 I hope you had a great new year, did you? It was a good, great, praise the Lord. Yeah, we had a good one too. It was very good, but here we are in our new year. So let me encourage you in the new year to make a determination to make this year count for the Lord. You know, make sure you get into the Word every day. It would be a good thing if you started one of those programs that you could read the Bible through in a year. We have a Bible here that we have in the bookstore that you could get that helps you to outline daily readings so that at the conclusion of this year you have read through the Scriptures. I'd encourage you to something like that. And also would encourage you to make a decision to be in Bible studies, not just on Sundays. Be regular, of course, in Sunday services, but perhaps there's an evening service a Wednesday or Sunday night that might be something you're able to attend. You might want to do that too, and it would be encouragement in your walk with the Lord. This upcoming Wednesday we continue our study. We're in chapter 23 for those who are able to be with us, and you might want to read ahead. We'll especially be looking at verses 1 through 12. And so today, what are we going to do? I spoke to you last week. I said be in prayer because I'm not quite sure which book we're going to be looking at. And so I made my decision, obviously, it's the third service. We're going to go through First Samuel together. So would you open your Bibles to First Samuel? And that's the book we're going to be spending some time in. We're going to look at First Samuel for the next 10 years. You know, after years of teaching New Testament in Sunday mornings, I mean almost exclusively, there's been very few books that I have taught out of the Old Testament on a Sunday morning. It's something that's kind of a challenge for me because we're looking at 28 verses today. And normally I'll take you through four or five verses, six verses. And but this is 28. And what I'm going to try to do is I'm going to try to teach a chapter at a time as we go through the 31 chapters of First Samuel. That may not be possible because there are some things that I might want to camp on for a little while. But I'm going to try and do that. I'm going to try and take you through a chapter at a time. So today we're going to go through the first chapter here. And it really deals with an event that is the birth of Samuel. And we'll look at some context, some basic things to help you get an idea of what is taking place in this book. I'll be sharing some things that I think have application to our lives and we'll do that. And we'll go through the book of First Samuel together in that way. So let's begin reading here. First Samuel chapter one at verse one. I'll read to verse eight and we'll get into our study. First Samuel chapter one, reading verses one through eight. Now there was a certain man of Ramatheim Zophim of the mountains of Ephraim. His name was Alkena, the son of Jerome, the son of Aliyu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph, and Ephraim. And he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah. The name of the other, Dolores. No. Panina. Panina had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Haphne and Phineas, the priests of the Lord were there. And whenever the time came for Alkena to make an offering, he would give portions to Panina, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. Then Alkena, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons? Well, prior to 1 Samuel, this book here, prior to 1 Samuel, judges led the nation of Israel. Samuel is actually the last judge, as well as the first prophet to lead the nation of Israel. Originally what we call first and second Samuel was only the book of Samuel, but it was divided into two sections and that's why we see it as first and second Samuel. The question is asked, who wrote this book? And the answer is that the writer remains anonymous, but a portion of it may have been written by Samuel. It's estimated that the book was written before the year 1015 because Daniel died in 1015 BC. Samuel died in 1015 BC. It's estimated that he was born around 1105 and ministered from 1067 until 1015 BC. So the book covers 94 years from the birth of Samuel to the death of Saul. Now first Samuel records a transition from the time of the judges to the rule by kings. And it's built around the lives of three very important men in the history of Israel. Samuel, Saul, and King David. And so as we look at first Samuel, we're going to be looking at each one of these men's lives in some detail and prayerfully the Lord will give us some insight concerning that. So as we begin here in verse one, let's look at verses one and two and then we'll move into verse three and go through the chapter. As we look at verse one here, notice how he says, there was a certain man of Ramatheem's opheem, of the mountains of Ephraim. His name was Alkenna, the son of Jerome, the son of Eleu, the son of Tahu and the son of Zeph and Ephraim. Let me immediately say, I don't know how to pronounce all these names. It may appear that I did, but I don't. You know, there are times that you'll read names in the Old Testament and all and we really don't know those names. Some of them obviously Samuel, Hannah, we do. We can pronounce those, those are names that have found their way into our names in terms of what we call our sons and daughters and all and so naturally. But there are other things here that you read like Ramatheem's opheem that if I had a Hebrew speaking individual in here, they'd say, what are you doing to that word? That's not the way you pronounce it. It's kind of like when I'm listening to