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We'll start with song number 55 when the roll is called up yonder, and if we would all stand, we'll sing song number 55. When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair, when the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. On that bright and cloudless morning, when the dead in Christ shall rise, and the glory of his resurrection share, when his chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. Let us labor for the master from the dawn till setting sun, let us talk of all his wondrous love and care. Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. Amen, let's pray. Father, thank you for another day to just worship you and be in your house, and thank you for everyone that was able to make it out today. Please just bless the service and fill pastor with your Holy Spirit and help us all be edified by the preaching. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, you may be seated. Next we'll turn to song number 53. One page over, song number 53, Beulahland. Song number 53. I've reached the land of joy divine and all its riches freely mine, here shines undimmed one blissful day, for all my night has passed away. Oh Beulahland, sweet Beulahland, as on thy highest mount I stand, I look away across the sea where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining glory shore, my heaven, my home forevermore. My Savior comes and walks with me, and sweet communion here have we, he gently leads me by his hand, for this is heaven's borderland. Oh Beulahland, sweet Beulahland, as on my highest mount I stand, I look away across the sea where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining glory shore, my heaven, my home forevermore. A sweet perfume upon the breeze is born from ever no trees, and flows that never fading grow where streams of life forever flow. Oh Beulahland, sweet Beulahland, as on thy highest mount I stand, I look away across the sea where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining glory shore, my heaven, my home forevermore. The zephyrs seem to float to me, sweet sounds of heaven's melody, as angels with the white robe throng, join in the sweet redemption song. Oh Beulahland, sweet Beulahland, as on thy highest mount I stand, I look away across the sea where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining glory shore, my heaven, my home forevermore. Amen. So, welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday morning, and happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that are here today, and if you don't already know, there are some Starbucks drinks over there, so any, the mothers, go ahead and grab that. Some are cold, some are hot, so you may need to warm up the hot ones, but go ahead, even if you're already sitting right now, you can go ahead and get one if you have not yet, and so hopefully you enjoy those. There was no pinkity drinkities, I guess, this morning, so some of you know what that's all about, but anyway, but just happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, and then just stuff on the schedule this morning. We have our soul winning time at 1 p.m., and so I'm actually going to go soul winning later this week. I'm going to kind of get into that with my message a little bit this morning, just dealing with Mother's Day, but I will pair everybody that's going to be going this afternoon, but I'm either going to go on Monday, on the regional soul winning time, or Tuesday, and so that being said, I'll pair you guys up at 1 p.m., but I'm going to go later this week, and then I may try to go even before I go on vacation, just so that I'm not, I mean, I may try to go out when I'm on vacation, but who are we kidding, you know, when you're on vacation, you know, who knows who I'm going to even see, all that stuff, but that being said, that's going to come up here this afternoon, and so, and then don't forget about soul winning time, obviously on Monday and Tuesday, so Brother Richard leads up to soul winning time on Monday, and then Brother Charles leads up to soul winning time on Tuesday, and Monday's more down in the Clarksburg area, and Tuesday's more in the Morgantown area, but then as far as all the Sunday services today, everything's as scheduled, Wednesday's as scheduled, and then on the upcoming events, we have the men's prayer meeting, the women's prayer meeting that's on here, but the thing to be praying for, obviously you'd be praying at those meetings, but is the soul winning marathon, so we move that to the 26th, and we're just trying to see, you know, make it a day where most everybody can come that wants to come, and so the 12th, we had some conflicts, the next Sunday, or next Sunday is going to be Father's Day, so we thought well maybe on that Saturday, people will be, you know, doing stuff on Father's Day, I don't know, so I think the 26th will work better, we'll never fit everybody's schedule, but just trying to make it easier to where it's easier to where we can go, and there's not a bunch of conflicts, so, but being prayer for that, we're going to be going to Charleston, again, if anybody has a Charleston map, let me know, or if you know where to get one, when we go down there, I'm going to stop at a rest area, and I'm sure there'll probably be one like we have here, but definitely want to have that so that when we get done, we can mark off the big map, kind of like we're doing with Wheeling, and just other areas that we don't maybe get to all the time, but being prayer for that, just general church announcements, we have the offering box in the back there, the mother baby room is the main one behind the wall with the clock, so that's for mothers and babies only, and then the other two rooms are for any parent and child that needs to go out, and so during the services, but all the children are welcome in the service, throughout all the services, it's really just when they're wailing to the point of distraction, or if you need to feed them, stuff like that, but Bible memory, we have Galatians 1 for this month, so we're going to be going through the book of Galatians and trying to memorize that together as a church, and so Galatians chapter 1, and then in Galatians 4 26 is our memory verse for the week, and I was trying to find a mother's day verse, and so this one is, but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all, so I'm going with that one, it has the word mother in it, so we're going through Galatians, so might as well get some of these verses memorized, because we'll get the Galatians 4 eventually, and then birthdays, what's today, the 9th, so do we have any birthdays coming up, this week, it wouldn't be this week would it? What's that? Yeah, we didn't get, yeah did we? Okay, so yeah, Anna's won't be until next week, but she's not going to be here, why don't we just sing happy birthday to Anna a little early, because hers is going to be next Monday, not this Monday, next Monday, but we won't be here, and it's either that or we sing happy birthday to her the week after, so we'll sing happy birthday to Anna, I know it's a little early, but hers is on the 17th, and then we'll get Zoe, and all the gandies aren't here anyway, so we can't get Zoe yet, and then the rest will be later on, anniversary, May 20th, so that's not yet, and then all the pregnancies, so be in prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list here, so Ms. Joyce, Ms. Tabby, Ms. Anastasia, and Ms. Amanda, so we're filling up this list, we're going to have to change the font here soon if everybody keeps getting pregnant, but that's a good blessing, just be in prayer for the ladies and all that, and you got your drink Ms. Joyce, right, you're a mother, and so anyway, I just wanted to say happy Mother's Day, my sermon will be kind of tying into Mother's Day a little bit, but I try to be cliche with that, you know, like every Mother's Day to have like the same sermon, mothers are important, mothers are needed, you know, obviously that's true, but I don't want to be that cliche, like everything is just like the same sermon every year, so I'm trying to change that up a little bit, but still obviously talk about mothers, so that being said, I think that's it for announcements, yeah, so Brother Nick will come and sing one more song, and who's reading this morning, Brother