[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] Take your Bibles and open them to 1 Samuel if you would. We're also blessed to have with us Pastor Keith Hamilton from the Forest Hills Baptist Church. Where are you at, Pastor? I know I saw him.
[0:26] He left. Went to smoke. He took a smoke break in the middle of church. My goodness. All right. We're not all that happy to have you, Pastor. All right. 1 Samuel 1 and verse 20.
[0:37] Be sure to meet him, a good man of God, and you'll enjoy meeting him and getting to know him. He brought some young people from his church, and we're glad to have them. 1 Samuel 1 and verse 20.
[0:48] The Bible said, I want you to read with me. I wouldn't normally read all this passage, but men, you need to understand, she is going to recognize, Hannah is going to recognize God for who he is. And, you know, she couldn't have a baby.
[1:01] And she's getting picked on. And her co-wife, who Elkanah shouldn't have had, was unmercifully picking on her because she couldn't have babies.
[1:14] And she tortured her and tormented her and did everything in her power to make her life miserable. And now God has answered her prayer, and he's going to pour it out on her and give her big blessings.
[1:24] And so she's going to talk to us about her child. And then she's going to let you know that God's going to put old Peniah in her place. And so if you're one of the ones that like to pick on Hannah's, know that God has a way of setting you down.
[1:38] Brother, did you have a good smoke break? We're just checking. I saw you. Everybody saw this. This is Pastor Keith Hamilton. He's feeling better now. His smoke is over. So be sure to meet him and shake hands with him after this.
[1:50] The Bible says in 1 Samuel 1.20, Wherefore it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived that she bare a son and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I've asked him of the Lord.
[2:05] 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.
[2:17] And then I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever. And Elkanah, her husband, said unto her, Well, you do whatever seems good to you. Stay here till you get him weaned.
[2:29] Only the Lord establishes 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 eff of flour and a bottle of wine and brought him into the house of the Lord in Shiloh.
[2:42] 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.
[2:56] He was really mean to me when I came to pray, by the way. But he shouldn't throw that in. For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition which I ask of him.
[3:06] Therefore also have I lent him to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord.
[3:18] Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies. That's good. She said, My mouth is, She said, My strength's up now. My mouth's big about it.
[3:29] I rejoice in thy salvation. You're answering my prayer. There is none holy as the Lord. There is none beside thee. Neither is any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceedingly proudly.
[3:42] Let not arrogance come out of your mouth. For God knows. The Lord is a God of knowledge. And by him actions are weighed. The bows of mighty men are broken, big mouth sister or cousin wife, whatever you call her.
[3:56] And they that stumbled are guarded with strength. They that have full have hired out themselves for bread. You used to have it. Now I got it. They were hungry or ceased. So that the barren hath born seven.
[4:06] And she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and brings up.
[4:16] The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts high. He raises up the poor out of the dust. And lift up the beggar from the dunghill. To set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory.
[4:30] For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's. And he has set the world upon them. And he will keep the feet of his saints. And the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For thy strength shall no more shall no man prevail.
[4:43] 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. He shall give strength unto his king.
[4:53] And exalt the horn of his anointed. And Ocana went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Father, I ask you to help your people tonight honor you.
[5:10] And recognize you as who you are. The all-powerful. All-wise. All-knowing. All-present God. You're watching over our lives.
[5:23] You know what's happening. You're working in our lives. And we recognize you for who you are. We give you praise and honor and glory. And ask you to work in our lives. We'll give you glory for what you do.
[5:33] Thank you, Lord, for your goodness. In Jesus' name, amen. Go with me to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 if you would. The first thing I'd like you to look at here is God answers prayer.
[5:45] That'll be one of the first and biggest and best lessons of this chapter. Our God answers prayer. The Bible says in Hebrews 11, 6, But without faith it is impossible to please him.
[5:56] For he that comes to God must believe that he is, and he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Would you look at that verse with me just for a second? Maybe if you've got it open in your Bible, which I hope you do, would you underline some things?
[6:08] Look at this. But without faith, without faith it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is. You just want to circle around that.
