of years. We're going to be in 1 Samuel. In this evening, 1 Samuel chapter 1. You can start turning your Bibles there. Spend a little bit of time here in the book of 1 Samuel tonight. But very thankful for the opportunity to be able to travel with my family and to see this church still here, still doing well. And when we planned a few weeks ago, we planned to come and help with some things here. Of course, we didn't know that there was gonna be this funeral, but the Lord knew. And I'm thankful that I can be here to fill in in this time but thankful for the Lord's patience and grace in our lives and he certainly has shown his love for us and it's just amazing to see how the Lord comes through in so many different circumstances and his grace is truly awesome. My wife and I have It's awesome to see the Lord answer prayers along the way, and exciting to see what the Lord's doing here. It's been eight years, so it's a little hard for me to remember some things about the church. We were joking around with the kids, whether or not they remembered, of course, Abigail's 12, so she was four, and then Lydia was three last time we were here. So they've grown up. Some, and we were joking around with them, hey, you guys remember this place? Of course they don't, but they've had a lot of fun. They like these chives out in the yard. They call them onion grass or leeks or whatever they are, but they have a lot of fun with those. I mean, a lot of fun. And there's a little bit left of the willow tree in the front, but they've taken branches off that and made themselves little forts back here, and they had a good time. And they've enjoyed running around. They like having a big yard here. A lot of times people are like, how do you guys live in that little trailer? I mean, it's only like 300 square feet. It's 33 feet long, and there's 11 of us that stay in there. So we got 22 feet and a 33 foot trailer. That's the joke. But we don't live in the trailer. We just sleep there. And then we spend the rest of the day making a mess of the church, and the yard, and everything else. And we have a good time. And so they've enjoyed traveling and being here again, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to visit with you again here tonight. First, Samuel, we're going to get right into the message. tonight here at 1 Samuel chapter 1 and we're going to look at the life of Samuel and his birth and just a few things about his life, his early life when the Lord first called him and try to apply that to our own lives here tonight. So 1 Samuel chapter 1, I'm going to start in verse 9. where Hannah is praying. It says here, "'So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she was embittered as a soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore.'" And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head. And it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth Now Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wife from thee. excuse me, put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. And Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad." So Hannah took some time to ask the Lord. She had a prayer. She asked the Lord for something she had been asking for years about this thing of having a child. and she was praying about it, and she was weeping about it, and she was seeking the Lord. And we see here in this passage that she was heard. And so the thought here tonight is, and we'll develop this a little bit more in the message here tonight, but the thought is being heard by God and hearing what God says to us. Being heard of the Lord. Hannah was heard. I desire also to be heard by the Lord. And so let's go to the Lord in prayer for just a moment and we'll get right into the message here tonight. Father, I thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth of it. I thank you for those who have made a point to come out here tonight. And Lord, I pray, Lord, that they would be helped, that there would be some benefit through this time together tonight. Lord, we understand that we have an enemy. And in the authority of Lord Jesus, we bind the enemy. And Lord, we pray that your word and that your spirit would have liberty in this time. Lord, we thank you for your goodness to us. Lord, I pray that you would honor your word. And Lord, help me not to get in the way or to distract from it in any way. Lord, I pray that you would use it, your message, to help your people here tonight. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Hannah prayed hard. She prayed and she sought the Lord earnestly. And as she prayed, Eli looked at her and thought that she had been intoxicated, that she had been drunken. The way that he interpreted what he saw was, I believe, evidence of the way that he thought. He thought evil because he'd seen a lot of evil, because he'd dwelt on a lot of evil. And when he saw this woman praying and pouring out her heart before the Lord, he thought she was doing something wrong. She thought that she was intoxicated. He thought that she was drunk. And yet she was just praying and seeking the Lord earnestly to get an answer for her prayer. And she vowed a vow and she said to God, I'll read it so I don't misquote, but verse 11, and she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head." She was saying, if you give me a child, I will