1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:17,560 Now, come along. 8 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,440 Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today. 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,850 Well, we're going to go ahead and get started here this evening 10 00:00:27,850 --> 00:00:28,650 in our Bible study. 11 00:00:28,650 --> 00:00:31,170 If you remember, we started a new Bible study last week. 12 00:00:31,170 --> 00:00:34,770 We're going to be in First Samuel tonight, and we're going to 13 00:00:34,850 --> 00:00:36,570 pick up where we left off. 14 00:00:36,570 --> 00:00:38,290 And so we'll be in chapter two. 15 00:00:38,930 --> 00:00:43,970 And here we're going to see Hannah's response to God working 16 00:00:43,970 --> 00:00:46,450 in her life by giving her a son. 17 00:00:46,450 --> 00:00:51,410 And we know that son was named Samuel, and it was an answer to prayer 18 00:00:51,490 --> 00:00:57,140 that she was able to have this son and remember her promise to the 19 00:00:57,140 --> 00:01:00,220 Lord in the midst of her struggle was, lord, if you give me 20 00:01:00,540 --> 00:01:02,620 a child, I will give him to you. 21 00:01:02,620 --> 00:01:03,100 I will. 22 00:01:03,260 --> 00:01:06,300 I will dedicate him to you and for a life of service. 23 00:01:06,300 --> 00:01:09,740 And we do know that that is what she does at the end of chapter 24 00:01:09,740 --> 00:01:09,940 one. 25 00:01:09,940 --> 00:01:15,340 It tells us that she does take the child Samuel to Eli there and 26 00:01:15,420 --> 00:01:19,180 allows for him to be given over to the work of the Lord. 27 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,840 And I think that's a beautiful picture of how we as parents, if 28 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,320 that is something in your life that you can say that you are, then 29 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,720 you can look at that as an example, obviously, maybe not giving 30 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,600 our children away to go away somewhere else, but dedicating our 31 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,960 children to the Lord for his work. 32 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,360 And so here, what we're going to see in chapter two, at least the 33 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:44,480 first 11 verses of chapter two, is Hannah's response to God's 34 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:44,760 working. 35 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:46,760 And it is a response of worship. 36 00:01:47,740 --> 00:01:49,420 It's a response of praise. 37 00:01:49,420 --> 00:01:54,020 And ultimately we know that as God provides for us, as God protects 38 00:01:54,020 --> 00:01:59,260 us, as God gives us those things that we need in our life and 39 00:01:59,340 --> 00:02:03,500 ultimately above and beyond things that bless us, we are to respond 40 00:02:03,580 --> 00:02:05,180 with a spirit of worship. 41 00:02:05,260 --> 00:02:07,900 We're to respond with the spirit of humility, which we're going 42 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:09,260 to see here in this passage. 43 00:02:09,740 --> 00:02:14,180 And ultimately, we are to give ourselves over the Lord completely 44 00:02:14,180 --> 00:02:15,220 in a life of worship. 45 00:02:15,220 --> 00:02:19,270 The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, Whether, therefore, 46 00:02:19,270 --> 00:02:22,630 you eat or drink or whatsoever, we do do all to the glory 47 00:02:22,630 --> 00:02:23,150 of God. 48 00:02:24,030 --> 00:02:27,590 And so I think oftentimes we think about worship in the context 49 00:02:27,590 --> 00:02:30,990 of church, which certainly there is a time for corporate worship, 50 00:02:31,230 --> 00:02:34,910 Sunday mornings and Sunday nights and Wednesday nights are opportunities 51 00:02:34,910 --> 00:02:38,190 for us to come together, and that's why we call them worship services. 52 00:02:39,150 --> 00:02:42,510 But it is a misnomer to think that the only time that we can worship 53 00:02:42,510 --> 00:02:45,210 in our lives is when we're in a church service. 54 00:02:45,690 --> 00:02:48,410 The Bible actually calls us to live a life of worship. 55 00:02:48,410 --> 00:02:52,530 Whether, therefore, you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all 56 00:02:52,530 --> 00:02:54,010 to the glory of God. 57 00:02:54,010 --> 00:02:56,690 And so the Bible calls us to live a life of worship. 58 00:02:56,690 --> 00:02:56,970 And. 59 00:02:56,970 --> 00:03:01,210 And in some cases, we worship God in times of blessing, but other 60 00:03:01,210 --> 00:03:04,130 times we see examples in Scripture where God calls us to worship 61 00:03:04,130 --> 00:03:06,090 him in the midst of trials and difficulties. 62 00:03:06,810 --> 00:03:10,250 And we even see that in the life of Hannah, as she's calling 63 00:03:10,250 --> 00:03:11,450 out to the Lord in prayer. 64 00:03:12,210 --> 00:03:16,810 God says that he is going to give her a child through the prophecy 65 00:03:16,810 --> 00:03:17,730 there with Eli. 66 00:03:18,450 --> 00:03:20,210 But remember, faith means this. 67 00:03:20,210 --> 00:03:24,170 God tells us something, and there's a period of trusting until 68 00:03:24,170 --> 00:03:25,850 we see that come to pass. 69 00:03:25,850 --> 00:03:30,370 And so ultimately, faith is not seeing them believing it. 70 00:03:30,370 --> 00:03:34,010 Faith is hearing the word of God, believing the word of God and 71 00:03:34,010 --> 00:03:36,370 trusting in him that he will keep his word. 72 00:03:36,450 --> 00:03:38,410 And so there's obedience tied to worship. 73 00:03:38,410 --> 00:03:42,740 A lot of times we think that worship is just saying something 74 00:03:42,740 --> 00:03:46,900 to God or singing something to God, or even doing something within 75 00:03:46,900 --> 00:03:47,740 the church setting. 76 00:03:47,740 --> 00:03:50,100 And that certainly can be an element of worship. 77 00:03:50,580 --> 00:03:53,300 But an other element of worship that sometimes we forget 78 00:03:53,300 --> 00:03:57,620 about is just simple obedience to the Lord, to His Word, like so. 79 00:03:57,620 --> 00:04:00,980 So me following God's word is an act of obedience. 80 00:04:00,980 --> 00:04:02,580 Because I'm saying, lord, I love you. 81 00:04:02,660 --> 00:04:04,300 You're worthy of my worship. 82 00:04:04,300 --> 00:04:05,580 You're worthy of my love. 83 00:04:05,580 --> 00:04:06,980 You're worthy of my obedience. 84 00:04:06,980 --> 00:04:09,110 And so I'm turning my life over to you. 85 00:04:09,110 --> 00:04:12,390 And so that's another element of worship that I think that we can 86 00:04:12,470 --> 00:04:13,430 talk about as well. 87 00:04:13,430 --> 00:04:17,590 So here's a great example of Hannah's worship, and I think that 88 00:04:17,590 --> 00:04:18,430 we can all learn from this. 89 00:04:18,430 --> 00:04:19,590 So let's look at verse number one. 90 00:04:19,910 --> 00:04:24,670 It says, and Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. 91 00:04:24,670 --> 00:04:25,790 And so we see her spirit. 92 00:04:25,790 --> 00:04:27,270 Here is a spirit of joy. 93 00:04:27,430 --> 00:04:29,950 When God works in our life, it produces joy. 94 00:04:29,950 --> 00:04:33,150 We even know that in the New Testament, the Bible says that the 95 00:04:33,150 --> 00:04:35,270 fruit of the Spirit, one of the elements of the fruit of the 96 00:04:35,270 --> 00:04:35,990 Spirit is joy. 97 00:04:36,710 --> 00:04:39,990 And so as God works in our life in different ways, we are to 98 00:04:40,230 --> 00:04:45,070 not only feel happy, but also have that inner contentment that 99 00:04:45,070 --> 00:04:46,550 really biblical joy is. 100 00:04:46,870 --> 00:04:50,150 Because joy can happen in the midst of difficulty in our life. 101 00:04:50,790 --> 00:04:55,830 I always try to explain to people that joy, biblical joy is 102 00:04:55,830 --> 00:04:56,870 not happiness. 103 00:04:57,990 --> 00:04:58,910 They're not equal. 104 00:04:58,910 --> 00:05:03,060 Now, there's related elements to happiness and joy, but at the 105 00:05:03,060 --> 00:05:06,820 core of it, sometimes biblically, it calls us to have joy 106 00:05:06,820 --> 00:05:08,500 in the midst of a trial. 107 00:05:08,500 --> 00:05:12,820 And so the Bible doesn't say that happiness is the core element 108 00:05:12,820 --> 00:05:16,460 of our Christian walk, but it does say one of the elements of the 109 00:05:16,460 --> 00:05:17,700 fruit of the Spirit would be joy. 110 00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:20,700 So how can we have joy in the midst of a difficulty? 