church. And just pray that you would bless the various situations going on right now amongst our friends. Just pray that you bless Pastor Anderson and his family and his church, Lord. Also just pray that you would help my health to improve, that you would help my lungs to heal, Lord. And we pray for Brother Theodore for his upcoming job switch, that everything would go smoothly for him. And that he would find favor in the eyes of his new employers. And that he would just be a blessing to that company. And vice versa, Lord. Also pray for Brother Alex who's looking for a job here in Oklahoma. Just pray that you would prepare a good job for him. And that the right doors would be open to him, Lord. And just bless him in his desire, Lord. We also pray for the various requests of our church members who have needs. We pray for Ms. Shawn Furr for her coworker, Terry, who has cancer. We just pray that she would heal that cancer, Lord. And we pray for Ms. Remi that she would fully heal her tumor. And that she would have no more cancer or grow. That she would just bless her, Lord. We also pray for Ms. Whitney Reed's brother, Cole. That she would soften his heart to the gospel. And that he would be able to hear a clear presentation. And just pray that he'd get saved, Lord. And also for Brother Zach, for his family members, his mother and brother. That they too would be receptive to the gospel. That they would be hungry for the truth. That they would hear a very clear presentation of the gospel. And we pray for our pastor, Pastor Shelley. We pray that you bless him for his faithfulness, for his leadership. And we just pray that you help him in this upcoming week putting on a conference, Lord. It's not easy. We just pray that you bless the work of his hands. And that his conference would be a success. That children would be inspired there to love you and to serve you. That families would grow in wisdom. And that you would just knit us closer together as church members of Steadfast Baptist Church. We love you and thank you for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, at this time we'll go ahead and go to our third song. Alright, for our next song, if you would, grab the handout that was passed out. Romans chapter number 10. We'll go ahead and sing the Romans chapter number 10 handout. We'll go ahead and start there right at the beginning. And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scriptures say it, whosoever believes it, on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever shall fall, whosoever shall fall, or whosoever shall fall upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, the same Lord over all is rich to all that call upon him. For the scriptures say it, whosoever believes it, on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever shall fall, whosoever shall fall, or whosoever shall fall upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen. Good singing. As the offering plates are being passed around, turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter number 8. 1 Samuel chapter number 8. 1 Samuel chapter number 8. Good evening. 1 Samuel chapter number 8. Follow along silently in your Bibles. 1 Samuel chapter 8 the Bible reads, And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, the name of his second Abiah, they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people, and all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them, according to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods. So do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit ye protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel took all the words of the Lord unto the people, and asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your men servants, and your maid servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. And he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day, because of your king, which ye shall have chosen you. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we may also be like all the nations, that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, harken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, go ye every man unto his city. Let's bow our heads forward in prayer. Father in Heaven, we thank you for this day, and the good Father that you've given us, and our church, and our pastor. And we ask that you be pleased with the law of the Holy Spirit, and help us apply your word to our lives. And we just ask that you help the Lord with his voice, and he's going to give us a new prayer. Amen. Remember, last week, Samuel kind of stepped up into a leadership role, and it was a very positive chapter. He led the nation to victory against the Philistines, and he ruled Israel all the days of his life. Let's remind us of this story real quick. If you go back to 1 Samuel chapter 7, let's read quickly verse number 15. 1 Samuel 7 verse 15. It says, 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. So, notice how it says that Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. So, really, things were going well for basically the whole life of Samuel. I mean, up until chapter 8, things are going really well for the life of Samuel, but something kind of changed in Samuel when he got old. And it wasn't like a major character change, but the Bible kind of explains something right here in verse number 1 of 1 Samuel 8. Firstly, this evening, I want you to notice number 1, the nepotism of Samuel. Verse 1, it says this, And it came to pass when Samuel was old, notice, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now, what is this? This is an act of nepotism. And we talked about this earlier in 1 Samuel, but let's remind us what this word means. This is the Merriam-Webster definition of nepotism. It says, favoritism, as in appointment to a job based on kinship. And here, we could tell that it's probably likely that Samuel gave his sons this position based off their kinship. And most of the time, when people ordain their sons into the ministry, let's be honest, it's nepotism. It's them favoring their children because they are their children. And notice, this had some issues. Verse 2, it says, Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah, they were judges in Beersheba. And notice, And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Lucre, and took bribes and perverted judgment. So, already we see that this is a negative thing. The two instances we've seen in this book so far of nepotism have all been negative stories. And I think there's a couple lessons we can learn right off the bat, just from the nepotism of Samuel. And number one is this, that you can be a great person and still have children that don't walk in your ways. Did you know that? Because here, in 1 Samuel, we have Samuel described, and his entire life up until this point, the Bible says nothing against him. The Bible says nothing negative of him. Now, here's the thing. If you've actually read the Bible through cover to cover, you know that the Bible is constantly telling us all the negative things about the men of God, right? I mean, there's very few exceptions in the Bible. Guys like Daniel, guys pretty much like Samuel. The rest, we're reading about men of God committing adultery. We're reading about men of God committing murder. We're reading about men of God lying or just doing bad things, right? But here, I find it interesting that 1 Samuel depicts the character Samuel in a very positive light, up until this very moment. Because what the only negative thing said so far is what? That his sons did not walk in his ways, okay? Now, let's go over really quickly to 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16, from what I could tell, there's only one other minor thing that is kind of negative as regards to the life of Samuel. And it's not even really a big thing, but it's in 1 Samuel 16, 1. It says this, And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? So notice, really, the only thing negative that the Bible says about Samuel is that his sons didn't walk in his ways, and God came up to him and gave him like a very light correction. Like, hey, how long are you going to be mourning over Saul? But the rest describe Samuel as a man of God, someone that was very righteous, and yet his sons did not walk in his ways. Let me explain to you what that means. If his sons did not walk in his ways, that meant that his ways were good. You understand what that means? His sons did not walk in his ways. But yet some people want to look at a man of God who has done great things for God, who has done a lot of really positive things, but then his sons don't walk in his ways, and now he must be a terrible person. Now Samuel must be a really wicked person, right? I mean, doesn't this just prove that Samuel's wicked because his sons didn't walk in his ways? No, it doesn't actually, because guess what? Your children are not robots. Your children are not computers that you can just computer program a software program to run. No, people have free will, and just because you are righteous, that does not guarantee that your children will be righteous. That does not guarantee that your children will follow in your ways. Let me give you another clue as to the fact that Samuel was a righteous person. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 12, 1 Samuel chapter 12. I mean, think about it. He judged Israel all the days of his life. The Bible says positively of him. The Bible gives a very slight negative tone where God tells him, hey, how long are you going to mourn after Saul? His sons didn't walk in his ways. But notice this in 1 Samuel 12. It talks about his reputation. Verse 1 says this, And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that she said unto me, and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walketh before you, and I am old and grey-headed. And behold, my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. Behold, here I am, witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? And I will restore it you. And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand. And he said unto them, The Lord has witnessed against you, and his anointed has witnessed this day, that you have not found aught in my hand. And they said, He is witness. So notice here, Samuel's doing something called defending his reputation. Isn't that interesting? And it makes me wonder, why would Samuel have to defend his reputation? Probably because he had a lot of accusations against him. Probably because he had a lot of false accusations against him. Because notice that when he defends himself, the people that he's actually been around, the people that he's actually been ministering to, notice that they bared witness that Samuel was telling the truth. And guess what? Yeah, he might have to defend himself a little bit. Why? Because his sons didn't walk in his ways. Because his sons turned aside after bribes. They followed after filthy lucre. And so, you know what might happen is a lot of people might falsely accuse him. And guess what? He defended himself. Is there anything wrong with defending yourself? Well, Samuel did it. Paul did it. You know what? There's nothing wrong with defending yourself. I'll read for you. Proverbs 22 verse 6 says this. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. You know, this is a verse that is generally true. But this verse does not negate free will. That's what you have to understand about this verse. This verse is not telling you, hey, you know, children don't have free will. They don't get to decide whether or not they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to get saved. They don't get to decide whether or not they're going to follow after parents ways. Yes, it's generally true that a child raised in a Christian home has a much higher chance of getting saved. And a person that's raised in a Christian home has a much higher chance of following after the ways of their parents. But is that really guaranteed? No, it's not. You want to know how I know it's not? Because of Samuel. Because of examples in the Bible. And guess what? Because of free will. We are human beings. We're not robots. We don't follow a computer code. People have free will. And you know what? I'm not going to just hate someone. I'm not going to just throw a minister or a man of God in the trash just because his sons don't follow in his dad's ways. You know what? I think that's ridiculous. That's a terrible standard. That's something that is potentially could happen to any person. Is that their children could not follow in their ways. Go to 1 Peter chapter number 5. 