I know many of you all heard
a lot of messages out of this portion of Scripture. It's precious
to me. Now I wanted to hear it one more
time, and I hope somebody here wants to hear it one more time. 1 Samuel 2, verse 1, and Hannah
prayed. My pastor growing up always said,
if there's a therefore, you find out what it's there for. Well,
and Hannah prayed, something must have happened before that.
Hannah prayed again. She was praying again. That new
creation inside of Hannah prayed to the Lord. You can tell a lot
about a person, but what's in their heart by what comes out
of their mouth and by their prayer. Hannah and I, old Saul of Tarsus
was down there and the Lord said, go to him. And he said, I've
heard of him, Lord. I mean, I'll go. He had some
reservations, didn't he? I know this guy. He said he prayeth. And that ain't, he pretended
to pray. He acted like he prayed, or he was gonna pray sometime.
The Lord told him he prayeth. He said, all right, I'll go.
I'll go down there, Lord. Hannah prayed for the first time
for the child. She was buried. Hannah's husband
was a man named Elkanah. and he was a good husband. But
when he knew his wife, there was no life in him. It says there
in chapter one over page, chapter one, verse two, and he had two
wives, Ocana, and the name of the one was Hannah, and the name
of the other, Panina. And Panina had children, but
Hannah had no children. She was sad. She didn't know
she was barren her whole life, until she knew her husband. When
she met her husband, She said, I can't have children. There's
no life in me. I thought I could this whole
time, but I'm buried. I'm buried. For the first time,
she knew she was buried. She didn't know that before.
She knew Elkanah loved her. That was her husband. It says
down in verse four, and when the time that Elkanah offered,
he gave to Peninnah and his wife and his other sons and daughters
portions. Lord does that for the unbelieving world, don't
they? Doesn't the rain fall on the just and the unjust? But
unto Hannah, He gave a worthy portion for he loved Hannah. But the Lord showed up early.
He loved her. She was convinced of her barrenness.
And she was convinced of the love of her husband that God
gave her. She knew these two things. Lord
said in John 16, he said, when he come, the Holy Spirit comes,
he will reprove the world of sin. She knew she was barren.
She knew she had sin in her and she couldn't produce anything.
And she knew her husband was the only one able to. It was
necessary to have him to have life in her. He was righteous. Just like Paul, Hannah prayed
for life to be in her. Just like you pray. Oh, put life
in me. Put that incorruptible seed in
me. Just like I pray. Just like David and Rahab prayed,
I thought about that. That's what I'm gonna title this
message, A Common Prayer. Does that mean you can get it
at the dime store? Does that mean it's rehearsed and repeated?
No, it's common to all the Lord's people. What in the world would
I have in common with David or Solomon? These great kings, wealthy
kings. They get up on Monday morning
and they go to work a whole lot different than I do. What could
we talk about? What if I stuck in an RV with
him on a road trip for 30 days? What could we talk about? What
about Rahab? She does something different
for work on Monday morning, I do too. What could I have in common
with her? Same thing. Lord save me, I'm
a sinner. His mercy endures forever. He
gave me life, I was bare. I had to ask him for it. I come
begging. I see what I am, I see your love,
Lord, love me. Give me life. Lord save. David wrote that,
didn't he? Lord save. Peter said that he
was sinking. Lord save. And immediately, Lord
stretched forth his hand. He made us pray that. I'm dead
in trespasses and sins. I'm barren. I can't give myself
life. No one else can give me life but you. Doctrine wouldn't
do it. You get that? She knew technically
she could not have children. She knew technically she needed
her husband. She knew technically he loved her. But the doctrine
wouldn't do it. We need the product of love.
We need that end state of benevolence. We need that. Just talking about
it ain't gonna do. Well, it says in verse six, 1
Samuel 1.6, her adversary also provoked her sore. Penina picked
on her for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb.
You're barren? Hmm. And as he did so year by
year, she went up to the house of the Lord. She went with Elkanah
up to worship. Peninnah stayed back with the
children, that was the custom. So she provoked her, therefore
she wept and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband,
her Hannah, why weepest thou? And why eatest thou not? Why
is thy heart not grieved? Am I not better to thee than
ten sons? In this world, her husband looked at her and said,
we got a good thing going. We understand these things. It's
up here. I appreciate the doctrine of
election, I do. But I want eternal life with
the God of election. I appreciate perseverance of
the saints. I appreciate that. I'm thankful
the Lord keeps His saints, but I must be one of the ones that
He keeps. I want to be with the one that
keeps me. That's a person. It's not an idea, it's a person.