[6:19] Do you really believe he's there? Do you really believe he's the God of the universe, and able and powerful and can answer prayer? He is. Without faith it's impossible to please him.
[6:31] For he that comes to God must believe that he is. But not only is he there, but he is a rewarder. So underline that. He's a rewarder. I can ask him, and he will reward me.
[6:41] I believe he is. I trust him, and I ask him for stuff. And if I diligently seek him, he says, hey, I answer prayer. Would you just say the verse with me out loud? It's a verse you ought to memorize if you haven't.
[6:53] How about let's all say it together. Are you ready? But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
[7:09] God gave her a son. She named him Samuel, which meant God gave me my boy. God gave me my son. She knows it's God that gave her a child.
[7:20] She will do what she promised by taking the child to the Lord. She got what she asked for. When we pray, we ought to ask specifically. Ask specifically. Look at verse 27, if you would.
[7:32] 1 Samuel chapter 1 and verse 27. Underline that in your Bible. The Bible says, for this child I prayed. I got exactly what I asked for. I asked for a boy. I asked for a kid I could dedicate to the Lord.
[7:44] God gave me exactly what I asked for. The Lord hath given me my petition, which I ask of him. I went to God. He is. And he rewards them that come diligently.
[7:55] I came diligently, and I got my boy. God answers prayer. He answered specific prayer. We should unashamedly ask God to do great things in our lives.
[8:08] We should realize that God has a bigger purpose in our lives than our personal agenda. I don't think she had any idea that the boy she was going to have would be that Samuel. She named him Samuel, but I don't know that she knew there would be two books of the Bible called 1 and 2 Samuel.
[8:22] She knew that she asked for the Lord to give her a boy, and God answered her prayer. I don't know if she knew. This is going to be the great prophet, judge, Samuel. I don't know if she knew, but God had a bigger plan.
[8:34] And maybe God had her wait to have a baby to the right time because he knew exactly what he was going to do. You serve a great God. I'd just like to say, if you're having trouble having a child, you need to trust God.
[8:48] I just say that to you. Believe him and wait on him. One of the most precious stories in my entire family life is that of Chris and Andrea. They went eight or nine years, and God wouldn't give them children.
[9:01] They begged him, and they begged him, and they begged him, and they cried in the bed at night asking God for a child. Their hearts were broken, and then one day they adopted Jacob and Hannah, two of the most wonderful children I've ever known in my life.
[9:16] God made those kids for their family. They needed parents. The kids, Chris and Andrea needed kids, and God put them together. Then God gave them two kids.
[9:27] It's amazing. Had he given them two kids before, they would have never adopted. Amazing how God works. Ask him for big stuff and know what God is going to do. Samuel will become the great man of God.
[9:38] He will be the prophet that will be greatly used of God. By the way, nobody maybe knows what's going on, that God's making Samuel for that, but you know, oh, Eli, he's messed up.
[9:49] And in the story, you're going to learn about that this next Sunday night when we get into that message. You're going to learn about that. Eli is a mess. His boys are priests and leaders in the country, and in the door of the house of God, they're committing sexual immorality.
[10:03] They're not satisfied with God's provision. God's given them the offering for them to have. They don't want it. They say, we don't like the way you give us the offering. We got a way we want it.
[10:13] You want it boiled. We want it roasted. You give it boiled. We want it on the grill. We're not happy with it. They refuse to honor God. They're not even saved.
[10:24] The Bible calls them sons of Belial. Eli is doing nothing to restrain his kids, and God's going to talk to him about that. He has become a selfish, lazy, self-satisfied man of God, and he doesn't even see his own family saved and serving God, but God gave her a boy named Samuel, and that boy is going to be the boy.
[10:45] That's what's going on in the story. Second thing I'd like you to look at. Go with me if you would. Well, you don't have to look this one up. Go to verse 21, but you'll see on the screen Numbers 30 and verse 7.
[10:55] But I want to talk to you real quickly about some spiritual values that we see in the family of old Elkanah that ought to be in our families. The number one thing I want you to look at is this.
[11:06] Old Elkanah could have annulled his wife's vow according to their tradition and their law and their custom. The Bible says in Numbers chapter 30 and verse 7, So in the customs of the day, a woman like Hannah could go in the temple and say, God, if you'll give me a kid, I'll give him to you.
