opportunity to gather together tonight and sing praises and to listen to some
preaching Lord thank you for all the souls that were saved and I pray that
you just give us a ten of years to hear the message that you played on brother
Dylan's heart in Jesus name I pray amen for our next song if you would turn in
your hymnals to him number 321 where he leads I'll follow 321 in number 321
start there right on the first we'll bring you a bulletin memory verse of
the week on the front there Hebrews chapter 6 verse 3 on the inside on the
left there you'll see our service times listed Sunday morning at 1030 Sunday
evening 430 and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock p.m. all of our
soulening times are listed there with the respective leaders all those meet
here at the church building we have our updated nursing home ministry schedule
listed there if you're participating in that ministry make sure to pay
attention to that also on the bottom we have our year-to-date stats make sure
just whenever you go soul winning you're reporting those numbers to the
soul winning leader and leaders please text or email me the information listed
there on the right make sure you're continuing to pray for mrs. Reed this
Sunday it's finally coming up this week is the fifth Sunday fellowship family
favorite dish looking forward to seeing what everyone's gonna bring to this it's
gonna be a great time a fellowship and the evening service sounds like it's
gonna be a lot of fun make sure you got your favorite him in mine we're gonna
have a crowd pick for the evening service as far as songs go so make sure
you're thinking about that also the same day is going to be the pastoral
ordination of brother Salvador Alvarez so I'm sure he'd love to hear from you
guys some texts and encouragement let him know you're praying for him and
excited for him it's gonna be a great great weekend for pure words Baptist
church very excited September 7th which is not this upcoming Saturday but it's
the Saturday after we're gonna be starting a Saturday soul winning rally
and this is going to be a weekly event and something I really hope people can
participate in it's going to be kind of like a normal soul winning time except
this first time that we have the event I'm gonna cater breakfast and coffee so
make sure you come bring your family there'll be lots of good food lots of
coffee but basically instead of just showing up at 11 o'clock and getting
maps and leaving you know we're gonna start the soul winning time at 10 o'clock
we're gonna have a song related to soul winning or salvation or heaven or
something like that and one of the men of the church is going to preach a 10
minute soul winning challenge for everyone and so that's gonna be a good
opportunity for people to get some time preaching and hopefully every get
everyone encouraged filled with the spirit before we go out soul winning
after that then we'll hand out maps and go out so hope you'll join us for this
the Saturday soul winning rally again that's September 1st that's gonna be or
sorry September 7th is our first one normally it's gonna be at 10 a.m. but if
you look at the announcement there just because we're gonna be catering food and
coffee for this first event the food and coffee will start at 915 the service
will start at service the soul winning rally will start at 10 and then going
forward every single Saturday that will be at 10 o'clock so I did send an email
last night to some of the men inviting them to preach and be a part of this
ministry so make sure you check your email and respond to that if you are
interested October 4th through the 6th is the Heritage of the Lord Conference in
Cedar Hill and November 6th through the 10th is the Faithful Word Baptist Church
Missions Conference in Tempe Arizona so we have for announcements this evening
let's go ahead and go to our third song all right if you would grab a white
handout and turn the psalm chapter 126 psalm 126 in the white handout psalm 126
we'll start right on the very first verse or only verse when the Lord turned
again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream done great things for
tears shall reap said they first Samuel chapter number three first Samuel
chapter number three good evening first Samuel chapter number three first Samuel
three the Bible reads and the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before
Eli and the word of the Lord was precious in those days there was no open vision
and it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his place and his
eyes began to wax dim that he could not see and heir the lamp of God went out and
and in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was and Samuel was laid down
to sleep that the Lord called Samuel and said and he answered here am I and he
ran to Eli and said here am I for thou callest me and he said I called not lie
down again and he went and lay down and the Lord called yet again Samuel and
Samuel rose and went to Eli and said here am I for thou didst call me and he
answered I called not my son lie down again now Samuel now Samuel did not yet
know the Lord neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him and the Lord
called Samuel again the third time and he arose and went to Eli and said here am
I for thou didst call me and Eli perceived that the Lord had called the
child therefore Eli said unto Samuel go lie down and it shall be if he called thee
that thou shalt say speak Lord for thy servant heareth so Samuel went and lay
down in his place and the Lord came and stood and called as at other times
Samuel Samuel then Samuel answered speak for thy servant heareth and the Lord
said unto sent and the Lord said to Samuel behold I will do a thing in Israel at
which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle in that day I
will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house
when I begin I will also make an end for I have told him that I will judge his
house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his sons made
themselves vile and he restrained them not and therefore I have sworn unto the
house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice
nor of offering nor offering forever and Samuel lay until the morning and he and
opened the doors of the house of the Lord and Samuel feared to show Eli the
vision then Eli called Samuel and said Samuel my son and he answered here am I
and he said what is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee I pray thee
hide it not from me God do so to thee and more also if thou hide anything from
me of all the things that he said unto thee and Samuel told him every wit and
hid nothing from him and he said it is the Lord let him do what seemeth him
good and Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and did none of his words fall
to the ground and all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was
established to be a prophet of the Lord and the Lord appeared again in Shiloh
for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel and Shiloh by the word of the Lord. Amen.