Richie, you're going to be reading, what are you reading this morning, First Samuel Chapter One, right, First Samuel Chapter One, and so, how about please. All right, turn to song number 51, song number 51, we'll sing Where We'll Never Grow Old, but before we do that, we'll sing Happy Birthday to Ms. Anna Robinson, you want to stand, I don't see her, oh, there we go, all right, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, God bless you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, God bless you, happy birthday to you, all right, song number 51, I have heard of a land on the faraway strand, tis a beautiful home of the soul, built by Jesus on high, there we never could have known ever since, never shall die, tis a land where we never grow old, never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old, never grow old, never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old, in that beautiful home where we'll never more roam, we shall be in the sweet by and by, happy praise to the King through eternal life, we'll never grow old, never grow old, tis a land where we never shall die, never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old, never grow old, never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old, when our work here is done, and the life crown is won, and our troubles and trials are o'er, all our sorrow will be all over the land, and our voices will blend with the loved ones who've gone on before, never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old, never grow old, never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old. If you would turn your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 1. Brother Rich will read that for us, 1 Samuel 1. Alright, 1 Samuel 1. If you're there, say amen. Alright, now there was a certain man of Ramathaim, Zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph, and Ephrathite. And he had two wives, the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her, therefore she wept and did not eat. Then said Elkanah, her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not, and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard, therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. And they rose up in the morning early and worshipped before the Lord and returned and came to their house to Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived that she bear a son and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. And the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever. And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good, tarry until thou have weaned him. Only the Lord established his word, so the woman abode and gave her son suck until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks and one ephah of flour and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh, and the child was young. And they slew a bullock and brought the child to Eli, and she said, Oh, my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore, also, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he should be lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this Sunday morning church service. I pray that you'll just fill Pastor Robinson as he preaches your word. I pray that we'll all be edified through it. And I just pray all the mothers feel appreciated here on this Mother's Day. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. You're there in 1 Samuel chapter 1, and I want to preach a sermon dealing with Hannah and Hannah the mother of Samuel. So when I think of mothers, a lot of times I think of mothers in the Bible that kind of went through some adversity, whether having children or just even with their children in general, whatever took place with their children. And Hannah just always sticks out in my mind. There's certain things, there's certain lessons that can be taught from Hannah, and particularly dealing with mothers that are Christian, mothers that are serving the Lord, mothers that have children that will be serving the Lord. Like Hannah had Samuel, and then Samuel even from a child was basically serving the Lord to the point where there's a sacrifice that was made as far as the time apart from his mother. Now this is kind of a unique situation, and this isn't a situation I'm suggesting by any stretch of the imagination. But at the same time, this is an interesting story and I think there's a lot of good lessons in here dealing with mothers, specifically mothers that are Christians that are sold out for the Lord, that love the Lord, and just the idea of our children are prized possessions. I mean, we love our children. I know mothers, you have a special connection with their children. But when you raise them in nurture and admonition of the Lord, you have to know that, hey, they're going to go, Lord willing, they'll go serve the Lord. And that time, there's going to be a disconnect there because they're going to go off and do their thing. And with Hannah's case, it was a lot earlier than normal. Now let's look at the story. First of all, we have, let's look at the first verse there to see what we're dealing with. And this is, so Samuel was like the last judge. So if you know the story, obviously Samuel's the one that anoints Saul to be king, and then he anoints David because Saul was rejected to be king. So we're kind of coming to the tail end of the judges, okay? And Samuel is going to end up being a judge. But at this time, Eli was the judge. So Eli was the judge over Israel. And in verse one there, it says, Now there was a certain man of Ramoth, Zophim, and of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Alcanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Eliu, the son of Tua, the son of Zaph, and Ephrathite. And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Hannah had children, but Hannah had no children. So we see from the very beginning here that Alcanah, who was an Ephrathite, he was from Ephraim, the tribe of Ephraim, which is one of the bigger tribes. So if you think about what are the bigger tribes, Ephraim and Judah. And when the kingdom split under, you know, after Solomon, that northern kingdom is known as Ephraim, that lower kingdom is known as Judah, because they are the bigger tribes. So Ephraim is a very prominent tribe, but he has two wives. Now this doesn't say that it's okay to have two wives. It's just stating facts. He had two wives. The Bible says that it's supposed to be, you know, the man shall leave his mother and father in cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. They too shall be one flesh. And the Bible is against polygamy, but you know what? The Bible is recording this case right here. Now this will also show you that having two wives is not a good thing because of the whole, you know, back and forth between Panetta had children, Hannah couldn't have children, and they're fighting and there's all this turmoil. Okay? And actually every time you look at someone that has multiple wives in the Bible, show me a case where it's just this happy bed of roses. Okay? Because it's never the case. It's always turmoil. It's always bad. And so it's not something that God condones. Actually, he says not to multiply wives unto yourselves. It says that in Deuteronomy. So that being said, you know, that's the commandment I'm going to stick with, you know, that you're supposed to be married to one wife and wives one husband, you know, which you usually don't see that, right? You don't see a wife that has multiple husbands. But anyway, going off of that, we see what's the situation. So Hannah's married to Alcanah, who has another wife that has children and she can't. Okay? Well, she is, you know, obviously in great sorrow and you're depressed over this because you can't have children. So imagine, you know, obviously women go through this a lot that they can't have children or they're struggling to have children. But imagine that you're married to someone that has a wife also that has children and you're just basically they're stuck at home with this other woman that has children. Now, I know that'd be hard to imagine anyway. Okay? Because that's really weird. And you know, just the thought of that's very strange. Okay? You just think of Mormons immediately, right? You're just like, what's going on? But verse three there, it says, And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinnahaz, the