the news and there's a reporter who's speaking about an event that took place in Huntington Beach and I'll say Huntington Beach. Where is that? Because we call it Huntington, you know. So I'll turn to Maria and I'll say they obviously are not Southern Californians because they know that it's Huntington if they're from around here, but no, it's Huntington Beach or they'll talk about Los Angeles. You know, where's Los Angeles at? It's LA to us or Los Angeles and we don't even pronounce it right because we don't actually pronounce it the way it should be. But we know that that word is a certain pronunciation. Well, when I look at this, as far as I'm concerned, you know, Ramatheem is good enough for me, but that's probably not how you pronounce it. Later on, you're gonna see that it's actually called Rama and the Rama in verse 19 is a shortened word for Ramatheem, but we know the location and that's what we're looking at. You see, what this location is, it's just a few miles north of the city of Jerusalem. So if you were looking at a map and Israel's divided into three sections, northern, central, and southern, Jerusalem is in what we would call Southern Israel and the city of Jerusalem is located just a few miles to the, well actually Ramatheem is a few miles to the north, west of Jerusalem, and so it's in what would be called Arimathea that you find in the New Testament and it just tells us the location of where Alkena came from. Now when you look at the Old Testament and you're looking at some of the genealogy and all first chronicles in chapter 6 verse 27 tells us that Alkena was actually from the branch, from a branch from the tribe of Levi. He was a coethite and so that tells us that Alkena is actually a member of the Jewish priesthood. Now the children of Israel, when they received the promised land, actually had the land divided into sections and each tribe received a portion of the land from the north to the south, but the Levites, being the priestly tribe, didn't receive any land. What they received was a relationship with God. God said, I am your portion and so the Levites would not necessarily have a portion that was designated for the tribe of Levites so they lived in different areas. He lived in this particular area that has later been called Arimathea. Now as you look at this, I'm gonna have to touch on something that I'll just brush over, but verse two causes some questions for some people. Notice it said he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, the name of the other Panina. Panina had children, Hannah had no children and so immediately you see that this man was a polygamist. He had more than one wife, he had two. Now let me say it quickly, but marrying more than one woman has never been a good idea. It just isn't. And it's interesting to note that the very first person mentioned as a polygamist in Scripture is a man by the name of Lamech and Lamech is found in the Old Testament book of Genesis chapter four verse 19 and what makes it significant about the first mention of having more than one wife is that Lamech came from the ungodly line of Cain and so it was never ever something endorsed by God. It was not God's intention for mankind. God did not intend man to have more than one wife. He didn't endorse it. He didn't say this is something I have designed. The design for marriage is found in Genesis 2 24 and that's where it says a man shall leave his father and his mother be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. God did not create Adam with multiple selections Eve and Dolores again and Cynthia. I mean that's not how it was and so what happened is God through his permissive will allowed it and even made provision in some ways in Deuteronomy 21 verses 15 through 17 but he did not design it nor does God ever endorse it. It was something that was during the time of Samuel and even later and there were various reasons that men would have more than one wife. Sometimes the first wife was barren, could not produce offspring so the man would marry a second wife that he might be able to have children through her or have a relationship with a concubine so he could have children through her. You see that in Genesis chapter 16 with Abram and Hagar. Sometimes a man may have wanted to have many sons and so he would have many wives so that he'd have many children. You see that in the Old Testament book of Judges chapter 8 verse 30 where it says that Gideon had 70 sons through his many wives. There were times that a man would marry many women because of the political kind of ties that he would have with another king and another kingdom. You see that in the case of Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 3 as well as in 1 Kings chapter 11 the Bible says that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Those were political alliances. So God did not endorse it. God did not say that you should have multiple wives. God allowed it. But it's interesting that when the church began how polygamy is something that basically ceased through Christian influence at least in the areas that Christianity had an influence. Part of that reason came because of the stipulation of Scripture in 1 Timothy chapter 3 that a bishop or a leader in the church is to be the husband of one wife. And so that became a general rule and so multiple wives cease to exist in terms of the way it was in normal culture very early in the history of the church. And so that's what you see here. You see this man verse 2 Alkenon who has two wives and the wives are named for us. The first wife Hannah is a name that we understand. It means grace. That's what Hannah means, grace. My daughter's name is Anna and Anna is a derivative