[0:00] 1 Samuel chapter 1, we've kind of found ourselves parked back in this section of the Bible lately in Joshua and in Judges, and now 1 Samuel.
[0:18] And here's the story as it begins of Samuel's birth and his rearing in the temple of God in Shiloh, and then he goes on to be the prophet and priest and judge of Israel, and Samuel has a beginning.
[0:41] And what I want to show you is he has steps of growth in his life that I think that we can make application to you and I today the things we see Samuel as a young child, the stages that he goes through, I think we can apply them really well to our lives today.
[0:57] And so before we read, let's pray and get focused on the Bible now. Father, please take our thoughts of this life and our distractions and just remove them from us for now and draw us to your word and allow this story and this illustration of this young boy and his growth to land and to fit into where we are today into each life.
[1:22] Lord, reveal to us where we are in this and where we need to go and what you would have for us. Help us to be willing to change. Help us to be willing to submit to you and to lay down anything that's holding us back from your will.
[1:35] Help us to be children of God that are growing, ever growing in our walk with you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, I kind of consider I thought to do this.
[1:47] I'm not going to do this, but I'm curious to get the numbers of this congregation of spiritual, I can't say growth, but I could say at least age.
[2:00] How many have been saved for under three years or under 10 years or above 10 years, 20, 30 years? I'm kind of curious to know that in here, but I won't have you stand.
[2:11] I won't have you have to calculate. That might be a little bit much for you on the spot. But I'm curious to know, and I'm curious to know what it is, who it is in here that's how long you've been saved.
[2:24] And by the end of this, I want you then to think on that and figure, so how long have I been saved? Does my growth match the years of my salvation? Have I been growing in my walk with Christ over these years?
[2:38] Or have I hit a plateau? Or have I kind of backslidden? Where am I in growing? Now, in 1 Samuel, we're going to begin kind of with early on in his life, before he was ever born.
[2:50] And just take a peek here at verses 10 through 12 and see Samuel's mother, Hannah, begging God for a child. In verse number 10, it says, She was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore.
[3:04] 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 will give unto thine handmaid, but will give unto them 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.
[3:21] And it came to pass that she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth. And now we'll skip down to past the discourse there with the priest and the woman.
[3:33] And her prayer is heard and she's granted of the Lord a son. And so in verse 24 to the end of the chapter, it says, 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.
[3:49] And the child was young. And they slew a bullock and brought the child to Eli. And she said, Now that's a pretty good start for this young child's life, is for him to be an actual gift from God to a praying mother, and to have her then dedicate, not a baby dedication, but literally lend him, give him to the priest and go home.
[4:30] I mean, that's a pretty good start for a child to be brought up around the Lord, around the things of God, to be trained under a priest, to have a praying mother.
[4:43] And these things are great. Not everybody has that. Very few, maybe, we'd say in this world today, have that kind of upbringing and beginning.
[4:54] And so it's a great place for Samuel to start. The growth, the potential, it's incredible to start like that. And it reminds me of kids that grow up in church.
[5:08] It reminds me of myself. It reminds me to think that there are some that God just gifts. I mean, you might not think of it in your own mind. You may not perceive your life to be like God's directing it.
[5:22] No, you're just being dragged to church. If you're a child or a young person or a teen, or if that was your history, you don't see it that way. Unless your heart's toward the Lord, unless you're in his word, unless you want to please him, then you start to have your eyes open to say, Hey, God, this is really special what I have in this life.
[5:38] To be brought up around the word of God. To have parents that dedicated me to God to bring me before the Lord. And the things like that. This is an incredible beginning and a very rare thing.
[5:51] And just by passing, don't take that for granted. If you have that, don't throw that away. Don't despise that. Because so very few have it. So very few have this potential in their life.
[6:05] Now Samuel has this potential. And he's going to start growing. And we're going to see that right away. He gets off to a real good start. Now come to chapter 2. 1 Samuel chapter 2.
[6:18] And notice verse number 21. Verse 21, the Bible says, The Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters.
[6:33] And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. We're going to notice three times in this life and early life of Samuel that he grew. And we're going to call them, I liken them to steps that Samuel takes in his growth or spiritual growth for you and I.
[6:51] Samuel grew before the Lord. Before the Lord. Look back at verse 11. What is he doing? He's ministering unto the Lord. In verse 11 it says, Elkanah went to Ramah to his house.