So Hannah prayed for life to be in her, verse 9. So Hannah
rose up after they had entered, had eaten in Shiloh and after
they had drunk. And now Eli the priest sat upon
the seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. She was in bitterness
of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. She didn't say
a sinner's prayer. Recite this. She wept and moaned. You ever prayed that? A moan?
She prayed, and wept sore, verse 11, and she vowed a vow, and
said, O Lord of hosts, a vow will indeed look on the affliction
of thine handmaid, and remember me. Have you ever heard that
before? Remember me, Lord. and not forget
thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man-child,
then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life,
and there shall no razor come upon his head. This'll be a Nazarite.
He'll never have a haircut, he'll never touch alcohol, and we'll
see to it he's yours. Do we make vows to the Lord,
make promises, if you'll do this and then? No, that's foolish. What's she saying? Lord, you
put life in me, that life is yours. Your rule and reign is
doing all things, but you've given it, and it's utterly consecrated. I'm your sheep, and I'll follow
you. How do I know? He said so. And
we believe what he says. Hey, Cofcade does it. Lord, you
said it. It's yours. Poor Eli thought
she was drunk. She was sitting there, her lips
was moving, quivering. No words came out. She prayed in her heart.
I bet chapter two is that loud. We'll get to it in a second.
And verse 15, and Hannah answered, said, no, my Lord. He said, you
drunk, what are you doing here? Quit that. She said, no, my Lord,
I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor
strong drink, but I've poured out my soul before the Lord. Don't think that I'm playing
religion here, Eli. I have my whole life. Before I knew I was barren, I
went up, I come up here every year. Something's different now. Something different now. There's
gonna be some snot involved. It's gonna be ugly. And she said,
I don't really care what you think. Don't think bad of me.
I'm talking to the Lord. I'm not going to a priest and
a man. Here's God's prophet looking at her. I'm going to him. I pull
my soul out to him. Oh, he's worthy to pull your
soul out to. Verse 17, then Eli answered and
said, go in peace. And the God of Israel grant thee
thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, let thy
handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and
did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. She left. Did she have life in her? Not
physically. There wasn't a baby in her yet,
in her womb yet, was there? She believed God. She believed
God. Was she sad anymore? Not that
day. No. Here's what the Lord said. Amen. I can go home now. Good enough for me. How about
you? Ain't no buts in that. Peace was given because the God
is the grantor of petitions. You pray to the Lord. He's the
only one who can do this. Hannah, go your way. She said, that's right. He's able. He's able. And if
he says no, amen. That's not praying to little
G God, that's praying to the almighty. I wish we used that
word more often, potentate. Not a authority, that's the authority,
the only authority. That's who she's praying to.
If you're barren, if you're lifeless, if you sin, you cannot give yourself
eternal life. You can't earn it, can't marry
it, can't do it. Pour out your soul unto the Lord that delights
to show mercy. Go to him, beg him. He is able. He said, I got thief on the cross,
Lord, remember me. Man said one time, I think he
was implying that the Lord could forget. If you cry out, Lord, remember me,
you'll know what he meant. You'll know what he meant. Verse
19 says, and they rose up early in the morning and worshiped
before the Lord and returned and came to their house to Ramah
and Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered
them. Lord, remember. Therefore, wherefore it came
to pass, when the time was come, about after Hannah had conceived,
that she bear a son, and she called his name Samuel, because
I have asked him of the Lord. She was buried. She had no life
in her. She said, Lord, put life in me. And he did. He did. She got her a son. The custom
of not going to worship, she was raising Raising children,
that's why she was going with Elkana all these years. Nina
kept staying back. Always something going on. Always
something going on. She didn't have to go to church.
She didn't have to go to Shiloh and worship once a year. Well,
now that's the custom. We've got a house full of kids.
I've got to take care of these kids. Somebody's got to take care of these kids.
If we tuck the children up there, it'd be loud and, you know, we'll
stay back. That was the custom. What a privilege
we have in our day. You go through and read those
sacrifices, where you got to prepare it, you know, and see
it for the blemishes, and you got to cut it this way and cut
it that way, and you got to get the stuff to burn for the incense.