[11:35] I'll give you my male child. And when Elkanah heard that, all he had to do was say, nope, God, that's not happening. Because men had that much authority over the woman's spiritual life that her own vow wouldn't stand.
[11:48] But he heard the vow and he said, okay, it stands. And by the way, in the story, he gives up his son. He gives up the privilege of having his boy out of his favorite and first wife.
[12:01] In that relationship he could have had, he gives up that boy and lets him be taken away to serve God. He'll never have the relationship he probably wanted. He honored his wife's promise, though it cost him.
[12:13] He too had wanted a son, but now gave up that son to the Lord. Do you understand this? Here's a spiritual man. Here's a man leading his home that says, my wife loves God.
[12:24] My wife made a promise to God and I'll honor that promise. What a man to lead his home. He continues to lead his family in spiritual worship. Look at verse 21. The Bible said, and the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow.
[12:42] You remember the story? I mean, this old guy, every year he gets the family together. Every year he takes them up to the place. Every year they're worshiping. And not one time is it mama leading the family up there.
[12:53] Not one time is the Bible mentioned that the kids are saying, hey, we want to go to the house of God. It's the dad. It's the man being a leader in his home. It's time to man up, guys. Put on a pair of pants and lead your home.
[13:06] Could you say amen? And you say, I do lead my home. I make more money. I do this. I do that. No. You know what the question is? Do you lead your home spiritually? Sad to say, I've only been doing this for a little over 42 years in full-time ministry.
[13:22] And I have noticed that most of the time the women are the more spiritual leader of the home. I never wanted that to be my story. And I hope it is never your story. I hope vision always has men that love God and lead our homes.
[13:36] That's where you say amen. Women, poke your husbands so they know that it's time to man up. Say amen. Remember that the family of Emelech had run during the same time.
[13:51] About the same time. Remember the book of Ruth? Well, Emelech, he gets his family and says, let's get out of Dodge. Let's get away from God. Let's not go up and make our sacrifice. Let's run to the world. And he got in big trouble as he ran.
[14:05] And there were three funerals. But this guy said, no, let's go up and honor Mama's promise to God. He was a sacrificial giver. He was a sacrificial giver.
[14:16] In verse 24, when she had weaned him, she took up with him with her three bullocks, an eff of the flower, bottles of wine. And they went to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young.
[14:27] Now, you remember this. He can annul her promise. She takes this offering. You know where that came from. That came from him. He was a spiritual man leading us home and leading them even in giving.
[14:39] And every year he went up and fulfilled his promise to the Lord. He had promised to serve. He had promised to give. He had promised to recognize that everything he had came from God. And there he is helping his wife honor God.
[14:50] He does not hinder her. He encourages her. He doesn't just trust her spiritual walk. He leads her in her spiritual walk. And he went up with his wife to take her to Eli.
[15:01] Look at verse 25. And they slew a bullock. Look at they. Underline they. And they slew a bullock. And they brought the child to Eli.
[15:13] He says, Hannah, baby, you're my wife. But you ain't making this commitment alone. Daddy's in on it too. Let's go. I brought a bullock. We're leading the home. We're going to go make an offering.
[15:25] And they went to see Eli. They kept their word to the Lord in their faith promise. You know, sometimes you make a promise to God when you're in trouble. When I was a kid, it was after World War II.
[15:36] And they still had a lot of guys that talked about World War II. And they would say there were a ton of foxhole promises that never came true. People promised God and never kept them. I've known a bunch of deathbed promises.
[15:47] I've known a bunch of dying promises and hospital promises. And people walk out of there and they're like, God, I just needed you so bad. Glad you did it. Forget it. Not Elkanah. And not his wife Hannah.
[15:58] In verse 28, I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives. He shall be lent to the Lord. Make quick promises and keep them. That's what they do.
[16:09] Hannah knew she was giving Samuel to live the rest of his life away from her and the family. Mr. Jones, I don't know if you get this. And I know the pain my wife has experienced all of our married life.