from Hannah and then her name means gracious or grace. And the other word is Panina. Panina means ruby as in the stone, ruby. And so those are the names of this woman, these women. And so these two women lived in a home where there was some conflict and the conflict occurred because Hannah was barren and because Hannah was barren he more than likely had married Panina so that she could produce children for him. But what happens is this divided love produced a great problem in the home and a rivalry begins to exist between these two women. Notice verse 3 it says, this man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Haphne and Phineas, the priests of the Lord were there. And whenever the time came for Alcona to make an offering he would give portions to Panina, his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion for he loved Hannah although the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. Alcona, her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than 10 sons? And so Hannah was favored over Panina because Hannah was the wife he loved. He married Panina. Panina on the other hand had fruitfulness and so her only weapon she could use against Hannah was the fact that she had children. And what she would do is she would needle Hannah to rage and tears. She would ridicule her and she would taunt her because she was barren. No, somebody asks, so what? So what if you can't have kids? What's the big deal? I have spoken to and I have and I've heard younger women who will say they have no desire whatsoever to have any children. They just want to, you know, be free without the entanglement of raising kids and who wants to raise kids? I mean, raising children for many people is looked at as being something lower than having a full-time job. And so they say, well, what's the big deal? Why should I want to just raise kids when I could go out and make some money and drive a nice car and live in a good home? And there are a lot of younger women who would say what's the big thing about this? Well, something you need to understand is that the Hebrew women actually valued the idea of becoming a mother. It was something to them that was a sign of God's blessing in their life. The Psalmists in Psalm 127, verse 3 said, children are a heritage of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is His reward. And the women during the time of the writing, as for many to this day, saw the ability to have children as an indication that God had blessed them. And this was something that Hannah was having such a difficult time for because the Bible says that the Lord had closed her womb. She was unable to have a child. And because of that, she was very, very upset. And so this is what we'll be seeing in just a moment. Now, the Bible in verse 3 tells us that Jewish males that he went up to worship and sacrificed to the Lord of hosts yearly, we know that Jewish males were required to attend three annual feasts yearly. When you study your Bible, you see that they were to go up on Passover. They were to go up during the time of Pentecost. They also went during the time of Tabernacles. And so what we're seeing here probably takes place during the time of Tabernacles because according to verse 9, eating and drinking is mentioned, and that's what would take place in Tabernacles. So they went to Shiloh because Shiloh is the place where the Tabernacle is and where the Ark of the Covenant were. This is written before King Solomon built a permanent structure. And so the Tabernacle was a portable tent where the Ark of the Covenant rather was placed in order that children of Israel might come and meet with the Lord. It was located about 20 miles north of the city of Jerusalem. And so Eli who is a high priest is there as well as his two sons. The two sons have interesting names there. One is named Hofney. The other is named Phineas. The name Hofney and Phineas, those names are Egyptian. The word Hofney means tadpole. Now how would you like to have mentioned, you know, name your son tadpole? You know, one of them was named tadpole. The other is a word for Nubian. And so he would go there, Al-Khana, and he would worship the Lord. Now I want you to notice something. This is important because it's going to give you some insight into a moment when we look at the prayer of Hannah. I want you to see something though. Notice in verse three how it says here, this man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts. Now that's an important term, the Lord of Hosts. He's called the Lord of Hosts. Jehovah sabbat. That's how you say it. It literally means Jehovah of Armies. It's used 260 times in the Old Testament. When he's referred to as Jehovah of Hosts or the Lord of Hosts, the word host can refer to stars, it can refer to armies, it can refer to multitudes of people. But the point that's being made here is very simply this. God is the Lord over all creation and he manifests his power and his authority. This is called the compound name of God. God identifies himself as Jehovah. He refers to himself as the self-existent one. So as God, he is the one who is creator of all things. You see that the pagan, the heathen out there in the wilderness would go out there at night. And he would see the moon there as it was glowing so brightly. Or when it was providing less light, he'd see the incredible stars. The host of heaven, the starry heavens. As far as his eye could see, he would see star after star after star the beauty of the night. And the pagans actually began to worship the stars. They would look to the stars for information and direction, astrology. And they saw them as the stars as being capable of giving to them direction in their lives. God