1 Peter chapter number 5. And you know, I didn't plan for us to be preaching in this chapter tonight. Maybe the Holy Spirit worked it out to be that way. But maybe God just wants to remind us of this truth. That guess what? Yeah, someone's kids could not follow in their dad's ways. That doesn't mean they're a bad person. That doesn't mean that they're wicked. 1 Peter 5 says this, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. You know, maybe, just maybe, Samuel, because he was righteous, because he was doing a lot for the Lord, maybe the devil attacked his family a lot harder than the devil's ever attacked your family. That the devil's ever attacked my family. And you know, it just makes me sick that someone would look at a person whose sons are not following in their ways and say, well, that just means this preacher's of the devil. That means this preacher's bad. No, maybe this preacher's actually doing a huge work for God. Maybe this preacher's actually extremely righteous. And so that's why the devil's attacking his home. And so you know what that should make us do is be vigilant, be sober, knowing that our adversary, the devil, is walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And you know what that should make you do, by the way? That should make you count the cost of serving Jesus Christ. It should make you count the cost and say, you know what, if I actually get really serious about serving God, if I actually want to make a big impact in the kingdom of God, if I want to get tons of people saved, and just change this world for Jesus Christ, you know what might happen? The devil might attack my family. Is that something that you're willing to do for the Lord Jesus Christ? Because I'm telling you, I don't care who you are, that's not an easy thing. I don't care who you are, it would rip your heart to shreds for your children to not follow Jesus Christ, or God forbid for your children to be unsaved and go to hell, which there's plenty of saved people whose children don't even get saved and burn in hell for all of eternity. But here's the thing. We've been called to follow Jesus Christ no matter what the price is. And sometimes that's going to put a target on your family spiritually. And guess what? Spiritual warfare is real, my friends. Samuel experienced this where he was a righteous person, yet his children didn't follow after his ways. It makes me wonder, well, is it possible because the devil was attacking his family, because he was doing something right for Jesus? Go to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter number 10, verse 34. Jesus said, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. It's like the Bible literally says a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Man, I can't believe that this person that's following Jesus has foes of his own household. That's what Jesus said. That's what the Bible said would happen. Notice the next verse. What's our response when this happens? He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. You know, sometimes the Bible, the word of God, Christianity, living a godly life can set us at variance, meaning set us against, set us at odds with our own blood family members. And that's a hard thing. And many people, I'm sure, in this room have experienced that. But you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that if you love your father or you love whatever that family member is more than Jesus Christ, then you're not worthy of Jesus Christ. So you know what you should do? You should count the cost before and say, man, you know what? If I want to do something big for God, if I want to get serious for God, that may even cost my family. And I'm just telling you right now, most people are not willing to make that sacrifice. And not everyone has to make that sacrifice. Thank God. You know, there's a lot of people who are righteous and their children grow to be righteous and their spouse can be righteous and they can serve God. You know, I think about my wife, her family. Her dad is Pastor Aaron Thompson. She has a great family and that family is united in serving God. That family is saved and believes the Bible. And so it's like my in-laws are great people. I'm not at variance against my in-laws because they're fundamental Baptists that love God. But I'm guessing that not everyone in here has that situation. Right. Sometimes our in-laws are crazy in this world. Sometimes our in-laws are Mormons. Sometimes they're in-laws or whatever, you know. But here's the thing. Realize that you have to prioritize Christ above everyone else. You have to love Christ more than your family. You have to love Jesus Christ more than your children. You have to love Jesus Christ more than your spouse. That is being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Is loving him more than anyone in this world? Another lesson we can learn from the nepotism of Samuel here is that it is a bad idea to ordain your sons into the ministry. And, you know, it's so funny. People are attacking Pastor Anderson this week. People are attacking Pastor Anderson this week for his sons not following in his ways. But hasn't Pastor Anderson preached against ordaining your sons into the ministry, his entire ministry? So if anything, his doctrine on that is vindicated by what's happening. Saying, like, hey, sometimes a man of God's kids don't follow in his pathways, so it's a bad idea to ordain your sons. And look, some people get upset about this. Some people don't like this doctrine. But I'm just telling you, it's not a coincidence that we've had two instances of nepotism in 1 Samuel, and they're both an utter train wreck. I mean, you have Samuel, who's righteous, and his sons are taking bribes. You know what a bribe is? When someone's saying, hey, give me this ruling in court, and I'll pay you this type of money. Do this favor for me, and I'll give you this favor. His sons are not righteous. His sons are not following the Lord. Go to 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel chapter number 2. 