Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful in number one hundred eighty one hundred eighty will start there right on the first
There will never be a sweeter store
story of the Savior's love divine
With the word of prayer father
Thank you for this opportunity that we have tonight to gather together as a church and to sing praises unto you
I pray that you would receive our praise Lord
And I pray that you'd bless the remainder of this service at this time in Jesus name. I pray amen
For our next him if you would turn in your him knows to him number
194 since Jesus came into my heart him number
194
We'll start there right on the first what a wonderful
Change in my life has been wrong since Jesus came into my heart
I have lied in my soul for which long I had sought since Jesus came into
to my heart to
joy or my soul
I conceived this came into my heart seemed like one in the strain
since Jesus came in
since we are men
seen above, we stand to see
since Jesus came to
see since Jesus came to
see into
to see
Please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one.
On the front is our Bible
Memory Verse of the Week, Hebrews
Chapter 6, Verse 8.
Making good progress
through this chapter. If you look on the
inside, on the top left is our search times
listed. Sunday morning at 10.30am
Sunday evening at 4.30
and our Wednesday evening Bible study
of course at 7 o'clock.
Our soul winning times are listed there. All of
those meet here at the building
and of course pay special attention to
the Saturday rally.
Definitely would love it if you guys would help us with that
soul winning time. It's been great.
Our nursing home ministry schedule is
listed there. If you're a preacher or a
musician in that ministry, please make
note of those times and dates.
Also we have our year to date
stats for soul winning and
in September we had one of the best
months of the year, so great job on soul winning.
54 salvations for this month, definitely
great work. We want to keep up that
momentum and faithfulness to soul winning
for the rest of the year, so great job on that.
On the right hand side is our prayer list
for expecting ladies. Please be in prayer
for Ms. Whitney Reed for her pregnancy.
Also upcoming events this week, it's finally
here, the Heritage of the Lord Conference
hosted by Steadfast Baptist Church.
Really excited for that. I'll be driving
down right after work on Friday. We're
excited to see everyone, and if you can
make it there, definitely would encourage
you to do that. It should be a great time,
but Lord willing, I will be back of course
by Sunday to preach here, and I'm looking
forward to that as well. So not this
upcoming weekend, but the weekend after
that, we're going to have Pastor Jonathan
Shelley from Steadfast preaching for us
here in Oklahoma City. Definitely looking
forward to that. And a little farther down
the calendar, November 6th through the
10th is the Faithful Word Baptist Church
Missions Conference. We're very excited
to be supporting that and to be going to
that if you're able to. It's going to be
a great conference. On the back is a
schedule for the Heritage of the Lord
Conference. If you're able to make it to
that, maybe take a picture of that with
your phone. You can reference that
throughout the conference. But that is
the schedule for the Heritage of the
Lord Conference. At this time, let's go
ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a
church for our prayer requests. Lord,
we pray for this day and thank you for
our church. And Lord, we just pray for
unity between the brethren in this
church and just pray that you would
bless the various situations going on
right now amongst our friends. Just pray
that you bless Pastor Anderson and his
family, his church, Lord. Also just pray
that you would help my health to
improve, that you'd help my lungs to
heal, Lord. And we pray for Brother
Theodore, for his upcoming job switch,
that everything would go smoothly for
him, and that he would find favor in
the eyes of his new employers, and that
he would just be a blessing to that
company, and vice versa, Lord. Also pray
for Brother Alex, who's looking for a job
here in Oklahoma. Just pray that you
would prepare a good job for him, and
that the right doors would be open to
him, Lord, and just bless him in his
desire, Lord. We also pray for the
various requests of our church members
who have needs. We pray for Ms. Sean
Furr, for her coworker Terry, who has
cancer. We just pray that you would heal
the cancer, Lord, and we pray for Ms. Remy
that she would fully heal her tumor
and that she would have no more cancer
grow, that she would just bless her, Lord.
We also pray for
Ms. Whitney Reed's brother, Cole,
that she would soften his heart to the Gospel
and that he would be able to
hear a clear presentation.
We just pray that he would get saved, Lord, and also for
Brother Zach, for his family members,
his mother and brother, that they too
would be receptive to the Gospel, that
they would be hungry for the truth, that they would hear
a very clear presentation of the Gospel.
And we pray for our pastor,
Pastor Shelley. We pray that you bless him
for his faithfulness, for his leadership,
and we just pray that you help him in this
upcoming week, putting on a conference,
Lord, it's not easy. We just pray that
you bless the work of his hands
and that his conference would be a success,
that children would be
inspired there to love you
and to serve you, that families
would grow in wisdom,
and that you would just knit us closer together
as church members of Steadfast Baptist Church.
We love you and thank you for all that you do for us.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Alright, this time we'll go ahead and go to our third song.
Alright, for our next song,
if you would, grab the handout
that was passed out, Romans chapter
number 10. We'll go ahead and sing
the Romans chapter number 10 handout.
Go ahead
and start there right at the beginning.