What's the world got for us now? Show up, get an air-conditioned
car, drive to services, sit down, same good. We got it made, don't
we? It's a privilege in our days,
made it easy on us. But Hannah was going to wait to go to Shiloh
to worship until Samuel was weaned. She told her husband, says, time
to go to Shiloh. She said, I got a baby now. And I'm going to
wean this child first, and then I'm going to take him to Shiloh.
We're going to go up there and see Eli, and he's the Lord's.
He's the Lord's. He's going to stay there. Now,
Hannah didn't bring a six-month-old baby up there to give to Eli. That'd be quite a burden, wouldn't
it? So verse 24 says, and when she had weaned him, she took
him up with her, and three bullets and one ephor, epho, flower,
and a ball of wine, and brought him into the house of the Lord
in Shiloh, and the child was young. I had to go look that
up. And I thought, man, somebody
brought me a six-month-old baby. It's gonna be a help, Kevin.
No, I'm good. We're out of that phase of life.
That season's over. That'd be a burden, wouldn't
it? What is it? Well, in the Jewish tradition, there's three
weanings. Three wings for a child to be fully winged. First, the
mother gave suck, as Sarah did. And they quit breastfeeding.
Got them on some more solid stuff. Scriptures say they ate honey
and bread. Now, is there a spiritual reference
there? Yeah, there is. But literally, children ate bread
and honey, a soft-boiled egg. They weaned from their mother
and they were given to a dry nurse. The mother didn't do it
until about age seven. They taught them how to read.
We do that nowadays, don't we? You get your kids up big enough to
send them to kindergarten. You learn all you need to know in kindergarten.
Take turns, stand in line, raise your hand. Be polite, say thank
you. That's easy stuff. But they'd
go to this dry nurse till they was about seven. And then they'd
be weaned from the dry nurse. And they go with the men. You're
plenty big enough to go to work now. You're going to carry the
nails to the job site. You're going to pick up stuff
and take the trash out. You can help out around. You
watch us. You hold that end of the board while I cut. But they
go with the men, be trained and taught. And about 12 years old,
at the end of the 12th year, your man Now what Paul said,
adolescence is an invention of the last hundred years. Paul
said, I was a child. I was a child. I acted like a
child. When I was a man, I acted like a man. I thought like a
man. So they still do this. Bar Mitzvah, you ever heard of
one of those? This tradition's lingered on. They was weaned
from their mother, they was weaned off that dry nurse, and then
they was weaned from being a child. They put away childish things.
You quit talking that way, quit acting that way. You sit still
and do your job, show up on time, work hard, work as unto the Lord.
Scriptures will talk to them. That was her Sunday school. The
Lord said, you're going to have this Passover feast, and I'm
going to tell you why you're going to have the Passover feast.
You're going to go do it. And when your children look at
you and say, Daddy, why are we doing this? And you say, son,
the Lord had a people in Egypt. We're slaves. He said, you put
the blood on the door. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Somebody had to die for us to
live. He took us to a small chapel. That's why they did it. Well,
12 years age, now that it's grown, some people say, well now, Kevin,
that's just too young. You know, we've evolved. We know
a little better about child psychology now. Who else went to the temple
at 12 years old to be about his father's business? Our Lord did. Well, Samuel was special. He
was winged. Verse 25 says, and they slew a book and brought
it to the child, to Eli. And she said, oh my Lord, as
thy soul liveth, my Lord, I'm the woman that stood here. 12
years ago, I prayed to the Lord. Remember me? I asked the Lord
to put life in me. You said he would. You said if
I asked him, he'd do it. You remember me? For this child
I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked
of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. She didn't
borrow him to the Lord, that means turnover. Turnover, she
gave him wholly to the Lord, because he gave him to her. As long as he liveth, he shall
be lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there. He worshiped the Lord there.
Which one of the he's worshiped? Three men, a 12-year-old man
standing there, his daddy, and Eli. Hannah said, here, the Lord
gave this to me, it's his. He can do with it however he
wants. Serve the Lord, I want to serve the Lord. I hope someday
I can enter the ministry. Ain't that right? I get that now. I ought to serve. Which one of the he's was it?
Was it Eli that worshiped, that prayed? You bet. You bet. Oh man, sacrifice and praise
to the Lord. He got to see the Lord work.
Every year Elkanah came up and he said, how's Hannah doing?