is referred to here and there's a reason for it and you'll see it in a moment as the Lord of hosts because he's the God over nature. He's the God over all creation. The sun, the moon, the planets, the stars were the highest objects of religious worship to heathens. The Jewish religion taught the knowledge of a being who was the Lord of all of these, revealing its superiority to all that heathenism could boast. God uses creation to fulfill his purposes and to help us. It speaks loudly as to the fact that there is a God who created these things. He's the Lord of hosts. And you're going to see how this worked in the life of Hannah when she's praying to him and seeking him. And so it's time for Alkenna to make an offering and he would give his portions. Now because Hannah was favored over Panina and his obvious favoritism was creating tension, the only weapon once again that Panina could use was the fact that she had many children. And so what happens is she is needling her provoking Hannah and causing her great pain. Year by year it says in verse 7, when she went up to the house of the Lord she provoked her and that caused Hannah to weep and she wouldn't eat. And so here's her husband stepping in to try and minister to his wife and as the typical husband is he doesn't really understand what she's going through. Alkenna, her husband said during verse 8, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart grieved? That word grieved means to be a sorrow but also with a tinge of anger. And then he asks the question, am I not better to you than 10 sons? Doesn't understand a word that he's saying. He really doesn't. You know, I know that we in the 21st century, we husbands really have it nailed. We understand our wives don't we? But they sure didn't back then. So your wife says to you after you've gone to somebody's house to have a nice dinner, your wife says to you, honey, she's a good cook, isn't she? And you say to her, yeah, she's very good cook. Is she a better cook than me? If you say yes, then later on when you get home and you're hungry and you say to her, honey, you know, you got anything to eat? Oh, why didn't you bring a doggie bag from her house? You have to learn, don't you? Do you have to learn? Honey, do you think she's pretty? Is she prettier than me? I went blind the day we got married, baby, you know that. I can't see. Does this dress make me look fat? We just sometimes don't know how to relate and he is not relating well with her and so he doesn't understand. Listen, it's more, he didn't understand it. It's more than having a husband. This is a desire of her heart to have a child. And so when he speaks about love and don't we have a great relationship? Am I not better to you than 10 sons? He's not understanding and it's not ministering to her. So what happens? Well, verse 9, Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now, Eli the priest was sitting on the seat of the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, oh Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maid servant and remember me and not forget your maid servant but will give your maid servant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall come upon his head. And what she do? Well, she makes a prayer to God and she's saying, I want to dedicate to you my son. If you give me the request of my heart, I will dedicate him to serve you all the days of his life. And with humility and submission, she begins to beg God to remember her and to answer her prayer. Verse 10 tells us, she weeps in anguish as she makes her petition to the Lord. It reminds me of what the psalmist later would write when he, in Psalm 27, verse 7 said, here, oh Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me. And so she's crying out. And as she cries out in verse 11, she says, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall come upon his head. Commentators believe what she is saying is I will make him a Nazareth. There is what is called the vow of the Nazareth in Numbers chapter 6. And it speaks concerning somebody who takes a temporary vow. Now she's making it a permanent one, but a temporary vow in which they will not drink alcoholic beverages. Anything that comes from the grape, they won't even eat grapes, and a razor does not touch their head. They let their hair grow and all as long as the vow is in effect. And so what she is saying here is I am going to give to you my son permanently so that he might serve you in holiness, that he might serve you sacrificing to you. That's what I want him to do. And God, the Lord of Hosts, the one who is able to do all things, there's nothing beyond you because she understands prayer. There's nothing beyond your power. There's nothing that isn't within the realm of your possibilities that if it's within the confines of your will and what you've declared to us you are willing to do, there's nothing you cannot do. And therefore, for you, barrenness is not a major thing. For you, barrenness isn't something that's even impossible because we know that Sarah was barren and yet God gave to her the ability to have a child. We know that Rachel was barren and yet God gave to her the ability to have children. And so she could look back on the history of Israel and she could know that God has the ability to answer her prayer. And so she's saying, God, I'm coming to you and I'm asking of you that you might answer this petition. And I am telling you, should you give me a child, I will dedicate this child to your service all the days of his life. So it says in verse 12, it happened as she continued praying before the Lord. Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, how long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered and said, know my Lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I've drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maid servant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I've spoken until now. Eli answered and said, go in peace. And the God of Israel, grant your petition, which you have asked of him. And she said, let your maid servant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad. Eli sees her praying. He thinks she's drunk. They've been feasting. They've been drinking. So he's thinking she's just been drinking. And so he rebukes her. And as he says, put away your wine. She says, no, I am not drunk. I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. She makes a defense. She simply says, I'm pouring out my heart before the Lord. And as she pours out her heart to Eli, the high priest, he in verse 17 says to her, God is going to answer your petition. It is within his will, is what he's saying, for God to do so. As a high priest, the Lord had prompted him to speak a word of comfort and encouragement to her. And so prophetically says, God is going to meet that request. God will do that. God is able to do that. He is the Lord of hosts. He's able to answer our requests. In Psalm 50 verse 15, the Bible says, call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you. You shall glorify me. So call on me when you have trouble. Call on me when you're finding yourself in a position that you're hopeless and helpless. Call on me. I'll deliver you. Jesus told us in Luke 11, 9, and 10, he said, Ask it will be given to you. Seek you will find. Knock it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. And so that's what prayer is and that's what she did. She came before the Lord. She left her request at the foot of God and she said, Lord, I'm asking that you answer this. And when this takes place and Eli says, Go in peace, the God of Israel will grant your petition. Notice verse 18. She says, Let your maid servant find favor in your sight. And the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad. Would to God that I would learn to pray like that, to trust the Lord like that, to know that the answer is coming, that God is already moving. When our church was very young, we had been meeting in a small building on Vine Street in Ontario, Church of God seventh day. We had celebrated a hallelujah party, our very first one we ever had. We had 25 kids show up. And then it was Christmas and we celebrated Christmas as a church family. So the people who were renting us the church felt that we were a cult and kicked us out. We only had about 60 people in the church at that time. And they said, You have to be out like in the first of January at the end of January. We didn't have any place to go. And we had been meeting as Ontario Christian Chapel, I hadn't yet become a fellowship in association with Calvary Costa Mesa. We had made application, but we hadn't received a response. I had written and had gotten a phone call from one of the guys and he had said, you know, you're located too closely to other Calvary chapels and so we don't think it's wise for you to start a chapel that close to them. But contact us again. So a month and a half or so later I wrote again and said, you know, just wondering if it might be okay to become a Calvary Chapel Ontario and they had didn't respond. And then I wrote a third time all of this over the course of a few months and I wrote personally to Pastor Chuck and I said Chuck, this is who we are. This is what my history is and this is what my request is that we might be associated with Calvary Chapel and fellowship. It is now January and we have until the end of the month to get out. We've been kicked out. And so one night, it was a Wednesday night. Nobody was home and I was in my front room and I went into our bedroom there and I fell on my face before the Lord and I literally cried. I literally began to sob and I cried out, God, we only have 60 people. We can't afford a building large enough to hold the 60 people and the only one that's available to us is going to cost about nine times more than we're paying right now and we just don't have the funds for this. And I said, Lord, there are only 60 people but they're the most dear people in my life and God, I ask in Jesus' name for you to please, please intervene. And I poured out my heart before the Lord. I went to the Wednesday night Bible study and as I walked in, one of the ladies saw me and I didn't look like I had a very happy countenance and she said, we need to pray for you. I said after the study and so after the study, the group gathered around and prayed and sought the Lord and God help us to find a place. And so I went home. I was laying in bed that night. It was, you know, midnight or one in the morning. A voice spoke to my heart, you're going to need a place that seats 200 on Easter Sunday and I remember saying to that voice, that's right and I went to sleep. You're going to need a place that seats 200 on Easter Sunday. We had 60 people at that time. The little place that we were renting sat at the maximum 120 people. The next day, I was preparing a study unless the grain of wheat fall into the ground and diet abides alone. But if it diet, it brings forth much fruit. And I remember praying, Lord, I am dead. I feel like I am dead and you're going to need to do something. You know we don't have a place. Well, the mailman came walking up the front steps and I saw him and the voice of the Lord spoke to my heart a second time and said, your letter is here. So I went out and I picked up the mail and I brought it and put it down in front of me, in front of me on the kitchen table and I was by