Alright 1st Samuel chapter number 3 of course last week we learned about Hapni
and Phineas and their grievous sins, the fact that they were perverting the house
of the Lord causing people to hate the service of God and lying carnally with
the women at the congregation of the house of the Lord and God promises to
kill his sons and replace his house with someone else and that brings us to verse
one of first Samuel 3 the Bible says this and the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli and again in this chapter we're already seeing this
repeated theme that God is wanting to point out to us that you know serving
God is also for children it's not just something that adults do it's not just
something that old people do but rather this is something that even children
can get involved in and I think a lot of churches you know purposely exclude
children purposely like putting them in children's church where they're just
playing around playing games playing video games I went to a church as a
child one of the handfuls of times that I ever went to church and it was
literally just you walk in and there's just Xbox 360s everywhere and just the
the walls covered with TVs and that was church right but you know sometimes
churches may they may not purposely exclude the children in that sense but
sometimes people just forget about kids and forget about the fact that the
service includes them too and that they're here to learn the word of God as
well and so I would just encourage all the parents in here to teach your
children to take church seriously and you know your children they can pay
attention in church once they reach a certain age obviously I'm not talking
about babies and toddlers here but once your kids grow up to a certain age level
you know church should not just be a time where they sit around playing with
toys or scroll on their tablet or something like that they should actually
be paying attention to the preaching why because we see here that Samuel was a
child yet he ministered unto the Lord you know what are some other ways that
children can minister unto the Lord well you know I've seen countless children
especially at St. Fast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill where there's a ton tons of
kids at that church over a hundred children and I've seen many of them do
complete chapters of the Bible by memory and honestly children might be able to
do this better than adults they got those fresh young minds and so this is
one of the areas that your children can serve God is just by doing that Bible
memory verse this week my wife was teaching our kids John 316 and even
though they're little they're getting John 316 so you don't want to just
forget about the opportunities that your kids have to serve God as well you know
something else don't be afraid to take out your children's soul winning that's
a great opportunity for them to serve the Lord and to hear the gospel over and
over and over again so that when they get older hopefully they will call upon
the name of the Lord themselves and trust in Him you know as as they get
older and they could read make sure that they're being taught to read the Bible
you know what I'm just saying here is don't forget about your children's
spiritual walk with God it's important for them and when you look at a great
man of God like Samuel it didn't just start when he was an adult it started as
a little child ministering unto the Lord let's keep reading in verse 1 notice
what it says it says in the word of the Lord was precious in those days there
was no open vision and what that word precious is referring to is simply that
the word of the Lord is hard to find during that time something that's
precious is of extreme value and it's hard to find you know you're not gonna
just be walking down the streets of downtown OKC and find just pure diamonds
laying around why because diamonds are precious they're rare and what the Bible
saying is that at this time the word of the Lord was rare and there was no open
vision and while thankfully you know the word of the Lord is not rare in our
society I mean we have King James Bibles everywhere if someone wants to have a
Bible they can find it yet I think there's a modern-day parallel with this
in the sense of it's rare to find a good church it's rare to find a church that
has a good vision where they have the pure precious Word of God and there's
just an open vision in that church and you want to know how I know that it's
rare is that people still move from all over the world and from all over America
to go to a good church and when I went and visited Germany this year there's
people driving from other countries on a monthly basis just to go to a good
church why because in a lot of places in this world the Word of God is precious
meaning it's rare and even in the United States of America we're thank God you
definitely can find a church that's saved you definitely can find a church
that has the right gospel but that doesn't mean that just on every street
corner in America you could find an absolutely great church to go to go to
Psalm 119 I'll read so I'll read Ephesians 1 18 the Bible says this the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened so the Bible explains that
when you're saved your eyes are now enlightened and here in first Samuel the
Bible saying that there was no open vision now the first step in finding a
good church is just going to a church where their eyes are enlightened and a
lot of people haven't even gotten to that step in America yet why because a lot
of people are going to places like the Catholic Church where news flash the
clergy of the Catholic Church their eyes are not enlightened they may have a
Bible or something that calls itself a Bible but any person that gets up and
teaches that you get to heaven by doing good works that you get to heaven by
repenting of your sins or by following a list of rules or by confessing to a
priest that's a person whose eyes are not enlightened that's a person who's
still in darkness and the people that follow those people are still in
darkness as well you know not only is it just hard to find a church oftentimes
in many places in this world that's saved on top of that it's even harder to
find a church that actually has the word of God and is using it well look at
Psalm 119 105 the Bible says this thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light
unto my path so notice remember in first Samuel saying that there was no open
vision you know in one sense once you're saved your eyes are enlightened and you
have vision and you can see but beyond that there's vision when it comes to
your daily life and your daily walk with God the Bible says that thy word is a
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path meaning that if you're not letting
the Bible guide your decisions if you're not letting the Bible shape your
opinions and teach you what the right way is you are in darkness you are in a
sense not having any open vision so not only is it important to find a church
where they're enlightened when it comes to salvation but also it's one that uses
the word of God as the light to our feet as the lamp to our path or lamp to our
feet light to our path and here's the thing the Bible says that thy word is
these things makes me think of the churches that are using false Bible
versions you know they have a defective light they're holding a flashlight that
has no batteries in it and it's worthless at that point you know it's
it's so important to have the pure words of God the unadulterated perfect King
James Bible look at verse 2 says and it came to pass at that time when Eli was
laid down in his place and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see
so notice it was just talking about how there was no open vision and then we get
this picture of Eli he's an old man and what is he doing in his old age he's
just laying around he's not doing much and what is his eyes what happens to his
eyes his eyes begin to wax dim that he could not see and what I think that
this is a picture of this is a picture of someone that does not read the Bible
the Bible saying that the word of the Lord was precious in those days it was
rare there was no open vision and then we get this picture of Eli what is he
doing he's laying down he's not doing anything he's not being a spiritual
leader he's not accomplishing anything for for God and what's happening his
vision is going dim he's going blind and this is what happens to the Christian
that stops reading the Bible you know there's no such thing as a Christian
that doesn't read the Bible but just serves God faithfully their whole life
and they're just really shaking up the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ
and they're just preaching great sermons and they're leading great churches that
doesn't exist and you know what happens when a Christian stops reading the Word
of God when they get back slidden when they no longer make Bible reading a
priority in their life you know what happens is that their eyes start to wax
dim and they start to become blind oftentimes they're blinded by pride
because one of the reasons that you're supposed to read the Bible is that your
heart is not going to be lifted up above your brethren and when someone isn't
doing that you know what happens their heart is lifted up above their brethren
and I've seen it so many times where someone stops reading the Bible and you