I heard she had a baby. Lord give her what she asked
for, her life in her. How's he doing? I said, oh man, that's
something. I saw the Lord put life in somebody.
That's a privilege we have to preach, is most times people
say, I don't know what the Lord's doing. I got a good, I don't
know what he's doing either, but I can see some, I can see
the Lord working with somebody. I can see grace growing a little
bit, a little bit. We have an inkling, don't we?
Eli was happy. He got to see this work. Did
Elkanah worship his father? Would a believing man or believing
woman, would you rejoice to see your spouse believe and Christ
dwell in them? What about your loved ones? Would
you rejoice to see your children or your mom and dad or your neighbors
and friends? Would you rejoice to see Christ
dwelling in them? Oh, would you? What about Samuel? The Lord hadn't spoke to his
heart yet. He hadn't called him by name
yet, but he was raised right. I know what that's like. Have
a good head knowledge. And he was plenty old enough
to know what was going on. He obeyed, he was an obedient
child. Just like Isaac, just like our Lord. He was an obedient
child to his mother and father. Son, he knew what was going on.
Son, we're coming up here. Mom and daddy's going back, go
stay. This is your job. You're gonna be an apprentice.
You're gonna go to work. We'll try to come up once a year and
see ya. He said, that's right. He didn't
kick and fight and scream and pitch a fit, did he? He's a man,
he knew better. Hard to imagine that. I've spent
a lot of time talking about what happened, but I want to lay the
situation out. This played out in real life.
God gave Hannah a child that she asked for, and everyone rejoiced
over what the Lord did. And now he's 12, 13 years old,
and she's going to leave him with Eli. This child she asked
for, this child she breastfed, this child she taught to read,
this child she comforted whenever he was sick. She put a wet washcloth
on him and sung to him and taught him hymns and taught him what
the Lord did. She brought him to the temple,
she's gonna leave him. She's gonna leave him. She's gonna
give her first fruits. She's gonna give her only son.
Heard that before? And I'll take thy son, thine
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. You know Hannah loved that boy.
Offer him up, give him. They weren't going to kill Samuel,
but he wasn't going home with them. That room is going to be
empty. That breakfast table is going to be missing someone at
it. There's going to be no one there to carry the firewood.
There's nobody to hug on you when you're sad. She knew what
she was walking into. Now, what did she pray? I labored
all that. She asked Lord Gabe. Oh, she
loved him. And she held up her hand, brought
him to him. What did she pray? Chapter two,
verse one. And Hannah prayed and said, my
heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My heart is rejoicing. It did. It's right now. And as the Lord
enables me, it shall. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Did Hannah's heart rejoice in
Elkanah? He's a good husband. He loved her. He showed his love
to her, didn't he? He's a wise and good husband.
He said back in verse 23, he said in her, do what thou seemest
good. She said, I'm gonna stay and wean the child. He said,
do what you see right. Terry, tell you weaned him. Only
the Lord established his word. I mean, you keep your word best
you can. The Lord kept his word. And if you keep your word, it's
the Lord keeping it. Now you do what you want, honey.
Wise and patient husband, wasn't he? Did her heart rejoice in
Samuel? Oh, he's an outstanding son.
Wonderful son, raised by a good father. He's gonna be used mightily
of the Lord. She didn't rejoice to the Lord.
She was happy about those. I'm happy, I have a wonderful
wife. I love the children. I'm thankful the Lord gave them
to me. But she didn't build a house around her husband and she didn't
build a house around the child. She rejoiced. And the Lord, she
rejoiced in the gifts the Lord gave her. She rejoiced in the
one that gives all things. Do you see the difference? I'm thankful I'm free from the
law. I'm thankful I'm going to be
in glory when this body of death is consumed by worms. I'm thankful. That's wonderful. But that's
nothing if I can't be with him. The one that did it. And it wasn't just one time a
year. It wasn't just Wednesdays and Sundays. It says there in
the present tense, she rejoiceth. She rejoiceth. This is a common
prayer. If you know who He is, and you know what it took to
buy one of these centers, there ain't nothing dime store about
it, there ain't nothing run of the mill about it. But this is
common, as Jude said, our common salvation. It's the same for
me and David, Rahab, Abraham, and you, and whoever else is
coming until that last saint's called home. There ain't no difference.
Paul said that, he said, we're the circumcision. Not you are,
not you could be, not them other folks are the circumcision, we.