111 00:05:20,860 --> 00:05:23,100 Well, the Bible says that joy is inner contentment. 112 00:05:23,100 --> 00:05:26,540 Happiness is circumstantial emotional feelings. 113 00:05:26,700 --> 00:05:29,180 So it's okay to be happy when things are going well in your life 114 00:05:29,180 --> 00:05:32,770 and maybe you get a promotion at work or maybe something happens 115 00:05:32,770 --> 00:05:34,050 that is benefiting you. 116 00:05:34,050 --> 00:05:34,850 Yeah, be happy. 117 00:05:34,850 --> 00:05:38,170 But the Bible says that joy is something that is running in our 118 00:05:38,170 --> 00:05:39,610 lives in every situation. 119 00:05:39,690 --> 00:05:42,250 So we see that she rejoices in her heart. 120 00:05:43,370 --> 00:05:49,010 And so Hannah shows a depth of joy, but in that joy comes commitment 121 00:05:49,010 --> 00:05:50,290 for the love of God. 122 00:05:50,290 --> 00:05:53,130 And she goes on to say, there my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. 123 00:05:53,130 --> 00:05:55,850 Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. 124 00:05:56,940 --> 00:05:58,620 And that's an interesting phrase there. 125 00:05:58,620 --> 00:06:00,060 My horn is exalted. 126 00:06:00,060 --> 00:06:04,060 And really what this means is the horn is a picture of strength 127 00:06:04,940 --> 00:06:05,580 for her. 128 00:06:05,580 --> 00:06:09,180 This is obviously showing that God has strength in her. 129 00:06:09,180 --> 00:06:12,740 So she's speaking not of her own strength, but as the strength 130 00:06:12,740 --> 00:06:15,740 of God has met her in her life, she's seen the power of God. 131 00:06:15,740 --> 00:06:18,820 So she says, my horn is exalted in the Lord. 132 00:06:18,820 --> 00:06:20,380 So she has joy. 133 00:06:20,380 --> 00:06:22,340 She understands the joy of the Lord. 134 00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:23,740 So that's one element of worship. 135 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,800 And she understands the strength of the Lord, and so she 136 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:28,480 rejoices. 137 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:31,960 Now, remember, her heart is rejoicing in a difficult time in 138 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:32,880 her life, you might say. 139 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:33,320 Difficult. 140 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:36,600 I thought you just said that she had a son given to her. 141 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:37,320 She did. 142 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,400 But if you remember what the agreement was is that she drops her 143 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,040 son off there with Eli and has to be separated from him. 144 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:45,120 So for. 145 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:46,200 For some of us, that. 146 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:47,720 That might be bittersweet, right? 147 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:50,840 For some of you might say, I would like to maybe drop off a kid 148 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:51,400 there at the. 149 00:06:51,700 --> 00:06:53,620 At the tabernacle for a while with Eli. 150 00:06:53,780 --> 00:06:54,300 But that's. 151 00:06:54,300 --> 00:06:54,580 That's. 152 00:06:54,580 --> 00:06:54,980 That's. 153 00:06:54,980 --> 00:06:58,420 That's what she's talking about here, is there's joy in God 154 00:06:58,420 --> 00:06:59,380 providing for her. 155 00:06:59,380 --> 00:07:01,300 But ultimately, in the sense of her. 156 00:07:01,300 --> 00:07:04,500 Her son being left there, she still can have joy. 157 00:07:04,820 --> 00:07:06,100 She can have joy in. 158 00:07:06,100 --> 00:07:07,260 In a desperate situation. 159 00:07:07,260 --> 00:07:09,780 She can have joy in a difficult situation. 160 00:07:10,420 --> 00:07:10,780 Why? 161 00:07:10,780 --> 00:07:12,820 Because she knows the presence of God in her life. 162 00:07:12,820 --> 00:07:17,180 And so Hannah shows commitment to follow through with her promise 163 00:07:17,180 --> 00:07:20,540 to God and a humble sacrifice to give it over to the Lord. 164 00:07:20,540 --> 00:07:24,460 So, so she rejoices in not leaving her son necessarily, but 165 00:07:24,460 --> 00:07:28,260 she rejoices in the power of God and the presence of God in her 166 00:07:28,260 --> 00:07:29,700 life and in her son's life. 167 00:07:30,180 --> 00:07:33,220 And so sometimes that's what we have to worship in, because a 168 00:07:33,220 --> 00:07:38,740 lot of times, as a Christian, we worship in times of abundance, 169 00:07:38,740 --> 00:07:39,420 which we should. 170 00:07:39,420 --> 00:07:43,140 But also the Bible does call for us to worship in times of difficulty. 171 00:07:43,620 --> 00:07:47,790 The Bible tells us to worship because of who God is and what he 172 00:07:47,790 --> 00:07:49,830 has done in his presence in our life. 173 00:07:49,830 --> 00:07:52,150 And so she speaks of the joy of the Lord. 174 00:07:52,150 --> 00:07:55,910 She speaks of the power of God resting in her life. 175 00:07:56,710 --> 00:07:59,990 And she says right here at the end of verse one, she says, my mouth 176 00:07:59,990 --> 00:08:02,230 is enlarged over my enemies. 177 00:08:03,030 --> 00:08:06,510 Now, now that's an interesting phrase there, but essentially what 178 00:08:06,510 --> 00:08:08,830 she's saying here is that she, she's. 179 00:08:08,830 --> 00:08:09,830 She has been enlarged. 180 00:08:09,830 --> 00:08:13,350 Her, her voice has been heard by God over her enemies. 181 00:08:13,350 --> 00:08:16,900 Now, you can't help but think that in this context she's talking 182 00:08:16,900 --> 00:08:20,020 about her enemy, which is the other wife that was married to her 183 00:08:20,020 --> 00:08:20,380 husband. 184 00:08:20,380 --> 00:08:20,660 Right. 185 00:08:20,660 --> 00:08:23,780 If you remember back in chapter one, it was the other wife 186 00:08:23,780 --> 00:08:27,820 who was basically saying things to her, persecuting her, belittling 187 00:08:27,820 --> 00:08:28,140 her. 188 00:08:28,300 --> 00:08:31,180 And so essentially what she says is that God has heard my voice, 189 00:08:31,180 --> 00:08:33,500 and so now he has vindicated me. 190 00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:34,580 God is the one who is. 191 00:08:34,580 --> 00:08:38,700 I didn't have to go and, and have that vindication in my own strength. 192 00:08:38,940 --> 00:08:41,540 I didn't have to go out and get revenge against her. 193 00:08:41,540 --> 00:08:41,770 I. 194 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:43,080 God gave me that. 195 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,320 And that's a New Testament principle. 196 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,800 In the book of Romans, the Bible says, recompense man, no man, 197 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,400 evil for evil, a vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. 198 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:56,040 And so, so God does make things right in, in the believer's 199 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:56,240 life. 200 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,680 And so she says, lord, thank you for enlarging me over my enemies. 201 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:04,400 She says, lord, you have exalted me and you have brought down 202 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:05,400 those that are prideful. 203 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,240 And so now Hannah is rejoicing because the Lord lifts her up. 204 00:09:08,980 --> 00:09:10,940 Another New Testament principle that we could see there 205 00:09:10,940 --> 00:09:14,540 is in First Peter, chapter five, the Bible speaks of God exalting 206 00:09:14,540 --> 00:09:15,700 us in due time. 207 00:09:16,100 --> 00:09:20,100 God resists the prideful, but God gives grace to the humble. 208 00:09:20,260 --> 00:09:23,740 And so it's in humility where God can lift us up, where God can 209 00:09:23,740 --> 00:09:24,220 exalt us. 210 00:09:24,220 --> 00:09:25,780 We don't need to exalt ourselves. 211 00:09:26,260 --> 00:09:30,260 And that's often what we see in the world's system of things is 212 00:09:30,580 --> 00:09:31,540 exalt yourself. 213 00:09:31,540 --> 00:09:34,180 Make sure Everybody knows how good you are. 214 00:09:34,180 --> 00:09:36,860 Make sure everybody knows how strong you are. 215 00:09:37,260 --> 00:09:40,580 Make sure that you make everyone else know how weak everyone 216 00:09:40,580 --> 00:09:41,180 else is. 217 00:09:41,500 --> 00:09:43,420 But biblically speaking, it's the other way around. 