1 Samuel 2, verse 12. Now the sons of Eli, Eli was saved. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. So, you know, the sons of Eli, they weren't even, like, Samuel's sons were at least Samuel's sons. It doesn't say that they're saved or not. It says that they just didn't walk after his ways. Eli's sons were reprobates. Eli's sons are sons of the devil. Reprobates. Verse 13. And the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's 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 unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, give flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh of thee but raw. And if any man said unto him, let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer them, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I will take it by force. So here we got a story of a righteous man's sons in the ministry. And what are they doing? They're taking advantage of the offerings of God. They're perverting the house of God. They're literally threatening to fight people. They're threatening to commit violence against individuals. Elsewhere the Bible talks about how they were laying with the women at the entering in of the congregation. So they're just committing serial adultery. And you know what? Often times in this world you see this where a righteous man has sons and his sons may even turn out to be reprobates. Sometimes pastors, they're great pastors, and their sons take over the church and they end up rotting in jail for half their life for sick, perverted crimes. This stuff happens in our world. And so I'm just telling you, it's just a bad idea for a pastor to ordain his sons. And I just think it's hilarious. It's not hilarious, but it's just ironic that people are attacking Pastor Anderson for his sons not following after his ways. Yet here's the thing, Pastor Anderson has preached his entire ministry, I will never ordain my sons. Why? Because sometimes great men of God, their children doesn't follow in their paths. He's literally said that his entire ministry. And then it happens, it's like, I can't believe this happened. It's like, hey, he was right that it's a bad idea to ordain your sons. It doesn't make any sense. It's not worth it. And here's the thing. It's not like a pastor can't let his sons serve in the ministry in some capacity, okay? Because here's the thing. You know, Pastor Thompson, like I said, is my father-in-law. When I used to be a member of his church, and I'm really thankful for the fact that he gave me opportunities to preach. And I got kind of my feet wet into preaching at Sure Foundation Baptist Church, and I'm really thankful for that. You know, one of his sons is a great song leader at that church. There's nothing in the world wrong with that, right? That's great. It's great to serve under your father. It's great to participate in the ministry. But you know what? It's just not wise. It doesn't make sense for someone to ordain their son to be a pastor. It's just a different level. And it's like, well, you know, it's hard. Well, it's hard to go get ordained somewhere else. And it's like, if you can't go do the hard thing of getting ordained somewhere else, let me just explain something to you. You're not going to be able to do the hard thing of doing a good job as a pastor. And I'm not speaking someone that's attained to this. I've never been a pastor. I don't fully understand how hard it is. But I know this, that, Lord willing, if I could do that someday, I want it to be ordained by someone that didn't know me before, doesn't have any relation with me, that can actually approve of my works. Not just like, hey, dad stamped it off. And so I'm approved. No, that's not a good idea. I want you to notice also the consequences of Samuel's nepotism. Go to 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel, chapter number 8. 1 Samuel 8, verse 4 says, Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. So notice again, they're not following his father's footsteps, meaning his father was actually doing right. Now his children aren't. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee, that they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. So notice what happened is that because of Samuel's nepotism, because of his children ruining their testimony, not following in the ways of Samuel, you know what it caused people to do? Is it caused people to in a way reject the Lord, right? Because God set up the system of the judges, but here the people, they're saying, No, we don't want your system, God. We want you to give us the kings. The same exact thing happened with Eli's children. Go back to 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel, chapter number 2. 1 Samuel 2, verse 17 says this, Wherefore, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord. Notice, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. And this is one of the dangers of nepotism, is that people in the congregation, they could see, well, the pastor's just favoring his son. The pastor's not judging righteously here, and he's just going to ordain his child. And you know what it could cause people to do? It could cause people to despise church. It could cause people to despise the things of God. And let me tell you something. It's never okay to despise the things of God. It's never okay to despise church. You know, if you go to church, if you're listening online, you go to church where the pastor was ordained by their dad, that shouldn't cause you to despise church. But let me just tell you the reality, is oftentimes that's what it does to people, right? Because Eli's sons were bad, what did it do? It caused men to abhor the offering of the Lord. And it's like, you know, in that case, Eli's children were reprobates. And it's like, wouldn't you kind of abhor going to church if the preacher was a reprobate? I mean, if you went to some church and the preacher was a sodomite, wouldn't you kind of abhor going to