just see a change in that person you you see the pride in their life and you see
that they're no longer making wise decisions they're often saying really
foolish things you could tell that their opinions are being drawn from men from
the world and not from the Word of God and something just changes in them and
what is it that changed is that they stopped reading the Word of God and you
know Eli here is a picture of a lot of old independent fundamental Baptist
churches where they're kind of just lying around they're just getting old
and they're just waiting to die you know old age does not mean that you have to
stop serving God you know I really wish that these old independent fundamental
Baptist churches even though that some of the preachers may be old even though
that their congregations are full of boomers pretty much and that's it that
doesn't mean that they still can't preach good sermons but what would it
take it would take them actually to realize that the Word of God is precious
and in this instance I mean of high value and read it and then your eyes
won't go dim then your church wouldn't be so blind to a lot of heresies that
are out there like repent of your sins creeping in to many old independent
fundamental Baptist churches or you know the false doctrine of Zionism wouldn't
be creeping in if your eyes were opened if you were spending time in the Word of
God you know the pre-trib rapture wouldn't be creeping in you know I saw a
sermon this week by this old IFB pastor where the whole subject of the sermon
was what happens to children in the pre-trib rapture like you know you're
saved and your parents just get raptured up and your kids are left behind it's
just it just sounds like a funny movie or a funny book you know you could write
about like a kid's adventures after his parents just got raptured or whatever
man maybe that's what the wrath of God is the world being run by children though
but here's the thing like why are why are we even talking about what would
happen during the pre-trib when there is no pre-trib it's like man you're just
you're not spending enough time in the Word of God you're blind in this area
and now you're taking a whole Sunday to talk about what kids should do when
their parents are raptured come on Eli you need to get off your butt and get to
work this could happen to a person this could happen to a church this could
happen to a nation and if you look at the United States of America you know
when our nation was started we were a nation that was truly enlightened we
were enlightened and it was just coming off of the Enlightenment period and you
know really what the real Enlightenment was was believing the Word of God and
applying it and you know I'm gonna preach a whole sermon on this soon but
if you read the original state constitutions of the original 13
colonies it was explicitly stated that our laws are based off the Bible that in
order to hold an office of any authority in the government of your state you had
to make an oath or affirmation that you believe that the Old and New Testaments
were inspired by God and that you believe in the Holy Trinity and that you believe
in the deity of Jesus Christ you know in many states even to have a business
license you would have to make the exact same affirmation they didn't allow any
type of pastors or clergy to be in the government and that wasn't because they
despise pastors they actually explicitly said hey their work is way too
important to be distracted with the civil government and so most of the
states banned pastors from this what am I saying I'm saying that our country
when it was started had its eyes open they had clear vision our nation had a
clear vision why because we believed the Bible as a people and now you look at
our country and it's just like we are blind our whole country is blind and our
country is represented by an old man who's going deaf and blind and mute all
at the same time and he can't walk and he can't control his bowel movements and
it's just like this is a picture of America it's just you're getting old
you're doing nothing and you're just ready to die and what would it take to
reverse this it takes the Word of God it takes reading the Bible now go to verse
three it says an heir that word heir just means before and before the lamp of
God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was and Samuel was
laid down to sleep the Bible saying that Eli was doing this before the lamp of
God went out in the temple of the Lord and that will be brought up later on in
this book but this idea of the lamp going out of the temple go to Exodus
chapter 27 Exodus 27 why is this a significant event that the Bible
mentions look at verse number 20 of Exodus 27 it says and thou shalt command
the children of Israel that they bring the pure oil olive beaten for the light
to cause the lamp to burn notice always in the tabernacle of the congregation
without the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall order
it from evening to morning before the Lord it shall be a statute forever unto
their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel so notice in the
temple as first Samuel puts it or in the tabernacle as ex exodus 27 puts it
what's supposed to happen you're supposed to be having this lamp that's
lit with oil that is on all the time it's never supposed to be extinguished
why is that well obviously because this is a picture of the Holy Ghost oil is
often a picture of the Holy Ghost fire is often a picture of the Holy Ghost and
if you read the New Testament we know that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of
God until the day of redemption redemption picturing the fact that Christ
is never gonna leave us or forsake us that we're always gonna be saved that we
can never lose our salvation and so when the lamp goes out it kind of ruins that
picture just kind of like how marriage is a picture of salvation but when
someone gets divorced it kind of ruins that picture doesn't it because guess
what God's not gonna put you away God's not gonna make you lose your salvation
and in the same way it should be till death do us part yet people break that
well this lamp was supposed to be a picture of salvation yet later on we
will see that this light does go out also I think that this lamp is also just
a visual representation of God's blessing on them just seeing this lamp
burning it's a visual reminder to the people of the God that they serve and
it's just something they could see and just remember hey this is a commandment
that God gave us why are we doing this why are we making sure this stays well
because God told us to and it's just a reminder of God now go to Revelation
chapter 2 Revelation chapter 2 so let's think about this in the context of that
second picture of God's blessing so in Revelation 2 Jesus is talking to the
church at Ephesus look what he says in verse 5 he says remember therefore from
whence thou art thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I
will come unto thee quickly and will notice remove thy candlestick out of his
place except thou repent you know if you read Revelation 1 Jesus explains that
the candlestick represents the church and how Jesus has the church in his hand
and he could remove that candlestick from a church whenever he wants to and
he's threatening to do that here to the church at Ephesus because they left
their first works they left off soul-winning I believe they left off
preaching the gospel and so God's basically Jesus is basically warning
them hey I'm gonna remove my blessing from you I'm gonna remove my stamp of
approval of you being a church if you don't repent what's so funny about that
is think about this this is the church of Ephesus this church hasn't been
around for that long and it just goes to show that us as human beings we're prone
to wander we're prone to stray so quickly you know God wants this lamp in
the tabernacle to always be lit but how long really did that last for not very
long did it and think about the old covenant even you know God's giving us
God's giving people the commandments to follow but how long did it take for man
to sin not very long at all it's in Genesis okay just immediately basically
right and so just all of this is make you think about how quickly man strays
from God because the thing about it Paul started that church and yet here we are
in Revelation and he's already threatening to remove it we see that
happen today we see you know churches like First Baptist Church of Hammon
Indiana where there was a great pastor pastor Jack Hiles and then what happens
his pervert son-in-law takes over and you know ends up going to prison for all
of his perversion and the church just isn't the same as it used to be go to
Titus chapter number three Titus chapter number three so what do we have to do
about this fact that we're just prone to wander prone to stray Titus 3 8 says
this this is a faithful saying and these things I will that that would firm
constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good
works these things are good and profitable unto men so what are we
supposed to do you know we know our human nature we know that we're prone to
sin we're prone to quit we're prone to wander from God so what do we have to do
we have to affirm these things that the Bible says constantly you know that
means that means coming to church and you'll probably hear several several
times in the course of a year about salvation and you'll hear several