That if thou
shall confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus
then believe in thy heart
that God hath raised him from
the dead. Thou
shalt be saved
instead. And when the
mouth confession is made
unto salvation
for the scriptures say
it, whosoever
believeth on him
shall not be ashamed
whosoever shall call
to an agree
shalt be saved
for all that call upon him
for the scriptures say it
whosoever
believeth on him
shall not be ashamed
and good singing as
the offering plates are being passed around
turn in your bibles of first samuel chapter number 8
first samuel chapter number 8
good evening first samuel
chapter number 8 follow along
silently in your bibles first samuel chapter 8
the bible reads and it came to pass
when samuel was old that he made his
sons judges over israel
now the name of his first born was
joel the name of his second abaya
they were judges in
beersheba and his sons
walked not in his ways but turned aside
after lucre and took
bribes and perverted
judgment then all the elders of israel
gathered themselves together and came
to samuel unto ramah
and said unto him behold thou art
old and thy sons walk not in thy ways
and thou shalt make us a king to judge us
like all the nations
but the thing displeased samuel
when they said give us a king to judge us
and samuel prayed unto the lord
and the lord said unto samuel
harken unto the voice of the people
and all that they say unto thee for they have not
rejected thee but they have rejected me
that I should not reign over them
according to all the works which they
have done since the day that I
brought them up out of egypt
even unto this day wherewith
they have forsaken me and served other
gods so do they
also unto thee. Now therefore
hearken unto their voice howbeit
ye protest solemnly unto
them and show them the manner of the
king that shall reign over them and Samuel
took all the words of the
lord unto the people and asked
that asked of him a king
and he said this will be the manner
of the king that shall reign over you
he will take your sons
and appoint them for himself for his
chariots to be his horsemen
and some shall run before his chariots
and he will appoint him captains
over thousands and captains over
fifties and will set them
to ear his ground and to reap his
harvest and to make his
instruments of war and instruments
of his chariots and he will take
your daughters to be confectionaries
and to be cooks and to be bakers
and he will take your fields
and your vineyards and your olive yards
even the best of them and give
them to his servants
and he will take the tenth of your seed
and of your vineyards and give
to his officers and to his
servants and he will take your
men's servants and your maids servants
and your goodliest young men and your
asses and put them to
his work and he will take the tenth of your
sheep and ye shall be his
servants and ye shall cry out
in that day because of your king
which ye shall have chosen
you and the Lord will not hear you in that
day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey
the voice of Samuel and they said, "Nay, but
we will have a king over us that
we may also be like all the nations
that our king may judge us and go out
before us and fight our battles."
And Samuel heard all the words of the
people and he rehearsed them in
the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said
to Samuel, "Harken unto their voice and
make them a king." And Samuel said
unto the men of Israel, "Go ye
every man unto his city." Let's bow
our heads forward in prayer. Father in heaven we thank you for this day
and the good word that you've given us in our church
and our pastor, and we ask that you please
put the laws of the Holy Spirit in front of us,
and apply your words for our lives, for us and for God.
Do you remember last week,
Samuel kind of stepped up into a leadership
role, and it was a very
positive chapter. He led the nation
to victory against the Philistines,
and he ruled Israel
all the days of his life. Let's remind us
of this story real quick. If you go back to 1 Samuel
chapter 7, let's read
quickly verse number 15,
1 Samuel 7 verse 15. It says,
"And Samuel judged Israel
all the days of his life, and he went from
year to year in circuit to Bethel
and Gilgal and Mizpah, and judged
Israel in all those places.
And his return was to Ramah,
for there was his house, and there he judged Israel,
and there he built an altar unto
the Lord." So notice how it says
that Samuel judged
Israel all the days of his
life. So really, things
were going well for basically
the whole life of Samuel.
I mean, up until chapter 8,
things were going really well for the life of Samuel,
but something kind of changed
in Samuel when
he got old. And it wasn't like a
major character change, but the
Bible kind of explains something right here in verse number
1 of 1 Samuel 8.
Firstly, this evening, I want you
to notice number 1, the nepotism
of Samuel. Verse 1,
it says this, "And it came to pass
when Samuel was old," notice,
"that he made his sons
judges over Israel."
Now, what is this?
This is an act of nepotism
and we talked about this earlier in 1 Samuel.
But, let's
remind us what this word means. This is the
Merriam-Webster definition of nepotism. It says
favoritism, as in
appointment to a job based on
kinship. And here
we could tell that it's probably likely
that Samuel, you
know, gave his sons this position based
off their kinship. And most of the time
when people ordain their sons into
the ministry, let's be honest,
it's nepotism. It's them favoring their children
because they are
their children. And notice, this
had some issues. Verse 2, it says,
"Now the name of his firstborn was Joel,
and the name of his second, Abiah,
they were judges in Beersheba." And notice,
"And his sons walked
not in his ways,
but turned aside after lucre,
and took bribes, and perverted
judgment." So already
we see that this is a negative thing.
The two instances we've seen in this book
so far of nepotism have all been
negative stories.
And I think there's a couple lessons we can learn
right off the bat, just from the nepotism
of Samuel.
Number one is this,
that you can be a great person
and still have children
that don't walk in your ways.
Did you know that? Because here,
in 1 Samuel, we have
Samuel described and his entire life up until this point the Bible says nothing against him the Bible says nothing negative of him now
Here's the thing if you've actually read the Bible through cover to cover
You know that the Bible is constantly telling us all the negative things about the men of God, right?
I mean, there's very few exceptions in the Bible guys like Daniel guys pretty much like Samuel the rest
We're reading about men of God committing adultery. We're reading about men of God committing murder
We're reading about men of God lying or just doing bad things, right?