myself again and I turned over the letter and there's a pile of letters. I turned over a letter. It said Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa. I opened up that letter and I read it and it said, welcome to Calvary Chapel fellowship. And so I looked at the date. The date was posted when it was sent on the previous Monday and now it's Thursday. And so I have this habit of saying, give the Lord three days. Give the Lord three days. When Jesus was in the tomb, he was there for three days. Give the Lord some time. God has a way of doing things abundantly above all you can ask or think. I went and we had a Saturday breakfast at that time. The whole church came to breakfast. We only had 60 people and I announced that we're going to now Calvary Chapel, Ontario. In the same week we got an extension from the people who were kicking us out until March. Then came Easter Sunday. Our church had grown to 120 people. We were able to rent central school in Ontario. Easter Sunday was like the second Sunday, I think, that we were able to be in this new location. It was raining and pouring so hard. And yet as I stood up there speaking to our Easter Sunday service, there were 200 people in attendance. And I said to them, you don't know this but the Lord spoke to me. Some of you do because you were with me when I told you, but you do not know this. The Lord spoke to my heart and it said we will need a place for 200 people on Easter Sunday. You are obviously the answer to our prayer because God brought you here today in the pouring rain to fulfill his word. We have a God who answers prayer. We need to understand that. And Hannah took her heart to the Lord. You are the Lord of hosts. You are the Creator of the heavens and the earth. There is nothing too hard for you. And so what happens? Well, according to verses 19 and 20, well, they rose up early in the morning. They worshiped the Lord. And it says to us that they came to the house of Rama. Al-Qaeda knew Hannah, his wife, the Lord, and the Lord remembered her. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel, saying, because I have asked for him from the Lord. So she names him Samuel because his name speaks of the fact that she prayed and God heard. Samuel means heard of God. Like the Psalmist in Psalm 3, verse 4 says, I cried to the Lord with my voice. He heard me from his holy hill. Or Psalm 116, 1 and 2, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications because he's inclined his ear to me. Therefore, I will call upon him as long as I live. And so God answers. Now in verse 21, the man Al-Qaeda and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah did not go up for she said to her husband, not until the child's weaned, then I will take him that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever. So Al-Qaeda, her husband said to her, Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him only. Let the Lord establish his word. Then the woman's date and nursed her son until she had weaned him. So Hannah went home fully comforted, convinced that God would answer her prayer. She returned to worship not just in presence but in heart as joy is flooding her soul and over the process of time she conceives and gives birth to this son. So what happens? Well Al-Qaeda goes to offer the Lord the yearly sacrifice. So he's bringing his sacrifice, his tithes and his offerings to the Lord. And that includes a thanks offering. It's called a vow offering because God had answered his prayer. But Hannah says that she's not going to go up. She wants to wean the child. She's going to bring the child to the point where he is finally weaned. Now weaning or bringing him to the point where they don't require breast milk took two to three years. And so what she's saying is I'm not going to go up until he is fully weaned which is another way of saying I'll be giving him to the Lord when he's about three years of age. And so there she is taking care of him and Alcona says that's no problem at all. But she knew that when she brought Samuel she'd give him to the Lord and he would remain in that tabernacle for the rest of his life. But here's something for you. She understood that his serving the Lord was the greatest calling he could ever have and she actually is she is excited to release him into God's service as was Alcona. I had to learn this lesson. You see I was reading through first Samuel and I read about how Hannah had said God give me a child. She had said Lord give me give me a child if you give me a male child I'll give him to you all the days of your life and no razor will come upon his head he will serve you and he will walk holy before you. I am asking you to fulfill this desire of my heart. I want to give my child to you. I had to learn that. I teasingly say this but there's some there's some truth to it. I teasingly will say to this fellowship that my kids all four of my kids know that they have a 10-minute rule you cannot move more than 10 minutes from me I want my kids around me I'm one of these dads who loves the children I know that some dads love their kids too but you love them to leave for me I love my kids I love my kids I mean when it's Thanksgiving I love having the family there at the table when it's Christmas I love having the family around the table when it's Easter I enjoy my family there at the table eating with them and enjoying their company I love my children I love my grand babies I want them around me I'm one of these guys if I could buy acreage I'd build a house for each one of them on the same plot so I could see them every day that's how I am as a dad I love my babies very dedicated to my children love them and some of you understand exactly what