several times about baptism and you'll heal here just countless amounts of
times about the importance of soul winning and the importance of abstaining
from fornication and the importance of not drinking alcohol and the importance
of modesty and of women wearing dresses and of men working hard and providing
for their families why because we need to affirm these things constantly all of
us need it constantly that we why it may maintain good works because you know
just like anything in this world it needs maintenance you can't just let a
car sit for forever and expect to start it up nice and good in 20 years you
can't expect Eli to be sitting down doing nothing letting his eyes wax dim
and then all of a sudden he's gonna change things around on a dime no what
does it take again it takes reading the Bible to get vision to affirm constantly
the things that are written in the Word of God to maintain good works let's go
back to 1st Samuel 3 verse number 4 verse number 4 says that the Lord called
Samuel and remember he's a child and he answered here am I and he ran unto Eli
and said here am I for thou callest me and he said I called not lie down again
and he went and lay down so notice God is the one that's calling Samuel but
Samuel's a child and when he hears the voice of God calling him what does he do
he actually ends up going to Eli but notice how he does it he runs and I
think that this is an awesome example example of a very obedient child this
child he just hears his voice park into by someone and what does he do he thinks
that it's Eli he just runs to him you know children that's a great example to
follow that when your parents tell you to do something that you do it quickly
you don't sit there and drag your feet you don't sit there and whine and
complain and ask why you know Samuel just thought that Eli was calling him
and he just ran to go see what he wanted and you know that is an attitude that you
should learn as a child that you should carry over to the workplace that bosses
shouldn't have to beat their employees over the head with a stick to get them
to do anything you know nothing makes me cringe more than seeing employees drag
their feet be disrespectful to the boss ask questions why I mean I've already
seen it this week and it just blows my mind that people are like this that
people will mouth off to their boss for their boss asking them the most simple
easy things in the world it's not like they're being asked to run NASA or
something it's like do this simple task it's like why is that in our contract is
that in my job description what is wrong with you or hey you know work starts at
6 a.m. the boss comes and talks to you at 559 come back to me in 60 seconds
I've seen this situation happen it's like this is a terrible example and it
started as that person being a child and not being taught this principle that
when authority tells you to do something you just do it quickly you know there
wouldn't be as many police shootings in this world if people weren't fighting
the cops too because we're I never just see videos of cops just walking up to
random black people and just shooting them in the head no usually it's people
fighting back punching them going for their weapon not listening to them
trying to put someone else in danger and then they get shot by the police but you
know it's it's funny how I've had tons of experience with police officers
because of our protests I've had more interaction with police officers than
probably any non-police officer that I know and never one time have I ever been
hit or maced or tased or shot why because I'm not a retard that's really
why you know and I've been pulled over before and I've never had my you know
body dragged out of the vehicle and shot no it's just just do what they say just
be polite look at a actually stay there let me read for you Galatians 418 it
says but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not
only when I'm present with you you know Samuel's attitude here makes me think of
zeal he hears something he hears what he thinks is Eli and he just runs to do it
and us when we hear the voice of the Lord when we read something in the Bible
you know we should do we should just run to do it you know most people and God
bless people I want people like this here I'm happy that these people come to
church I'm happy that these people get saved but most people what they do they
get saved and years go by and they maybe have changed one or two things in their
life maybe they come to church every once in a while you know maybe they pick
open their Bible every once in a while but ideally what would happen if someone
gets saved and they learn something that God wants them to do and they just run
and do it and then they come to church the next time and they hear the voice of
the Lord and they learn something else that they should do and they just run
and do it immediately not just dragging your feet and saying like oh yeah
someday maybe 10 years from now I'll become a soul winner no they just they
hear one sermon on soul winning or they read the Bible and they just do it you
know those people are few and far between that's why there's not very many
people like Samuel in this world but what made Samuel special what made him
different if you want to be special if you want to stick out be like this where
you hear something and you just run and do it you have zeal look at verse 6 for
Samuel 3 says in the Lord called yet again Samuel and Samuel arose and went
to Eli and said here my for thou didst call me and he answered I called not my
son lie down again so once again he thinks that it's Eli look at verse 7
now Samuel did not yet know the Lord neither was the word of the Lord yet
revealed unto him now what this is saying I think is the fact that he's not
yet saved and it's kind of interesting that it says the word of the Lord was
not yet revealed unto him yet the word of the Lord was just calling him multiple
times but I think what it's what it's saying by revealed was that his mind had
not yet understood that this was the word of the Lord and this is just an
obvious fact that you know if you're a soul winner that oftentimes people need
to hear the gospel multiple times before they get saved and so you don't need to
worry or freak out that you gave someone the gospel one time and they didn't
understand it you know don't just write that person off as a reprobate
necessarily sometimes people need to hear it over and over and over and over
again you know I know this one lady that told me that pastor Menez gave her the
gospel like seven times before she ever got saved and so hey I'm glad pastor
Menez didn't give up on that girl you know Bible says that an heretic after
the first and second admonition reject now that's a heretic that's someone
that's actively opposing you trying to teach something different than what the
Bible says but when someone is just ignorant or when someone's just confused
when someone's just confusing Eli for the Lord here you know they need to hear the
word of God more times and it needs to be revealed to them more times first
Corinthians 3 6 I'll read for you says I have planted Paulos watered but God gave
the increase you know there's gonna be people in your life where you knock on
their door and you're the first person they've ever heard the gospel from and
that might be you just planting a seed in their heart and it might take time
going on maybe they visit another church with a saved pastor and they hear the
gospel again and it waters a little bit waters a little bit maybe they see a
reel by Pastor Mejia on Instagram and it's about the gospel and it waters them
waters them and then maybe in a year from now we knock on their door again and
you're ready to reap that harvest that's what it takes oftentimes for people to
get saved so you should never be discouraged when you go out soul winning
you don't get someone saved right away because people souls it's a long-term
investment that we're making we're making a long-term investment in this
community knocking on doors sometimes planning sometimes watering sometimes
reaping look at verse 8 it says and the Lord called Samuel again the third time
and he rose and went to Eli and said here am I for that it's call me and Eli
perceived that the Lord had called the child therefore Eli said unto Samuel go
lie down and it shall be if he call thee that thou shalt say speak Lord for thy
servant here so Samuel went and lay down in his place and the Lord came and stood
and called as at other times Samuel Samuel then Samuel answered speak for thy
servant here and the Lord said to Samuel behold I will do a thing in Israel at
which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle so notice Eli
tell Samuel hey you know I think the Lord's calling you you need to go lay
down and if the Lord comes to you again respond to him and speak and say hey I'm
your servant I'm ready to listen to you and notice how it says in verse 10 that
the Lord came and stood and called as at other times you know it's very possible
that this situation was an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ
because it says that the Lord stood to me this doesn't really sound like like a
dream or something like that it sounds like the child is seeing the Lord here
and of course if you're seeing the Lord if you're seeing the face of Lord you
know it's not God the Father is the Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ and