church, right? But here's the same thing with Samuel's sons. Samuel's sons didn't walk in his father's ways, and the people asked themselves for a king, why did they ask? The Bible literally tells us why. Look what it says. Verse five. And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king. Why is it that they rejected the system of the judges? Why did they reject the word of the Lord? It was because his sons didn't walk in his ways. And so that's a danger, that's another danger of a preacher ordaining their son into the ministry, is that it could cause people to despise church. And I've said this before, and I just want to reiterate my opinion on this subject. If a pastor ordains his child into the ministry, while I'm against that 100%, if someone asked my opinion, I would say, don't do that, it's a bad idea. Once it's done though, once that person's a pastor, I will respect that pastor just like any other man of God. And I think people should do the same. I don't think you should despise the offering of the Lord. I don't think you should despise church just because nepotism goes on. But it is just a reality that happens oftentimes. So number one, we saw the nepotism of Samuel. Number two, we saw the consequences of nepotism. Number three, let's notice God's allowance of bad decisions. God's allowance of bad decisions. 1 Samuel 8, verse 7. 1 Samuel 8, verse 7 says this, and the Lord said unto Samuel, notice this, hearken unto the voice of the people. In all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them, according to all the works which they have done since the days that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore, hearken unto their voice, howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. So notice what's happening here. The people, they've rejected God, they've rejected the system of the judges, they're asking for a king, and though this is wrong, it's kind of perplexing that God says to Samuel, hey Samuel, hearken unto their voice. Allow them to make this decision. He says, yet protest solemnly unto them. Tell them, hey, this is wrong, this is a bad idea, this isn't something you should do, but I'm just gonna allow you to do it anyways. And here's the truth. God allows people to make bad decisions. And again, this is what I was talking with earlier. Human beings are not robots. You could tell a human being all the right things to do, but at the end of the day, it is each individual's choice, it is of their own free will, whether or not they are going to obey the Bible. And here are these people, they've rejected the Bible, they've despised the word of the Lord, and God says to Samuel, hey, you know what you should do? You should just hearken to their voice and let them make this bad decision. Of course, tell them that it's wrong, but still let them make this bad decision. Go to Matthew chapter number six, Matthew chapter number six. You know, in your life and in my life, we're gonna be faced with a lot of decisions. Every time we read something in the scripture that we're not doing, we're faced with a decision, and it's up to us to actually of our own free will decide to obey God. And of course, we know that if we obey God, God will be pleased with us, God will bless our lives, our lives will be fruitful, we'll have peace with God, but you know what God will also allow us to do? He'll allow us to disobey him. He will. He's not gonna force you to do what's right. God's not gonna force a young person to abstain from fornication until they get married. You know that? People have the free will to decide to sin and commit fornication before they get married, but you know what? God will allow them to do that, but they will face the consequences for that. It's not like they're not going to have consequences. Matthew 6, verse 9. Have you ever thought about why it is that Jesus asks us to pray that God's will is done on earth? It's because God's will does not happen automatically. It's not like, well, whatever God wills is just going to happen. Now, of course, on a grand scale, that's true, right? I mean, God's gonna make sure that the Antichrist comes. God's gonna make sure that the tribulation happens. God's wrath. You know, the millennial reign of Christ. In a grand sense, yes, that is true, but you know what? When it comes to the individual and the choices that we make as people, we have to pray for God's will to be done on this earth because it doesn't happen automatically. It doesn't happen naturally. Otherwise, that would be a completely vain and meaningless prayer. Now, go to 1 John chapter number 2. 1 John chapter 2. Oftentimes, God tells us what's right, but He kind of knows that oftentimes people are gonna make the wrong choice. While you're turning to 1 John 2, I'll read for you Joshua 24, 15. It says, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So notice, Joshua made a choice. Joshua made a real decision saying, hey, for me and for my house, we will serve the Lord. And you know what? That is a decision that every single person needs to make. And sometimes I see people where I could tell, you know, their heart is not in things. You know, you can sometimes tell when someone is just backslidden, they're going through the motions. Maybe someone's being dragged to church by a family member. And I just want to tell that person, just make a decision. Just make a decision. I want to tell young people today that our second generation Christians that grow up in a Christian home, like you have to make Christianity your own belief. You have to decide for yourself, I will serve the Lord. Guess what? Other people can't decide that for you. Dad can say, hey, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And he can say, hey, here are the rules. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. Kids, you're going to church. Kids, you're going to read the Bible. Kids, here are your dress standards. But it comes to the point where those children grow up and maybe they move out of the house. And if they never made that decision for themselves, guess what? They're not robots. They're not going to automatically follow everything that their parents told them. It is an issue of the heart when it comes to serving God. You have to, in your heart, want to serve Him. And sometimes people say, you know what? No, I'm not going to. And you know what God says to those people? I will let you do that. But there's obviously consequences for that. 1 John 2, verse 1 says, my little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So notice, God doesn't want us to sin, but He says, but if someone sins, here's the truth. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Just like He told Samuel, hey, listen to their voice, hearken unto what they say, but protest solemnly unto them saying what they're doing is wrong. And you know, that's what God does for us in our life. Look at 1 Samuel 8. Go back to 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel 8, verse 10. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked him, a king, and he said, this will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots. So right away there's consequences to them rejecting God, right? They think, oh, we don't want to be like all the other nations. We're upset your sons aren't walking in your ways, so we're going to reject God's system. We're going to reject the Bible. Why don't you just go ahead and give us a king? He says, okay, you want to reject me? I'll give you a king, but just so you know, he's going to take all your sons and appoint them for himself. You know, it kind of makes me think of the military draft. You know, here he's just saying like, oh, you want a king? Okay, we're instituting the draft. Give us all your children. Now, that's not very fun, is it? Those of us that have children, could you imagine, you know, Uncle Sam gives you a call and says, hey, we're taking your kids. We're shipping them to Ukraine. Sorry, there's nothing you can do about it. I don't know about you. I wouldn't be happy about that. I'd be sick to my stomach about that. Oh, but they wanted a king so bad, didn't they? Verse 12, and he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over 50s and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots, and he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers. So, notice, he's taking all of their children, sons, daughters, doesn't matter. And he will take your fields. Now, he's taxing them and your vineyards and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. So, he takes all their assets, takes their children. He lays a tax upon them. Verse 16, and he will take your men servants and your maid servants and your goodliest young men and your asses and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his servants. Number four this evening is that we need to be careful what we wish for. We, as Christians, need to be careful what we wish for because if you decide that you're not going to follow the word of the Lord, you're going to despise the word of the Lord, you're going to reject what God says, you're not going to listen to him, guess what? God will let you do that. But I'm telling you, there's going to be consequences that will be way worse than anything you could have ever imagined. I mean, think about these people. They have Samuel, who's a great leader. He's righteous. He judged them all the days of his life. But because they were discontented at him, because they didn't like the lifestyle that his sons were living, they rejected the Bible, they stopped serving God, they rejected God, they asked for a king to be put over them, and then their life was wrecked. Their sons taken from them, their daughters, their assets. They're getting taxed, everything's being taken from them. Be careful what you wish for. You know, today, we live in a very rebellious time. We live in a very rebellious nation. You know, we live in a nation that does not bat an eye when a wife rebels against her husband. They think that's totally normal. I mean, this world thinks it's so normal for a wife to just mouth off at her husband. This world thinks it's completely normal for men at work to all get together and gossip and talk crap about the boss. I'm telling you, everywhere I've ever worked, except for Steadfast Baptist Church, the men got together and talked crap about the boss. We live in a day and age where it's totally normal for people to just hate police officers. Just F the police. Oh, the police can't tell me what to do because I'm an NFL player, so I'm not going to listen to what this cop says. I'm not going to obey him. We're not going to listen to authority. We live in a society that thinks it's totally normal to rebel against your pastor, to not listen to what he has to say, and is it any shock that we live in a world that condones of children disobeying their parents, rebelling against their parents, condoning of it? Go to Proverbs chapter 30. You know what? You can rebel against your boss. You can rebel against your husband. You can rebel against the police and your pastor and your parents, but you better be careful what you wish for. You better be careful that you're not going to get yourself into a way worse situation than you could have ever thought imaginable. You have all these idiots and wicked people today defending children, cursing their father, rebelling against their parents. What does the Bible say? Proverbs 30, 17. Wake up and read this verse. Pay attention right now. Verse 17. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despise it to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out. Are you reading your Bible this evening? And the young eagles shall eat it. That's pretty violent, isn't it? That's pretty gross. That's how God feels about a child that would mock his father, that would refuse to obey his mother. And if you are a Christian that believes the Bible, that has the Holy Spirit inside of you, if you can read that verse and be okay with a child rebelling against his father, you're wicked! You're evil! Get your heart right with God. Go to Proverbs 20. Proverbs 20, verse 20. Who so curseth his father, like saying, you're a mother-effer. Who so curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Yeah, you can rebel against your parents, but be careful what you wish for. Because the Bible says when you curse your father or your mother, your lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. You know what that means? You know what that means? It means God's blessing is going to be removed from your life. It means that God's hand is going to be against you. It means that you could even have a premature death. I don't want that. I wouldn't want that. But you know what? I also don't want kids cursing their parents and disobeying their parents. Go to Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6. Sometimes I'm baffled by Christian's attitudes towards things that are so clear in the Bible. They want to have a holier than thou stance about something that's not clear. About something that they don't have all the facts about. They don't have all the information about. But we do know that the Bible is very against disobeying your parents. The Bible is very against cursing your parents. And people want to stand with those people. Woe unto you. Ephesians 6 verse 1. The Bible says to honor your parents. To give them respect. To not lie about them. To not rebuke them. To not curse them. To not speak disrespectfully of them. And the Bible says that the reason you do that is so that you can live long on the earth. Meaning that if you don't honor your father or your mother, God can cause you to not live long on the earth. God can cause you to die a premature death. And here's my stance. I don't care if your mom and dad is a literal reprobate. You should not dishonor them. You know what you should do if your parents are reprobate? Just don't speak of them. Just separate from them. Move away. But where does the Bible say hate on your parents? Where does the Bible say curse your parents? It says all the opposite. Go to Exodus 21. Exodus 21. And the same people often times that don't like, you know, parents having real authority over their children. It's just a crazy coincidence that it's often the same types of people that don't like husbands having authority over their wives. Isn't that funny? Again, it's coming from a carnal mind. It's coming from someone that does not have a high view of scripture. Exodus 21 verse 17. You know what God thinks about a child that would curse his father or mother? What is a curse? You don't want to know what a curse is? It's wanting evil on someone else. It's wanting something bad to happen to them. And when a child says something like that, like, I want something bad to happen to my mom or dad, that person is cursing their father or mother, the Bible says that child would have been put to death. That's the word of God. And yet, people side with this mentality today. And it's shameful. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel 8. You have pastors today siding with this mentality. Well, I side with the word of God. 1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 18 says, And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king, which he shall have chosen you. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. Hey, be careful what you wish for. You wanted to reject the Bible. You wanted to reject the system of the judges. You wanted to ask a king unto yourself. Well, guess what? You're going to be crying out to God. God, help us! God, listen to us! He says, I'm not going to listen to you. I'm not going to hear you. You know what? It's so much easier just to do things God's way. It's so much easier in our lives when we decide not to rebel against the Bible, not to rebel against His teaching, and just follow what He says. And guess what? Our lives will just be a lot easier and more blessed and more just having the hand of the Lord on our lives. But you know, when we rebel against God, when we harden our hearts, when we are stiff necked, when we stop our ears with what the Bible says, you know, oftentimes God is saying, you know what? I'm not going to help you then. You don't want to listen? I'm not going to help you. Verse 19. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us. So he warned them, but they didn't listen. But they didn't listen. Verse 20. Go to 2nd Corinthians 6. So notice they're revealing their heart here of why they want to rebel, why they want a king, why they don't want to listen to Samuel. What is it? So that we could be like all the other nations. And my question is, why do you want to be like all the other nations? You know, you guys are God's people. You guys have the word of the Lord. You guys have the prophet Samuel. Why are you wanting to be like another nation? And you know, I have the same question towards Christians that are rebellious against the word of God, that are rebellious against their parents, wives that are rebellious against their husbands, employees that are rebellious against their bosses, and I'm just thinking, why do you want to be like the world so much? Don't you realize how much better it is being a Christian? Don't you realize how much better it is following God's commandments and having his blessings on your life? 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14, Notice God wants us to come out from among the world. He wants us to be separate. He wants us to be different. And when we do that, the Bible says that God will receive us. And isn't that what we want? We want God to be pleased with our lives. We want God to accept us. We want God's favor to be on our life. And one of the ways we do that is by separating from the world. And you know what it means to separate from the world? Yes, it means to separate from sinful attitudes or I mean activities, right? Like drinking, like fornication, like adultery. Of course, let's separate from those sinful activities. But separation also is separation from sinful attitudes. Separation is saying, like, I'm not going to think like the world thinks. I'm not going to have the attitude that the world has. You know, if the Bible tells me to obey the higher powers, I'm going to obey the higher powers. If the Bible says servants be subject to your masters and not only to the ones that are good and gentle, but even to the froward ones, then I'm just going to do what God says. Why? Because