We are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Jesus Christ. That's who we rejoice in and
have no confidence in the flesh. We'll get that in a minute. I'll
try to hurry through. He said, rejoice in the Lord
always. I say again, rejoice. Peter said that. He said, whom
having not seen ye love, and whom through now you see him
not ye believe in him. You know the Lord. You love the
Lord. I haven't seen Him with my eyes
yet, but I love Him. I believe Him. And you rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, the salvation of your souls. Oh, we rejoice in
Him. This is a hard and heavy trial
for Hannah, it is. But God was one pleased to send
it. He's given me eternal life, and I continually rejoice in
Him, is what she's saying. It says in verse one, Hannah
prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn, that's
my strength. My strength is exalted in the
Lord. How did you have the strength
in your hand, Hannah, to hand over that 12-year-old child you
love so much? How did you make it through such
a hardship as a believer? How did you do that? Well, my
faith got me through. I've prayed strong. My faith is His faithfulness.
The Lord did it. My strength is His strength.
His strength is just put on display in all my weakness. How was you
able to do that, Kevin? It ain't me. I'll tell you that
right now. and you cause it at home, you know it ain't you, it's the
Lord. Lord's my strength. She prayed, said, my heart rejoices
in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged
over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. Openina was
Ocana's other wife. And as soon as Hannah realized
she was buried, boy, she started in on it. I can't have no children. Now
what happens? I'm a sinner. Wait a second. I mean, I ain't
as good as I thought I was all these years. What's your coworkers
say? I'm gonna come on you. There's
some good in you. You know what the world tells
us? Pick yourself up by the bootstraps. If the Lord convicts someone
and they're seeing this cursed world will take notice and they're
gonna have something to say about it. to have something to say
about it. And a brand new believer won't
have the words to address it. She didn't at that time, all
those years of going up there, Hannah just took it. She didn't
know what to say. The Lord's gonna teach her. The
Lord's gonna teach her what to say. Our mouths are enlarged
over our enemies. We have something more important
to say than they do. Why? Because I rejoiced in thy
salvation. And I got saved, it's who saved
me. Lord said, Kevin, you're a fool. Well, I'm his fool. You can call me whatever you
want to. I don't care. She finally had a mouth enlarged over her
enemies. We rejoice in Christ, our Lord, who is our salvation,
who is the giver of life. And Hannah was the Lord's. She
had a work of grace done in her heart. But how much did these
Old Testament believers really know? That's a, seminaries are
just turning themselves over, crazy trying to figure these
things out. Well, yeah, but how much do they really know? Like when
Isaac was going up that hill, did he really know that? Yeah,
he did. Ain't no more than we think they
do. Boy, if we could know what she knew. What did she really
enter into? What was Hannah's prayer that
was common to all believers? Look here in verse two. There
is none holy as the Lord. Way back then. whenever the Lord
slew that lamb to cover Adam and Eve. And hear him at hand
and pray. And right now in our day, what's
the Lord's chief attribute? He's holy. Holy. We have a word that means something,
but we can't enter into that. We can't enter into that. He
is holy. That's what that prophet Isaiah
saw, wasn't it? When he saw the Lord high and lifted up those
seraphims, they cried out, holy, holy, holy, the Lord of hosts,
and the whole earth's full of his glory. He's holy, he's sovereign
over all things. But he's not an evil dictator. He's holy, what hope we have
in him. Hannah said, there is none holy
as the Lord. Do you say that? Lord, You're
holy. You're perfect. Your ways are
true and right. Because there's none beside Him.
There's no one like our God. I remember old Maurice Montgomery
said, our God is God. And I said, amen. Amen. There's none beside him. Nebuchadnezzar
knew that. He said, I bless the most high
and I praise and honor him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will. and the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand, and none can say to
him, what doest thou? There ain't nobody next to him.
Her and Nebuchadnezzar's on the same page. There's none holy
as the Lord, for there's none beside thee, neither is there
any rock like our God. Rock, what's she talking about?
Same thing we talked about. I've been set on the rock, Christ
the solid rock, and all other ground is sinking sand. Lord,
you've done that. You've commanded salvation to
put me in Christ. He's my rock. Moses asked the
Lord, show me your glory. The Lord said, I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. And when I was a young apologetic,
because I wouldn't apologize for nothing, I had all my doctrines
in row, I was a strong little Calvinist, but the Lord hadn't
saved me yet. I'd say, look here, see, Lord be gracious to me,
be gracious. Off I just kept reading. And the Lord said, thou
canst not see my face, for there's no man shall see me living holy.