[7:04] And the child, though, he stayed there in Shiloh with Eli. The child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Now later on in verse 18. It says, But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod.
[7:20] Now we could make type there and make comments of that. And I'm not really going to get too involved in the picture here. But Samuel's growing before the Lord. The idea is Samuel's in the temple.
[7:32] He's in the place that God dwells. He's there. Today we say he's at church all the time almost. He's learning from Eli the ways, the proper righteous ways of ministering to God.
[7:46] He's not out there as some heathen kid. He's not living in his house. This is the times of the judges. There's no king in the land. There's an awful lot of Canaanites and Hittites and Hivites and Jebusites and all of those still in the land.
[7:57] And as you remember from last week, that cycle of the judge, that stuff's kind of alive. The Philistines are kind of over the Jews at this time. And the battles are just ahead in a few chapters.
[8:10] But Samuel's not going back home. And he's not being immersed into that culture. And he's not being around the world. No, he's growing up in church. He's growing up before the Lord. He's growing up where he sees the man of God, Eli, sacrifice and the fire, the incense and the showbread and the things that very, very few people on earth get to see and witness and be a part of.
[8:33] Samuel's not a Levite. He just gets brought into this thing. He's not a son of Eli. He's not destined to be a priest. But here he is growing up before the Lord.
[8:46] And I want to ask you the question. You know how you're going to grow? You know how you're going to grow? If you get before the Lord. In the same sense, if you get around those things of God, the places where God puts his name, I can just say, get to church.
[9:03] But there's the three main things. You know, the three basic things in Christianity is reading your Bible, praying and attending church. Read your Bible, pray, attend church.
[9:16] Those are the easy three. And there's more. I mean, giving, right? I should mention that too, right? Giving. Make sure you give. No, I'm kidding. Just those. Although it's part of, anyway. Those three things are kind of like the primary things.
[9:30] If you want to grow, you need to be in the Bible. You need to be around the word of God. You want to grow? Well, you need to learn how to pray and talk to the Lord. And in prayer, you commune with God. And God impresses you in prayer.
[9:41] When you humble your spirit and confess sin and you just are before him, he impresses thoughts on you that don't take place while you're swinging your golf clubs. But it takes place when you're on your knees in prayer.
[9:54] The Lord deals with you. He speaks to you. He does it in prayer. He does it through his word. And he does it when you come to church. And he does it when you come and sit in church. And he just, like, says, boom.
[10:05] He hits you on something when you need to be hit. Or just being around God's people is so much better than being around the lost people. It's just a good place to be. You grow when you're before the Lord.
[10:18] I had a friend years ago. I had a friend that I went to school with. And we were buddies for a couple years. And then kind of went separate ways for a little bit. But we ended up at the same job for a little while.
[10:29] And I was living for God at the time. I was doing right and just loving the Lord and in church all the time and trying to be an influence to him. Because he grew up in church as well.
[10:39] But he just kind of fell out. And he wasn't a nasty guy, a filthy, wicked, you know. But he wasn't living for the Lord either. And I was trying to influence him. And I was inviting him to come out to church.
[10:51] And it was a Wednesday night that I was scheduled to preach that night and preach. I was going to get up and fumble around and cry for a while. And I invited him to come. I was like, you know, if you want to come, come.
[11:05] You'll get to make fun of me the next day if you want to. And so he didn't take me up on it. But I continued to say, hey, why don't you come Sunday? What are you doing Sunday? And his reply was this.
[11:15] It was like, hmm, what am I doing Sunday? You know, I don't think I have anything I'm doing. Yeah, I'll come.
[11:26] And he came. And I remember that response. I remember looking at him and thinking, if you would ask me to come to church on Sunday or if it was different, you know, where I'm at right now.
[11:37] If you ask me, one guy, I'll tell you this way, the opposite. These two guys asked me, they said there's a football game in Philadelphia. They're playing the Bears. It's on Sunday night. They're like, do you want to go? And I looked at him like, are you serious?
[11:50] No. Like, what do you mean? It's like a chance to watch the Bears. Why wouldn't you want to go? You love watching the Bears. Yeah, I do. But I'm not skipping church for that. I'm not staying home for that or going to Philadelphia where I'd probably get beat up being a Bears fan.