But here I find it interesting that first Samuel depicts the character Samuel in a very positive light up until this very moment
Because what the only negative thing said so far is what that his sons did not walk in his ways
Okay. Now, let's go over really quickly to
First Samuel 16 first Samuel 16 from what I could tell
There's only one other minor thing that is kind of negative
As regards to the life of Samuel and it's not even really a big thing
But it's in first Samuel 16 one it says this and the Lord said unto Samuel
How long wilt thou mourn for Saul seeing I have rejected him from reigning over?
Israel so notice really the only thing negative that the Bible says about Samuel is that his sons didn't walk in his ways and
God came up to him and gave him like a very light correction like hey
How long are you gonna be mourning over Saul but the rest?
Described Samuel as a man of God someone that was very righteous and yet his sons did not walk in his ways
Let me explain to you what that means if his sons did not walk in his ways
That meant that his ways were good. You understand what that means his sons did not walk in his ways
But yet some people want to look at a man of God who has done great things for God
Who has done a lot of really positive things, but then their sons his sons don't walk in his ways
And now he must be a terrible person now Samuel must be a really wicked person, right?
I mean doesn't this just prove that Samuel's wicked because his sons didn't walk in his ways
No, it doesn't actually because guess what your children are not robots
your children are not computers that you could just computer program a software program to run no people have free will and
Just because you are righteous that does not guarantee that your children will be righteous
That is not guarantee that your children will follow in your ways
Let me give you another clue as to the fact that Samuel was a righteous person go to first Samuel chapter 12 first Samuel chapter 12
I mean think about it. He judged Israel all the days of his life
The Bible says positively of him the Bible gives a very slight negative tone where God tells them
Hey
How long you gonna mourn after Saul his sons didn't walk in his ways, but notice this in first Samuel 12
It talks about his reputation
Verse one says this and Samuel said unto all Israel behold
I have hearkened unto your voice in all that she said unto me and have made a king over you and now behold the king
Walketh before you
And I am old and gray-headed and behold my sons are with you and I've walked before you from my childhood unto this day
Behold here. I am witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed whose ox have I taken or whose ass have I taken or?
Whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any?
bribe to blind mine eyes therewith and I will restore it you and they said thou hast not
Defrauded us nor oppressed us neither hast thou taken odd of any man's hand and he said unto them the Lord is witnessed against you
And is anointed as witness this day that you have not found aught in my hand and they said he is witness
So notice here Samuel's doing something called defending his reputation
Isn't that interesting and it makes me wonder why would Samuel have to defend his reputation?
Probably because he had a lot of accusations against him
probably because he had a lot of false accusations against him because notice that when he defends himself the people that he's actually been around the
People that he's actually been ministering to notice that they bared witness that Samuel was telling the truth and guess what?
Yeah, he might have to defend himself a little bit
Why because his sons didn't walk in his ways because his sons turned aside after bribes
They followed after filthy lucre and so you know what might happen as a lot of people might falsely accuse him and guess what?
He defended himself. Is there anything wrong with defending yourself? Well Samuel did it Paul did it. You know what?
There's nothing wrong with defending yourself. I'll read for you Proverbs 22 verse 6 says this
Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it
You know, this is a verse that is generally true, but this verse does not negate free will which that's what you have to understand
About this verse this verse is not telling you. Hey, you know children don't have free will they don't get to decide whether or not
They believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to get saved. They don't get to decide whether or not they're gonna follow after parents ways
Yes
It's generally true that a child raised in a Christian home has a much higher chance of getting saved and a person that's raised in
A Christian home has a much higher chance of following after the ways of their parents. But is that really guaranteed?
No, it's not you want to know how I know it's not because of Samuel because of examples in the Bible and guess what?
Because of free will we are human beings. We're not robots. We don't follow a computer code
People have free will and you know what? I'm not gonna just hate someone
I'm not gonna just throw a minister a man of God in the trash just because his sons don't follow in his dad's ways
You know what? I think that's ridiculous. That's a terrible standard. That's that's something that is
Potentially could happen to any person is that their children could not follow in their ways go to a first Peter chapter number five
First Peter chapter number five and you know, I didn't plan for us to be preaching in this chapter tonight
Maybe the Holy Spirit worked it out to be that way, but maybe God just wants to remind us of this truth that guess what?
Yeah, someone's kids could not follow in their dad's ways. That doesn't mean they're a bad person
That doesn't mean that they're wicked first Peter 5 8 says this be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion
walk at the bout
Seeking whom he may devour, you know, maybe just maybe
Samuel because he was righteous because he was doing a lot for the Lord
Maybe the devil attacked his family a lot harder than the devil's ever attacked your family that the devil's ever attacked my family
And you know
It just it just makes me sick that someone would look at a person whose sons are not following in their ways and say well
That just means this preachers of the devil that means this preachers bad
No, maybe this preacher is actually doing a huge work for God. Maybe this preacher is actually extremely righteous
And so that's why the devil's attacking his home
And so, you know what that should make us do is be vigilant be sober
Knowing that our adversary the devil is walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour
And you know what that should make you do by the way that should make you count the cost of serving Jesus Christ
It should make you count the cost and say you know what if I actually get really serious about serving God if I actually
Want to make a big impact in the kingdom of God if I want to get tons of people saved and just change this world
For Jesus Christ, you know what might happen the devil might attack my family
Is that something that you're willing to do for the Lord Jesus Christ? Because I'm telling you I
Don't care who you are. That's not an easy thing. I don't care who you are
It would rip your heart to shreds for your children to not follow Jesus Christ
Or God forbid for your children to be unsaved and go to hell
Which there's plenty of safe people whose children don't even get saved and burn in hell for all of eternity
But here's the thing we've been called to follow Jesus Christ
No matter what the price is and sometimes that's gonna put a target on your family spiritually and guess what?