218 00:09:43,980 --> 00:09:48,060 Being weak before God and allowing ourselves to humble our 219 00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:52,460 lives to him gives him the opportunity, which he already has, 220 00:09:52,540 --> 00:09:54,540 to give us that exaltation. 221 00:09:54,540 --> 00:09:55,540 And that's what he's done here. 222 00:09:55,540 --> 00:09:59,220 He's exalted Hannah above those others that don't believe. 223 00:09:59,220 --> 00:10:03,850 And so she recognizes here that she can rejoice and says, because 224 00:10:03,850 --> 00:10:06,170 I rejoice in thy salvation. 225 00:10:07,610 --> 00:10:13,570 So ultimately, the source of her worship, it is the joy of the 226 00:10:13,570 --> 00:10:16,530 Lord, it is the strength of the Lord, it is the victory that 227 00:10:16,530 --> 00:10:17,570 she can find in the Lord. 228 00:10:17,570 --> 00:10:21,850 But ultimately, the joy that she finds is her salvation in God. 229 00:10:22,170 --> 00:10:26,090 And that's what we have to do when it comes to the motivation of 230 00:10:26,090 --> 00:10:26,730 our worship. 231 00:10:27,050 --> 00:10:33,100 It If I'm only worshiping God when I feel joy, or if only worshiping 232 00:10:33,100 --> 00:10:36,300 God when I feel strong, there's gonna be many times in my 233 00:10:36,300 --> 00:10:37,860 life where I'm not gonna be worshiping. 234 00:10:38,420 --> 00:10:40,340 So what's the motivation for my worship? 235 00:10:40,580 --> 00:10:43,579 At the core of everything, the motivation for my worship should 236 00:10:43,579 --> 00:10:44,420 be my salvation. 237 00:10:44,660 --> 00:10:48,180 It should be that God took me from a place of sin and emptiness 238 00:10:48,180 --> 00:10:51,540 and brokenness and brought me to a place of salvation and marvelous 239 00:10:51,540 --> 00:10:51,860 light. 240 00:10:52,100 --> 00:10:54,860 And all of the other gifts that we have, though they do come 241 00:10:54,860 --> 00:10:59,030 from God, are extra above and beyond abundant gifts that God gives 242 00:10:59,030 --> 00:10:59,950 us above salvation. 243 00:10:59,950 --> 00:11:03,590 And so what we can see here in verse two is the ultimate source 244 00:11:03,670 --> 00:11:08,550 of her joy, the ultimate source of her strength, the ultimate 245 00:11:08,630 --> 00:11:12,750 source of her victory is her salvation that she finds in God. 246 00:11:12,750 --> 00:11:16,550 And that should be the motivation for our worship as well. 247 00:11:17,190 --> 00:11:20,750 And so we see this repetition that she says here. 248 00:11:20,750 --> 00:11:24,950 She says, verse two, there is none holy, asked the Lord, for there 249 00:11:24,950 --> 00:11:25,990 is none beside thee. 250 00:11:25,990 --> 00:11:27,830 Neither is there any rock like our God. 251 00:11:27,830 --> 00:11:30,550 She says basically three different ways that there's no one 252 00:11:30,550 --> 00:11:31,470 else like God. 253 00:11:31,790 --> 00:11:32,750 He's unique. 254 00:11:33,710 --> 00:11:37,230 And so you might hear me say sometimes when I'm speaking before 255 00:11:37,230 --> 00:11:41,470 the church, we worship you, God, for who you are and what you 256 00:11:41,470 --> 00:11:41,910 have done. 257 00:11:41,910 --> 00:11:43,630 That's essentially what she's saying here. 258 00:11:43,790 --> 00:11:47,270 Lord, I worship you for the salvation that you have provided 259 00:11:47,270 --> 00:11:47,710 for me. 260 00:11:47,870 --> 00:11:50,670 And I worship you for who you are in your character. 261 00:11:51,060 --> 00:11:53,620 And what character trait does she highlight here in verse number 262 00:11:53,620 --> 00:11:54,660 two is holiness. 263 00:11:55,460 --> 00:11:58,260 And that's God's defining attribute. 264 00:11:58,580 --> 00:12:01,540 A lot of people will argue, what's God's defining attribute? 265 00:12:01,540 --> 00:12:03,020 And many people say his love. 266 00:12:03,020 --> 00:12:04,740 And yes, God is love. 267 00:12:04,740 --> 00:12:06,460 He's he's infinitely loving. 268 00:12:06,460 --> 00:12:07,780 It's not just that he's loving. 269 00:12:07,780 --> 00:12:10,180 He is love, as First John tells us. 270 00:12:11,140 --> 00:12:14,820 But I believe that when we think about the character of God, 271 00:12:14,820 --> 00:12:16,660 we must start with his holiness. 272 00:12:16,660 --> 00:12:17,020 Why? 273 00:12:17,020 --> 00:12:20,580 Because all of us, to some degree, can understand love and even 274 00:12:20,580 --> 00:12:22,980 show love, but none of our love is completely perfect. 275 00:12:24,260 --> 00:12:26,260 God is perfect in his love. 276 00:12:26,260 --> 00:12:28,100 God is perfect in his forgiveness. 277 00:12:28,100 --> 00:12:29,860 God is perfect in his judgment. 278 00:12:30,340 --> 00:12:35,660 God is completely and wholly sinless in every single way. 279 00:12:35,660 --> 00:12:36,740 There is no spot in Him. 280 00:12:36,740 --> 00:12:38,500 There is no sin found in Him. 281 00:12:38,500 --> 00:12:44,100 And So therefore, verse 2, she highlights who God is by highlighting 282 00:12:44,100 --> 00:12:46,020 and worshiping him for his holiness. 283 00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:51,180 There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee. 284 00:12:51,180 --> 00:12:54,140 Neither is there any rock like our God. 285 00:12:55,260 --> 00:13:01,460 And so this shows a motivation for her worship, and that is to recognize 286 00:13:01,460 --> 00:13:02,260 God's holiness. 287 00:13:02,260 --> 00:13:05,980 To say the Lord is holy is to say that he's completely, completely 288 00:13:05,980 --> 00:13:06,700 set apart. 289 00:13:07,020 --> 00:13:08,060 He is unique. 290 00:13:08,700 --> 00:13:12,140 There is none like him, as she says, there's none beside you. 291 00:13:13,100 --> 00:13:17,860 And so this is recognizing that God and God alone, he alone 292 00:13:17,860 --> 00:13:19,100 is worthy of our worship. 293 00:13:19,740 --> 00:13:23,580 You know, as Christians, I don't think any of us would probably 294 00:13:23,660 --> 00:13:27,660 utter the phrase, well, this is worthy of my worship. 295 00:13:27,660 --> 00:13:29,900 Like, okay, so my job is worthy of my worship. 296 00:13:29,900 --> 00:13:33,020 Or, you know, this hobby is worthy of my worship, or this money 297 00:13:33,020 --> 00:13:34,300 is worthy of my worship. 298 00:13:34,700 --> 00:13:38,870 We know enough, hopefully, within our church and within our 299 00:13:38,870 --> 00:13:42,630 society not to say that we would say, yes, God alone is worthy 300 00:13:42,630 --> 00:13:43,350 of our worship. 301 00:13:43,510 --> 00:13:45,910 But it's one thing to say something, and it's another thing 302 00:13:45,910 --> 00:13:46,550 to do something. 303 00:13:47,190 --> 00:13:50,430 And so if someone was to come in to inspect our life, if God was 304 00:13:50,430 --> 00:13:54,870 to come in and inspect our life, would it be true that we worship 305 00:13:54,870 --> 00:13:56,910 God and God alone for his holiness? 306 00:13:56,910 --> 00:14:01,310 Or do we worship God sometimes and take other opportunities to worship 307 00:14:01,310 --> 00:14:04,230 other things by the way that we act, by the way that we dedicate 308 00:14:04,230 --> 00:14:06,590 ourselves, by the way that we commit ourselves to things? 309 00:14:07,230 --> 00:14:10,590 Because really what we do in life is we put things on an equal 310 00:14:10,590 --> 00:14:14,430 playing field with God, and we worship this, and we worship this, 311 00:14:14,510 --> 00:14:16,430 and then we worship God when it's convenient. 312 00:14:16,430 --> 00:14:21,030 But ultimately, what we see is that that's essentially the definition 313 00:14:21,030 --> 00:14:22,110 of idolatry. 314 00:14:22,910 --> 00:14:27,230 It's mingling worship of other things into a life that should only 315 00:14:27,230 --> 00:14:28,510 be worshiping God. 316 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,600 And what does the Old Testament and the New Testament say 317 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:32,440 about idolatry? 318 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:34,760 The Bible says that God hates idolatry. 319 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:36,280 He rejects it. 320 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:42,600 And so what we can do in our lives is that we can end up idolizing 321 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:47,720 things and essentially giving worship to things and people in this 322 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:52,280 world that is only really truly given should be given over 323 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:53,400 to the Lord in worship. 