[12:05] They're nasty down there. I'm not doing that. Why? Because I'm going to be in church. This is what I do on Sundays. I go to church. On Wednesday nights, I'm going to be in church. That's what I do. Not because I'm holy or wonderful.
[12:17] That's just I'm growing. I'm getting before the Lord. He's changing me. And that's where I'm at. But the other guy had to sit and think, what am I doing?
[12:27] What do I have? If I don't have anything that's really interesting to me, then I'll go to church. You know what that guy did? He never made it to that first step. I'm going to call this the step of strengthening, where you grow before the Lord, where you get around the minister of God and the activity of the church, and you get surrounded by it and immersed in it.
[12:49] And you get on your own time into the word of God. And the Lord deals with you. And you learn. Your understanding is opened up. You begin to pray and talk to God and commune with him like you've never done before.
[13:01] And now it becomes real to you. You start to know him. But just being raised around the house of God is not enough. Because Eli had some boys that were raised around the house of God.
[13:14] And they were referred to as the sons of Belial in chapter 2 and verse 12. Matter of fact, God said that they made themselves vile. And that they were full of sin and iniquity.
[13:25] And Eli didn't restrain them. Just being in church isn't enough. But rather, Samuel grew in what I'm calling the step of strengthening. Because he was before the Lord.
[13:36] He was before the Lord. And if you want to grow, you're going to have to get yourself before the Lord. You know, just because you get saved doesn't mean that you're grown. It doesn't all of a sudden, boom, everything's like I'm there.
[13:48] You know, if you decide to sign up and to join the man's army versus the Lord's army. If you decide to sign up in some form of military here in this land. And they don't say, okay, sign right there.
[14:00] All right. Hey, thanks for signing up. Here's the keys to the Hummer. What would you like to be? Who would you like to boss around? You're one of us. You want to take a trip somewhere? You want to go fight a battle for us?
[14:12] No, you know what that guy has to do? He's got to get to that step of strengthening. He's got to knock a lot of stuff out of him so that he can comply and follow orders. He has to be humbled and brought to a place where he can serve.
[14:26] And so he goes to boot camp. And the goal in mind, though, for that soldier is to grow. It's to make him into a soldier. And so he goes to this step of strengthening where he's immersed in the military culture.
[14:40] He's immersed in training. And learning the rules and combat and weapons. And do you understand? Does it make sense? This is the step of strengthening. It's Samuel, young, growing before the Lord.
[14:53] And this kind of strengthening, if you're going to get involved in it, you're going to have to have a desire for it. You're going to have to desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
[15:05] You're going to have to have a determination and a dedication to it. A dedication that says, day by day by day by day, I'm going to grow. I'm going to be in the word of God.
[15:18] I'm going to spend time with him. And I'm going to be in church when I can be in church every single time. Because I have a determination and a dedication to it. And so Samuel grew before the Lord.
[15:30] Now look back at chapter number two and look at verse number 26. The second time it shows up, it says, The child Samuel grew on.
[15:41] There's progress. The child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. And that's interesting. Samuel grows on.
[15:53] Now men are taking notice to the child Samuel. Now Samuel's growth and his place here at this temple is having an effect on other people around him.
[16:05] He's growing on. He's already been strengthened and learning. But now he's, I'm going to call this the step of service. But now it's being displayed to others.
[16:16] He's got a testimony that other people can see. I can imagine. Now you, just let me borrow your imagination for a moment. I don't think this is far-fetched at all. That the ark of God is in Shiloh.
[16:30] Israelites, there's no temple. There's no Jerusalem. None of that's been established yet. This temple is probably just the tent, the tabernacle that's set up in Shiloh. That's where it rested. That's where it stayed until the future God established in Jerusalem.
[16:44] So there it is in Shiloh. The people of God had to come to Shiloh. That's exactly what Samuel's parents did at the very beginning of chapter 1. They're making their way to Shiloh. They did it year by year.
[16:55] Now, don't you imagine that some of the people of God in this not so great a time in Israel's history, as the cycle went through with Judges, don't you suppose that some of the people of God, as they took their sacrifices yearly to the priest, as they made that trip, as they got to that place, and they saw Eli getting older and fatter, as it says later in his life, and then saw his sons and understood what these guys are all about and they're filthy and looked and saw what kind of future is there here?
[17:34] What is this? I mean, the nation's not in a great position, but look at the temple of God. Look at the man of God growing older and heavier and growing blind, and then look at his two sons and their mischief and their wickedness.