dedicate him to you, and I'll give him to you if you'll give me this child. She vowed that vow. She knew that if she could have a child, and if God would answer this prayer that she had, that it was truly the blessing of God, and she could give him right back to God, knowing that God's the one that gave him to her in the first place. She knew that if that child came, that it was an answer to her prayer. And she made this vow before the Lord. And so, when Eli began to talk to her, in verse 17, after she told him what her prayer was, verse 17, Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee the petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. She left and everything was fine. Everything was okay. by faith, she knew that God would answer her prayer. She knew that God would hear and that God would do. So picture this, Eli heard what she had said to him and he understood how broken she was about getting this prayer through to God. And Eli said, yeah, you're gonna be heard by God. And God's going to give you what you're asking him. It's going to happen. And so Hannah stood up and everything was okay because she knew that God was gonna come through for her. Isn't that good? She hadn't seen the answer yet, but she knew that God was going to come through for her. And so she had that confidence. And they rose up in the morning early and worshipped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house to Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah as wife, and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore, it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord." Now, this name Samuel that she gives him literally means, heard of the Lord. When she named her son, she named him, God heard me. There he is. This child is the one that I prayed for. For this child, she had prayed. And so she knew she had been heard, and she named him Samuel, heard of the Lord. She knew she was heard. Isn't that good? And so she has a child. God did what he said he was gonna do. And she knew it was the touch of God, she knew it was the blessing of God that she had that child. Verse number 21, and the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow, but Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever. She meant business. So when I go back to the tabernacle, when I go back to take Samuel there, when I take him, I'm leaving him there, and I'm not taking him back. He's gonna stay there forever. I'm going to leave him there. And so she said, well, I'm not ready to take him up yet because she was still nursing at that time. He was still nursing. And so she was waiting till that time where she could take him and just leave him there. And she wasn't going to take him back. Amen. She meant business. And Elkanah her husband said unto her, do what seemeth thee good, tarry until thou have weaned him. Only the Lord established his word, so the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks, and one apple of flour, and a bottle of wine, and she brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. And they slew a bullock and brought the child Eli. And she said, oh my Lord, as I so liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord. She said, remember me? I was here praying. I'm the woman that was praying. You saw me praying. I prayed to the Lord to give me a child. For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth. He shall be lent to the Lord. And notice, and he worshipped the Lord there. Who did? Eli did. That backslidden priest had some time with God. got to worship the Lord right there. Why? Because somebody followed through on their vow. He saw a prayer answered, and he saw someone who followed through on their vow to do what she said she was going to do. And notice her faith. Notice her boldness when she comes to Eli. She says, for this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me the petition when I asked of him. Notice verse 28, therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. How do you lend a child to the Lord? Notice she says again, as long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord. How can she lend him to the Lord as long as he liveth? Because she knew that her Redeemer liveth and that she was gonna see him. She was going to stand with him. She knew there was a resurrection. She knew that the God who gave her the life of her son was the God who would bring her past the grave and there was a place where they can reconcile beyond this life. She knew that there was a resurrection. There was a hope of the Old Testament saint. She knew she'd see him again. She knew it. She told Eli, she said, I'm going to lend him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he'll be lent to the Lord. She wasn't saying for a little while, she was saying for his whole life. Someday we'll see each other. Someday we'll meet up again. She knew where she got that boy from. She had absolute confidence that the God who had given her that boy was a God who would bring her back to be able to spend eternity with her son someday. She had that confidence. Turn over to chapter three, we're gonna skip chapter two. There's a lot here in chapter two but we're gonna keep a certain focus here tonight on who this child is and on a principle that we see as he's called into the ministry just a little later in life. In