[16:22] We were pulling up to the young's house and grandbabies are in there and another one's ready to be born. And as we pull up outside the house, my wife starts crying. We're going to go in the house and see our grandchildren.
[16:34] I say, we're not leaving. We're arriving. Why are you crying? And she said, because we'll have to leave. Here's a mama with probably a three-year-old child.
[16:46] A three-year-old. She walked up to the temple. Walked into the man of God. Said, this is the boy I promised. I can tell you this. My wife would have cried all the way up there.
[16:59] She'd have cried all three years. She'd have cried while she was talking to Samuel. She'd have cried all the way home. And she'd still be crying every day. That's a, you want to talk, you're going to say bye to your mama?
[17:09] Think of a mama giving up a three-year-old. Not because she's some wicked woman who won't take care of her children, but because she gave him to the Lord. They worshiped God.
[17:21] That's when they got that bullock and they went to Eli and they ran him. Look at verse 28, the last part of it says, and he worshiped. There was worship. But worship cost. Worship cost.
[17:34] That way, loving your wife cost. Loving your wife cost. Loving your husband cost. Loving your children cost. You just went through Christmas. How much did that love cost you? We had the happiest loving season, and now we're all paying for it the rest of the year.
[17:46] Amen. Real worship is giving God what really matters to you. That's what Hannah did. That's what Elkanah did. Real worship was honoring and obeying God no matter what it cost.
[17:59] For you missionaries, just quickly, can I just say to you, sacrifice is nothing new to godly people in the Bible? Can I just say giving up a parent's probably not near as hard as giving up a three-year-old child?
[18:14] Not one part of this Bible does God say, oh, that's too big a gift. You shouldn't sacrifice that much for me. It's like, hey, expected. I gave you the kid. Give me the kid back. Some of you parents have a problem letting your kids be missionaries.
[18:26] It's like you don't want them to go the other side of the world, and it's hard. Some of you parents are like, I don't think I'm afraid it will happen to my child if I become a missionary. You just don't find that in 1 Samuel. You just don't find Hannah talking like that.
[18:39] Hannah was like, I told God, and I'll keep my promise to God. You take it any way you want to. They left their child, and he worshiped. Look at chapter 2 and verse 11.
[18:52] And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Two-year-old, three-year-old, four-year-old.
[19:04] There he is serving. I don't know what they had him doing. Go get my Bible. Bring me a bottle of water. Sweep that floor. But that little boy, at the age of three or four, that's when they usually, they weaned him usually at three.
[19:19] That's when that little boy started. This is a call for us as families to worship and serve together. How are we helping our family members serve God? Are we leading them spiritually?
[19:30] I want to help my family. I want to be the encourager for my kids to do something for God. I don't want my kids to get old and say, I really want to do something for God, but Daddy always discouraged me and tried to talk me out of it.
[19:44] My kids say, I feel like God wants me to do something. I'm like, I'm for it. I'm with you. I believe in it. Let's go do it. They leave the house, and in my heart, which I'm the hard-hearted guy, but when my heart, when they're gone, I'm broken.
[19:57] But I want them to know Daddy's going to stand with them. Are we honoring God with our finances like old Elkanah? Are we teaching our children about serving God by our words and our actions?
[20:08] Are we living a life of continual faithfulness and spiritual growth? Third thing I'd like to show you quickly, in chapter 2 and verse 1, she prays probably like a song here, a poem, and she recognizes God.
[20:27] Now, somewhere along the way, you and I got to figure something out. You see, this one, Elkanah and Hannah, they got together, and they went to the doctor, and they got some kind of chemicals, and they made a baby.
[20:40] That's not what happened. They knew God gave them that baby. They knew God gave them conception. And you and I are going to bring an offering to the church. We did it tonight. We'll do it Sunday morning. And you and I are paying to get a church building built, and you and I are giving our time.
[20:54] But we won't do that if we don't know who God is. And we got to see him as who he is. And according to the Bible, he's big. He's real big. He's big.
[21:04] She rejoices in who God is. Look, if you would, it's 1 Samuel 2.1. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord. Now, I can tell you this.