Moses, you know that. He's holy. So what's the solution? If I'm buried, and he's holy,
how can I see his glory? And the Lord said, behold, there's
a place by me, satan's right hand, and thou shalt stand upon
a rock. We'll put you on Christ. You'll
see my glory. I'm gonna save you. I'm gonna
put you on Christ. And it shall come to pass when my glory passes
by thee, I'll put thee in the cleft of the rock and I'll seal
you there. I'll cover you with my hand. That's holy God saved the people,
make them just like Christ by putting them in him, making them
one with him. What's our response to his ability? That's what our man's responsibility.
It's our response to his ability. What the Lord's done, verse three.
Talk no more, so exceeding proudly. She just praise the Lord, and
then Hannah's saying out loud to herself, you pray this? Lord, you're holy. Oh, thank
you for putting me in Christ. Shut my mouth. Make me stop talking. Talk no more so exceeding proudly.
Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth. Oh, shut me up. For the Lord God is a God of
knowledge, and by Him, actions are weighed. That doesn't mean
He just weighs the good and the bad. He's got a big set of scales.
No, what's the actions? That comes from the heart. God
looks on the heart. To the unbeliever, that ought
to be the scariest thing I can say to him. I don't care what
you do, the poor you fed. God looks on your heart. And
to the believer, that ought to be a comfort. Peter, do you love
me? What do we do? Bow to him then.
Lord, you know, you know all things, you know I love you.
You put that love in me. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth. That comes from the word arrogate. And I didn't have my glasses
on, I thought it said ariate. And I thought, well, that's real
good. It just puffed up air, ain't it? Like you do at work. There
you are. Arrogate means to take claim of something you didn't
earn. What do I have the Lord didn't give me? I can't claim
nothing, nothing. Not physical life, not spiritual
life, not height, nothing. Not my spots. Lord, shut my mouth. Shut me
up in sin. Make me bow to Christ. Verse
four says, the bones of the mighty men are broken, and they that
stumble are girded with strength. All those that think they're
strong Oh, Lord, You're going to break them. And those that
stumble, those that are meek and lowly, broken and contrite
heart, You're going to strengthen them. They that were full have
hired out themselves for bread. Those that had everything in
this life, that they would make themselves slaves to have Christ
the bread of life. Oh, that we could have Him. That
ain't going to work neither. And they that were hungry ceased.
Are you hungry? I showed up hungry Friday evening.
Boy, I was fed. Physically and spiritually, I've
ate all weekend. My hunger ceased. I saw Him. Well, if somebody's thirsty or
hungry, I've got something for you. He'll cease the hunger. So that the barren hath born
seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. Those
barren have children in perfection. And then she says in his providence,
the Lord killeth and maketh alive. That life that was in me, the
Lord did that. And the Lord killed. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. Oh, she knew the source of all
things, the primary cause of all things. And I need to remember
that on a daily basis. Cancer's never killed anybody.
Diabetes has never killed anybody. A tree's never fell on anybody
and killed them, and that was the primary source. God killeth
and God maketh alive. That's the Lord's doing. I ought,
out of a debt of gratitude, that's what the word means, I ought
to walk through this world the happiest, most gentle-go-lucky
guy. Oh, okay, it's raining, good.
I broke my leg, good. I got a headache, thank you,
Lord. You gave me a headache this morning, it's a thumping. It's wonderful. I ought to, right?
The Lord gave it. He gives, he takes away. Job
knew that. Is that common? Do you know that? Oh, we do.