chapter two we see that the mother had brought a coat to him year after year and no doubt those little visits from mom I was just talking to a preacher about Eli. not too long ago, and he's thinking, you know, Eli did such a poor job with his sons. And I mean, they just really did so much damage to the work of God. And yet you see Samuel raised in the same household, raised under the same leadership. He did well. And how is that possible? Well, for certain, God had, there was a touch on the life of Samuel, but Samuel had, praying mother. Yeah. She prayed for him. And year by year when she brought up that little coat for Samuel, Samuel would see his mom and see the faith, the unfeigned faith of his mother. Like Timothy's mother Eunice and grandmother Lois that had passed on that heritage of faith to their son or their grandson. Hannah had touched the life of her son, even though it was maybe just once a year she came to visit him, he knew, Mom means it. Mom walks with God. And God had touched the life of Samuel, and God had worked in the life of Samuel, and God would use the life of Samuel mightily. His whole life was used mightily by God. And I really believe that makes a difference, is that he had a praying mother. But chapter three says this, and the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And I like how it's worded that way. He ministered under the Lord before Eli. He was standing in front of Eli, but he wasn't just ministering to Eli. He ministered under the Lord. You see that? One of the things I love to tell my girls if we're working on music for practicing music, I like to tell them the best thing about practice is it doesn't have to be. Because you can actually sing and praise the Lord while you're practicing. It's okay. It's a good opportunity. And the sooner you can learn to praise the Lord and practice, practice, sooner you can actually make a difference in times of worship and singing and doing this. Samuel wasn't just practicing. Wasn't just doing eye service to Samuel, excuse me, to Saul. Samuel was walking with the Lord. I believe he was not actually walking with the Lord, but Samuel was earnest in what he was doing. He wanted to please the Lord. He had a heart to please the Lord. It was his desire to please the Lord. And it says here that he ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. I'm gonna ask you a question tonight, and this is really the message that's on my heart for tonight, that I did pray about what message to preach here tonight. And this is the thought that the Lord's put on my heart here for tonight. Is the word of God precious to you? Does it influence your life? Significantly, is God moving you through His Word? Do you care what He says? Are you moved by what He says? Are you observing to obey what's written in the Word of God? It says here that the word of God was precious in those days. There was no open vision. Now, we have an open word of God. It's written down in the authorized King James Bible right here. It is the word of God. It has the authority. We can read this word for word and have the authority of God's word. Every word of God is pure and it's written for us. Here it is. In the time of Samuel, in the time of Eli, they didn't have the whole Word of God. We have the whole Word of God. We can read the end of the book, we can see what the Lord's going to do. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and we have the written Word of God to study, to build our lives on. They didn't have that whole canon of Scripture in this time. And it says, "...the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision, and it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli." He didn't know the Lord. He was just serving the best he knew how. He was earnest in what he was doing, but he didn't know the Lord personally. So he said, here am I, but he ran to Eli and said, here am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I called not, lie down again. And he went and lay down. And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel rose and went to Eli and said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son, lie down again. Now look at verse seven. It says, now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, Neither was the Lord yet revealed unto him. So we find here from verse seven, Samuel didn't have a personal walk with the Lord. He did not. He was doing what he was supposed to do. He was honest in what he was doing, but he didn't personally know the Lord. But he was doing what he was supposed to do. In the tabernacle there, he was serving Eli. He was doing what he was supposed to do, but he didn't personally know the Lord, and he didn't have any personal leading from the Lord before this time. Notice verse 8, and the Lord called Samuel again the third time, and he arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and called at another time, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant heareth. Notice, Eli told Samuel, when you go back, the Lord's speaking to you, because I'm not calling you, the Lord is trying to speak to you. You just go back to your place, and when he speaks to you this next time, tell him this, tell him, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And when the Lord did call Samuel again, he didn't quite say what Eli told him to say. and