[17:53] I'm not going to read you the stuff. Read it for yourself. These guys are some vile creatures supposed to be priests or sons of the priest and taking advantage of the position. I mean, it's some abominable things their carnality is going after.
[18:09] I imagine that they bite their tongues as they came to offer their sacrifice to the Lord in obedience to the word of God. I imagine what they saw they didn't like.
[18:19] I imagine as they went home, they just thought, what's it going to look like next year? How much worse is this going to keep getting? And then one day, there's this little child Samuel clothed in a little linen ephod.
[18:35] And they said, Eli, who's this? What's this? Hey, buddy, what's your name? What are you doing here? And he finds out, oh, I'm Samuel. I'm here to serve God at this place and to minister before the Lord and to take care of whatever I can do.
[18:51] And year by year, he gets a little bigger. My, how you've grown, Samuel. I don't think this is too far-fetched. He lived there years of his life growing up here.
[19:03] And as they come back, they see him the next year. My, Samuel, that ephod's getting a little small on you, buddy. I'm going to have to get another one. And they see something different about this kid versus those guys, the sons of Eli and their abominations.
[19:20] And Samuel is growing on. And he's growing in favor both with the Lord and also with men. And I'll bet you those men and women as they came and saw him year by year as he grew and grew and grew, started to grow fond of him and started to see, hey, there's something good happening here.
[19:37] I'll bet they talked to him and ignored them. I'm sure of it as Samuel grew in favor with men. And I'm going to call this the step of service because Samuel's serving and it's seen, it's displayed, it's outward.
[19:53] And the Bible says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. And Samuel's got such a way of pleasing the Lord and he's pleasing men all around him. They're coming to the temple, they're offering their sacrifices, they're biting their tongue, but I bet they sure are encouraged to see a Samuel.
[20:12] You know what's encouraging in a church is to see a Samuel come up. To see ones come up young and do right and do right and watch others fall away and fall into sin, but to see somebody get strengthened in the word of God, to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then to start to serve, start to do something, to be a doer of the word.
[20:36] You don't see a lot of that. I'm sure it's encouraging. I'll bet you there's an older generation that just gets stirred in their hearts when they see a young man or a young woman get on fire for God.
[20:49] They know what it's like back in their day. They know what it's like, what they've experienced, and even how the Lord's dealt with their hearts. And now they've watched the churches change over the years. I'll bet you, I guarantee it, all over this land, there's an older generation of men and women that are sitting in churches biting their tongues, disgusted with what's going on in the pulpit, with the guy, with the band playing a few sets before the woman gets up and gives her devotional, and then the man gets up and says a few words, and they've got their skinny jeans on, and just don't get me started on that.
[21:24] I bet there's so many that are just biting their tongues. But if God would raise up a Samuel, see somebody grow and get into that stage or phase where they're, now they're on fire, now they're serving, now it's evident, everybody's seeing it.
[21:41] I remember one time, I remember one time in my church growing up, there was a revival and a guy preached for several nights, and one of the nights, I don't recall the message, I was young, but I remember half of the church went forward.
[21:56] Like literally, I stood back there as a young kid there and seeing half of this church, they're all up there at the altar, across the altar, across the front pew, across the floor praying.
[22:08] When I was young, I didn't really know much about it or what was going on, I just stood there and looked around. But I can still remember that in my mind, and I thought, where have those days gone? Where have those days gone where people are growing and they're responding and they're taking steps?
[22:26] The step number one is the step of strengthening where a fire begins to burn inside and you deal with God on a personal level and God sees it and you and God are growing.
[22:39] Step number two is the step where men see it, where now the fire that's burning on the inside is burning on the outside and you have a testimony and you're displaying it as you're serving God and ministering.
[22:58] It's not merely just doing what you're told but now it's being used of God and being a blessing in ways you don't even realize. It doesn't even cross your mind probably the things that God will use you to do as you begin to burn outwardly and you're growing and getting involved and serving.
[23:15] And then there's a third one. Come over to chapter number three. In 1 Samuel chapter three, and here a transition takes place.
[23:28] This is the very interesting scene of that night when the word of the Lord was first revealed to Samuel and he's laying there at night and a voice calls Samuel and it happens so much that he just doesn't know what it is.