[21:17] I don't know anything about old Hannah. I wasn't there. But I can tell you about my wife. That would be the only place she could be rejoicing. She walked down that hallway and saw that bed where that 3-year-old used to sleep and that old hag of a sister wife making fun of her and her baby gone.
[21:35] I'm sure she was crying. She wasn't happy about her kid being gone. She's happy about Jesus. She wasn't happy about what she was losing. She was happy about what she was giving. She wasn't happy about what she was hurting.
[21:48] She was happy about how she was serving. The Bible says that Hannah prayed, My heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. God has given me strength.
[22:00] I'm the woman that couldn't have babies. I'm the woman that was never going to have babies. Panai has been reminding me of that every day of my life. Every year when they went up to offer old Panai, Hannah, Hannah can't have a baby.
[22:15] I got a bunch. My horn, my strength, my mouth, my praise. Look at what it says. I rejoice in my salvation. I didn't get saved there.
[22:27] That's God answering prayer. You know what? God wants to answer big prayers, so you go around and say, Man, I got a good God, a big God who answers prayer. He loves being bragged on. He loves people saying, You're a big God.
[22:39] You do big stuff. Let me tell your story. She knows that God is the one that has done great things. And there's only one God, and that's Him. Look at verse 2, if you would. There is none holy as the Lord.
[22:51] There's none beside you. There's not a rock like our God. That's an interesting verse. Number one, there are no other gods. Sunday morning, I'm afraid you're going to be mad at me, so I'll just go ahead and warn you.
[23:03] And Sunday night, you're probably going to get mad too, so maybe nobody should come. But Sunday morning, we're going to find out. There's only one way to go to heaven. That's Jesus. It doesn't matter who you are or what you believe or what your religion is. It's Jesus or it's hell.
[23:16] And if it's any works involved, it's still hell. We're going to see that. That's Galatians chapter 1. You can preview it and know if it's going to be rough or not. Just three verses. Just go read them. There's no other salvation but through Jesus.
[23:28] If you're preaching another gospel, it's not another gospel. Sunday night, we're going to see about a priest that's all messed up. But look at this. He said, There's no other God. That's the first thing I'm going to tell you Sunday morning. There's no other God.
[23:39] You know, there's not a Buddha God. Do you know that? Do you know there's not a Muslim God? There's not a Hindu. If there is, it's a little G God. They're not real. Everybody believes it's going to go to hell. There is none besides you.
[23:53] All other gods are false gods, and they're interested only in themselves, and none of them are holy. But she says, There is none holy as the Lord. There really are no other gods.
[24:05] You see, all other gods are demons, devils, false gods. Gods invented by man. I love this. There's not a rock like our God.
[24:16] Not a foundation. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. There's not a foundation. There's not a stable place. There's not a place you can stand in a sinking world but the rock. And the rock is Jesus.
[24:29] God is supreme and above all. Look at verse 3. Verse 3. Take no more. Talk no more so you exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth. It's kind of a hint towards Panai.
[24:41] You know, Panai had been arrogant and proud and bragging, and she said, But God knew all along what God was going to do, and you can make fun of me all you want, but God brought me through it. Whoa. You can kick me when I'm down, and you can kick me when things are going bad, but I serve a God who hears and answers prayers and knows what he's going to do.
[24:58] And in the worst day of my life, while you're speaking on me, God is like, Don't worry about it, Hannah. I'm going to give you a boy named Samuel and a bunch of kids to follow that. Are you down right now? And you feel like your life stinks and things aren't working out and you've got all kinds of problems?
[25:12] Hey, don't worry about the devil fussing at you and saying ugly things about you. The Lord is a God of knowledge. He knows everything. He's the judge. We are not wise enough to lift ourselves up, and we often think more highly of ourselves than we should.
[25:28] God can hear and answer prayer. God can help those that can't help themselves. It is the Lord that ultimately determines many things about us.
[25:41] Now, we need to stop and realize, you see, we didn't make God. And we didn't come up with a plan and a diagram, E equals MC squared or cubed or whatever.
[25:52] We didn't diagram God. God in heaven made us. And all the time when we are being missionaries or we're being deacons or we're being pastors, it's all about him.