Spiritual warfare is real my friends Samuel experienced this where he was a righteous person yet
His children didn't follow after his ways. It makes me wonder
Well, is it possible because the devil was attacking his family because he was doing something right for Jesus go to Matthew chapter 10
Matthew
chapter number 10 verse 34
Jesus said think not that I am come to send peace on earth
I came not to send peace but a sword for I am come to set a man at variance
Against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his
Own household he though it's like the Bible literally says a man's foes shall be they have his own household man
I can't believe that this person that's following Jesus has foes of his own household. That's what Jesus says
That's what the Bible said would happen notice the next verse
What's our response when this happens he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me
And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me
And he that take if not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me
You know sometimes the Bible the Word of God
Christianity living a godly life can set us at variance meaning set us against set us at odds with our own
Blood family members and that's a hard thing and many people I'm sure in this room have experienced that
But you know what the Bible says the Bible says that if you love your father or you love whatever that family member is
More than Jesus Christ, then you're not worthy of Jesus Christ
So, you know what you should do you should count the cost before and say man
You know what if I want to do something big for God if I want to get serious for God that may even
Cost my family and I'm just telling you right now
Most people are not willing to make that sacrifice and not everyone has to make that sacrifice
Thank God, you know
There's a lot of people who are righteous and their children grow to be righteous and their spouse can be righteous and they can serve God
You know, I think about my wife her family her dad is pastor Aaron Thompson
She has a great family and that family is united in serving God that family is
Saved and believes the Bible and so it's like my in-laws are great people
I'm not at variance against my in-laws because they're fundamental Baptists that love God
But I'm guessing that not everyone in here has that situation, right?
Sometimes our in-laws are crazy in this world. Sometimes our in-laws are Mormon. Sometimes they're in-laws or whatever, you know
But here's the thing
Realize that you have to prioritize Christ above everyone else. You have to love Christ more than your family
You have to love Jesus Christ more than your children
You have to love Jesus Christ more than your spouse that is being a disciple of Jesus Christ is loving him
More than anyone in this world another lesson we can learn from the nepotism of Samuel here
Is that it is a bad idea to ordain your sons into the ministry and you know, it's so funny
People are attacking pastor Anderson this week
People are attacking pastor Anderson this week for his sons not following in his ways
But hasn't pastor Anderson preached against ordain your sons in the ministry his entire ministry
So if anything his doctrine on that is vindicated by what's happening saying like hey
Sometimes a man of God's kids don't follow in his pathways
So it's a bad idea to ordain your sons and look some people get upset about this
Some people don't like this doctrine, but I'm just telling you it's not a coincidence that we've had two instances of nepotism in first
Samuel and they're both an utter train wreck train wreck
I mean see you have Samuel who's righteous and his sons are taking bribes
You know what a bribe is when someone's saying hey
Give me this ruling in court and I'll pay you this type of money do this favor for me
And I'll give you this favor his sons are not righteous his sons are not following the Lord go to first Samuel 2
first Samuel chapter number 2
First Samuel 2 verse 12 now the sons of Eli Eli was saved now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial
They knew not the Lord. So, you know the sons of Eli they weren't even like Samuel sons were at least Samuel sons
It doesn't say that they're saved or not. It says that they just didn't walk after his ways
Eli's sons were reprobates. Eli's sons are sons of the devil reprobates verse 13
And the priest custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice
The priest servant came while the flesh was in seething with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand
And he struck it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot all that the flesh hook brought up the priest took for himself
so they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither also before they burnt the fat the priest servant came and
Said to the man that sacrificed give flesh to roast for the priest
But he will not have sodden flesh of thee but raw and if any man said unto him
Let them not fail to burn the fat presently and then take as much as thy soul desire it
Then he would answer them nay, but thou shalt give it me now and if not, I will take it by force
So here we got a story of a righteous man's sons in the ministry and what are they doing?
They're taking advantage of the offerings of God. They're perverting the house of God. They're literally threatening to fight people
They're threatening to commit violence against individuals
Elsewhere the Bible talks about how they were laying with the women at the entering in of the congregation
So they're just committing serial adultery and you know what?
Oftentimes in this world you see this where a righteous man has sons and his sons may even turn out to be reprobates
Okay, sometimes pastors they're great pastors and their sons take over the church and they end up rotting in jail for half their life
For sick perverted crimes. Okay, this stuff happens in our world
And so I'm just telling you it's just a bad idea for a pastor to ordain his sons
And I just think it's it's hilarious
It's not hilarious, but it's just ironic that people are attacking pastor Anderson for his sons not following after his ways
Yet here's the thing pastor Anderson has preached his entire ministry. I will never ordain my sons
Why because sometimes great men of God their children doesn't follow in their paths
He's literally said that his entire ministry and then it happens. It's like I can't believe this happened
It's like hey, he was right that it's a bad idea to ordain your sons. It doesn't make any sense
It's not worth it. And here's the thing. It's not like a pastor can't let his sons serve in the ministry in some capacity
Okay, because here's the thing, you know, pastor Thompson
like I said is my father-in-law when I used to be a member of his church and
I'm really thankful for the fact that he gave me opportunities to preach and
I got kind of my feet wet into preaching at Sure Foundation Baptist Church. I'm really thankful for that
You know, one of his sons is a great song leader at that church. There's nothing in the world wrong with that, right?