it shows his integrity. See, Eli told him, say this, say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. But when Samuel answered, he said, speak, for thy servant heareth. There was no Lord. He wasn't serving the Lord, he was serving Eli. The young man knew enough to know that he was not a servant of the Lord directly. but that he was just following Eli at the time, but he wanted to serve the Lord by following Eli, but he didn't know the Lord personally. He wasn't following the Lord personally. He didn't have that personal leadership of the Lord. And so he says to him, speak, for thy servant heareth. Jesus said this, he said, why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Interesting. We wanna say, I'm a Christian, or Jesus is Lord. And yet, sometimes when God directs us, we don't treat him like a Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 7, he said, many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, in thy name, they list all these things, and done many wonderful works. I'll say, I never knew you. Do you know the voice of God? Do you care to hear what God has to say to you? Samuel did. Samuel's mom was heard by God, and Samuel also was heard by God. But one of the amazing things we see from the life of Samuel is that Samuel heard what the Lord had for him, and he followed and was obedient to what the Lord had for him to do. He heard the Lord. What does the Lord have to say to you personally? You know, this is the Word of God. This is the Word of God. This is the authorized version. The authorized Word of God right here. This is the Word of God. You read this. You know, when I was about four or five years old, before I learned how to read, my parents used to say this was the Word of God. And I was excited. to think someday when I can read, I'm gonna be able to read this book and it's gonna tell me what God says. I'm gonna be able to read what God says. I was excited about that. I was naive enough as a little boy to think this is actually what God said. And that's okay because God speaks through his word. God leads us through his word. And yes, this is the word of God. One preacher that I respect a lot. He said it this way, he said, if you took the authorized Bible that we have, the English Bible that we have, and you took it to heaven and handed it to God and said, God, could you make this to where, fix anything that, just make this as clear as possible and make this just as pure as it could be, and you hand it to God, he would turn that book around and hand it back to you the way it is. This is God's Word. It is God's Word. We don't need the New American Standard Version, the New International Version, the whatever other version. We don't need them. Westcott and Hort, who came up with these other texts, they were critical. They didn't believe the miracles of the Bible. They didn't believe there was a literal hell. They didn't believe the Bible. And if you study it out and find these other more accurate versions of the Bible, you're only going to find that these great authorities, textual authorities, what they're going to tell you is, this is the closest that we have to the Word of God. It's very likely, very, very close to what God's original text said. None of them are going to tell you this is the Word of God. Because it's not. They think we're going to get something close. I'm not interested in something close. I want to know what does God have for me. And it's in the Word of God, the King James Bible. But the Word of God and the voice of God are two different things. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. We love that verse because it teaches us about eternal security. But eternal security is based on the fact that we can hear the voice of God confirming the word of God. If you have a manual for your car, it could tell you all kinds of things about your car. that you might not know. But when you have a problem and you need to fix that problem, you go to a certain section of that book and you see how you can apply that manual to your specific situation. The voice of God is when he takes his word. and applies it to your specific situation so that it becomes very, very powerful in your life. He applies his word to your life. It's all the word of God, but how you apply it in your life depends on you being able to hear the voice of God, knowing the voice of God. The voice is different than the word. I don't mean different as in conflicting. I mean different as in the voice gives certain characteristics that the word alone sometimes will not be as clear with. For instance, I was texting today. I got a bunch of texts all like in a row. And I was trying to get some things finished up, get things cleaned up, and get changed to be ready for tonight. And I got all these texts. And the one text I was texting, and there was a misunderstanding. Somebody texted me back, oh, I thought you meant. So I had to go back and, OK, sorry about that. I should be more clear with this. I have a hard time sometimes with texting. And I'm one. Sometimes somebody will send me a text and be like, they'll be like, you know, thank you, and put an exclamation mark on it, and I'll think they'll be like sarcastic about it, you know, like, thanks, you know, like, thanks a lot, jerk, you know, and I'm reading it like, does that mean like, thank