324 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,320 And so what I would encourage us all to think about is what do 325 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,080 we worship in our lives, not just on Sunday mornings, but by the 326 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,120 way that we live, by the way that we respond, by the way that 327 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:03,920 we're committed. 328 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:06,640 And so that's what verse two is all about. 329 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:09,880 Setting God apart, putting him above everything else. 330 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,040 For there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our 331 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:17,200 God, talking about his strength, talking about his security, 332 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,840 talking about that firm foundation that we can plant our 333 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:21,320 feet on. 334 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:26,010 And ultimately that has to be our foundation, the rock of God. 335 00:15:26,010 --> 00:15:28,250 And so that's part of her worship. 336 00:15:28,250 --> 00:15:31,530 So I want you to think about that when we think about worship. 337 00:15:31,770 --> 00:15:35,090 I've heard some people say it this way, you know, there's really 338 00:15:35,090 --> 00:15:36,490 no wrong way to worship God. 339 00:15:37,370 --> 00:15:40,690 And that phrase in and of itself sounds nice because it sounds 340 00:15:40,690 --> 00:15:42,490 inclusive, like, hey, just try your best. 341 00:15:42,970 --> 00:15:47,130 But really, we know that, biblically speaking, there are right 342 00:15:47,130 --> 00:15:50,090 ways to worship God and there are wrong ways to worship God. 343 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,080 Now, we ultimately know that there are people who might have good 344 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,400 intentions but might need to be taught that, you know, worshiping 345 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,760 God this way can be problematic because of the simple 346 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:04,200 fact it's in rebellion to how God has laid out in scripture how 347 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:05,040 to worship him. 348 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:07,080 And so what does that look like? 349 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,680 Well, for one example, in the New Testament, we saw the church 350 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:10,320 at Corinth. 351 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,240 Now, if you know anything about the church at Corinth, they 352 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,410 were a body of believers, and they were in a place that was very 353 00:16:17,410 --> 00:16:18,010 worldly. 354 00:16:18,730 --> 00:16:21,410 Most of the people that were in the church at Corinth that Paul 355 00:16:21,410 --> 00:16:24,730 is writing to in 1st and 2nd Corinthians had been saved out of 356 00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:25,530 pagan worship. 357 00:16:26,250 --> 00:16:29,490 Specifically, there was the goddess Diana that was there at the 358 00:16:29,490 --> 00:16:30,810 temple in Corinth. 359 00:16:31,210 --> 00:16:35,170 And so what was happening in the church at Corinth was that you 360 00:16:35,170 --> 00:16:36,650 would have these Christians who are saved. 361 00:16:36,650 --> 00:16:40,130 They believe in Jesus Christ as their savior, but they believed, 362 00:16:40,130 --> 00:16:44,130 or at least to some degree, felt like it was appropriate to bring 363 00:16:44,210 --> 00:16:48,370 in some of the worship that was there with the goddess Diana 364 00:16:48,370 --> 00:16:50,850 and mingle that in with the worship to God. 365 00:16:50,850 --> 00:16:56,090 And actually they were taking time to do certain things that were 366 00:16:56,090 --> 00:16:59,970 happening in the temple and bringing that into worship in the 367 00:16:59,970 --> 00:17:00,290 church. 368 00:17:00,530 --> 00:17:03,090 And obviously, Paul condemns that. 369 00:17:03,090 --> 00:17:04,210 Paul says that's wrong. 370 00:17:04,210 --> 00:17:05,210 You got to get rid of that. 371 00:17:05,210 --> 00:17:07,010 You got to separate yourself from the world. 372 00:17:07,010 --> 00:17:08,050 You have to be distinct. 373 00:17:08,130 --> 00:17:12,879 You cannot try to worship God in a fleshly pagan way. 374 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:16,919 And so what we can see here is that there is a right way to worship. 375 00:17:16,919 --> 00:17:19,159 And Hannah is giving us an example of that. 376 00:17:19,159 --> 00:17:23,359 But we see many instances in the New Testament where God condemns 377 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,119 that fleshly style of worship. 378 00:17:25,279 --> 00:17:30,719 And fleshly style of worship can be done in what we would consider 379 00:17:30,719 --> 00:17:33,519 to be very obvious ways. 380 00:17:33,519 --> 00:17:37,890 So to give you an example, in First Corinthians, one of the things 381 00:17:37,890 --> 00:17:41,450 that was happening in the church of Corinth was, and forgive 382 00:17:41,450 --> 00:17:44,130 me, this is a sensitive topic, but there was temple prostitution 383 00:17:44,130 --> 00:17:44,650 happening. 384 00:17:44,650 --> 00:17:46,330 That was happening because Goddess. 385 00:17:46,330 --> 00:17:48,810 The goddess Diana was the goddess of fertility. 386 00:17:49,050 --> 00:17:52,250 So that was something that was happening in the temple there, in 387 00:17:52,250 --> 00:17:53,050 the pagan temple. 388 00:17:53,050 --> 00:17:56,170 And they were bringing that in to the church and thinking that that 389 00:17:56,170 --> 00:17:56,890 was appropriate. 390 00:17:57,290 --> 00:17:58,930 Now, that's obviously wicked. 391 00:17:58,930 --> 00:18:01,010 And we know we're like, oh, that's fleshly worship. 392 00:18:01,010 --> 00:18:02,870 We can see that from a mile away. 393 00:18:03,270 --> 00:18:03,590 But. 394 00:18:03,590 --> 00:18:07,390 But I'm going to tell you that all worship that is fleshly is not 395 00:18:07,390 --> 00:18:10,390 as obvious as that type of sin that we see in First Corinthians. 396 00:18:10,790 --> 00:18:13,950 There's other types of worship that might, from the outside, look 397 00:18:13,950 --> 00:18:16,390 completely normal to everyone else in the church. 398 00:18:17,190 --> 00:18:19,990 But at the same time, we know that if we're doing it with the wrong 399 00:18:19,990 --> 00:18:21,350 motivation, if. 400 00:18:21,350 --> 00:18:21,550 If. 401 00:18:21,550 --> 00:18:24,470 If we're doing it with the wrong heart, with the wrong spirit, 402 00:18:24,470 --> 00:18:28,070 with the wrong intention, then at the same time, that's fleshly 403 00:18:28,070 --> 00:18:28,590 worship, too. 404 00:18:28,590 --> 00:18:29,910 And God does not accept that. 405 00:18:29,910 --> 00:18:32,850 God does not desire that in our lives. 406 00:18:32,850 --> 00:18:36,730 And so we have to understand, yes, there is a type of worship that 407 00:18:36,730 --> 00:18:41,210 is completely wrong because it's obvious sin. 408 00:18:41,610 --> 00:18:44,690 But sometimes we think that as long as the outside's taken care 409 00:18:44,690 --> 00:18:47,290 of, we can come into the church and really be thinking about 410 00:18:47,290 --> 00:18:47,890 anything else. 411 00:18:47,890 --> 00:18:51,050 And I'm worshiping God just so that people see me worshiping God. 412 00:18:51,210 --> 00:18:52,810 Maybe people will think I'm a good person. 413 00:18:52,810 --> 00:18:54,890 Maybe people will give me more favor. 414 00:18:55,050 --> 00:18:58,770 And the Bible says that that type of worship is just as bad because 415 00:18:58,770 --> 00:19:01,270 the heart of sin is at the core of it. 416 00:19:01,270 --> 00:19:05,550 So fleshly worship is something that God is not happy with. 417 00:19:05,550 --> 00:19:07,150 It is not something that pleases him. 418 00:19:07,390 --> 00:19:12,350 So verses one and two, we see essentially Hannah worshiping God 419 00:19:12,350 --> 00:19:14,750 for what he has done and who he is. 420 00:19:15,470 --> 00:19:19,070 And then we go to verse number three, because in the midst of her 421 00:19:19,070 --> 00:19:23,270 worship, we see that there's a warning to those who are arrogant 422 00:19:23,270 --> 00:19:23,870 and proud. 