I'm saying when Joseph who is now 27 years old was born he was our third born I was in there in the room with Marie she did all the work but they brought the baby to me and the nurse hands me the baby and as I was holding Joseph in my hands I remember looking at Marie with the baby and she saw her son her third born and I remember lifting the baby up in my hands kind of like Kuntakinte and I held him up and I prophesied and I looked to the ceiling this is the only baby that I did this with the Holy Spirit moved in a special way with Joseph and I held him up and I said this one shall serve the Lord and I remember that and I brought him to Marie I get emotional forgive me and I handed my wife my Joseph and I knew God it's going to do something special with this baby not that he has no plans for the others of course he does but there's one of those special moments that I just knew we dedicated him probably around a month old or so and I have the tape somewhere of his dedication where this little baby you can hear my friend who's dedicating him and you hear Joseph's little infant voice as he's crying and crying and crying he's so angry and you can hear his little voice as he was dedicated to God and then he grew up and he's grown older and he's always had a very special way about him and he comes to me he's going to Bible college and he says Dad I'm feeling that God is calling me to do something for him I have an opportunity a high school youth pastor and I said well it's that's good praise the Lord it's in another state I said I don't think God's talking to you I don't think so really? yeah yeah Dad oh? well you never know what the Lord wants to do what are your plans going to be well I'd like to check it out they want me to come out and do some ministry for them and they want me to do a retreat and do some teaching and I said well you gotta do what God calls you to do now I'm no saint God calls me one but I don't feel like one because when he walks out I'm turning to Maria and saying no way he's not going anywhere check it out but I'm on my knees he's not going forget about it so off he goes he comes back and I am telling you for me it was a very very very difficult time the thought and I finally told him I finally said you know son if you if you move to this other state it's in the midwest if you move to another state son I'll never see you I'll never see my kids I won't be able to be a grandfather to your babies this is the hardest thing in my life that you're saying that you're called someplace else but I can't keep you from calling you've got to go where God wants you to be I will not stand in your way but you need to know my heart is not happy the thought of you not being with me it's not a good thing son but don't let that keep you from being in the center of the will of God I'm just confessing and that season passed he chose not to go that's because I killed the pastor he chose not to go but the Lord started to teach me something I thought I already knew listen when I dedicated my babies to God he leads them he directs them he loves them more than I do his plan for them is perfect for their life mine isn't it revealed my heart to myself I say this with a confessional attitude you know it was a wrong attitude on my part I should have been rejoicing remembering I had dedicated this baby to God's service and wherever it is that's where he's supposed to be but I rebelled against that I had a heart where I said God I can't see this Lord I took it to the Lord many times I said Lord this is something I'm not ready for Lord I did not expect you to see my child so far away I didn't expect to not be able to see him not to be hearing his voice to have to talk to him on a phone instead of looking at him see my son Joseph is very warm to me my son is the one who all my kids are this way Joseph is very much like this he smothers my face with kisses at his age he still loves me like that I'm very dear to my son but you know when I read about Hannah it speaks to my heart she nursed him she weened him and she presented him to God and it wasn't painful for her maybe I have a mom or a dad in this room right now whose kid went off to war or is moving out to college she's getting married and she's going to be living someplace else and it's breaking your heart if this child is dedicated to the Lord you release them to be where God wants them to be because you have no control anyway God does I can only influence the way they think he influences their hearts and so I have to yield my children Hannah was not regretting this you know a three year old three year old to me is just a beautiful I love three year old two and three year old yeah they're filled with energy but they're so much fun they're learning to talk they've learned to walk and they're getting into mischief when my kids were that age and my grandchildren my grandson was that age just a wonderful age I love three year old babies they just enjoy them that's how old he was and she takes him and she takes him and hands him to Eli and notice what happens when he's in the shower and a skin of wine and brought him to the house of the Lord and child when the child was young they slaughtered a bull and brought the child to Eli she said oh my Lord as your soul lives my Lord I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord for this child I prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of him therefore I also have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives she said this is the answer to my prayer and I'm keeping my vow to God she made her offering she explained her circumstances but she's basically saying I have given back what was asked for Jehovah as long as he