of course the Word of God is Jesus Christ so that's another way you can
look at as well but notice what he says he says I'll do a thing in Israel at
which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle now keep your
place there go to 2nd Kings chapter number 21 2nd Kings chapter number 21
this is kind of a strange phrase your ears tingling this isn't really
something that we use in our modern-day speech the only thing that I could think
of is we talked about hey were your ears burning and that usually means like we
were just talking about you and you walked in and like hey were you
listening to us but that's not at all what this is saying when it's talking
about your ears tingling look at verse number 12 of second Kings 21 therefore
thus saith the Lord God of Israel behold I am bringing such notice evil upon
Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it both his ears shall tingle
and when you see this phrase your ears tingling it means that you're hearing
something that's extremely negative you're hearing extremely bad news and
it's causing your ears to tingles and look at verse go to a second Timothy
chapter 4 as well second Timothy chapter number 4 there's kind of a there's kind
of a similar mention in the New Testament as well first or second
Timothy chapter number 4 for the time will come oh sorry verse 3 of second
Timothy 4 verse 3 for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having notice
itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be
turned unto fables so it kind of seems like people in the New Testament are
described when they don't want to listen to the truth when they don't want to
listen to sound doctrine they don't want to hear anything negative even if it's
true those are the people who have itching ears but yet when you hear
something super negative the Bible refers to it as someone's ears tingling
now go to verse number 12 verse number 12 of 1st Samuel chapter 3 now let's see
if this matches up because the message he's about to get from the Lord is a
very negative message verse 12 it says in that day I will perform against Eli
all the things which I have spoken concerning his house when I begin I will
also make an end what were the things that God promised to do considering the
house of Eli he promised to literally kill his children off 9 Phineas and to
replace Eli's house that's a serious curse and so he's saying hey when
people hear this it's gonna cause their ears to tingle this is negative news
this is a negative message that he's giving and he's saying when I begin to
do this you better believe it's gonna happen I will also make an end verse 13
for I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which
he know it because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them
not so notice God is super super angry not only with the sins of Eli or the
sins of Hoth 9 Phineas but with the fact that Eli as their father knew their
wickedness and did not restrain them go to Proverbs chapter number 29 now what's
the lesson there for us the lesson for us is that God can also be very angry
with us if we don't restrain our children because we have an example here
of God being super angry at a dad for not restraining his kids look what the
Bible says Proverbs 29 verse 17 correct thy son and he shall give the rest yeah
he shall give delight unto thy soul and that is the exact opposite situation
that Eli finds himself in where he has no delight in his soul what he has is
his ears are tingling because he heard the news that his sons are going to be
literally killed by God now look at the next verse verse 18 I find this very
interesting what did we just read in first Samuel chapter 3 that the word of
the Lord was precious there was no open vision what happened Eli knew of his
sons wickedness and he did not punish them here in Proverbs 29 it says correct
thy son and he will give thee rest look at verse 18 where there is no vision the
people perish but he that keepeth the law happy is he you think that's a
coincidence that in first Samuel 3 we learned that there's no vision and Eli
didn't correct his sons then in Proverbs the Bible is telling you hey correct
your sons why because when there's when there's no vision the people perished
and by Eli not having clear vision clear judgment from the Word of God of knowing
my sons are doing wrong so I need to stop them I need to correct them he was
blind in that sense what happened the people perished what people his sons
literally died and so this proverb is true in the most literal sense that
where Eli had no vision his sons literally perished they literally died
and you know us as parents if you have children you need to get a vision for
your children you know you need to get a vision that's in accordance with the
Word of God not a vision of what the public school system wants for your kids
or what the world is saying is what's best for your kids but rather the vision
that the Bible gives you that's gonna give you the clearest vision and you
know one of the visions that God gives us is to correct our children and there's
a huge attack today on corporal punishment on spanking your children but
you know I would rather spank my children and people think I'm mean or
not like me then my kids turn out like Hoth 9 Phineas and literally die go to
Proverbs 13 flip the page Proverbs chapter number 13 verse 24 he that
sparreth his rod hateth his son but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes
you know think of that word hate and when people think of hate and you say
what's the opposite of hate what they normally think of is love think about
love love is both an emotion and it's an action right the Bible says that love is
the fulfilling of the law so in that sense love is very much an action
meaning that you're not sinning and you're doing the things that God told you
to do well it's really the same thing with hate hate oftentimes is both a
emotion and an action and you can hate someone by your actions even if you
don't necessarily feel animosity towards them even if you don't think that you
feel any loathing of that person yet your actions can be hateful towards that
person and the Bible saying here is that if you spare your rod if you decide not
to spank your children your actions are hateful towards your child now here's
the thing if you wouldn't talk to parents that don't spank their kids you
say do you love your kids all of them will say yes and I'm sure all of them
when they see a picture of their son or their daughter they have a pleasant
emotion and a feeling of love towards their child but their actions whether
they're aware of it or not is actually extremely hateful to their child it is a
hateful action to not correct your children why because when children are
young that's the easiest time to mold them and to give them character and to
make them a good person and when you decide that I'm gonna withhold that
training period from my children I'm not gonna apply the rod I'm not gonna spank
them you know what you're hating them because you're allowing them to grow up
without character and with a bunch of problems that's gonna cause them to face
serious consequences and while sometimes the consequences aren't that severe you
know you see people grow up today and they're not disciplined and they can't
hold down a job and so they have money problems you know that's not as bad as
Hoff 9 Phineas their problems are literally being killed by God why because
obviously they never were taught any boundaries in their lives they
apparently thought hey I could just sleep with women in church and I could
just cause people to abhor the offerings of the Lord why because they were never
corrected obviously and the Bible straight-up says that Eli did not
restrain them and so God was angry at Eli for that he was not just angry at
the kids he was angry at Eli you know when kids turn out bad not because of
their own free will but because you didn't discipline them mom and dad you
know God's angry at you for that and while sometimes it's too late and your
kids are growing up and there's really nothing you could do you know those of
us in this room that have younger kids ought to make the decision now that
you're not going to be hateful towards your child that you're gonna do what the
Bible says that you're gonna have clear vision and that you will spank your
children why because it's the best thing for them go to Proverbs 22 Proverbs 22
let's look at a few more verses on this Proverbs 22 verse 15 foolishness is
bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far
from him you know God's not really that mad at the kid for being foolish all
kids are foolish he's mad at the parent that has Proverbs 22 15 and knows that
their child's foolish but decides not to drive that foolishness far from his
child that's who God's mad at flip the page look at Proverbs 23 Proverbs 23 13
withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod he
shall not die thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from
hell so notice if you spank your kids the Bible saying they will die and they
won't go to hell what happened with Eli's kids he didn't
restrain them he didn't punish them and what did they do they died and they went
to hell how do we know they went to hell because the Bible says that they were
sons of Belial they were reprobates so these Proverbs I mean this isn't just
general wisdom here these are the truest verses in the literal most literal