423 00:19:24,990 --> 00:19:27,350 And really, we see fleshly worship. 424 00:19:27,350 --> 00:19:29,550 At the core of fleshly worship is pride. 425 00:19:30,070 --> 00:19:30,950 It's all about me. 426 00:19:31,190 --> 00:19:33,030 Or it's all about this. 427 00:19:33,110 --> 00:19:38,190 This action that I'm trying to do and get approval for in my Life. 428 00:19:38,190 --> 00:19:41,750 And so she says in verse three, talk no more, so exceeding 429 00:19:42,390 --> 00:19:43,110 proudly. 430 00:19:43,670 --> 00:19:46,950 So she warns people about proud speech, prideful speech. 431 00:19:47,590 --> 00:19:51,950 And so I, I personally again I don't know for sure, but Hannah might 432 00:19:51,950 --> 00:19:56,500 have been thinking about her rival, right, the other wife, Penina, 433 00:19:56,500 --> 00:19:58,660 who was the one who was talking about pride. 434 00:19:58,660 --> 00:20:01,380 And she was saying, look how great I am, you can't have children. 435 00:20:01,700 --> 00:20:06,300 And so ultimately she's talking about this spirit of pride 436 00:20:06,300 --> 00:20:07,260 that God rejects. 437 00:20:07,260 --> 00:20:10,220 And so she says, don't allow that pride to get into your life. 438 00:20:10,220 --> 00:20:12,980 Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth. 439 00:20:13,460 --> 00:20:19,060 For the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are 440 00:20:19,060 --> 00:20:19,540 weighed. 441 00:20:20,900 --> 00:20:25,130 And so this is an obvious reason for us to forget about our 442 00:20:25,130 --> 00:20:25,490 pride. 443 00:20:25,490 --> 00:20:30,010 Because next to God, in comparison to God, we know nothing. 444 00:20:30,410 --> 00:20:32,010 That's what she's essentially saying here. 445 00:20:32,010 --> 00:20:35,290 She says, don't be prideful, don't speak with arrogancy. 446 00:20:35,450 --> 00:20:38,490 For God is a God of knowledge, he knows everything. 447 00:20:39,530 --> 00:20:42,530 And so in comparison to God, what does she say at the end of verse 448 00:20:42,530 --> 00:20:42,730 three? 449 00:20:42,730 --> 00:20:45,850 She says, and by him actions are weight, meaning he's gonna, he's 450 00:20:45,850 --> 00:20:47,290 gonna be the one that judges everything. 451 00:20:47,370 --> 00:20:48,930 He's gonna be the one that knows everything. 452 00:20:48,930 --> 00:20:53,000 And so how can we think that we know everything or have all powerful 453 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,280 nature when in comparison to God we fall so short? 454 00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:59,200 And you know, I think that that's one, one of the many, many 455 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,920 reasons, one of the many reasons why we see individuals who 456 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,560 at one point in time might have been living godly lives but 457 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,560 fall into sin in certain areas is because there's a sense of complacency 458 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:11,240 that happens. 459 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:16,240 Folks, I'm going to warn you, just as Hannah is warning you and 460 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:20,220 just as God has warned us, when we get into a sense of self 461 00:21:20,220 --> 00:21:23,140 righteousness and complacency and just saying I'm comfortable with 462 00:21:23,140 --> 00:21:25,420 where I am, I'm not going to fall into sin. 463 00:21:25,660 --> 00:21:27,420 I know everything about the Bible. 464 00:21:27,580 --> 00:21:30,100 I've been there, done that, have the T shirt. 465 00:21:30,100 --> 00:21:30,660 So you know what? 466 00:21:30,660 --> 00:21:32,780 I'm, I'm, I'm, I made it, I'm good. 467 00:21:33,260 --> 00:21:37,420 That's the place where Satan can come in and get a foothold. 468 00:21:37,580 --> 00:21:40,060 When we start to think that we, we don't need to learn, we don't 469 00:21:40,060 --> 00:21:40,940 need to be vigilant. 470 00:21:41,020 --> 00:21:43,180 What does the Bible say in First Peter, chapter five? 471 00:21:43,540 --> 00:21:44,460 Be, be sober. 472 00:21:44,460 --> 00:21:45,460 Be vigilant. 473 00:21:45,700 --> 00:21:46,020 Why? 474 00:21:46,020 --> 00:21:49,540 Because your adversary, the devil, he, he, he's walking around 475 00:21:49,540 --> 00:21:52,020 like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. 476 00:21:52,020 --> 00:21:53,620 He's waiting for that opportunity. 477 00:21:53,620 --> 00:21:54,980 So what does Satan do? 478 00:21:54,980 --> 00:21:58,620 He finds that little door opening of pride in our life and 479 00:21:58,620 --> 00:22:00,020 he tries to attack right there. 480 00:22:00,580 --> 00:22:01,900 We have to be so, so careful. 481 00:22:01,900 --> 00:22:06,620 It doesn't mean that we live in, in a place of, of fear constantly 482 00:22:06,620 --> 00:22:07,500 of the enemy. 483 00:22:07,500 --> 00:22:08,820 But we live with vigilance. 484 00:22:08,820 --> 00:22:10,360 We live with, with clarity. 485 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,680 We live with humility, trusting in the Lord so we can live 486 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,600 confidently in God, but not prideful in our own flesh. 487 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:21,440 And so she says one of the attacks that can come into our life 488 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:22,240 is pride. 489 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,840 And so, so I would warn all of us to get to a place in our life 490 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:30,120 where we never get too comfortable with where we are, but 491 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:32,280 to the place where we say, lord, I need you more. 492 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,800 I don't want to be content with where I'm at in my spiritual 493 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:37,320 life now. 494 00:22:37,430 --> 00:22:41,390 I'm content in Christ, but I'm not going to get apathetic in my 495 00:22:41,390 --> 00:22:41,670 growth. 496 00:22:41,670 --> 00:22:46,070 And so don't fall into a place of complacency where, where we can 497 00:22:46,390 --> 00:22:47,870 slip into a place of sin. 498 00:22:47,870 --> 00:22:48,790 Now we get to verse four. 499 00:22:48,790 --> 00:22:52,190 She says the bows of the mighty men are broken, meaning it 500 00:22:52,190 --> 00:22:55,670 doesn't matter how strong the world thinks that they are. 501 00:22:55,750 --> 00:22:58,470 It doesn't matter how strong we are in our physical state. 502 00:22:58,710 --> 00:23:00,710 God can break that like, like nothing. 503 00:23:01,430 --> 00:23:02,590 God is all powerful. 504 00:23:02,590 --> 00:23:07,210 So do you see how in a very poetic way she's highlighting many 505 00:23:07,210 --> 00:23:10,090 of the attributes of God, his all knowing nature. 506 00:23:10,250 --> 00:23:12,250 That's verse number three, right? 507 00:23:12,250 --> 00:23:13,930 Don't be prideful because God knows everything. 508 00:23:13,930 --> 00:23:16,170 You can't hide anything from him and you can't know more than 509 00:23:16,170 --> 00:23:16,490 Him. 510 00:23:16,570 --> 00:23:18,890 And then in verse four, she highlights his strength. 511 00:23:19,609 --> 00:23:22,890 The bowels of the mighty man are broken and they that stumbled 512 00:23:22,890 --> 00:23:24,250 are girded with strength. 513 00:23:24,570 --> 00:23:25,770 That's a way to put it. 514 00:23:25,770 --> 00:23:29,810 Is this when we are in the world's eyes strong and not. 515 00:23:29,810 --> 00:23:30,970 And not relying on God. 516 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:34,120 That's when we are broken, when we're humbled. 517 00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:38,040 As she says here in this verse, she says this, this, this 518 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:38,640 stumbling. 519 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:42,400 Those that are stumbled which, which, which basically would, would 520 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:42,800 mean this. 521 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:43,080 Th. 522 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,720 Those that have weakened themselves, those that have allowed 523 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,840 to be weakened before God, those that humble themselves before 524 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:51,600 God are girded with strength. 