That's great. It's great to serve under your father. It's great to participate in the ministry, but you know what?
It's just not wise. It doesn't make sense for someone to ordain their son to be a pastor
It's just a different level and it's like well, you know, it's it's hard
Well, it's hard to go get ordained somewhere else and it's like if you can't go do the hard thing of getting ordained somewhere else
Let me just explain something to you
You're not gonna be able to do the hard thing of doing a good job as a pastor and I'm not speaking someone that's attained to this
I've never been a pastor. I I don't fully understand how hard it is
But I know this that Lord willing if I could do that someday
I want it to be ordained by someone that didn't know me before it doesn't have any
Relation with me that can actually approve of my works not just like hey dad stamped it off. And so I'm approved
No, that's not a good idea. I want you to notice also the consequences of
Samuel's nepotism go to first Samuel 8 first Samuel chapter number 8
First Samuel 8 verse 4 says then all the elders of Israel gather themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah and said unto him
Behold thou art old
And my sons walk not in thy ways
So notice again, they're not following his father's footsteps meaning his father was actually doing right now
His children aren't now make us a king to judge us like all the nations
But the thing displeased Samuel when they said give us a king to judge us
I'm Samuel prayed unto the Lord and the Lord said unto Samuel hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say
Into thee but they've not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. So notice what happened
Is that because of Samuel's nepotism because of his children ruining their testimony not following in the ways of Samuel
You know what it caused people to do is it caused people to in a way reject the Lord, right?
Because God set up the system of the judges but here the people they're saying no, we don't want your system
God, we want you to give us the Kings this same exact thing happened with Eli's children
Go back to first Samuel to first Samuel chapter number two first Samuel 2 verse 17 says this
Wherefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord
Notice for men abhorred the offering of the Lord and this is one of the dangers of nepotism
Is that people in the congregation they could see well the pastor is just favoring his son
The pastor is not judging righteously here and he's just gonna ordain his child and you know
What it could cause people to do is it could cause people to despise church
It could cause people to despise the things of God and let me tell you something
It's never okay to despise the things of God. It's never okay to despise church
You know if you go to church if you're listening online
You go to church where the pastor was ordained by their dad that shouldn't cause you to despise church
But let me just tell you the reality is oftentimes
That's what it does to people right because Eli's sons were bad
What did it do it caused men to abhor the offering of the Lord and it's like, you know in that case
Eli's children were reprobates and it's like wouldn't you kind of abhor going to church if the preacher was a reprobate
I mean if you went to some church and the preacher was a sodomite wouldn't you kind of abhor going to church, right?
But here's the same thing with Samuel sons Samuel sons didn't walk in his father's ways and the people asked themselves for a king
Why did they ask the Bible literally tells us why look what it says?
verse 5 and
Said unto him behold thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways now make us a king
Why is that they rejected the system of the judges? Why did they reject the word of the Lord?
It was because his sons didn't walk in his ways. And so that's a danger
That's another danger of a preacher ordaining their son into the ministry is that it could cause people to despise
Church and you know, I've said this before and I just I just want to reiterate my opinion on this subject
You know if a pastor ordains his child into the ministry while I'm against that 100% if someone asked my opinion
I would say don't do that. It's a bad idea once it's done though. Once that person's a pastor
I will respect that pastor just like any other man of God and I think people should do the same
I don't think you should despise the offering of the Lord
I don't think you should despise church just because nepotism goes on but it is just a reality that happens
Oftentimes so number one we saw the nepotism of Samuel number two
We saw the consequences of nepotism number three. Let's notice the God's allowance of bad decisions
God's allowance of bad decisions first Samuel chapter 8 verse 7
First Samuel 8 verse 7 says this and the Lord said unto Samuel notice this
Harken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee
But they have rejected me that I should not reign over them
According to all the works which they've done since the days that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day
Wherewith they have forsaken me and serve other gods
So do they also unto thee now therefore harken unto their voice
How be it yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them
So notice what's happening here the people they've rejected God. They've rejected the system of the judges. They're asking for a king and
Though this is wrong. It's kind of perplexing that God says to Samuel. Hey Samuel harken under their voice
Allow them to make this decision. He says yet protest solemnly unto them tell them. Hey, this is wrong
This is a bad idea. This isn't something you should do, but I'm just gonna allow you to do it anyways
And here's the truth God allows people to make bad decisions
And again, this is what I was talking with earlier human beings are not robots
You could tell a human being all the right things to do but at the end of the day it is each
Individuals choice it is of their own free will whether or not they're going to obey the Bible and here these people they've rejected the Bible
They've despised the word of the Lord and God says to Samuel
Hey, you know what you should do. You should just harken to their voice and let them make this bad decision
Of course, tell them that it's wrong, but still let them make this bad decision go to Matthew chapter number 6 Matthew chapter number 6
You know in your life and in my life
We're gonna be faced with a lot of decisions every time we read something in the scripture that we're not doing
We're faced with a decision and it's up to us to actually have our own free will
Decide to obey God and of course, we know that if we obey God God will be pleased with us
God will bless our lives. Our lives will be fruitful
We'll have peace with God, but you know what? God will also allow us to do he'll allow us to disobey him
He will he's not gonna force you to do what's right
God's not gonna force a young person to abstain from fornication until they get married
You know that people have the free free will to decide to sin and commit fornication before they get married
But you know what God will allow them to do that, but they will face the consequences for that
It's not like they're not going to have consequences
Matthew 6 verse 9 Jesus said after this manner, therefore pray ye our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven
Have you ever thought about why it is that Jesus asks us to pray that God's will is done on earth
It's because God's will does not happen automatically. It's not like well
Whatever God wills is just going to happen now, of course on a grand scale. That's true, right?