sense of the word if you spank your kid they won't die oftentimes and if you
spank your kid it'll deliver their soul from hell go back to first Samuel
chapter 3 first Samuel chapter 3 now verse 14 is very interesting it says and
therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house
shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever go to Leviticus
chapter number four Leviticus chapter number four so God's saying hey I have
sworn that Eli his house they're not gonna be able to just sacrifice a bull
and make this situation okay they're not gonna be able to just sacrifice a goat
and for me to just be appeased and forget about the situation there's gonna
be no more sacrifice that's gonna appease this situation why does he say
that well because oftentimes that was how things were done look at Leviticus
chapter 4 verse 3 it says if the priest now that's what Hophniah Phineas and
Eliar if the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people
then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock without
blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering so noticed if the priest sinned they were
to go make an offering for their own atonement of their sin not to be
forgiven of their sin not to be given salvation but to basically have their
fellowship restored with God to be on good terms with God and they would make
these offerings and it would basically restore them but in first Samuel he
said you're not gonna be able to do this this is not going to be an option for
you and for your house go to numbers 15 why the question is why is it that
Leviticus says that this is what the priest is supposed to do but in the case
of half nine Phineas this is not an option for them numbers chapter number
15 verse 30 it says this but the soul that do with ought presumptuously that
word presumptuously means showing presumption in conduct or thought as by
saying or doing something without right or permission unwarrantedly or
impertinently bold or forward so someone that's doing something presumptuously
they're taking it upon themselves they don't care what the rules are they don't
care what the authority is they don't care what the punishment is they're just
completely self-willed and are gonna do whatever they want it says but the soul
that do with ought presumptuously whether he be born in the land or a
stranger the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from
among his people because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath
broken his commandment that soul shall be utterly cut off his iniquity shall be
upon him what's the difference between the priests that sins and has the
option of going and making a sacrifice and half nine Phineas in the house of
Eli well these guys were sinning grievously presumptuously it's not like
hey we're all sinners no it's like hey we're all we're not all committing
serial adultery in the house of God that is a huge example of sinning
presumptuously having no regard for the Bible no regard for God no regard for
God's people what is that that's someone that's just completely untoward
foward presumptuous and if half nine Phineas are just gonna blatantly despise
the word of the Lord then a sacrifice is not gonna be an option for them they are
gonna be cut off they're gonna be killed and eventually they're gonna drop into
hell you know what this makes me think of is the fact that false prophets are
not gonna receive any mercy from God you know it's one thing if you are a soul
winner or a preacher or even a pastor and you sin because guess what everyone
sins and you know what God will show mercy on his children God knows how weak
we are God knows that we just are flesh here and he will have mercy on us when
we ask him for forgiveness when we seek his face when we repent but here's the
thing when it comes to false prophets God doesn't care about them why because
they're sinning presumptuously they're not saved they know they're not saved
and they're teaching people lies that will literally send them to hell you know
God's not gonna just give that person an opportunity to receive mercy from him no
God's gonna cut that person off and sometimes we may see it in our lifetime
and sometimes we won't see it until the great white throne judgment you know what
we will see every single false prophet like Hoth 9 Phineas cast into Lake of
fire someday and they'll be no mercy for them go to Hebrews chapter number 10
Hebrews chapter number 10 now how does this apply to us obviously it's one
thing for a reprobate reprobates are not gonna receive any mercy you know we
obviously being saved all of our sins have been forget forgiven from a
salvation perspective but look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26 it says this
for if we know that's Christians if we sin willfully after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins now
remember in Leviticus if the common people sin there's an offering they had
to do if the congregation sin there's an offering that they had to do if the
precinct there was an offering that they had to do and then they would be back on
good terms with God but the Bible saying here us if we sin willfully after we've
received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins we're not in the Old Testament you can't go sacrifice a heifer or a goat to
get back on good terms with God what do we have to look forward to when we sin
presumptuously willfully look at verse 27 but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries think about
that what do we have to look forward to when we sin as God's people God's
chastisement and he goes on and explains that more in Hebrews chapter number 12
but you know we obviously talked about the reprobates but hopefully that doesn't
apply to anyone in this room but apply this to yourself you know when you know
the truth when you know what God's will for your life is when you know for
example like in context like Hebrews chapter 10 is talking about when you
know that you're not supposed to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is and you just do it presumptuously you don't
care you despise the word of the Lord you know what's gonna happen to you
there's no more sacrifice for sins for you you can't go sacrifice a goat and
get right with God you know it's gonna happen God's going to punish you God is
going to chastise you and while oftentimes in our life God's very long
suffering and merciful and gives us many chances you know eventually in our life
if we just despise the word of the Lord we've heard the preaching we've read the
Bible we know what's right and we don't care we do what we want anyways God will
come down on us God will punish us just like Eli should
have done to his children because God's not a negligent father like Eli no he's
actually gonna make sure that he restrains his children and if you think
you can go out and just live the most sinful life being saved you have another
thing coming you know God will make sure that he punishes you in this life for
that go to verse number 15 verse number 15 now think about where we are in the
story here God is coming to Samuel and he's saying hey everyone's ears are
gonna tingle when you hear this message what's the message I'm gonna kill Eli's
sons and I'm very angry at Eli because of the fact that he didn't restrain them
from their vile acts this was God by the way speaking to a child what does that
tell you about the philosophy today from churches that children shouldn't be in
the main congregation and children are being scarred and damaged when pastor
Anderson gets up and screams faggot or pastor Shelley gets up and screams queer
like God Almighty God literally came to this child and started talking about how
he's gonna kill Eli's sons and that he's pissed at Eli for not restraining them
that's to a child and when you think about this like when I think about the
age of Samuel here I'm guessing that he's somewhere around the age of like
10 that's kind of how I picture him here he doesn't seem like a young man like
David was during David and Goliath like this seems like a child of child like a
10 year old do you imagine a 10 year old in most of these churches today hearing
a message like this you know it probably would wake them up probably put the fear
of God into them probably make them take church a little more seriously you know
we not we are not to just exclude children from the church if God didn't
exclude this extremely graphic negative message from Samuel.
Why should we neglect the Bible from children in our church?
We're not going to do that.
Look at verse 15.
It says in Samuel lay into the morning and opened the doors of
the house of the Lord and notice this and Samuel feared to show
Eli the vision.
So, I mean put yourself in Samuel's position here.
He's a little kid.
He's a little kid and he's serving one of the priests of
the Lord Eli and he just had the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Old Testament form, come up to him and give him this
message.
And what does he say?
What's going on in his heart in his heart?
He feared to show Eli the vision.
Now listen, if you and I are honest with ourselves, every
preacher experiences this emotion at some point in their
life.
And if you're a soul winner, you've probably experienced
this emotion in your life.
You know, for me, it's harder for me to preach the gospel
to my family members than to random strangers.