How soon we forget, don't we? How soon we forget. The Lord
killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down the grave and
he bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth
low and lifteth up. He raiseth the poor up out of
the dust. Lord, you've lifted me out of
this miry pit. And lifted up the beggar from
the dunghill. and set them among princes. I was poor, I had nothing
to bring. I was a beggar, I was the one
in need. God didn't need something from me, didn't want something
from me, I was the needy one. He wasn't on trial, I was. I
was poor, I was the beggar. And he's lifted me up and set
me among princes. You are made unto your God kings
and priests. How do you explain that? Is it so? You bet it is. You
bet, it's so. Do I understand it? Nope. I'm
gonna be without sin, made like my Lord, and see Him face to
face, and He's gonna serve me at that wedding. Can you enter
into these things? People talk about swimming in
deep waters and stuff. The Almighty Godhead, the Lord
of hosts, became a man in my place. You got a good handle
on that? If somebody says they do, I'd watch out for it. Oh,
to make them inherit the throne of glory, joint heirs with Christ
for the pillars of the earth, the Lord's, all the fullness
thereof, David said, and he hath set the world upon him. He controls
all of this. Who's going to keep it? Now,
the Lord's gave you everything. He saved you. He's brought you
to the doctrines, always plural of grace, right? Now you got
to keep it. You got to make yourself holy. What? I couldn't do nothing up to this
point. What makes me think I can do something now? Who's gonna
keep us? How sure is this? Is this just
for now, warm, fuzzy? Verse nine. He will keep the
feet of his saints. My sheep, I know them. They hear
my voice and they will follow me. How am I gonna follow the
voice? I want to do His will. I don't want to bring reproach
on the gospel. I want to honor the Lord. How?
Where do I step? He will keep the feet of His
saints. Thank you, Lord. And the wicked
shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man
prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken into pieces.
Out of heaven shall He thunder upon them, The Lord shall judge
the end of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his
king, and shall exalt the horn of his anointed. What a prayer. The Lord tells us that when that
final judgment comes, there's loved ones I have now that I've
bleed for, they've had my organs. And if he's pleased not to save
him, in that final day of judgment, I'll sit there and say, that's
right, you are holy, Lord, amen. Everything you've done is perfect.
I can't even do that yet. If so, we'll be made like Him. We'll judge righteous judgment,
won't we? Oh, what a prayer. And Arcana,
verse 11, went to Ramah to his house, and the child did minister
unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Samuel was off serving
the Lord. He was there. She praised the
Lord and left her child. And he was there working. And
Hannah would come up every year to worship. She'd come to Shiloh,
she'd knit him a coat. He's on her mind, she hadn't
forgot him, had she? Ah, she loved him. She'd come
up, worship the Lord, visit her son. We don't know how long she
lived, but she likely got to see her son serve the Lord that
she loved. What a privilege that would be. God's prophet. Maybe she heard
about it whenever he had to go anoint King David. Look what
the Lord did. Look what the Lord did. That's
what she'd say. That prayer didn't change. Lord, you're holy. Your
works are wonderful. People have told me in business
and personal things where, Kevin, you just, you give up so much
to go to church. You ain't got to do that. You
know, you can still, you can still do this and that and have
all these things and still, still go to church. What the Lord has
increased me, they can't enter into. I've experienced that this
weekend. Peter said, didn't we give all
for you, Lord? And he said, verily I say unto
you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, she left Samuel,
or lands, for my sake and the gospel's sake, because they're
knitted. We're one with them. But he shall
receive an hundredfold now in this time, Houses and brethren
and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and
in the world to come. I know that's so. I told the
folks here in San Diego, I said, y'all know I own a couple of
houses in Tennessee? Did you know you own a house on Lawson
Valley Road out in Humboldt, California? You do, it's yours,
do what you want to do with it. I got brothers and sisters here.
Just some don't talk to me in the world. Hundreds. We drove
from New Jersey to San Diego. I paid for one motel. It was
out in the middle of the desert. We wanted to go see something.
I had a place to stay the whole way. I was fed the whole way,
wasn't I? So she gave Samuel to the Lord. The Lord provided his son for
us. How shall he not freely with him give us all things? Look
down at verse 21. The Lord honored this, and he'll
leave her out in the cold. 1 Samuel 2.21, and the Lord visited
Hannah so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before
the Lord. She had sons and daughters there at home, and she got to
watch Samuel grow in grace and in knowledge and understanding,
mature in the Lord, and be a believer just like she was. Oh, what a
blessing. Now, what did she pray? All that
happened. What do you reckon she prayed
at the end of that? She got these other children here, same as
God's prophet. He brought a great message last
week. Blessed by Him. She's going to
thank Him, isn't she? We thank Him. All that men would
thank the Lord for goodness. He's good at it, man. Isn't that
wonderful? We got it made. Better than we
know. And I want to tell people, not
from some high haughty look at me. I'm the lowest note. You're barren. You're dying. You'll spend eternity that way.
Come to the one. Pour out your soul to the one
that can give life. And you'll thank Him. You'll
thank Him. Amen. Thank you.