[26:03] And oh, Hannah stops and says, I need y'all to know who he is. I need y'all to know when I was on the bottom and nothing where he was listening. And then she said, let me tell you. Let me sing about him.
[26:13] Let me pray about him. Let me praise about him. Let me tell you who he is. Look if you would with me in verse 6. Our life is in his hand. You will not determine how long you're going to live.
[26:25] You'll not determine how long you're going to live. You say, I go to the gym every day. I'm going to live forever. Oh, yeah, we'll check you out in a few years. Your life's not in your hands. The Lord kills and makes alive.
[26:38] He brings down to the grave and he brings up. That's not an excuse not to exercise. It's not an excuse not to work at it. It's not an excuse not to get enough sleep. But here's what you want to realize. He's God.
[26:49] He's God. He's God. And if I breathe or I don't breathe or if that airplane stays in that sky or doesn't stay in that sky or if the people in a foreign country want to hurt me, I can remember one thing.
[26:59] Those people aren't in charge. It's God that's in charge. What the verse says. Amen. People always talk to me. I'm scared to go on an airplane. I'm like, I ain't scared. I know the guy that made the sky.
[27:11] I know he loves me. I'll be honest with you. I'm not scared. I'll be honest. I'm not scared about much of anything. And I've lived a life in the middle of it because I know something. I know who he is. Look at the verse.
[27:21] I know who he is. You know who he is. What are you hurting on? What are you going through? It's the great God of heaven. Did you know your financial state's in his hand? You say, nope, I'm a smart businessman.
[27:34] I'm smarter than everybody else. I got better education. I've done a lot of stuff. You ain't read the Bible yet. Read with me what it says in verse 7. The Lord makes poor and makes rich.
[27:47] He brings low and lifts up. He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill. That's a manure hill.
[27:59] Pile of mess hill. To set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. The pillars of the earth are the Lord's. Everything this world is built on is the great God of heaven.
[28:12] He has set the world upon them. Just look at this if you would. You got to remember who she is. She's gone years not having a baby. She's gone years doing everything she knew how to do.
[28:26] She's gone years for the husband that loves her and has given her worthy portions and wants her to have babies. And even says to her, baby, am I not better to you than ten sons? Come on, honey.
[28:36] I love you. It's okay. And now God raised her up. She said, I was on the bottom and he raised me up. You serve a great God. You serve a great God.
[28:47] He makes poor. He makes rich. He lifts up. He puts down. He takes princes off of dunghills and sets them on thrones. That's what he does. He's a great God. He made you.
[28:58] He made you. Don't you ever get too excited about your success. Get excited about the God who gives you success. That's what the Bible is saying, isn't it? Is it right or not? This isn't an excuse to sit back and be lazy.
[29:10] But it should cause us to know this. It's God. How much praying are we doing? How much Bible reading are we doing? How much looking to God are we doing? Do you want to hear a while when we're more like, I don't mind tacking God on the weekend.
[29:23] I don't mind tacking God on the little devotions. But I'm not sure that it's God that's taking care of my business. You just hadn't studied the Bible. The word of God indicates that God's in much more charge than you'd like to admit.
[29:35] Look, if you would, with me at Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 18. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 18. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God. Remember him, for it is he that gives thee power to get well, that he may establish his covenant which he's swearing to thy fathers as it is this day.
[29:52] The second church I worked in way back in, oh, 76. The second church I worked in, Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Tarrant City, Alabama.
[30:03] There was a man that we visited every week and we sat with him for at least an hour. He didn't like God. He didn't believe in the things of God. He wouldn't accept the things of God. He was smart and he was powerful and he was able and he had been extremely successful.
[30:18] He said, and I told people I don't need God. And he said, I don't need God. I don't need to go to church. I'm not going to look up to him. I'm going to look at me. I'm a hardworking man. But when we met him, his hands wouldn't close.
[30:30] His arms wouldn't hardly bend. And he said, I wouldn't look up when I was standing up. So he put me on the back and so all I do is look up. There's a God in heaven. There's a God in heaven.