It just is and that's probably how it is with everyone.
And especially when you first start soul winning, you know,
it might be hard for you at first.
You might fear to show someone the word of the Lord.
Or if you're a preacher, if you get an opportunity to preach
behind the pulpit and you see something in the Word of God
and you know, the Holy Spirit is just moving you to say
something you think oh, someone might think that I'm talking
about them.
You might feel like oh man, this is kind of uncomfortable.
But really this is what separates the men from the boys
right here.
This is why Samuel is Samuel.
He had this feeling but notice, notice what he did.
Says in verse 16, then Eli called Samuel and said Samuel
my son and he answered here am I and he said what is the
thing that the Lord have said unto thee.
I pray thee hide it not from me.
God do so to thee and more also thou hide anything from me
of all the things that he said unto thee and you know what
to God that every person in sincerity would have this
attitude that Eli has where he says basically I don't care
what God told you.
I just want to know what it is.
You know some people will say this or think like oh yeah,
I want to hear hard preaching but very few people actually
want this in their life.
Very few people actually want to be told what they're doing
wrong and where they can get better.
Most people want to pat in the back, which is why Joel
Osteen's Church is packed every single week because they
go to get a pat on the back.
They have itching ears.
They don't want it.
They don't want someone to burn their ears.
They don't want their ears to be tingling.
They want it to be itching for something soft.
Look at verse 18.
Notice this and Samuel told him every wit and hid nothing from him.
And he said it is the Lord.
Let him do what seemeth him good.
Go to second Timothy chapter number four second Timothy chapter number four.
So there's two aspects of this.
There's there's what Samuel did and then there's Eli's reaction.
Let's talk first about Eli's reaction.
He says it is the Lord.
Let him do what seemeth him good.
You know, I was kind of getting on Eli at the beginning of the sermon.
But really Eli does have a good attitude when he actually hears what God said.
And, you know, we have to just realize that, you know, our ways are not as God's ways.
His ways are above our ways.
We have a mind here, a human mind of flesh.
But everything that God says and does and everything in his word is always right.
And when we, you know, when have our feelings hurt by that or in our flesh, we disagree with that.
We should always have the humility to realize that, whoa, that was a foolish thought.
Whatever God said is right.
And, you know, if God says to Eli, hey, I'm going to kill your sons because they're reprobates.
You know, Eli doesn't know better than God.
God knows better than Eli.
So what does Eli say? He says, hey, it's the Lord.
Let him do what seemeth him good.
You know, you'll have a lot of peace in your life if you just stop trying to constantly fight against the Bible,
fight against what it teaches and just think I really want my sodomite brother to be saved.
And you're never going to believe what the Bible says on that issue because you want to fight against it.
You should just be like Eli and say let the Lord do what seemeth him good, you know?
And if that means killing your reprobate sons, then hey, God's going to do that.
God's not wicked. God's not sinful. God's right.
But now let's focus on what Samuel did. He told him every wit and he hid nothing from him.
Even though the Bible records that Samuel was afraid to do so.
You know what? This, like I said, this is what separates the men from the boys right here.
Not wanting to do something, but doing it anyways.
Not feeling a certain way, but doing it anyways.
This is being a disciplined Christian right here.
Not just relying on your motivation of whether or not you want to preach someone the gospel.
Or am I feeling motivated to get someone saved today?
Am I feeling motivated to preach the Bible today and actually preach what it says?
Regardless of people's feelings, regardless if people like me or not.
Or am I just going to do it anyways?
You know what Samuel chose? Even though he was afraid, even though he was a child, he told him every wit.
It's a shame on preachers in America today that are afraid to preach to other adults that are saved, that have the same Holy Spirit as them.
That this little child could look at another man of God in the eye and basically rebuke him from the word of the Lord.
Why can't pastors today, you know, make their congregation a little upset from time to time?
Why can't they go ruffle some feathers time to time with some hard passages in the Bible, with some negative things?
Look what the Bible says in 2 Timothy 4 to preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
You know, just like Samuel was given a negative message to preach here, oftentimes we as preachers, us in the New Testament, we are given a negative message as well.
You know, most of the Bible is full of negative stories.
Now, I still think they're positive because I love the negative stories.
I love them, you know. I find them all positive. Even the negative ones.
Hey, I think it's positive that Hoth 9 Phineas are in hell.
I really think that's a positive story. Why? Because reprobates deserve to go to hell.
People that would commit serial adultery in the house of God and cause people to hate serving God.
Hey, I'm glad that those people are in hell.
You know, I'm glad that Ravi Zacharias is in hell. I'm glad that Billy Graham is in hell.
You know, to me, that's all positive, but not to everyone.
And there's going to be things in the Bible that are not that pleasant to people.
But you know what a faithful man of God does? Just tells him every wit and hides nothing from him.
You know, we need more preachers in America today that are going to be like Samuel
and just tell the world all of the Word of God and not hold anything back.
You know, it's so annoying being in church and just waiting for a pastor.
Like, he kind of gets close to saying something offensive, but he just never quite gets there.
And it's not that just you want to be offensive for the sake of being offensive.
It's like he gets close to saying the Word of God and he just stops.
You know, the same preacher that I listened to that was preaching the pre-trib message about babies,
he talked about, in passing, he kind of talked about abortion.
He's like, you know, it just makes me, it makes me wonder how Jesus would feel about people mutilating these precious babies.
You know, it just makes me wonder how he would feel about that and he moves on.
It's like, I want someone to say, like, hey, this is murder.
I want someone to say, like, hey, abortion is first degree murder.
That it's an abomination, that it's disgusting.
That it should be completely criminal in all 50 states.
Not just, oh, get rid of Roe versus Wade.
No, make it criminal in all 50 states.
That if anyone gets a first degree premeditated abortion,
that you should be put to death.
That's what I want to hear.
Why?
Because that's what the Bible actually teaches.
And that any abortion doctor that willingly participates
in the mutilation of a little child should be put to death.
That's what we need preachers saying today.
You want to know why conservatives are so weak on the issue of abortion
is because preachers are setting the bad example.
Because preachers are getting behind the pulpit on Sunday saying,
"I wonder what Jesus would think about it."
And that's why you have Trump saying like,
"Oh, it's fine in the case of rape and abortion."
Yeah, rape and incest.
Because preachers are just leaving people with,
"I wonder what Jesus would think."
Instead of saying, "Thus saith the Lord."
Instead of being like Samuel saying like,
"I'm telling you every wit and I'm not holding anything back."
Samuel is a better preacher as a child than a lot of preacher's adults in America today.
What a shame that is.