priests of the Lord were there. Now, Hophni and Phinnahaz were sons of Belial. The next chapter gets into that. These are children of the devil. They are reprobates. Okay? Eli is not. Eli is a good man, you know, a good prophet, but he obviously didn't raise his children right. Or not up in the nursery of admonition of the Lord. But Shiloh at this time was where the temple or the tabernacle was. Okay? They didn't have a physical temple, but they had a tabernacle. And at that time, it was in Shiloh, and it wasn't moved to Jerusalem until David's day. Okay? They brought the Ark of Covenant in and all that. And then at that point, Jerusalem became the spot where, you know, the house of God would be, the temple and all that. But this has nothing to do with the sermon. I just want to give you a history lesson on what's going on here. But keep reading there. In verse four, it says, And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. And then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? Now this story right here, first of all, makes me think of Rachel and Leah. Okay? You remember the story with Rachel and Leah? You know, Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah. He wanted to marry Rachel. He was tricked into marrying Leah, and then he ends up marrying Rachel too. Well, he loved Rachel, but Leah was the one that had the kids, right? And you remember Rachel said, Give me children or else I die. Right? So this is a very common theme that women want to have children. It's only society that teaches women they don't want to have children. This is a natural desire for women to have children. It's usually the husband that doesn't want to have children. It's usually the guy that's saying, No, let's cut it off here. Okay? Not always. You know, there's obviously outliers there when it comes to that. But in general, women just have that desire to have children. And with Rachel's case, she's like, Give me children or I'm going to die. And then, you know, Jacob kind of gets angry with him. My God, you know? Because the thing I want you to get here is that who shut her womb? God. The Lord. Okay? The Lord opens and shuts the womb. Okay? And this is where, and this is not popular today, but this is where, you know what, people need to stop trying to play God. Okay? IVF. Okay? I know people that have used it. Okay? But, listen, IVF, you don't know what that is. It's basically where they make the seed and the egg conceive and then they put those into the woman and then they try to implant. Well, the problem is life begins at conception. Okay? Not at implantation. You know, when it says that a virgin shall conceive, you know, bring forth a son, in another place it says the virgin shall be with child. Okay? So at conception, you're dealing with, you know, a child. And so what you deal with is a lot of unintended consequences, a lot of abortions, if you will, or children that aren't, you know, that are going to end up dying after adoption. And you know what? You know what that comes down to is playing God. Okay? Now you're like, well that's easy for you to say. You have four kids. You didn't have any problems. I know it's easy for me to say, but it doesn't change the truth. Okay? Yes, it hasn't been a problem for us to have kids. And praise the Lord for that. But in the end, I'm not the one that chooses that. You know, what if, you know, my wife couldn't have kids? You know, I can't control that. And that's the narrator saying that, by the way. That wasn't Al-Qaeda saying, hey, the Lord shut your womb. What do you want me to do about it? Okay? The narrator is saying, for the Lord, it says, you know, in verse five there at the end there, it says, but the Lord had shut up her womb. Okay? So that being said is that, you know, as the Lord that did it, the Lord openeth and closeth the womb. Okay? And that's the first thing you have to understand. And I know that we have a lot of mothers here, but we have some that aren't mothers and some that have, you know, maybe have problems having children. And you know what? It's one of those things that it's obviously a touchy subject, but you really got to put it in the Lord's hands. The Bible says, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. And the idea here is that if you want to have more children and it's a matter of, you know, just having trouble having children, you got to put that on the Lord. And by the way, Isaac and Rebecca, you know how long it took them to have kids? He got married. He had, okay, so he had, he got married when he was 40. Do you know how old Isaac was when they had Jacob and Esau? 60. 20 years. Took 20 years. And there's cases where I've heard of people that used IVF, had a bunch of kids, and then they end up having a natural kid. Like, just naturally ended up getting pregnant, had a kid, and then they're like, we have too many, and then they have surgery to stop. That is not biblical. That's not the way God intends it to be. It should be the fact that you put it on the Lord. And listen, if the Lord chooses to close the womb, and you know what? People are like, well, how many more kids are you going to have? Well, as many as the Lord will bless me with, but you know what? I don't know. Do I know whether God's going to open or close the womb? Maybe after this, God's just like, all right, you're done. But you know what? I'm going to keep going until that happens, okay? But that being said is you don't know. You don't know when that's going to stop or when God's going to allow, you got to put it in the Lord's hands. And notice that the adversary here, she has this adversary. It's very clear who that is. It's Peninnah, okay? Because when it's talking about the adversary, it says, so she provoked her in verse 7. Therefore, she wept and did not eat. Okay? So the adversary is a she, okay? It's not the devil, you know, but you're like, well, it's the devil, you know, provoking her. Well, don't get me wrong. Of course, you know, the devil I'm sure is trying to provoke and trying to, you know, the devils are out there trying to do that. But it was Peninnah that was doing it, okay? Provoking her because she didn't have children and all that. And throughout the Bible, you see this with Sarah and Hagar. You see this with Leah and Rachel. You see this, you know, this is why you don't have more than one wife, first of all, okay? Because if you are that case where you're having trouble having children, you know, you don't want to have that kind of dichotomy going on in your marriage. But basically, Elkanah is saying, you know what? I'm your husband. I love you. Am I not better than ten sons? Now, this didn't work, okay? So husbands out there, you know, it might not be the best thing to say, you know, when your wife is like, I really want to have kids like, am I not better than all those kids, you know? Like, look at me, you know? Now obviously he loved Hannah and gave her this, you know, a worthy portion, meaning that, you know, obviously he's giving Peninnah a lot because she's got all these kids to represent, right? And you imagine that if you have like a wife that has a bunch of kids, you got to give them a lot of money to provide for the kids and all this stuff. But he still gave her a lot because he loves her. And so he's just trying to make it easier on her and all this stuff, but it's just kind of funny in how that works. But the Bible says in Psalm 127, verse 3, it says, lo, children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Okay? This is what you got to remember. And I just want to give you, if it gives you peace of mind, if anything, or, you know, because, you know, a lot of people are having kids in our church and that's great, but you don't know how many you may have. It's not, I don't think it's just this blank check to where it's just like, well, if you don't use birth control, you're just going to keep having kids until like biologically you can't. I don't believe that. I believe that God could close the womb. He could shut it. He could open it. He could maybe have a bigger gap between it. And some people are like that. Some people aren't doing anything to stop having kids. And there's like a three to four year gap between kids. And it's not like they're not, you know, trying to have kids or anything like that, but it's just the way it