[30:42] We ought to recognize. Now, I'm a born again believer. Why wouldn't I recognize him? Why wouldn't I realize if you got support, buddy, it was God that gave you support. If you built a building, if you got a family, if you got a house, it's God that's being good to you.
[30:55] Most make us realize that the life is more about God than we normally think. It's easy to get caught up in ourselves and think we don't need God unless something drastic happens. We can also think that if we're successful, we made ourselves.
[31:08] But if we recognize God for who he is, we'll worship him. We'll honor him. We sing those songs.
[31:19] They'll come out of our hearts. We read the Bible. They'll come out of our hearts because we know he really is God. God takes care of his people. I'll give you one at chapter 2, verse 9.
[31:33] In her prayer, she says, He will keep the evil. She says, He will keep the evil. She says, He will keep the evil. She says, He will keep the evil. She says, He will keep the evil. For by strength shall no man prevail. You will not get ahead by what you can do.
[31:44] You might get ahead temporarily. You might even live like a multi-billionaire until the day you die. But when old Steve Jobs died with all of his money and all of his smarts, I hate to tell you this, but unless he knew Jesus, he woke up in hell.
[31:56] He can say, I made myself and I did big stuff, but the truth is, without Jesus, nobody at death's door said, Oh, you can pay your way into heaven.
[32:06] That didn't happen. Nobody by their power gets there. You cannot keep yourself. You cannot save yourself. It is God that is at work in our lives. Last thing about how she recognizes about God is that God always wins.
[32:21] God always wins. Look at verse 10. 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.
[32:38] Notice some things. He is judge. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth. God will do his work. God will do his work. Even in the verse it says here, he will take care of his anointed.
[32:51] He will exalt the horn of his anointed. That's the king of Israel. That's ultimately Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of David. You can know something. You know, you listen to enough CNN and Fox News, you'll think the world's out of control, and God doesn't know what he's doing.
[33:06] But you mark this one down. He always wins. He is the God of heaven. He is, and he is a rewarder of them to diligently seek him. He has not abandoned the world.
[33:19] It may appear that Satan has free reign, but you can be sure of this. Won't be long until God steps in and says, that's it, big boy. Watch it. I am the God of heaven and the creator.
[33:32] Some big lessons. One minute. Why don't we pray and ask God to work in our lives? If he's that big, and we know he does everything, why don't we pray to him?
[33:43] Let's teach our families to pray. He is a rewarder of them to diligently seek him. But it's impossible unless you believe he is. And he's a rewarder of them to seek him, diligently seek him.
[33:55] Let's lead our families to serve God. Men, I beg you. I think it's true, but this is a passage. We got a man up. I got grandkids watching me.
[34:07] I got children watching me. I got a wife watching me. I need to lead by my example. I need to lead by my teaching. I need to lead by having them in the house of God and under the sound of his word as much as I can.
[34:19] I'm spiritually responsible. Sometimes the way to be in a pastor gets on you because you know, man, they're all, God's kind of holding you responsible.
[34:32] That's pretty heavy on me. But husband and dad, me and you are in the same boat because you are responsible. Let's recognize God for who he is.
[34:47] Get rid of your small views of God. You can't read this passage without knowing he's a big God. Recognize how desperately you need him in all of your life.
[34:59] We should work like it all depends on us and pray and trust like it all depends on him. You try either one of those, you're going to mess up. By the way, missionaries, it's God who gets support.
[35:17] Work and trust. Know that he is the savior of the world and it's all his power. The life and world are about much more than what we see here.
[35:30] I think Hannah just got lucky. It just got to be her day. She just got pregnant. Who knows what happened? Psychology or medicine?
[35:41] No, sir. It was God. And Hannah knew that. And yet, I stand here today as a pastor of a church that God is blessing and I can easily think, man, am I not something? And God looks at her and says, excuse me?
[35:54] I'm something. I'm the God who does it. So let's live in the light of eternity. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[36:11] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[36:22] The better, of course. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm the best vision workers for this to find ignorant news conferenceángiel and the internet to learn off where you need to find some people that a lot of you want to find in front of men.
[36:33] And afterwards, whether I be the police andrifug or daughter 2023 or other partners concern or whether I be the police or second orator