I mean God's gonna make sure that the Antichrist comes God's gonna make sure that tribulation happens God's wrath
You know the millennial reign of Christ in a grand sense. Yes, that is true
but you know what when it comes to the individual and the choices that we make as
People we have to pray for God's will to be done on this earth because it doesn't happen automatically
it doesn't happen naturally otherwise that would be a completely vain and
Meaningless prayer now go to first John chapter number two first John chapter two
Oftentimes God tells us what's right, but he kind of knows that oftentimes people are gonna make the wrong choice while you're turning into first
John 2 I'll read for you Joshua 24 15
It says and if it seemed evil unto the Lord unto you to serve the Lord
Choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or
The gods of the Amorites and whose land ye dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord
So notice Joshua made a choice Joshua made a real decision saying hey for me and for my house
We will serve the Lord and you know
That is a decision that every single person needs to make and sometimes I see people where I could tell you know
Their heart is not in things. You know, you can come sometimes tell when someone is just backslid and they're going through the motions
Maybe someone's being dragged to church by a family member and I just want to tell that person just make a decision
Just make a decision
I want to tell young people today that our second generation Christians that grow up in a Christian home
Like you have to make Christianity your own belief. You have to decide for yourself. I
Will serve the Lord guess what other people can't decide that for you dad can say hey as for me in my house
We will serve the Lord and he could say hey here are the rules as for me and my house
We're gonna serve Lord kids. You're going to church kids
You're gonna read the Bible kids here your dress standards
But it comes the point where those children grow up and maybe they move out of the house
And if they never made that decision for themselves, guess what? They're not robots. They're not gonna automatically follow
Everything that their parents told them it is an issue of the heart when it comes to serving God
You have to in your heart want to serve him and sometimes people say you know what? No, I'm not going to and you know
God says to those people I will let you do that
But there's obviously consequences for that first John 2 verse 1 says my little children
These things write I unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father
Jesus Christ the righteous so notice God doesn't want us to sin, but he says but if someone sins here's the truth
We have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous just like he told Samuel
Hey listen to their voice harken on unto what they say, but protest
Solemnly unto them saying what they're doing is wrong and you know that's what God does for us in our life look at
First Samuel 8 go back to the first sandwich after 8 first Samuel 8 verse 10 and
Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked him a king and he said this will be the manner of
The king that shall reign over you he will take your sons and appoint them for himself
For his chariots and to be his horsemen and some shall run before his chariots so right away
There's consequences to them rejecting God right they think we don't want to we don't want to be like all the other nations
We were upset your sons are walking in your ways, so we're gonna reject God's system
We're gonna reject the Bible. Why don't you just go ahead and give us a king because okay you want to reject me
I'll give you a king
But just so you know he's gonna take all your sons and appoint them for himself
You know kind of makes me think of the military draft. You know here is just saying like oh you want a king, okay?
We're instituting the draft give us all your children now. That's not very fun. Is it those of us that have children could you imagine?
You know uncle Sam gives you a call and says hey, we're taking your kids. We're shipping them to Ukraine
Sorry, there's nothing you could do about it. I don't know about you. I wouldn't be happy about that
I'd be sick to my stomach about that. Oh, but they wanted a king so bad in thing verse 12
And he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over 50s
We'll set them to hear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots
And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and if he bakers snows
He's taking all of their children sons daughters doesn't matter and he will take your fields now
He's taxing them and your vineyards and your olive yards even the best of them and give them to his servants
And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants
So he takes all their assets takes their children. He lays a tax upon them verse 16
And he will take your men servants and your maid servants and your goodliest young men and your asses put them to his work
He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his
Servants number four this evening is that we need to be careful what we wish for we as Christians need to be careful
What we wish for because if you decide that you're not gonna you're not gonna follow the word of Lord
You're gonna despise the word of the Lord. You're gonna reject what God says. You're not gonna listen to him
Guess what God will let you do that
But I'm telling you there's gonna be consequences that would be way worse than anything you could have ever imagined
I mean think about these people they have Samuel who's a great leader. He's righteous
He judged them all the days of his life
But because they were discontented at him because they didn't like the lifestyle that his sons were living they rejected the Bible
They stopped serving God they rejected God they asked for a king to be put over them and then their life was wrecked
Their sons taken from them their daughters their assets. They're getting taxed. Everything's being taken from them
Be careful what you wish for, you know today we live in a very rebellious time
We live in a very rebellious nation, you know
We live in a nation that does not bat an eye when a wife rebels against her husband. They think that's totally normal
I mean this world thinks it's so normal for a wife to just mouth off at her husband
This world thinks it's completely normal for men at work to all get together and gossip and talk crap about the boss
I'm telling you everywhere I've ever worked except for steadfast Baptist Church
The men got together and talked crap about the boss
We live in a day and age where it's totally normal for people to just hate police officers
Just F the police all the police can't tell me what to do because I'm an NFL player
So I'm not gonna listen to what this cop says. I'm not gonna obey him. We're not gonna listen to authority
We live in a society that thinks it's totally normal to rebel against your pastor to not listen to what he has to say
And is it any shock that we live in a world that condones of children?