you, like, they're thankful, or like, thank you, like. Like, man, that was like not a good thing. I get confused sometimes when I read the words, but you don't have the inflection. You don't have the facial expressions. You don't have the voice. You have the word, but not the voice. You see, the voice is important. And if the voice conflicts the word, it's not the voice of God. The Word of God will always coordinate with, the voice of God will always complement the Word of God. It does not conflict with it. And so Samuel here now heard the voice of God and he heard an audible voice. We can hear the voice of God. I don't believe that most people, I personally have never heard an audible voice from God. Personally, I never have. I don't have a problem. I honestly, I don't have a problem if somebody says, well, I've heard God literally spoke to me one time. I don't think that's impossible. I don't think it's common, but I don't think it's impossible. But I believe in my life and many people that I respect, I've seen God speaks to the heart, to the spirit through the word of God. And it's not an audible voice because we do have an open vision, we have the word of God, we have the written word of God. You should spend more time studying the word of God than seeking for some kind of interesting voice out there. There's a lot of very bad things out there and they're not all the spirit of God. you would do well to study the word of God." Samuel heard a voice, and he said, "'Speak, for thy servant heareth.'" So Samuel, or excuse me, he said, "'Speak, for thy servant heareth.'" In verse 11, "'And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. And that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end.'" For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever. God said, judgment's coming on the house of Eli, and here's why. He knows what he's done wrong, and he doesn't care, he hasn't changed it. He knows that his sons made themselves vile, he's not restraining them, he knows. He knows, but he's not responding to what he knows. What did God say to you, and have you responded to what he said to you? That's the thought here. And Samuel lay until the morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. And Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, here am I. And he said, what is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me. God do so to thee and more also if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said unto thee. Samuel told him every wit and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. So in the morning, Samuel comes out, and he's afraid to talk to Eli because he knows that the word is not good for Eli. But he remembered every whit of what he was told. Every little bit. And in the morning, when he gets up and goes out, We see this great irony. The high priest comes to his apprentice and says to him, hey, what did God say? The high priest goes to the young guy and says to the young guy, so what does God say? What's His word? What's going on? What's happening? And I would ask you the same question. What did God say to you? So I'm not really sure. Have you put into action what you already know that He said? Because here's what happens, God teaches us some things, he works with us for a while, and when we step away and say, you know what, I know that's what the Bible says, I know it's right, but I'm just gonna do this because a lot of other people are doing it and it's more convenient or whatever. And after a while you don't hear from God anymore and you say, what's going on? Where's the voice of God anymore? I first came across this message when I was praying about a message that would help my family. And it was one of those days I'd just gone to study for a little while and was praying hard about a message that would be a help to my family when I preached that night. And as I prayed, it was just one of those days where it felt like I was just in a classroom. I was just talking to myself. Nobody heard me. Just one of those days, I just felt like, I just don't know if God can hear this. I just don't know what I'm supposed to preach tonight. So I started thinking back to times when I knew that God heard me. And I thought back to a certain day when I had lost a dear friend. a friend, I should say, maybe not a dear friend, but somebody that was a dear person that I knew from college, to Hannah Pelto. And she was one of these young ladies that she just loved the Lord. She got excited about it all the time. And she would just be one of those people, you'd see her and she'd just say, praise the Lord, today's a great day, isn't it? God has great plans for today. And some of the other college students were like, oh, you know, that's Dehanna, you know, whatever. And she wasn't really socially, she wasn't with the in crowd, you know. She just kind of was a little awkward socially. And I respected her. She always seemed to have just a great attitude. She seemed sincere about just loving the Lord. She got a lot of different times in a Christian college, and it should never happen, but some of the other students would make fun of her. I was one of the older students at the time. I was a senior, and I think she was a freshman there. She, they would make fun of her. I would try to stand up for her if I heard somebody saying something and