is. And so you just need to have peace about that and obviously pray. Okay. Because notice what Hannah does. Hannah prays for a son. Okay. Verse nine there. Okay. Verse nine. So first Samuel chapter one, verse nine. First Samuel chapter one, verse nine. It says, so Hannah rose up after that, after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. So get the picture here. I mean, she's what, what Elkanah said to her didn't fix the problem. Okay. She was still very upset about it and bitterness of soul. Okay. Verse 11. And she vowed a vow and said, Oh Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life. And there shall no razor come upon his head. And that's talking about like the Nazarite vow kind of thing. Verse 12. It says, and he came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken and Eli said unto her, how long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from me. And Hannah answered and said, no, my Lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit and I have drunk neither wine or strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken here hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, go in peace. And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou has asked of him. And she said, let that handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad. So prayer helps, you know, if anything just casting your care upon the Lord. Now we know the end of story that he actually answers this prayer, but at this point she doesn't know the prayer is going to be answered, right? But she pours out her soul to the Lord. Now Eli, it's funny because his children are children of Belial and then he's accusing this woman of basically who's in sorrow of heart that's basically like pouring out her soul to the Lord, but she's moving her mouth, but she's not speaking, right? She's just in so much sorrow that she's not even talking out loud. This also shows you that for whosoever is a call upon named Lord or if with thy mouth confession is made unto salvation that you don't actually have to speak to be speaking, right? You don't actually have to audibly say something when it comes to salvation because some people can't talk, right? There's people that are dumb, meaning like they can't talk, not dumb like stupid, but like they like the Bible talks about where they're mute, right? We use the term mute. They can't talk and this is a great passage here to show you that hey, she spake in her heart, okay? And you know what? God sees the heart and Eli couldn't see what she was speaking, couldn't see what she was talking about and he marked her as basically being drunken and I love how she's like don't count me as a daughter of Belial. You notice how they kind of put those two together, right? This drunken fool that's like speaking and just rambling off. You're like don't count me as one of those people. But you know, it's just I guess very ironic that he's like thinking that she may be like a daughter of Belial when he has two sons that are sons of Belial, right? But all that to be said is that she prays this. Now she vows a vow. Now this is where I don't believe it was a good thing that she did, okay? I'm not here to, you know, the Bible says vow not at all. Swear not at all, okay? So making a vow like this is not smart, okay? I, you know, you say well would God have answered that prayer if she didn't vow that vow? You know, well if the Bible is saying don't vow at all and swear not at all, then I would say yes, okay? But a lot of cases people go too far, you know, they're like trying to make this deal to where God will do this and I don't think it's a smart thing to do, right? When you're praying for something, even if you want it a lot, you shouldn't vow something, especially if you don't know if you could actually fulfill it, okay? And, you know, it's like I vow, Lord, that I will be at church on this day and I'll do this. It's like that's not smart because you don't know what's going to happen. There could be unforeseen circumstances that just keep you away from doing that to the point what if you got into a car wreck and you're like literally can't be there because you're in the hospital. It's like, well, you broke your vow. It's just dumb to make vows, okay, like that. Now obviously when you get married you make a vow, but you better keep it, okay, because it's very serious about keeping vows. Now she keeps her vow, but I don't believe this was, you know, like the model for what we should be doing with our children, okay? This isn't how you're supposed to like make this deal with God by making vows. I believe you should just pour out your soul to the Lord, cast all your care upon him. It never says in the Bible, vow these vows to get your prayers answered, okay? Actually in the same book in James chapter 4, go to James chapter 4, James chapter 4, dealing with prayer, dealing for asking with things, in that same book it says, swear not at all, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, you know, and it's basically let your yay be yay, your nay nay, and the idea is that, you know, don't swear on anything, don't swear by the earth, don't swear by, and Jesus says the same thing in Matthew chapter 5 saying, or when he's rebuking them saying, don't swear by heaven, for it is God's throne, don't swear by the earth, for it's his footstool, you know, the idea is don't swear by anything, and just, you know, and this is why, you know, if I were to go into court, okay, and this is a side note, but if I ever had to go up to court and they're like, put your hand on the Bible and swear, I'd be like, no, the Bible says, swear not at all, be like, so you want me to show you that, you know, open it up and be like, alright, James 5, be like, but I'll say yes, I will answer truthfully, I'll let my yay be yay, okay, and they can go pound salt if they don't want that as their answer, okay, but if you ever go to court, you shouldn't be swearing, like, I will tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, be like, no, I'll just say, yes, I'll tell the truth, but I'm not going to swear on it, okay, and definitely not in the Bible, you're going to swear on God's word that you're not going to like mess up on that, okay, anyway, that's a side note, maybe I'll do a whole sermon on like swearing and vows and all that, okay, it's not saying a vow is sinful, but it's giving you a very, very serious warning about vows, right, because obviously, if you say a vow and you keep your vow, there's no sin there, okay, but is it smart, was it smart that Jephthah said the first thing that comes out of my door, I'm going to give as a burnt sacrifice and then his daughter came out the door, was that smart, I would say that was stupid, okay, but that's another sermon for another day, okay, so, but in James 4 and verse 2, James 4 and verse 2, it says, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, you fight and more yet you have not because you ask not, you ask and receive not because you ask and miss that you may consume it upon your lusts. Now, it's not saying the vow, vow that like go this extreme route and be like, if you do this for me, God, I will do this for the rest of my life, I will do this and never fail, it's like don't make those vows, okay, but if you're asking because, you know, for good reason, right, for example, if Hannah would have said, give me a man child, you know, so that, you know, I can raise him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and he can be a servant for you, that's great, I'd say that's according to the will of God, but she went a little further than that and said, no, I will vow that he will do it all his life and I will lend him to you and to the point where like basically what happens is that as soon as he's weaned, she basically, you know, has him in the temple, living in the temple and growing up in the temple and all that and when I think of mothers, I think of Hannah and how hard that had to be, okay. First, though, the prayer was answered, okay, but I want to say this, I don't think that is because of the vow that it was answered, I think that, you know, I believe God would have answered that just for the sorrow of heart, right, because Eli didn't know what she said, right, and he said the Lord, you know, grant unto thee thy petition, you know, basically, he had no idea, he thought