525 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:54,680 It's the same principle we see in the New Testament. 526 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,360 God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 527 00:23:58,590 --> 00:24:02,990 And, and so again there is this reminder of God's power. 528 00:24:03,470 --> 00:24:07,790 So his wisdom, verse three, his power, verse four, verse five. 529 00:24:08,030 --> 00:24:13,790 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread and they 530 00:24:13,790 --> 00:24:17,430 that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath born. 531 00:24:17,430 --> 00:24:21,950 7 and she that hath many children wax feeble what's she talking 532 00:24:21,950 --> 00:24:22,670 about here? 533 00:24:23,190 --> 00:24:28,190 Well, we, we're seeing here that Hannah knows what it means to 534 00:24:28,190 --> 00:24:30,950 be barren at some point in her life, and she knows what it means 535 00:24:31,030 --> 00:24:32,950 to have God bring fruitfulness. 536 00:24:32,950 --> 00:24:34,150 And so she knew God. 537 00:24:34,310 --> 00:24:37,150 In this case, in verse five, it says, they that were full have 538 00:24:37,150 --> 00:24:40,430 hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry 539 00:24:40,430 --> 00:24:42,830 ceased so that the Barren hath born. 540 00:24:42,830 --> 00:24:47,670 7 so, so there's times of abundance, but sometimes in, in abundance, 541 00:24:48,230 --> 00:24:51,870 we turn to look, look how much I have, look how much I've done. 542 00:24:51,950 --> 00:24:54,550 But for other times in our life, we need to recognize that we 543 00:24:54,550 --> 00:24:57,990 have nothing without guidance, ultimately because of him, that we 544 00:24:57,990 --> 00:24:58,950 have any provisions. 545 00:24:58,950 --> 00:25:02,310 And so I believe that this is speaking here about the provisions 546 00:25:02,310 --> 00:25:05,070 of God, how God meets our, our every need. 547 00:25:05,790 --> 00:25:09,550 And so there's going to be times in our life where Paul even 548 00:25:09,550 --> 00:25:10,750 talks about this in Philippians. 549 00:25:10,830 --> 00:25:11,990 I know how to be a base. 550 00:25:11,990 --> 00:25:12,830 I know how to abound. 551 00:25:12,830 --> 00:25:14,790 There's going to be ups and downs and seasons of life. 552 00:25:14,790 --> 00:25:17,440 But what we have to understand is that anything that we have does 553 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:18,600 not come from our own strength. 554 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:20,280 It comes ultimately from God. 555 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:25,560 And so she speaks of God's wisdom, God's strength, God's provisions. 556 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,240 Verse number six, here it says, the Lord killeth and maketh 557 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:29,720 alive. 558 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:32,480 He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. 559 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,800 And so this speaks of God's power over life. 560 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,480 Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. 561 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,760 And so we think that we have control of our life. 562 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,220 We, you know, we can try to do certain things to extend our life, 563 00:25:46,220 --> 00:25:47,780 but at the end of the day, it's, it's. 564 00:25:47,780 --> 00:25:49,180 Our lives are in the hands of God. 565 00:25:49,420 --> 00:25:50,540 Life is but a vapor. 566 00:25:50,540 --> 00:25:51,580 Life is fragile. 567 00:25:51,740 --> 00:25:56,220 And so when we think about being in control, many times we think 568 00:25:56,220 --> 00:25:59,579 about making our own decisions to dictate what's going to happen 569 00:25:59,579 --> 00:26:00,140 in our life. 570 00:26:00,140 --> 00:26:02,500 But I would encourage you to think about it from the perspective 571 00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:03,620 of Lord willing. 572 00:26:03,620 --> 00:26:05,820 Like, this is where I'm going to go, Lord willing, but I don't 573 00:26:05,820 --> 00:26:06,940 know what tomorrow's going to bring. 574 00:26:07,660 --> 00:26:09,900 And so the Lord killeth and the Lord make it alive. 575 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,120 He bring it down the grave and bringeth it up. 576 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:16,240 So the, the understanding really here is God has power over 577 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:20,320 life and has power over death going forward. 578 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:20,800 Verse 7. 579 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,440 The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. 580 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:23,720 He bringeth low and lifteth up. 581 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,480 This speaks again of provisions, but particularly I believe 582 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,200 it speaks of, of God. 583 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,800 God's not limited by any financial struggle that we might 584 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:32,960 be facing in our world today. 585 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,080 You know, we might be going through a difficult time financially. 586 00:26:37,460 --> 00:26:39,660 Maybe our country's going through a difficult time financially, 587 00:26:39,660 --> 00:26:40,420 whatever it might be. 588 00:26:40,420 --> 00:26:43,980 But we know that our Lord is the Lord that owns the cattle on 589 00:26:43,980 --> 00:26:44,860 the thousand hills. 590 00:26:44,860 --> 00:26:47,340 And so he's going to provide for us and he's going to give us 591 00:26:47,340 --> 00:26:48,420 what we need in our life. 592 00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:49,100 Verse 8. 593 00:26:49,100 --> 00:26:52,940 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar 594 00:26:52,940 --> 00:26:56,980 from the dunghill to set them upon among princes and to make them 595 00:26:56,980 --> 00:26:58,500 inherit the throne of glory. 596 00:26:58,660 --> 00:27:01,420 For the pillars of the earth are the lords, and he hath set the 597 00:27:01,420 --> 00:27:02,260 world upon them. 598 00:27:03,020 --> 00:27:05,340 And you could look at that from a few different perspectives, 599 00:27:05,340 --> 00:27:08,940 but you could look at the fact that again, she's talking about this 600 00:27:09,340 --> 00:27:14,420 power of God breeding the beggar from his terrible place and 601 00:27:14,420 --> 00:27:16,660 pulling him up to high places. 602 00:27:16,660 --> 00:27:19,820 And that could be a picture of God taking us from a life of sin 603 00:27:19,820 --> 00:27:21,740 and moving us to salvation. 604 00:27:21,980 --> 00:27:25,020 But also we see that she talks about, for the pillars of the earth 605 00:27:25,020 --> 00:27:27,300 are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them. 606 00:27:27,300 --> 00:27:29,020 Meaning this is talking about God's creation. 607 00:27:29,020 --> 00:27:33,480 This is God is not just over creation, but God is the Creator. 608 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,000 And so he's not just trying to deal with a world that's outside 609 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,640 his bounds and outside his understanding, but God is dealing 610 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,120 with a world that he created already. 611 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:44,360 He's the one that spoke it into existence. 612 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:49,240 And so a beautiful picture of the vastness and the infinite nature 613 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:50,120 of who God is. 614 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:53,960 And so Hannah was confident in God's ability to humble the strong, 615 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,320 prideful, and exalt the weak in. 616 00:27:56,390 --> 00:27:56,950 In humility. 617 00:27:57,190 --> 00:27:57,550 Why? 618 00:27:57,550 --> 00:27:58,670 Because God is in control. 619 00:27:58,670 --> 00:28:01,070 So the way that you could phrase up those last few verses is 620 00:28:01,070 --> 00:28:01,350 this. 621 00:28:01,430 --> 00:28:03,670 Hannah is worshiping God because He's in control. 