[23:46] He thinks it's Eli and so he goes to Eli and says here I am in verse six and Eli is like I didn't call you and so he sends him back. He does in verse four and then again in verse six and Samuel didn't know what was going on but the Lord is revealing himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord and there's a changing of the guard is taking place this night and this moment.
[24:10] And so in verses one through 18 we get this story of him going before Eli and Eli perceiving that it's the Lord and him telling well if you hear it again you say speak Lord thy servant heareth so he does that the Lord then speaks to Samuel for the first time in the darkness of the night he hears the word of God being revealed to him and it's pronouncing judgment on the house of Eli for the sins of his sons and so forth and in the morning verse 18 Samuel told him every wit and hid nothing from him and he said it's the Lord let him do what seemeth good to him and then we see the third time that Samuel grows in verse 19 it says and Samuel grew this is not the same as what we saw in chapter 2 either time this is a third mention it's a continuation it's a progression and Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and did let none of his words fall to the ground Samuel is now the God's man in the land he's now going to be the one that judges Israel he's going to be the prophet he's going to be the priest in verse 20 we'll finish the chapter it says and all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord and the Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord so it's a sad day for Eli in his house
[25:34] God's finished with him this changing of the guard transition takes place and it's the third step of Samuel's growth he's now entrusted with responsibility with the ministry he's now the prophet and priest and judge to lead God's people God is speaking to him directly that is wild and this is I'm going to call the step of surrender the third step because Eli is not going to stick around forever somebody's going to have to take his place and looking around at his two sons it's not looking good and so God raises up somebody else then strengthens and grows him and he serves and he comes to this next step I'll call it the step of surrender where he now is surrendered and offered and taking over in the ministry here here in Israel in Shiloh I wonder if God was going to look for somebody to take over something somewhere if he was going to look for a man or a woman to fill a slot would he look would he overlook you would he come across and just pass on and move on somewhere else or would he park and consider you
[26:47] I wonder if you think in your heart I wonder if you want God to use you like do you want that for your life I want God to be pleased with me and I want him to use me I want to be a vessel that God will fill and lead and use do you want that for your life are you content just to I want to come to church and I don't want to get in trouble with the Lord I don't want to do anything that's bad or he's going to get me I'm going to keep coming because I fear him or do you want God to use you is there do you feel like there's more to it to this life than just coming to church and reading your Bible I wonder if God's waiting on you tonight this morning I wonder if God's waiting on you maybe maybe you need to get past that step of strengthening and and get serious in the word of God and get serious and spending time with him and growing so that now it starts coming out of you and serving and then God says that's the one
[28:05] I'll use him look at look at this this is something Samuel says look at verse 10 of chapter 3 in verse 10 it's the Lord came and stood he didn't pass by he came and stood he called as at other times Samuel Samuel look what Samuel says speak for thy servant heareth that's that second step of service Samuel's there and that's the ones that God's going to call the ones that have already that are devoted to strengthening to training to learning to growing and then to doing and not content with just getting by I read my Bible check but to doing something to be a doer of the word and to serving that servant God stops he stands and he calls as at other times and there's the step of surrender I wonder if you love the Lord Jesus Christ enough to offer your life to him to surrender it to him to say as Samuel did here am I you know his call might match the way God calls men today as far as our ignorance of what's going on when God calls and he puts something on your heart sometimes you have no idea what's happening you don't really get it you're like what in the world having these thoughts
[29:26] I'm having these desires toward things and so you know what Samuel goes and gets counsel from the older man of God that's been around and heard the voice of the Lord he gets counsel from him and then he learns what he ought to do and he learns to say here am I and he learns what it is it's the voice of God it's God dealing with your heart and he wants you to offer yourself and surrender and say here am I I wonder if you love Jesus Christ enough to give your life to him to lose your life for his sake because if you will Christ promised one thing he said you'll find it I'll bet you you go ask any man that's been in the ministry for years ask any older man that's been faithful to God in a good ministry that's been that a bible believe in work that preaches and teaches and has seen no doubt their share of struggles and ups and downs and issues and problems and ask him and say is it worth it is it really something that I should pursue is this worth giving my life to you know not having guarantees about certain things and not being sure if the congregation is going to be stable and grow and income and insurance and support and family and children and raising kids and dealing with problems in life is this something that's really worth it or