try to be responsible that way. But the one day I was sitting there at lunch and DeHanna walked by. She worked at McDonald's and she was walking to McDonald's. It was only about a mile away from the college and she was walking down past the dining hall where we could see her out the window and somebody said something about DeHanna and they laughed about her. And it kind of caught me off guard, and it was a little bit funny the way they said it, and I started laughing. And after I had done that, I realized, ugh, I just went with the crowd here on this, and this is wrong. There's no reason we should be making fun of her. And I felt bad. I felt like I should say something. I felt like I should stand up for, I didn't say anything because I was afraid of, well, how am I going to say anything now? I just laughed at her. And they're not going to even take me seriously if I do say something. They're just going to think I'm just, I don't mean it. And I excused it. I didn't say anything. I was a coward. So I just sat there and just felt dirty about it. Well, that was the last time I ever saw DeHanna because a little while later she was walking to work and it was just in the real wee hours of the morning when it was still dark. She was crossing the road and a vehicle swerved. I think they had a trailer. and came and ended up hitting her, and she was gone. And I just remember feeling like such a horrible person. Realized, huh, why can't I, why can't I care about people like I'm supposed to? And I just realized what I had done was so vile and so disgusting in the eyes of God, and I wanted to apologize to her. She was gone. And I remember just feeling awful about it. And that week we went over to the pastor's house one night and there was a young man that was a friend of mine. And we went and we were praying out in the woods. His name was Roy. And we prayed out there in the woods. And I started praying to God like I meant it. I mean, I was really praying out to God. I had prayed that way before. But I prayed and I started screaming out to God. I said, God, change me. God, help me to be different. Help me to care about people. Help me to get over myself. God, change me. God, I need to care about people. I started screaming out to God like I was losing my mind out there in the woods. God heard me that night. And that night when I was, that other night when I was preparing a message to teach Bible study, I started thinking about these times. I thought, there's times in my life I know God heard me. And I started thinking back on some of those times. And one time that stood out very clearly was that night in the woods with Roy. And I know God heard me that night. I know he heard me that night. I'm sure he did. He helped me. He encouraged me. I know he heard me. And I said, I remember there was a guy there with me that night. It was 15 years before. And I thought, boy, 15 years have gone by. And I wonder what Roy's doing these days. I know he heard me that night. And then I remembered something interesting about Roy. His last name is Heard, H-E-A-R-D. Isn't that weird? His name's Roy Hurd. That's kind of interesting. Roy Hurd heard me. And as I started thinking about these things, God brought this passage to my mind about Samuel coming out in the morning and talking to Eli. And Eli said, what did the Lord say? He couldn't hear the Lord. The Lord wasn't going to hear him. We need to be heard by the Lord. And I preached on this message, and it went well that night. Afterward, we had some dinner together and we went to bed next morning, woke up. First thing, I hadn't even gotten out of bed yet. My wife says to me, hey, I didn't say anything to her or anybody about what I was praying in that room that night preparing for the Bible study. I hadn't said anything to anybody. about remembering that night I prayed with Roy. I hadn't heard from him in 15 years. Next morning, my wife says, hey, do you remember that guy Roy heard from college? Yeah, I do. She said, he just messaged you on Facebook. He said he wants to talk to you sometime. Might not mean a whole lot to you, but it meant a whole lot to me. I didn't tell anybody anything about that. Well that night, Roy and I talked on the phone and talked about things going on there and told him what was going on with us and kind of caught up and was telling me about his work and I was telling him about how we've traveled and done ministry. Toward the end of the phone conversation, I said, you know, Roy, it is just amazing that you, of all times, that you messaged me this morning about talking. I said, I was just thinking about you yesterday when I was preparing a message and praying. And I remember that time we were in the woods together and praying after Dehannapelto passed. And he says, I remember that time. I said, It just amazes me that you message me at this time of all times that you did this. He says, you know what Thaddeus? He said, I don't ever go on Facebook. He said, but last night, I dreamed about you. He said, I woke up this morning. He said, I wonder what happened to that guy Thaddeus. I wonder what he's up to these days. And he went over and he said, I typed your name into Facebook and he said, I saw your contact there and that we had one mutual friend in Marvin Smith up in Iowa. And he said, that's probably the same guy. And he