she was like drunk speaking to herself and peeping and muttering like a person with familiar spirits or something like that, so he had no idea what she said, but that being said, I don't believe she needed the vow and in verse 19, we see that her prayer is answered, verse 19, and they rose up in the morning early and worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to their house to Rhema and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her wherefore it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived that she bear a son and called his name Samuel saying because I have asked him of the Lord, so we see that, you know, the prayer is answered, she calls him Samuel because I have asked him of the Lord, so you can see the definition of what Samuel means, so a lot of times in the Bible, you know, names have meanings and not like today, you know, people are naming people Jamonjolo or something like that and it's like orange jello and you're just like what are you doing, I mean, I know that's a meaning, okay, I know that means something, but anyway, that being said is a lot of names have meanings, okay, and your name probably has a meaning, okay, think of Adam means man, right, I think my name means healer and or, you know, the leader of the Argonauts and the Grecian mythology, no, I'm just kidding, I mean, that was a mythological story, but that being said, it's like names have meanings and that you kind of see that with Samuel here, but that being said, her prayer was answered, now this shows you what kind of woman Hannah was, she was a very godly woman, if you don't believe me, just listen to the rest of the story, I know we already read it, but I want you to think about this as a mother, okay, I know most of our mothers are in the mother baby room right now with the kids, but mothers, I want you to think about having to do this, okay, now she kind of put it on herself, okay, like I said, I don't believe that this was needed, I think she went too far with her prayer and started vowing things and, you know, but she ended up doing what she said she would do and kept her vow. Now in verse 21 here, it says, and the man Alcanah, in all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow, but Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide forever. And Alcanah, her husband said unto her, do what seemeth thee good, tarry until thou have weaned him, only the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode and gave her son suck until she weaned him, and when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks and one ephah flower and a bottle of wine and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh, and the child was young. And they slew a bullock and brought the child to Eli, and she said, O my Lord, as I so liveth my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord, as long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord, and he worshipped the Lord there. So she fulfilled her vow, but I want you to think about how hard that would be. She prayed sorrowfully for this child, she has a child, and then her only child, and then she fulfills her vow by lending him to the Lord. Basically like you're going to be here and be in boarding school for the Lord all your life and then basically serve the Lord. Now obviously Rhema and Shiloh are not right next to each other. I didn't look up the distance on that, but what we see is that she pretty much only comes to see him yearly when they come up to the sacrifice and come up and do these things. And so imagine only seeing your child every year. And think about the love that she has for God to fulfill his vow. Now obviously there should be warnings that what if she didn't keep her vow? Well, God could strike her child dead. God could take that out on her and basically for her vow. There's a lot of things you say, well I'll just take my child and go over here and live a... Well, I mean, you don't know what could happen. You don't want to get out of the blessing of the Lord. Now I don't believe like with Jephthah's case, and that's another sermon for another day, you're in a case where either way you go you're going to sin. And me personally, I would have broke my vow and let God take it out on me. That's me personally, and not have my daughter killed. To me that story's crazy that Jephthah did that, but that's in the Bible, it is what it is. But at the same time, when you vow a vow you should keep it. Now you don't want to be in a rock between a heart, but the thing is with vows what that can do is put you in a place where you can't do anything but sin. You've literally locked yourself in to where there's no way out. And God says that he'll never give you a temptation above that you're able to bear, but when you vow vows you're literally putting yourself into this situation where I told the Lord to do this, but I can't do that unless I do this over here, and Jephthah's a case where there's no way out. With that being said, go to Matthew chapter 10 dealing with the love that you had for the Lord. And I want you to think about that because I can't imagine doing this as a father. Having a child, and it'd be like weaning James, and it'd be like, alright, just hand them off to go be raised by someone else, and to serve the Lord, and to be raised to do that. No, I can't do it. Now, obviously vowing a vow there'd be a serious punishment, and I'm not saying she did the wrong thing here. I think honestly she did the right thing because I don't think it was wrong for her to bring him and for him to be raised there and do that. I don't think it was sinful, I'm not saying that she sinned by doing this, but obviously that's not what the best case scenario would have been. Not to mention, Eli is not exactly the poster child of a father, considering his children. Now Samuel turned out right, but at the same time, you'd be looking at his children and be like, yeah, you didn't do that great with them, how are you going to raise my child? But in Matthew chapter 10, notice this in verse 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me, and he that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. So this is a passage, not talking about salvation, but talking about being a disciple, being a follower, being basically an inner circle. Can you hear me? Did it cut out? Can you hear me? Can you hear me now? Hello? Alright, good. So, but that being said is that we need to love God more than our mothers, our fathers, our children, our wives, and just everything, friends, you know, we need to love God more. I feel like it's still cutting out. It's on. I changed the batteries in this, so, well, we'll just go with it, see what happens. Do I need to use this? Because I don't want to annoy you guys with that. Can you hear me? Does that work alright? So we'll try this, see what happens, but we need to love God more, okay? Now obviously this story with Hannah shows us that she obviously loved God more than her child, okay? That doesn't mean she didn't love her child, okay? And this is where people, you know, atheists will come in and be like, oh, you know, the Bible says you need to forsake mother and father, forsake your children, all this stuff to follow him. Yeah, if your children or your wife or whatever is basically just completely against God and they're foes against the gospel of Jesus Christ, then yeah, that's what you got to do, okay? But obviously if my wife's following the Lord and my children are following the Lord and they all love the Lord, then why would I have to leave them, you know what I mean? Why would that be the case? Now obviously my children, I'm not going to leave them because I'm just going to bring them up in the northern admonition of the Lord. And that bringing up might be a little harder on their end if they don't actually listen and do what they're supposed to be doing, okay? But after my children leave the home, that's where that gets into that case, right? My children leave the home, no longer their authority. Now if they go off and do whatever they're going to do, well, I mean, if they're not going to follow the Lord, I'm not just going to follow them where they're going and do what they're doing. You know what? I'm not going to end up being around them that much if they're not going to do the things of God, okay? Now and one reason too, you know, I