622 00:28:04,790 --> 00:28:06,070 I'm not in control of my life. 623 00:28:06,070 --> 00:28:07,350 God is in control of my life. 624 00:28:08,070 --> 00:28:10,870 And so that is a freeing feeling. 625 00:28:11,590 --> 00:28:18,030 It's a very important note for us as Christians to understand that 626 00:28:18,030 --> 00:28:19,390 we can live in liberty. 627 00:28:19,390 --> 00:28:19,590 Why? 628 00:28:19,590 --> 00:28:20,750 Because I'm not in control. 629 00:28:20,750 --> 00:28:21,590 God's in control. 630 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:26,400 And it's a liberating feeling because a lot of people are saying, 631 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,960 I want to go and take control of my life because I want to have 632 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,520 freedom, I want to have liberty, and I want to be the one 633 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:33,320 that's making the decisions, folks. 634 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,760 That's actually what brings us to a place of bondage in our life, 635 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,039 because we're the ones always in trouble. 636 00:28:38,039 --> 00:28:40,160 We're the ones always trying to figure things out. 637 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,920 But when we say, lord, you're in control, I'm going to submit to 638 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:43,200 you. 639 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:47,320 That actually in turn brings us freedom and liberty, knowing that, 640 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,520 hey, it's God in control, I can live my life following him, and 641 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:53,130 he's the one that's going to take care of me through all of this. 642 00:28:53,130 --> 00:28:57,250 And so I think that's an awesome picture of her essentially 643 00:28:57,250 --> 00:29:00,970 recognizing the control of God in her life. 644 00:29:01,610 --> 00:29:02,170 Verse 9. 645 00:29:02,170 --> 00:29:05,410 He will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent 646 00:29:05,410 --> 00:29:06,050 in darkness. 647 00:29:06,050 --> 00:29:08,329 For by strength shall no man prevail. 648 00:29:08,329 --> 00:29:12,450 Again, he loves his own, he takes care of his own, and then ultimately 649 00:29:12,450 --> 00:29:14,170 he judges those that are in wickedness. 650 00:29:15,130 --> 00:29:19,450 We can know that God is making all things right and will make all 651 00:29:19,450 --> 00:29:23,810 things right, and he is going to be victorious over all. 652 00:29:24,130 --> 00:29:27,650 And so I think that's important to, to notice as well. 653 00:29:27,730 --> 00:29:30,210 When we're worshiping, God is Lord, you, you are good. 654 00:29:30,290 --> 00:29:32,530 Now, sometimes we don't understand why God's doing what he's 655 00:29:32,530 --> 00:29:32,770 doing. 656 00:29:33,250 --> 00:29:36,810 Sometimes we, it might look like God is allowing evil to win. 657 00:29:36,810 --> 00:29:40,050 It might look like a God is not taking care of his own. 658 00:29:40,050 --> 00:29:42,450 I mean, even the psalmist David talked about that. 659 00:29:42,450 --> 00:29:44,890 Lauren, it looks like you're blessing the wicked and looks like 660 00:29:44,890 --> 00:29:47,530 you're allowing your people to suffer. 661 00:29:47,530 --> 00:29:51,050 But what we know in scripture is that God in his character is perfect 662 00:29:51,050 --> 00:29:55,010 and God as a perfect father will take care of his, his children. 663 00:29:55,010 --> 00:29:58,130 And so that's the, the explanation there. 664 00:29:58,130 --> 00:29:58,690 Verse 10. 665 00:29:58,690 --> 00:30:01,090 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. 666 00:30:01,650 --> 00:30:03,810 Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. 667 00:30:03,810 --> 00:30:06,450 The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth. 668 00:30:06,610 --> 00:30:10,810 He shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his 669 00:30:10,810 --> 00:30:11,570 anointed. 670 00:30:12,450 --> 00:30:15,490 So again, it's just a reiteration of God's power that he 671 00:30:15,490 --> 00:30:20,820 will judge the world and he will exalt those that are in his 672 00:30:20,820 --> 00:30:23,420 family that, that are anointed, as it says there at the 673 00:30:23,420 --> 00:30:24,900 end of verse 10. 674 00:30:26,260 --> 00:30:31,300 So one of the many reasons why we worship is we say, lord, we worship 675 00:30:31,300 --> 00:30:34,220 you because we're on your side and you are victorious. 676 00:30:34,220 --> 00:30:35,580 And therefore we are victorious. 677 00:30:35,580 --> 00:30:39,340 And so we have so many reasons to worship the Lord and we have so 678 00:30:39,340 --> 00:30:43,260 many reasons to rest in his presence and to know who he is and 679 00:30:43,260 --> 00:30:44,580 to know what he has done for us. 680 00:30:45,830 --> 00:30:51,990 You know, I think that oftentimes worship in the church 681 00:30:51,990 --> 00:30:58,670 setting can end up being very performative, meaning like I'm worshiping 682 00:30:58,670 --> 00:31:00,790 so that people will notice me worshiping. 683 00:31:00,790 --> 00:31:03,470 And as people notice me worshiping, I hope that they think 684 00:31:03,470 --> 00:31:04,470 that I'm a good person. 685 00:31:05,030 --> 00:31:09,350 And do you see the flaw with that is that's a self focused Worship. 686 00:31:09,750 --> 00:31:10,670 It's really, really. 687 00:31:10,670 --> 00:31:11,870 We're not worshiping really. 688 00:31:11,870 --> 00:31:12,870 We're just performing. 689 00:31:13,820 --> 00:31:17,900 And what we see in the sense of Scripture is that worship should 690 00:31:17,900 --> 00:31:22,100 be driven from a heart of love, a heart of submission, a heart 691 00:31:22,100 --> 00:31:26,940 of gratitude, a heart of complete commitment to God. 692 00:31:27,420 --> 00:31:32,700 And so it really isn't really, if you look at biblical worship, 693 00:31:32,700 --> 00:31:34,900 it's not concerned with other people's perceptions. 694 00:31:34,900 --> 00:31:36,620 It's just saying, lord, this is for you. 695 00:31:37,420 --> 00:31:40,300 And we corporately worship so that we can strengthen one another. 696 00:31:41,050 --> 00:31:44,490 But I would encourage you to think about the concept of personal 697 00:31:44,570 --> 00:31:45,210 worship. 698 00:31:45,770 --> 00:31:49,690 So, you know, American churches, we think about Sunday mornings 699 00:31:49,690 --> 00:31:53,894 as worship time, but biblically Speaking, worship is 24, 700 00:31:53,992 --> 00:31:54,930 7, 365. 701 00:31:54,930 --> 00:31:58,410 My life is a worship to God like that. 702 00:31:58,410 --> 00:31:59,210 That's what it is. 703 00:31:59,770 --> 00:32:00,810 And so I would. 704 00:32:00,810 --> 00:32:04,650 I would have you think about and consider different elements in 705 00:32:04,890 --> 00:32:10,450 your day, in your week, in your life that you can fine to consecrate 706 00:32:10,450 --> 00:32:12,010 so that you can worship God. 707 00:32:12,650 --> 00:32:16,330 You know, prayer time, I think, is, you know, obviously Hannah's 708 00:32:16,330 --> 00:32:17,610 in the middle of a prayer time here. 709 00:32:17,930 --> 00:32:22,170 So prayer time can be worship time, Bible study can be worship 710 00:32:22,170 --> 00:32:25,010 time, family time. 711 00:32:25,010 --> 00:32:25,970 You, you know, I. 712 00:32:25,970 --> 00:32:27,290 One of the things that we put. 713 00:32:27,530 --> 00:32:30,610 And again, we're not perfect in it, but one of the things that 714 00:32:30,610 --> 00:32:34,050 we try to do as a family is get together and worship God on a 715 00:32:34,050 --> 00:32:37,090 regular basis, corporately, together, as a family unit. 716 00:32:37,250 --> 00:32:39,410 And the reason why we do that is because we. 717 00:32:39,410 --> 00:32:42,050 We want to make sure that worship's at the center of our home. 718 00:32:42,690 --> 00:32:46,810 It's not perfect, but we, we notice that when we're doing that, 719 00:32:46,810 --> 00:32:51,010 we are stronger as a family, and we're stronger as believers individually. 720 00:32:51,490 --> 00:32:51,810 And. 721 00:32:51,810 --> 00:32:54,930 And so I would encourage you to find times where worship is not 722 00:32:54,930 --> 00:32:57,570 just, hey, I come to church on Sunday mornings, but worship, whether 723 00:32:57,570 --> 00:33:00,820 therefore, yeet or drink or whatsoever you do, do all the glory 724 00:33:00,820 --> 00:33:01,340 of God. 725 00:33:01,660 --> 00:33:05,020 And, and the Bible says In Romans chapter 12, to present your 726 00:33:05,020 --> 00:33:08,860 bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto the Lord, 727 00:33:08,860 --> 00:33:09,860 which is your reasonable service. 