Disobeying their parents rebelling against their parents condoning of it go to Proverbs chapter 30
You know what you can rebel against your boss. You can rebel against your husband
You can rebel against the police and your pastor and your parents
But you better be careful what you wish for you better be careful that you're not gonna get yourself into a way worse
Situation than you could have ever thought imaginable. You have all these idiots and wicked people today
Defending children cursing their father rebelling against their parents. What does the Bible say Proverbs 30 17?
Wake up and read this verse pay attention right now verse 17
The eye that mocketh at his father and despised it to obey his mother the ravens of the valley shall pick it out
Are you reading your Bible this evening and the young Eagles shall eat it? That's pretty violent. Isn't it? That's pretty gross
That's how God feels about a child that would mock his father that would refuse to obey his mother
And if you are a Christian that believes the Bible that has the Holy Spirit inside of you
If you can read that verse and be okay with a child rebelling against his father
You're wicked your evil get your heart right with God go to Proverbs 20 Proverbs 20 verse 20
Who so curseth his father like saying you're a mother effer who so curseth his father or his mother
His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness
Yeah, you could rebel against your parents
But be careful what you wish for because the Bible says when you curse your father or your mother
Your lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness
You know what that means? It means God's blessing is gonna be removed from your life
It means that God's hand is gonna be against you. It means that you could even have a premature death
I don't want that I wouldn't want that but you know what?
I also don't want kids cursing their parents and disobeying their parents go to Ephesians chapter 6 Ephesians chapter 6
Sometimes I'm baffled by Christians attitudes towards things that are so clear in the Bible
They want to have a holier-than-thou stance about something that's not clear about something that they don't have all the facts about
They don't have all the information about but we do know that the Bible's very against disobeying your parents
The Bible's very against cursing your parents and people want to stand with those people woe unto you
Ephesians 6 verse 1 children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor thy father and mother
Which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee
And thou mayst live long on the earth Bible says to honor your parents to give them respect
To not lie about them to not rebuke them to not curse them to not speak
disrespectfully of them and the Bible says that the reason you do that is so that you can live long on the earth
Meaning that if you don't honor your father or your mother God can cause you to not live long on the earth
God could cause you to die a premature death and and here's my stance
I don't care if your mom and dad is a literal reprobate. You should not dishonor them
You know what you should do your parents are reprobate. Just don't speak of them just to separate from them move away
But but where's the Bible say hate on your parents? Where's the Bible say curse your parents?
It says all the opposite go to Exodus 21 Exodus 21 and the same people often times that don't like
You know parents having real authority over their children
It's just a crazy coincidence that it's often the same types of people that don't like husbands having authority over their wives
Isn't that funny?
Again, it's coming from a carnal mind coming from someone that does not have a high view of Scripture
Exodus 21 verse 17 and he that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death
You know what God thinks about a child that would curse his father or mother. What is a curse?
You don't want to know what a curse is. It's wanting evil on someone else
It's wanting something bad to happen to them
And when a child says something like that like I want something bad to happen to my mom or dad
That person is cursing their father or mother. The Bible says that child would have been put to death
That's the Word of God and yet people side with this mentality today and it's shameful go to first Samuel chapter 8 first Samuel 8
You have pastors today siding with this mentality
Well, I side with the Word of God first Samuel chapter 8 verse 18 says and ye shall cry out in that day because of your king
Which ye shall have chosen you and the Lord will not hear you in that day
Hey, be careful what you wish for you wanted to reject the Bible. You wanted to reject the system of the judges
You wanted to ask a king unto yourself. Well, guess what you're gonna be crying out to God God help us God listen to us
He says I'm not gonna listen to you. I'm not gonna hear you. You know what?
It's so much easier just to do things God's way
It's so much easier in our lives when we decide not to rebel against the Bible not to rebel against his teaching and just follow
What he says and guess what our lives will just be a lot easier and more blessed and more just having the hand of the
Lord on our lives
But you know when we rebel against God when we harden our hearts when we are stiff neck when we stop our ears
So what the Bible says, you know, oftentimes God just saying you know what? I'm not gonna help you then you don't want to listen
I'm not gonna help you verse 19
Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel and they said nay, but we will have a king over us
So he warned them but they didn't listen verse 20 that we also may be like all the nations and that our King may judge
us and go out before us and fight our
Battles go to second Corinthians 6
So notice they're revealing their heart here of why they want to rebel why they want a king why they don't want to listen to Samuel
What is it so that we could be like all the other nations and and my question is why do you want to be like?
All the other nations, you know, you guys are God's people you guys have the word of the Lord
You guys have the Prophet Samuel. Why are you wanting to be like another nation?
And you know, I have the same question towards Christians that are rebellious against the Word of God that are rebellious against their parents
Wives that are rebellious against their husbands employees that are rebellious against their bosses
And I'm just thinking why do you want to be like the world so much?
Don't you realize how much better it is being a Christian?