just want to take my mom out for Mother's Day today. We'll see how that works out with the, you know, how everything's packed usually on Mother's Day is that being in the ministry takes me away from my parents. You know, it takes me away from, you know, like even just having kids, you know, you guys know this, that when you have kids, like just the time, but, you know, I don't get to go out to eat with my parents a lot of times or get to do things that maybe other people can do because I'm tied up with the ministry. You know, my mom probably knows this more than most, and I even think about this when my grandmother died, my Grandma Robinson, that it was like the last Easter that she was alive. She died in, was it April 2012? But I still remember this, okay, and I was at a different church, I was at Trinity, and I was doing the bus route and all this stuff, and it was Easter, and I was like, well, I should probably just, you know, basically for Easter between services go and visit my grandma because that's the only time I usually get to see her, like yearly, okay, or Christmas, you know, Christmas, Easter around that time, and I didn't go, I was like, nah, I'll just stick here, do this, and I didn't have to, okay, you know. But I was just saying, you know, I'll do this, and I didn't see her, and I never, and I didn't see her, you know, before she died. And there's things like that with the ministry where it can kind of take you away, okay. And here's the thing, you know, obviously I love the Lord more than my parents, I love the Lord more than my wife, I love the Lord more than my children, but I still love them. And you know, I think about this with Hannah where she lent her child to the Lord, but how much that takes away from them, okay. And you know, maybe my mom's like, well, you can go do that, I don't want to see you anyway. But you know, I don't think that's the case. I think a lot of times, you know, my parents do want to see me more, do want to hang out or whatever, and obviously with having kids, that's harder to do. But even on top of that, being in the ministry, being a pastor, you know, there's certain times where I'm just like, I can't, I can't go, I can't go do that, I can't just take a break and do this and that. So that being said, I'm still going soul winning this week, but at the same time, like I'm kind of moving things around so that I can do that. And the thing is, is that I think of Hannah, I think of the sacrifice that parents have, especially when their kids are really serving the Lord, okay. I mean, I think of brother Richie, you know, not to point him out, but you know, going off, you know, going into the mission field, right, and going into the Philippines and all that, you know, his parents didn't get to see him for a long time, you know, like in just years and going through that. Now obviously Richie did great work and got a lot of people saved, but that takes away, you know, and all that. And so, you know, we need to appreciate mothers, especially, like I said, this sermon is more so for mothers that have children that are serving the Lord, okay. Mothers that have lent their children, so to speak, to the Lord. Now obviously I'm not under my parents' authority anymore, right, because I'm, you know, I'm married, I have children, I pay the bills, I do all that, you know, myself. But at the same time, you know, your parents still care about you, they still want to see you, they still want to spend time with you. And I think about Hannah with this and the fact that she only got to see her son every year, okay. Now she loved the Lord and this is a testament that she loved the Lord because, you know what, she still did it. And notice right here, and this is why really, I guess, I don't know if it tugs at the heartstrings a little bit, but every time I read this portion, go to 1 Samuel 2, and 1 Samuel 2 and verse 18 is what she did for her son every time she'd see him, okay. And I don't know why, but maybe it's just the wording, but I'm just like, this is so sad, you know, to think about what it's going, what it's doing to her, okay. Maybe the child doesn't feel that as much, you know, because the child, that's what the child's known, you know, it's not like, you know, anyway, but what this would be doing to the mother in verse 18. But Samuel ministered before the Lord and being a child girded with a linen ephod. So he's like a child, he's in this linen ephod, you know, he's serving the Lord. And it's kind of funny, you know, to think about it, you know, being that young and starting up like that. But in verse 19, moreover, his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife and said, the Lord give the seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And they went on to their own home, and the Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters, and the child, Samuel, grew before the Lord. So in the end, she ended up having a lot of children, right, and the Lord blessed her. But there's something about the fact that she made this little coat. You know, there's nothing, I don't know, you know, obviously I'm a dad, I'm not a mom, so I don't get all like mushy or like into the cuteness. But when you see these little coats and the little outfits, you know, like it's very adorable. But to think about like bringing this coat, putting it on your child and being like, I'm not going to see you for another year. But the care that I'm sure she put into that coat each year, right, I'm going to bring you this coat each year. And lending her child to the Lord like that, and that's probably, that may be one of the harder things for mothers to do, and maybe you don't want to think about it, you know, but one day your children are going to leave the home. One day they're going to go off and serve the Lord. One day it may not be close to you. You know, you don't know where they're going to go, okay, and you may see them once a year or less. And that's something you have to deal with, and you know what, every time I read this story I think of Hannah and I think about how hard that had to be for her. Now hers is kind of a more, you know, harsher case because, you know, you're dealing with a child, right. Obviously most of you are going to be dealing with a grown man or a grown woman, you know, that's coming out of your home and you're not dealing with like, you know, like five years old, all right, see you later, you know, go serve the Lord. So obviously this is a more extreme case, but you can still relate to this. You can still relate to the fact of, you know, okay, now my child's going to go off and do what they need to do for the Lord, and you know what, if you love the Lord you'll let them do it. If you love the Lord you'll let them go do what God has them to do. And that's going to be a hard day, and it's, you know, it's easy for me to say right now because all my children are young, you know, they've got some years left before they're going to be going out of the home, but that's going to be a hard day, it's going to be a hard day to see like my daughter getting married and going off and, you know, being away from the home. Like that's going to be hard, it's going to be really hard, and you know, even, you know, my son or, you know, or what if my son ends up, and listen, I don't care if my son goes into the ministry, I don't care what he does, as long as he gets saved, loves the Lord, he could, you know, be a welder all the rest of his life and just do that for the rest of his life and I'd be great, you know, and he goes to church, loves the Lord, goes soul winning, what if it's not around me, what if I don't get to see him, you know, this is something that you have to deal with with friends, you have to deal with with family members because there's a lot of my friends that aren't around me anymore, brother Richie used to be one of those, thank, you know, thank the Lord he came back, you know, and I get to hang out with him and stuff like that, but I think of, I think of brother Stuckey, I think of other people that I'm friends with, I think of my friend Mike Meludage, you know, like I don't get to see him at all, maybe once a year and, but you know what, when I think of brother Stuckey, who's out in the Philippines right now, I also think about the fact that he's doing great things for God and obviously Richie was doing