728 00:33:09,860 --> 00:33:10,620 Which means this. 729 00:33:10,940 --> 00:33:13,340 The way that you deal with your body is worship. 730 00:33:14,140 --> 00:33:14,500 There. 731 00:33:14,500 --> 00:33:20,620 There was a movement a while back, a long time ago, but it's leaked 732 00:33:20,620 --> 00:33:22,820 into our society today, whether we know it or not. 733 00:33:22,820 --> 00:33:26,350 It's called antinomianism, which, which basically means you 734 00:33:26,350 --> 00:33:29,470 can, as long as you believe the right things and theoretically 735 00:33:29,470 --> 00:33:30,710 understand it, your body. 736 00:33:31,110 --> 00:33:32,230 Body isn't affected. 737 00:33:32,230 --> 00:33:35,750 So you can go sin with your body, and that's not affecting your 738 00:33:35,750 --> 00:33:36,550 spiritual life. 739 00:33:37,030 --> 00:33:39,150 Well, the Bible doesn't teach that. 740 00:33:39,150 --> 00:33:41,190 The Bible actually teaches that your body is a temple. 741 00:33:41,190 --> 00:33:46,190 And in the context of, of that passage in First Corinthians, Paul 742 00:33:46,190 --> 00:33:49,630 is talking about sins that we can commit with our bodies, that 743 00:33:49,630 --> 00:33:49,910 we. 744 00:33:49,910 --> 00:33:52,310 He says, it's not only that you're defiling yourself spiritually, 745 00:33:52,310 --> 00:33:53,030 but physically. 746 00:33:53,470 --> 00:33:57,830 And so as Christians, what we do with our bodies does matter, because 747 00:33:57,830 --> 00:34:00,150 the Bible says that this is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 748 00:34:00,150 --> 00:34:02,790 So we have to think about presenting our bodies, presenting 749 00:34:02,790 --> 00:34:05,150 our everything, a living sacrifice unto God. 750 00:34:05,630 --> 00:34:08,430 So what we put before our eyes, what we listen to, what we, 751 00:34:08,430 --> 00:34:12,750 what we do in our lives, across the board, how we treat our 752 00:34:12,750 --> 00:34:16,230 spouses, how we treat our children, how we are in the workplace, 753 00:34:16,230 --> 00:34:18,390 these are all elements of worship in our life. 754 00:34:18,390 --> 00:34:22,140 And so we have to think about that when we talk about that word 755 00:34:22,140 --> 00:34:22,700 worship. 756 00:34:23,260 --> 00:34:26,780 And so at the very end here, we're going to look at verse number 757 00:34:26,780 --> 00:34:30,700 11, and then we'll tie this all together. 758 00:34:31,260 --> 00:34:35,660 So Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house, and the child did minister 759 00:34:36,140 --> 00:34:38,700 unto the Lord before Eli the priest. 760 00:34:38,700 --> 00:34:41,540 And so this is the conclusion of the worship. 761 00:34:41,540 --> 00:34:44,620 The conclusion of the worship is that Hannah and her husband and 762 00:34:44,620 --> 00:34:48,300 the rest of the family leave and go back to their homes. 763 00:34:48,300 --> 00:34:52,380 And they leave Samuel at whatever age he is, he's a young 764 00:34:52,380 --> 00:34:52,780 boy. 765 00:34:52,780 --> 00:34:53,660 We know that much. 766 00:34:53,660 --> 00:34:56,300 We don't know exactly how old it is, but we. 767 00:34:56,540 --> 00:34:57,020 He is. 768 00:34:57,020 --> 00:34:58,940 But we know that in this case, he's very young. 769 00:34:59,580 --> 00:35:04,220 And he's going to be living there with Eli, serving the Lord. 770 00:35:04,860 --> 00:35:08,500 And so that takes a lot of commitment, it takes a lot of dedication 771 00:35:08,500 --> 00:35:13,580 to the Lord to allow your only son, that God blessed you with, to, 772 00:35:13,580 --> 00:35:17,180 to go to, to be working for the work of God. 773 00:35:17,180 --> 00:35:21,900 And so we're going to talk more about that next time when we 774 00:35:21,900 --> 00:35:22,380 come back. 775 00:35:22,780 --> 00:35:27,340 We're going to talk about two of Eli's sons, who we've already 776 00:35:27,340 --> 00:35:29,980 mentioned in chapter one, but they have something here. 777 00:35:29,980 --> 00:35:31,260 They misuse some offerings. 778 00:35:31,260 --> 00:35:35,420 And then we're going to look at the, the story of Samuel with 779 00:35:35,420 --> 00:35:35,900 Eli. 780 00:35:35,900 --> 00:35:38,060 So some of you know those stories as well. 781 00:35:38,630 --> 00:35:43,870 And then we'll, we'll kind of track Samuel and we'll follow him 782 00:35:43,870 --> 00:35:44,230 along. 783 00:35:44,230 --> 00:35:48,990 And then we'll get into the story of Saul, which most of you 784 00:35:48,990 --> 00:35:52,470 know, Saul, the first king of Israel, first human king of Israel. 785 00:35:52,630 --> 00:35:56,470 And then obviously, we'll eventually get to David and track 786 00:35:56,470 --> 00:35:59,190 that through first Samuel and into second Samuel. 787 00:35:59,270 --> 00:36:00,870 And then there's a lot more that comes along. 788 00:36:00,950 --> 00:36:04,670 So this is going to be a long study, and I hope that you're able 789 00:36:04,670 --> 00:36:07,030 and willing to be along with us in this study. 790 00:36:07,690 --> 00:36:10,730 But you know, to start, we have to start with Samuel. 791 00:36:10,730 --> 00:36:12,970 And to start with Samuel, we have to start with Hannah. 792 00:36:12,970 --> 00:36:15,410 And to start with Hannah, we have to start with her relationship 793 00:36:15,410 --> 00:36:15,930 with God. 794 00:36:15,930 --> 00:36:19,370 So we, we do see a very interesting principle here that, 795 00:36:19,370 --> 00:36:24,170 that the faithfulness of one woman impacted countless people. 796 00:36:24,330 --> 00:36:25,130 Think about that. 797 00:36:25,370 --> 00:36:29,050 Hannah's faithfulness, brought up, obviously through the power of 798 00:36:29,050 --> 00:36:30,250 God, brought about Samuel. 799 00:36:30,570 --> 00:36:35,230 And Samuel obviously had a huge impact on Kings of Israel. 800 00:36:35,310 --> 00:36:37,950 And then ultimately David influenced the life of David. 801 00:36:37,950 --> 00:36:40,030 And think how many people David has influenced. 802 00:36:40,190 --> 00:36:43,510 And so it shows you that principle of multiplication, who, 803 00:36:43,510 --> 00:36:48,110 who we are influencing now, we have no idea who is going to be influenced 804 00:36:48,110 --> 00:36:49,070 through that later on. 805 00:36:49,630 --> 00:36:51,230 And so that, that's really. 806 00:36:51,230 --> 00:36:53,150 There's a biblical principle of multiplication. 807 00:36:53,150 --> 00:36:57,590 If I just, you know, if I just think about this, if I disciple one 808 00:36:57,590 --> 00:36:59,190 person, that's. 809 00:36:59,190 --> 00:37:00,010 That, that's great. 810 00:37:00,010 --> 00:37:03,490 And then that person can disciple five people, and those five 811 00:37:03,490 --> 00:37:05,090 people can disciple 25 people. 812 00:37:05,090 --> 00:37:05,530 And then. 813 00:37:06,410 --> 00:37:09,050 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 814 00:37:09,050 --> 00:37:09,690 podcast. 815 00:37:09,930 --> 00:37:12,250 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 816 00:37:12,970 --> 00:37:15,170 If you would like to find out more information about our church 817 00:37:15,170 --> 00:37:18,730 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 818 00:37:18,970 --> 00:37:21,530 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 819 00:37:22,250 --> 00:37:27,240 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletown baptistchurch.com 820 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,200 if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow 821 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,880 along for future podcast and updates. 822 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:35,640 Thank you so much. 823 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:36,600 God bless. 824 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,120 Have a wonderful day. 825 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:43,040 And that's the idea is we see this amazing, amazing lineage that 826 00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:45,000 happens really all the way back. 827 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,600 I mean, you can go back to the very beginning in Genesis and just 828 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:52,920 see how one person's impact on a certain individual can impact countless 829 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:53,920 people in the future. 830 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:58,640 So we'll go ahead and stop there right now, as we conclude this 831 00:37:58,640 --> 00:37:59,600 study tonight.