lives he has asked for Jehovah I have dedicated this child he will serve the Lord all the days of his life with no regret on my part because what could be a better life than being in the center of the will of God serving God and that's the bottom line my greatest desire as a father has always been since I grew up in the things of the Lord that my children would serve the Lord wherever it may be wherever it may be I want my children to serve the Lord all the days of their lives to know his joy and his pleasure to know his blessing and his goodness and Hannah didn't have any babies God gave her one and she gave that baby back to God what a powerful testimony for a woman of God finally we had somebody approach me and they said before they knew exactly what I was going to be teaching they said you know we have married women in our church who desire to become pregnant who are barren is it possible for us to have a ministry so that the women who are so far infertile can gather together to pray for one another and can we call it Hannah's hope ministry and I think that that would be a great ministry because I know that there are young ladies young married women in our fellowship who want to have a baby and so far have been incapable of becoming pregnant we will let you know for some of you who might want to be part of it Hannah's hope but secondly I was at a friend of mine's house this last New Year's Eve young couple were there I've known them since they were both young grew up in this church and I've known the young woman for 25 years grew up in this church and the young man almost as long at least 25 years with him too and long story made short they've been married for several years I performed their wedding form and they've been married for several years but up to that point they're infertile and they came up to me after service recently and said pastor we've never asked you to do this you know we want to have babies and we're unable to conceive and I said yes of course and we prayed for them and so I'm at this New Year's Eve celebration and one of my friends says we have an announcement that needs to be made and turns to this young couple and says what did you want to tell everybody and she said I'd like everybody to know I'm pregnant and so she's going to be having a baby god willing in August you know and she made her announcement on New Year's Eve I'm pregnant you know just reinforced in my mind how god does answer prayer and how we can why not seek the lord I mean you pray can I have a baby lord and then at the age of 13 you say god why'd you give me this baby but at least you know I want to give him back I was just kidding it's pastor's fault he prayed for me but we're going to begin a new ministry it'll begin real soon because we do believe that god does answer prayer and Hannah was so joyful because she took her request no she wasn't weeping and crying when she left Samuel there because she knew that this was the one dedicated to god's service and god would use him mightily I needed to learn that lesson and I still am trying to learn it that god does answer prayer and he will use our children when we give him to him give them to him mightily may god help me to learn that and perhaps some of us in this room too our father we asked that you would continue to work in us that you would continue to teach us how that you are a prayer answering god it's not that prayer works it's that you are the one who works lord you are the one who brings the prayers to fruition and so we bring our concerns to you we cast our cares on you we make our requests to you lord and so we would ask that you continue to remind us of your goodness in that way and now father I ask that you would be with all of us in this room that we might learn to love and serve you and that we as a group of people might serve you with all that's within us now even as we're praying perhaps there are some in this room right now we need to get right with the lord and so as your eyes are closed your heads are bound if you know the lord is speaking to you you need to cast your cares on you you need to yield to him or there's something in your life right now that he's dealing with a sin perhaps you've never even really trusted him but you need to and you know it well I want to pray for you and if you need prayer right now would you raise your hand let me pray for you right where you're at our father you see these hands you know the reason why they're being raised to you and now I'm asking lord as their hands are raised that you would reach down you would take them by the hand and you would hold it and that father in Jesus name you would minister to them as they're opening up to you lord I pray that you would flood their soul in a new way perhaps for the first time for some and that they might come to know lord your love and goodness towards them and so lord as their hands are raised to you reach down now I pray touch them and do so lord to your glory in your son's name and we thank you bless you you can put your hands down and father please keep working in all of us that we might learn your ways in Jesus name amen let's all stand prayerfully as we go through first Samuel we'll learn some very basic and very practical lessons our father we ask that you would just work in us now that you glorify yourself in us and that lord we would learn to trust you we leave this place going into a missions field may we be found faithful bring us back tonight lord or through this week that we might continue to to be committed to your word and fellowship so that we might grow in our understanding of view and what you would have for us lord we ask these things now in Jesus name amen God bless you