[30:49] I bet you ask anyone and they'll say absolutely worth it absolutely no question the opportunity to surrender yourself to a calling of God you would turn down that opportunity for what there's something better than that Samuel grew when the Lord was with him is what we read in verse 19 the Lord was with him and in this step of surrender Samuel didn't have to make excuses he just said here am I I wonder if you're there yet are you to that third step yet I'd probably say and venture to say very few are based on the numbers of the church and of Christianity very few ever make it there many are content with that first one just to read their Bible and pray and I'm not saying God calls everybody the big stuff and I don't want to put that pressure on you don't feel like I am but many are content just to stay back there at step one some don't even make it there some don't even make it some of those are children of Belial in the sense of they're just living wickedly living in sin living in carnality all the while near the house of God all the while around the priest but Samuel grew and he grew in that step of strengthening and he grew into that step of service and then finally to that step of surrender to where God was going to take him and use him going forward into the future there's three levels in the book of Revelation there's the called there's the chosen and there's the faithful in John 15 there's fruit there's more fruit and then there's much fruit in Romans 12 there's the good there's the acceptable and there's the perfect will of God with the disciples there's the 12 then there's those three and then there's that one beloved disciple there's three stages there's three levels there's three phases all over the place the strengthening the service and then the surrender and I fear very few make it there's always something that gets in the way to the surrender there's always some reason why you shouldn't there's always fear there's always a love for something else there's always family there's always relationships there's always money there's always things that get in the way of surrendering
[33:28] I wonder where you find yourself this morning are you growing are you moving forward maybe God won't call you into some full-time service but then are you serving right now to the fullness of your capacity are you strengthened in the word of God to get to that place it's on you God might be waiting on you there's some growing that needs to be done grow up grow up grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ there's growing that needs to be done now let me back up to where we started how long have you been saved have you been saved six months or one year well your spiritual growth should show in some way that now I'm growing I'm a new child in God and I'm going to the Bible and I'm learning to pray and I'm coming into church and learning there's people that are saved like me and they've they're grown more than I am
[34:29] I can learn from them and they live a different life they've gotten away from sin and they've cleaned themselves up and they're examples to me there's a step of growth if you're saved for a short amount of time there ought to be some signs and evidences that God's in you and he wants something different for you if you've been saved 10, 12, 15 years you ought to have your hands on that book you ought to know some Bible by now you ought to know how to talk to God how to get answers to prayer how to discern the voice of the Lord you ought to have that Bible as such a love to you if you've been saved 10 or 15 years or anything even close to that that book ought to be such a high priority to you if not something's getting in between something's messing you up and it's not going to be worth it might have to let go of it so that you can grow God might move on you now and point out something and say that's holding you back from growing you've been saved this long and what do you have to show for it church this morning your life is but a vapor it appears for a little time and it vanishes away let's make let's make it a point that that the years that we've been saved can be displayed in the amount that we've grown and I can say beyond that you can grow you can grow awful fast you don't you can be saved 10 years and look like a seasoned 40 year vet you have the ability if you dive into the word of God and obey his spirit it can be quite escalated your growth can
[36:09] I've seen it happen it happens so where are you at in this in this these phases of growth is there any growth let's bow our heads together with your heads bowed I just want to continue the thought and make it personal now how long have you been saved how spiritually mature are you how firm of a grip does the flesh have on you if you've been saved for a amount of years and you can't even whip certain sins in your flesh something's wrong and I can probably tell you what it is is you're not strengthened you haven't gotten in the word of God enough you haven't been spending time in prayer you're not in church you're not around the word of God and God's people and the examples he puts out there you're not getting strengthened enough the Bible says be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might somebody here needs to grow up spiritually speaking we need to grow don't be content where you are don't be satisfied that you're saved and gonna make it into heaven one day it's time to grow up and there's steps to it and for you it just might be committing to God
[37:41] I need to get in my Bible every day and I need to pray every day you're letting days and weeks and months and years go by and you're not growing and there's a reason maybe you need to get back to the simple steps to where you can strengthen yourself and then begin to serve as you're stronger and more prepared and fit for the master's use I don't know where you are this morning I won't pretend to know where each of you are but there's room to grow I invite you this morning to come and talk it over with the Lord or commit something over to the Lord or let go of something that he put on your heart and use this time to do some business with the Lord let's pray Father please take this time and please impress upon us what it is you'll have and need and want thank you for being go to the Lord samen and to the Lord and then families and open and open and outside