great things for God out there and he's doing great things for God here and the thing is is that you can do great things for God wherever you're at, but sometimes it calls you away and there are going to be people probably in our church one day that are going to go away and do great things for God somewhere else, okay? I mean, you never know and I'm not like pushing brother Richie out, but if he ever wanted to go do something or we're doing other things or even other men in the church that maybe someone one day will want to pastor a church and then I'll be sending them out, you know, it's going to be a hard thing to say, all right, you know, because you know what, that person's going to be a very big asset to our church to be at that level to go say I'm going to go start a church, you're not losing someone that just like comes there and doesn't do anything in the church, right? You're losing someone that's a valuable asset, someone that's probably a close friend and saying, all right, go out and do this, but what you have to think about is eternity when it comes to this. You got to think about the fact that if your child's saved and they're serving the Lord, what is our life, but it's even a vapor, okay? And I know this is hard, you know, especially, you know, for mothers to think about this with their children that their children may move away or their children will be somewhere where you're not going to see them. Listen, we'll see them for all eternity and you've got to have it in perspective when it comes to that and I'm sure Hannah had to be thinking of that, okay? Hannah had to be thinking, you know what, I'm lending it to the Lord, but I'll have all eternity to spend with Samuel and talk about what he went through and how much I love him, how much I care for him, but when she did see him, she brought him that little coat and that's one of the saddest things when I read that. You know, it's not as, you maybe read this and you're like that's not a sad story, that's cool, you know, you got to give, you know, they got to see each other. To me, that's a sad story because all I'm thinking about is that the way she felt when she left, right, and then she went back home and leaving him there, right, and not being able to spend time with him, not being able to grow up with him and not going through all that with him. Now, I do believe, obviously, Hannah kind of put that on herself, but at the same time, you know what, people deal with this all the time when you deal with broken families, broken homes, and not being able to spend time with your children. What if you have a broken home and then your ex takes their children somewhere way far out of the way, you don't get to see your children. You know, whether it's father or mother, but at the same time, you know, that stuff happens and you know what, that tugs at the heartstrings when you only get to see your children. You know, I was gone, I went to Georgia and I was out for three days and I'm like, I missed my children immediately. And you're like, because when you're there with your children, you're just like, like, man, I just want like two minutes where I can just like be apart from it. And you know mothers, listen, I know this, okay, and those that are about to be mothers, you'll know this too. There's just kind of a point where you're just like, I just don't want to be touched for like a couple minutes. I just want a little bit of time alone to where I can just breathe and just like, you know, do something by myself without anybody around me. Just a little bit of privacy for once. And you know what, when it comes to, when you go out for one like day, you miss it immediately. Okay. And I guarantee you mothers, if you were just to take one day where you were out and like overnight, not at home, that there's going to be a very strong longing for your children and want to see your children and want to be around them. And so, you know, this Mother's Day sermon is more so to hit on the fact that, you know, for mothers that are mothers of children, that you're wanting to be strong soldiers for the cause of Christ. Okay. I'm talking to a church that goes out sowing. I'm talking to a church that loves the Lord. I'm talking to a church, we're not, this isn't just a normal everyday church that you go out to. Okay. This is a church that wants to get people saved week in, week out, that wants to know doctrine, that wants to be above reproach when it comes to Christianity. I'm not dealing with just the church down the road that just comes, puts in their dues and goes back home. Okay. And that being said is that you got to know that in a church like this, Lord willing, a lot of the kids will grow up and serve the Lord and love the Lord and do great things for God. Whether the ladies, you know, end up marrying somebody that becomes like, you know, a leader in some aspect of Christianity, whether it's a pastor, whether it's an evangelist, whether it's, you know, a missionary, whether it's whatever, or whether the sons grow up and they want to go do that. You know. Or if they're just even in a church just thriving but they're in a church far away from you. Okay. And it's something you got to prepare your heart for and just remember, hey, you know what, we need to love God more than our children. We need to love God more than our wives. We need to love God more than our family because if they need to go serve the Lord, we need to let them. We need to lend them to the Lord. Okay. Because the fruit of the womb is his reward. Okay. I'm not saying lend them to the school system. I'm not saying lend them to the government. Okay. Lend them to this wicked society. Lend them to Hollywood. No. That's ridiculous. Okay. I was talking about lending them to the Lord. Okay. Lending them to the Lord. And you know what, that's probably going to be one of the hardest things you deal with is that right there. Because you know it's a good cause and you know you don't really have anything to say against it. You know, a lot of things you're just like, no, son, you shouldn't go do that because that's wrong and that's not going to be prosperous. You're like, well, mom, I want to go out and you know serve the Lord. And you're just like, ah. You know, what are you going to say against that, right? You're going to be like, no, don't go serve the Lord. You can be with me, you know. And I know it's silly to think of it that way, but at the same time, it's going to be hard. It's going to be hard. And Hannah is a great example. If you think it's hard when your children are older, think about it when, if they were younger than that. Okay. And that story with the little coat, I don't know what it is about that wording, but the fact that she brought him this little coat. It's a little coat. It's not just a coat, it's a little one. And when you, I don't know, there's nothing cuter than when you put on these little coats and these little shoes and these little outfits that it's just adorable. And to imagine that you would just have to leave them there and walk away and lend them to the Lord at that age, that's an extreme case. And this story makes me sad every time I hear that when I read that. But let's look at Hannah's prayer because Hannah is a great woman of God. Okay. And Hannah, you know, you have Anna the prophetess in the New Testament, you have Hannah in the Old Testament here, that's a great woman here. Notice in verse 1 of chapter 2, verse 1, we have this prayer. So she prayed for the child, but then she prays later on to the Lord rejoicing, you know, because the Lord, you know, has given her this man child that she asked for. And just look at her prayer here and it just shows you that this woman was a godly woman. By her actions, you should know, right, that she's a godly woman. And in verse 1 here, it says, and Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceedingly proud, let not arrogance come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. I love this. What a powerful verse right there. She's saying basically don't speak proudly, don't have arrogance in your mouth because God, the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. So you think you know what you're talking about? He's the God of knowledge. You know, don't even come to him with any proud talk or arrogance. I just love that verse right there. Verse 4, the