Persisting in Faithfulness: Living After God's Heart

1. "We are not called to pursue perfectionism, not every we are not called to be perfect and I know that is a relief for some of you but however because that is impossible in the state of sin that we do live in but rather we called to be persisting in faithfulness, and that's the title of our sermon today, and that's what we're going to try to aim to learn from 1 Samuel chapter 2, persisting in faithfulness." [03:04] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Faithfulness is not by strength. In fact, this is the first aspect we see here. By strength, none prevail. This is the first aspect of faithfulness. By strength, none prevail. Look back in verse number nine and chapter number two, and you will see this profound truth in her prayer. That's one of the, in my viewpoint, one of the cornerstones of this pursuit of faithfulness, the study of faithfulness. She says something eerily familiar to us in the New Testament understanding. At the end of verse number nine, she says, for by strength, no man shall prevail." [09:10] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Do you know as a child of God today, your strength is not measured in your relationship with God? I know that seems to be opposite in everything of the world that we live in. I mean, how we act and conduct and behave. I mean, how we act and conduct and behave. I mean, how we act and conduct and behave in our family is performance-based. As a spouse or anything of that nature, try not to do any of the chores in the house that you're assigned to and see the level of determination of the happiness of the spouse that you live with will go down dramatically once you abandon that." [13:13] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "If it was left to your, if it was left up to you, if it was left up to you, if it was left up to you, if it was left up to your strength and mind, we would determinedly and drastically fail every day on our, on our relationship with the Lord. If it was left up to alone, how well we do, we would always fail. Many of us can kind of attest to that in some, in some form of relationships that we have. Sometimes we have good days. Sometimes we have bad days. Sometimes we have good seasons. Sometimes we have bad seasons. When it comes to God, it's not by your strength. It's by his grace." [14:49] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Despite the corruptness, because you got to go back here 2000 years ago. I know in America, we're pretty blessed when you get mad at one church or you're getting tired of one church, when one church is really starting to just go against God and rightfully so you can go to another church. Israelites didn't have that choice. There was only one first Baptist of Shiloh and it was the only first Baptist of Shiloh. You get what I'm saying? There was no other church. This was the only temple that you go to. Despite that temple of God being so corrupt at this time, it says from verse 18 to verse 20 and verse 21 that Hannah and Eltona faithfully year by year went to the temple." [27:30] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Are you like the little boy, Samuel, right now? Do you come to the house of God? Do you minister to the Lord, as, as what the Bible says? But what verse 7 out of chapter 3 tells us, you do not yet know the Lord. Isn't that odd, even in the Old Testament? Here's a little boy who not only comes to the house of God, he works in the house of God, he performs the little duties of the house of God, he, he attends his Sunday school, he does all the things that the pastor of the church wants him to do. He does all the things that the pastor of the church wants him to do, but he doesn't have a relationship with God." [50:48] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Brothers and sisters in Christ, what of us as children to our Heavenly Father? As citizens, not of this world, but of the kingdom of God. Can, can you and I examine your life and find yourself being faithful? Remember, that's our phrase here, persisting in faithfulness. Can we be found faithful in God, in all things, in your callings, in your employments, in your family, in your personal goals, in serving none, in serving no one, in serving, in serving your children, your grandchildren, your employer, in serving no one more than serving God in the complete and totality of your life." [52:34] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "God saves you when you weren't perfect. And he's continually molding you to be more like Christ. We understood that in last week's lesson. And we were called to be a faithful servant. Not a perfect one. That leads us to this last truth that when we understand faithfulness and it kind of flows out in the scripture here in Samuel's life, that there's a danger in faithfulness. When we misplace it, the only reason how you can misplace faithfulness, the only reason why you can drift away from staying faithful to God, the only reason how that could ever occur is because of the same sin that Eli was committing here. You would begin to honor others." [35:17] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Eli's chief sin as a high priest, as the one who's supposed to be the religious spiritual leader of the nation of Israel, was that he honored his sons more than the Lord. There's a complete difference here between Eli and how he handles his children and Hannah, how she handles Samuel. Samuel grows in Hannah's faithfulness. Hophni and Phineas, the two sons, rose in Eli's lassity. Remember I said, what, what, what would have changed? What would have been different if Elkanah and Hannah, the mom and dad of Samuel, uh, would have said, you know what? We're tired of the temple. We're going to take Samuel out of the temple." [39:19] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "You know, the Bible says, a lot about this. He made an idol of his children and worshiped them more than the Lord. In fact, Luke chapter 12, verse 49 and 56, when Christ came into this world, he said something completely paradox to what the world and what the Jews especially wanted to hear. He said, I came to send fire on the earth and how I wish it was already kindled, but I have a baptism to be baptized with the baptism of death and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. Do you suppose? Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?" [45:19] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)