Don't you realize how much better it is following God's commandments and having his blessings on your life?
Look at 2nd Corinthians 6 verse 14 be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness
And what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial what part hath he that believeth with an infidel and what agreement hath the temple of God with
Idols for ye are the temple of the living God as God have said I will dwell in them and walk in them
And I will be their God and they shall be my people
Wherefore come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing
And I will receive you notice God wants us to come out from among the world
He wants us to be separate
He wants us to be different and when we do that the Bible says that God will receive us and isn't that what we want?
We want God to be pleased with our lives. We want God to accept us
we want God's favor to be on our life and one of the ways we do that is by
Separating from the world and you know what it means to separate from the world. Yes
It means to separate from sinful attitudes or I mean activities right like drinking like fornication like adultery, of course
Let's separate from those sinful activities, but separation also is separation from sinful attitudes
Separation is saying like I'm not gonna think like the world thinks I'm not gonna have the attitude that the world has
You know if the Bible tells me to obey the higher powers
I'm gonna obey the higher powers if the Bible says servants be subject to your masters and
Not only to the ones that are good and gentle, but even to the froward ones
Then I'm just gonna do what God says why because I'm trying to be separated from this world. I'm trying to be different
I'm trying to stand out in the eyes of God. I'm trying to be accepted by God not like these rebellious
backslidden
Israelites who had a great leader in Samuel and they said you know what your kids aren't walking in the ways of God
So we're just gonna reject you
We're gonna reject the system of the judges. Give us a different king to reign over us and their lives were ruined because of it
Be careful what you wish for go back to first Samuel 8 first Samuel chapter 8 verse 21 and Samuel heard all the words of the people
And he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel
Harkin unto their voice and make them a king and Samuel said unto the men of Israel go ye every man unto his city
You know, it's kind of a sad ending to this story where Samuel warned the people
God warned them. He told them, you know, he said protests solemnly unto them that this is a bad idea and
Samuel he repeated all the words that the people or that the people said to the Lord and the Lord says you know what?
Go ahead and just Harkin under their voice and make them a king
Why because God isn't gonna force us to obey him. God isn't gonna force us to serve him go to Proverbs chapter 13
We're almost done this evening Proverbs chapter 13
You know, I want to ingrain into my heart and into every heart in this room that we have to make a choice to serve
Jesus Christ that we have to make it our own belief
We have to make it our own desire that God is not going to force this church to do right
God is not gonna force me tomorrow morning to open up my Bible. He's not gonna force you to pray tomorrow
We have to choose to walk in his ways to follow his steps for or Proverbs 13 13 says this
This is the warning I want to leave you with this evening who so despiseth the word shall be destroyed
But he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded
you know all of us have two paths in front of us at all times the path of
Destruction and the path of being rewarded and you know what that path you can go down at any point in your life
you could have been serving God for the last ten years or
You could have been like this generation in first Samuel 8 where they're serving God all the days of Samuel
And you know at the very end you can just decide to go the path of destruction by despising the word of God look
We need to realize that we are sinful people our flesh is completely corrupt. There's nothing good in our flesh
We have to daily put on the Lord Jesus Christ
We have to daily decide to walk in the spirit not in the flesh and choose
Make the decision not to despise the word of the Lord when you read something in your Bible and you say that's hard
You have a choice right then in there
Are you gonna despise the word of the Lord or are you gonna fear the commandment and be rewarded?
And you know what that that path that choice in your life. You will be presented with that choice multiple times a day
Every day until you die and so just realize that life is a battle life is a choice
You need to decide to fear the commandment look at verse 14 the law of the wise
Is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death good understanding give it favor, but the way of
Transgressors is hard and you know what every person that rebels against God will one day find out that the way of transgressor
Transgressors is hard these people they thought you know what we're sick of Samuel. We're gonna reject him
We're gonna ask a king over them and immediately they found out that the way of transgressors is hard when the king is recruiting their sons
to be soldiers and their daughters to be cooks and to take all their assets and to take their money through taxes the way of
Transgressors is hard. It was good under Samuel. What was wrong with Samuel? Oh his kids weren't walking in his ways
Is that what was wrong with Samuel will wake up to reality?
Not everyone is gonna follow in their parents footsteps doesn't mean Samuel's a bad person in fact
They didn't walk in Samuel's ways proving that Samuel was a good person because his ways were the ways following God
His kids didn't walk in his ways so he was walking the right path
He was doing the good thing you know who was at fault in this situation the people for rejecting the word of the Lord
Last verse I'll read for you is for Samuel 8 for Samuel 8 verse 7 if you want to turn there
First Samuel 8 verse 7 and the Lord said unto Samuel
Harkin unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee
But they have rejected me that I should not reign over them
We need to realize that God's not gonna force us to do right
We have a serious choice to make every single day
But we need to be careful what we wish for because there is serious
Consequences in all of our lives if we decide to despise the Word of God. Let's pray Lord. Thank you for this day
Thank you for this chapter. Just pray that you'd bless
Our church that you'd help us to truly have a fear of your commandments
You'd help us to understand the mentality that you have about things and just pray that you bless this upcoming conference this weekend
That's the best Baptist church and just pray that you'd help us all to have unity in this church. We love you
Jesus name we pray. Amen
hymn number
227 in your hymnal saved by the blood hymn number
227 number
227 we'll start there right on the first say
by the blood of the
Crucified one now