Look at verse 19.
But notice in 1 Samuel chapter number 3, we're about to read verse 19.
Notice we saw the character of Samuel, what he's like as a person,
and look at the result in his life of being like this.
Verse 19, "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him,
and did let none of his words fall to the ground."
You know, I'd rather preach the Word of God,
I'd rather preach everything that the Bible says,
and not hold back anything, and be hated by the world,
and be protested, and be death-threaded, and be doxed,
and be stalked, but God be with me,
then have none of those things and think I'm safe,
but holding back from preaching the whole Word of God,
trying to play it safe and not telling people the full truth,
thinking somehow that's going to make me safe,
when in reality that's the most dangerous place you could be as a Christian.
You know where the safest place you could be as a Christian is where Samuel is here,
where he's looking a man in the eyes and telling him that God's going to kill his children
and take away his house from being a priest,
and what does the Bible say? The Lord was with him.
You know that is the most valuable thing you could possibly have in your life.
You know it is more valuable in your life to have the Lord with you
than to have a hundred billion dollars,
because God's security is more sure than the assets of a hundred billion dollars.
It does not matter how much you spend on health insurance.
It does not matter how many guns you buy.
It does not matter if you built a literal castle and dug a moat
and put some alligators in there
and hired the Air Force to patrol the airspace around your castle.
If God wanted to kill you, he could just choke the breath out of your lungs in one second.
And so, on the other hand, if God is with you, who can be against you?
If God's with you, then, hey, you're good to go no matter who's your enemy, no matter what situation you're in.
And so, you know, whenever you feel the fear of, man, I don't want to open my mouth right now,
I know people aren't going to like me, I know this isn't going to be popular,
I know my family isn't going to like what I'm about to say,
just think about the little child Samuel that decided to tell him every wit anyways,
and as a result, God was with him.
God didn't let any of his words fall to the ground.
And look what verse 20 says, it says, "And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew
that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord."
You know, it was obvious, it was obvious to everyone that this child was different.
And you know, if you truly take this to heart, and this isn't just a sermon for you,
but you actually make the decision in your heart that no matter how hard it is,
you will always say what needs to be said, you will have a clear vision,
you'll read the word of God, you'll believe it, you'll apply it to your life,
you'll actually live Christianity, you know, this will be you two.
It will be obvious to everyone that you're different.
And some people teach, oh yeah, you get saved and your life just magically changes.
No, that's not true. But you know, if you get saved and you listen to the word of the Lord,
and yeah, you might be scared, but you just preach the whole Bible anyways,
it will be obvious that you're different from the rest of the world.
Verse 21, "And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh,"
notice this, "by the word of the Lord."
We only have a few more verses to go to, go to Hebrews chapter number one,
Hebrews chapter number one, notice it says that the Lord appeared to Samuel again,
and that He revealed Himself, how? By the word of the Lord.
Now look at Hebrews chapter one, verse one, it says this,
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets."
So in the Old Testament, God used to speak audibly to people, but notice verse two,
"Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world."
Now think about this, God may have spoken audibly to Samuel, in fact He did,
and God may have looked Moses in the face, and God may have communed as a man with His friend,
with certain people in the Old Testament, but guess what, that does not happen in the New Testament.
Why? Because if you read the Bible, if you read Hebrews 1, it plainly says that God may have done that in times past,
but now He has communicated to us by His Son.
Now, the Bible says elsewhere that Jesus Christ is the Word of God.
So how does Jesus, how does God commune with us today? It's through the Bible.
It's through the King James Bible.
And so many preachers today, the Pentecostal movement, the Charismatic movement, what do they do?
They like to speak in tongues and claim that they're communing with God in this special heavenly prayer language.
Well, not according to Hebrews 1, you're not.
Because the only way that God has communicated with us today is through His Word.
There's no extra revelation.
There's no preacher out there that gets a special word from God, Joseph Smith.
There's no one getting another testament of Jesus Christ.
No, there's the New Testament.
There's the book of Matthew through revelation.
And that's it. That's the New Testament.
Humanism is a complete joke.
And you know, even people that aren't hardcore tongue-talking freak weirdos,
oftentimes still there's a version of charismatic preachers where they'll say this,
"Well, you know, I was praying and God just told me."
That's what they say, "God told me."
And I hate that phrase because you know what?
If it's not a verse in your Bible, God didn't tell you.
God may have told Samuel. God did tell Samuel.
You know, God may have told other men.
You don't have to go there, but I'll read 1 Corinthians 1437.
It says, "If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord."
Look, God may have spoken to Samuel. God may have spoken to the Apostle Paul.
And he could be under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and write scripture.
But you know what? He didn't do that to you. He didn't do that to me.
He didn't do that to any person that's alive on this earth right now.
And any preacher that gets up and says, "God told me."
Look, most of the cases, they're just liars and charlatans.
Maybe there's some people that just grew up in this culture and they're just used to saying this.
But look, if you grew up in a church where you heard this and this was the culture, you need to stop saying this.
Because it's not true, it's lying.
You're putting words in the mouth of God.
The Bible says, "Add thou not unto his words."
So you say, "You know, I want to be like Samuel."
Maybe some children in this room are inspired by this child man of God here, Samuel.
You say, "I want to be like Samuel. I want God to speak to me."
You can. You just wake up in the morning and you just open the book of Genesis and you just hear from God.
And then you go to the next one and you read Exodus and you hear from God.
And then you go to Leviticus and you hear from God.
And you know, it doesn't matter how old you are.
If you're a man or a woman, you can be just like Samuel where God can talk to you
in the sense that you just open up the Bible and read what it says.
When you read the Bible, hey, God is talking to you then.
You can say, "Hey, God told me in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1."
Yeah, you can say that all day long, but don't just make stuff up.
So you know, Samuel's a great example why.
Well, he was obedient, he was zealous, he preached the Word of God no matter what,
regardless of how he felt, and he heard the voice of the Lord.
You know, let us look to this great child example that many of us men and adults in the room can learn from.
Let us be like this child Samuel who has heart sensitive to the Word of God.
Let us also read the Word of God.
Let us pray, Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for the book of 1 Samuel.
Pray that you'd bless our church.
Pray that you would give us more laborers.
And I just pray that every single person in here would have a steadfast heart to stand on your Word.
Whether it feels comfortable or not.
Whether we may feel the emotion of fear or not.
That we would choose rather to fear you above all else.
And we just pray that you would stand with us if we do that.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
If you would grab your hymnal, we'll go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service.
Hymn number 343.
Revive us again.
Hymn number 343.
Start there right on the first.
We praise thee, O God.