bows of the mighty man are broken and they that stumble are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread and they that were hungry ceased. So that the barren hath been born seven and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifted up the beggar from the dung hill to set them among princes and to make them inherit throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Now it's interesting because at this point there's no king in Israel. Who do you think he's talking about? Because Jesus is called the anointed in Psalm 2. What's another word for anointed? Christ. And is Christ not the king? So it's interesting because there's even some prophecy in here with this prayer, but this is a very godly mother here. And I believe there's a lot of great examples here. You know, obviously she was sorrowful, but it shows you, hey, the Lord is the one that opens and closes the womb. The Lord is the one that will say, hey, you know what? I'll give you children. It'll be my reward. Now if you're a couple and you just can't have kids, listen, there's nothing wrong with adoption. And the Bible views adoption as being legitimate children. You have that child, you get some, you know, the Bible talks about, you know, we have received the spirit of adoption and that when you adopt somebody, you know what? They're to be like a son that's born into your own home. And that your children, if you have children after that, we'll call them brethren, call them a sister, and there should be no difference between that, okay? And so, you know, I'm all for adoption, you know, if it comes down to it and you want to have kids, I don't think that you're playing God if you adopt, okay? So don't get me wrong there. What I'm saying is don't mess with this IVF stuff, don't mess with this other stuff. And if you've already done it, listen, you know, you can't change the past, okay? But this is a warning out there that we should not be doing stuff that's outside of God's plan of opening and closing the womb. If God wants you to have biological children, then He'll allow you to have biological children. Now, there are a lot of other things when it comes to having children, when it comes to just good diet, you know, being healthy. There are physical things that will help you have children. But ultimately, I don't care how good your diet is, I don't care how healthy you are, if God shuts the womb, it's shut, okay? And Hannah, would you say Hannah's some wicked woman, you know, that God's like shutting her womb because she's so wicked? No, she was obviously very godly, okay? We could see from her prayer for the son, we could see her for a prayer after the son was given, we could see with just the actions that she did by lending Samuel to the Lord when she vowed that vow and she's keeping her vow, that she's a very godly woman. So don't get this in your mind too, ladies, you know, that, well, I can't have children, it must be because I'm not right with God. I must be because I'm not godly enough, right? You know, it's not about that. Now, obviously, that can help, you know, if you want children, then come to church being godly and being like Hannah and praying for it. Listen, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him, and in the Bible it talks about we have confidence toward that because we ask according to His will, but also because we do those things that are pleasing in His sight. If our heart can, if our heart condemn us, God is greater in the heart and knoweth all things. If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God that what's the word we ask of Him we receive? And it says because we do those things that are pleasing in His sight, you know, and the idea there is that you want your petitions asked, you know, answered. Well, first, don't ask something that you're just trying to do to consume upon your lusts, okay? So, you ask for a Ferrari, you ask for some like expensive thing that you don't have to have, well, you're just doing to consume upon your lust, that's why you're not receiving it. But if you ask according to the will of God, and you're doing those things that are pleasing in His sight, and you're asking because you want this for a godly reason, listen, those are the prayers that God's gonna end up answering. Now, obviously, God may not answer it for other reasons, right? You know, this is why young people die sometimes or why good people would die young. The Bible says, the righteous perish if no man taketh it to heart, the righteous are taken away, no man considering that he is taken away from evil to come. And sometimes you don't know maybe why God isn't giving you children at that time, okay? And, you know, also the children that you have on how hard they're to deal with, right? When we had Anna, she was really hard. She had like colic, she had like stomach issues. Going from one to two was the hardest thing we've ever done. From one child to the second child, because that was really hard to deal with. We had Emma, she was one of the, she was the best baby we ever had. And I believe God's just like, you know, you can only handle so much, you know? And, you know, when it comes to having children, maybe God spaces them out differently based off what you can handle, okay? And you just gotta put it in the Lord's hands, okay? And, but that being said, Hannah, the mother of Samuel is a great, you know, example of a mother. And on Mother's Day here, especially dealing with mothers at our church that are planning on raising their children in an urgent admonition to the Lord, raising their children to serve the Lord, there's going to come a day when you're going to have to lend them, okay? And it's a good thing, you know, if you're lending them to the Lord, meaning that you're letting them go to go serve the Lord, it's going to be a hard day. And you know what? Hannah did what was right. Hannah, you know, loved the Lord. And mothers, that's going to be one of the harder things that you ever do, okay? And motherhood's hard, okay? Dealing with children, feeding them, changing them, and going through all that, that is hard. But it's all going to be worth it in the end. If you raise them to get saved, to love the Lord, listen, you will never regret that. But use Hannah as an example of a great mother that loved the Lord. And like I said, when I read this story, my heart, my heart goes out to her, you know, when you're dealing with that. And the Bible teaches a lot about mothers and their love for their children. And that's going to be one of the harder things to deal with is when you're dealing with people that are in the ministry. When your children go into the ministry, it takes time away. But you know what? Hannah did it. If Hannah can do that with a child, you can do that with an adult. So, but let's end with a word of prayer. The Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. And thank you for this passage about Hannah and about Samuel. And just to, obviously, we need to love you when it comes to having children. But we thank you for this great example of a mother in the Bible, and just the sacrifice that she gave to lend her son to the Lord. And Lord just prayed she'd help us to do that, help our mothers to do that when the time comes. But also, you know, us fathers, I know that that's going to be hard on us too. But Lord, we just thank you for the story. And thank you for all the mothers in our church. And Lord, we just pray that you would be with us for the rest of the time and at the point of time we come back in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. So Brother Nick will come and lead us in one more song and then we'll be dismissed. I don't know what's going on with this. Can you hear me back there? All right, turn to song number 49 in your songbook. Song number 49. If we'd all stand, we'll sing Meet Me There. Song number 49. On the happy golden shore where the faithful part no more, when the storms of life are o'er, meet me there. Where the night dissolves away into pure and perfect day, I am going home to stay, meet me there. Meet me there, meet me there. Where the tree of life is blooming, meet me there. When the storms of life are o'er, on the happy golden shore, where the faithful part no more, meet me there. Here our fondest hopes are vain, dearest links are rent and twain, but in heaven and earth. Amen.