I'm trying to be separated from this world. I'm trying to be different. I'm trying to stand out in the eyes of God. I'm trying to be accepted by God. Not like these rebellious, backslidden Israelites who had a great leader in Samuel. And they said, you know what? Your kids aren't walking in the ways of God. So we're just going to reject you. We're going to reject the system of the judges. Give us a different king to reign over us. And their lives were ruined because of it. Be careful what you wish for. Go back to First Samuel eight. First Samuel chapter eight, verse 21. And Samuel heard all the words of the people and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, harken unto their voice and make them a king. Samuel said unto the men of Israel, go ye every man unto his city. You know, it's kind of a sad ending to this story where Samuel warned the people. God warned them. He told them, you know, he said, protest solemnly unto them that this is a bad idea. And Samuel, he repeated all the words that the people or that the people said to the Lord. And the Lord says, you know what? Go ahead and just harken unto their voice and make them a king. Why? Because God isn't going to force us to obey him. God isn't going to force us to serve him. Go to Proverbs chapter 13. We're almost done this evening. Proverbs chapter 13. You know, I want to ingrain into my heart and into every heart in this room. That we have to make a choice to serve Jesus Christ. That we have to make it our own belief. We have to make it our own desire. That God is not going to force this church to do right. God is not going to force me tomorrow morning to open up my Bible. He's not going to force you to pray tomorrow. We have to choose to walk in his ways. To follow his steps. Proverbs 13, 13 says this. This is the warning I want to leave you with this evening. Who so despiseth the word shall be destroyed. But he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. You know all of us have two paths in front of us at all times. The path of destruction and the path of being rewarded. And you know what? That path you can go down at any point in your life. You could have been serving God for the last ten years. Or you could have been like this generation in 1 Samuel 8. Where they're serving God all the days of Samuel. And you know at the very end you can just decide to go the path of destruction by despising the word of God. Look we need to realize that we are sinful people. Our flesh is completely corrupt. There's nothing good in our flesh. We have to daily put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to daily decide to walk in the spirit, not in the flesh. And choose, make the decision not to despise the word of the Lord. When you read something in your Bible and you say that's hard. You have a choice right then and there. Are you going to despise the word of the Lord? Or are you going to fear the commandment and be rewarded? And you know what? That path, that choice in your life. You will be presented with that choice multiple times a day, every day until you die. And so just realize that life is a battle. Life is a choice. You need to decide to fear the commandment. Look at verse 14, the law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. And you know what? Every person that rebels against God will one day find out that the way of transgressors is hard. These people, they thought, you know what? We're sick of Samuel. We're going to reject him. We're going to ask a king over them. And immediately they found out that the way of transgressors is hard. When the king is recruiting their sons to be soldiers and their daughters to be cooks and to take all their assets and to take their money through taxes. The way of transgressors is hard. It was good under Samuel. What was wrong with Samuel? Oh, his kids weren't walking in his ways. Is that what was wrong with Samuel? Well, wake up to reality. Not everyone is going to follow in their parents' footsteps. Doesn't mean Samuel is a bad person. In fact, they didn't walk in Samuel's ways proving that Samuel was a good person. Because his ways were the ways following God. His kids didn't walk in his ways. So he was walking the right path. He was doing the good thing. You know who was at fault in this situation? The people for rejecting the word of the Lord. Last verse I'll read for you is 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8 verse 7, if you want to turn there. 1 Samuel 8 verse 7, and the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people. In all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. We need to realize that God is not going to force us to do right. We have a serious choice to make every single day. But we need to be careful what we wish for. Because there is serious consequences in all of our lives if we decide to despise the word of God. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for this chapter. I just pray that you'd bless our church. That you'd help us to truly have a fear of your commandments. That you'd help us to understand the mentality that you have about things. And just pray that you'd bless this upcoming conference. This weekend it's at Fast Baptist Church. And just pray that you'd help us all to have unity in this church. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hymn number 227. We'll start there right on the first. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. Now ransom from sin and a new word be done. Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. The angels rejoicing because it is done. A child of the Father joined there with the Son. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. The Father he's vacant, his will it was done. Great price of my pardon, his own precious Son. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. All hail to the Father, all hail to the Son. All hail to the Spirit, the great, great One. Saved by the blood of the crucified one. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone. Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved. I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. Thank you for watching!