messaged me. He said, I dreamed about you. His name's heard. God was teaching me this. God did that. It might not mean much to you, but it meant a whole lot to me. It's good to know that God hears us, that God cares. And listen, yeah, God heard when I prayed that day. He saw what I did when Diana walked by that window that day. And I just went along with the crowd. He saw all those things and he still gave me mercy. He still gave me grace. He didn't give up on me. He heard it all. How are we doing hearing him? How are we doing listening to him? Notice that it says here that, when Eli asked Samuel about what the Lord said to him, that Samuel told him every wit. He listened to every single little detail that God had spoken to him, and he rehearsed that back to Eli. He listened. He cared. And Samuel lived up to his name. His mother was heard of the Lord, but he was one to listen to the Lord. He was one to hear. You know, you can do whatever you want to do with the messages you hear. I'm sure you hear messages that tell you, you know, you shouldn't be watching R-rated films. You shouldn't be on certain... Sites that show pornographic images or you shouldn't be entertaining yourself with violence. I'm sure you hear this kind of preaching. I'm sure you hear, you know, we should be modest and clothe ourselves and have standards that would honor the Lord. in the books you read, in the things you watch, in the places you go. And we can preach on these things and get into specifics about these things, but when it all comes right down to it, you have a decision to make. What are you going to do with the Word of God? I can tell you, listen, I think it's good to be dressed. I think you ought to keep your knees covered. Men and women, I think so. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And I can even see a picture of it in the Word of God. You may not agree, okay, but what does God say to you? What does God say to you? Have you studied the Word of God? Do you care about the Word of God? We were at a fellowship, a preacher's fellowship a few weeks back, and a friend of mine, I've known him for 20 years, he brought his daughter to the fellowship dinner after the service, She was 42 months old. He pulled her dress off and sat her down in the high chair. Almost four years old, right in the middle of the fellowship dinner. And I saw it and I thought, what is he doing? I have little kids. I'm not going to do that to my kids. I'm not going to let them sit like that. I mean, she's not a baby. And even a baby, what is he doing? But I wasn't sure what to say to him. He has other people that could talk to him there, and I wasn't sure if something had happened, and they had to get that dress off, and they didn't have anything else, and maybe it was just temporary. So I kind of let it go. Well, a couple days later, they have a fellowship dinner again, and he pulls the dress off. And she's sitting there in front of everybody, 42 months old, topless. And I went over to him and I said, hey, what's going on with your daughter? She said, what do you mean? I said, why isn't she covered on top? He said, well, we don't want to get her dress dirty. I said, well, couldn't you use a towel or something? He said, well, you know, we do this every Sunday. And maybe it's okay. I don't think he really thinks it's okay, but maybe he does. But here's the question, what's okay in the eyes of God? Is that okay? Maybe it is, maybe it's not. What does God have for you to do? And do you actually care what God has for you to do? Don't say, well, that's that preacher, he likes to cover his knees. Oh man, okay, whatever preacher. Okay, what does God have for you to do? Would it really be okay if Jesus was sitting beside you while you were watching those things and going to those places? Would it really be okay? Have you justified it in your mind, going back there, doing those things? Is it okay with Him? It shouldn't be okay with you if it's not okay with Him. We need to listen to God's direction in our life. I don't know how God is using this message for you tonight. Maybe God's not using this message for you tonight. I hope he is. But what does God have for you? What standards are you gonna, what stands are you gonna take? What things are you gonna do differently as God leads you and say, you know what, I really, I need to step it up in my Bible reading. I'm not reading enough of my Bible. I'm not memorizing enough of my Bible. I'm not spending enough time in prayer. I need to get off of those certain sites. I need to get away from certain entertainment, certain musicians. I shouldn't be listening to them. What's God want you to do? It really is that simple. You read the word of God and the word of God will tell you this is wrong, this is right, and you respond to it. God's voice is going to speak through his word and direct you very specifically. What did God say to you? How is God leading in your life? That's the thought that I have for tonight here from the life of Samuel. What would God have for you to do? And I'm just gonna ask you to bow your heads, close your eyes. It's a little after seven now. Just ask you to pray about what God would have you to do with this message. I didn't preach on a lot of specifics here tonight, but God can give you specifics if you'll pray and you'll care. what he has for you.