I like what Brother Jennings said this afternoon,
love ye therefore the stranger.
So I'm going to need you to put
in practice that with me.
This will be a suitable afternoon to put
it in practice.
So be patient with me this afternoon.
I'm going to try to share with you
a little bit of the word of God.
And I like to read, first of all,
the first book of Samuel in the Old
Testament.
1 Samuel, chapter 2.
My intention is to try to encourage a
little bit younger believers.
And I have in mind to try to
encourage some of the young people here.
I hope we can get to the point.
1 Samuel, chapter 2, and let's read in
verse number 11.
And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house.
And the child, this is Samuel, did minister
unto the Lord before Eli the priest.
Now verse number 18.
But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a
child girded with a lion in effect.
Now let's read verse number 19.
Moreover, his mother made him a little coat
and brought it to him from year to
year.
When she came up with her husband to
offer the yearly sacrifice.
Verse number 21.
And the Lord visited Hannah so that she
conceived and bare three sons and two daughters.
And the child, Samuel, grew before the Lord.
Verse number 26.
And the child, Samuel, grew on and was
in favor both with the Lord and also
with men.
Now chapter 3, verse number 1.
And the word of the Lord was precious
in those days.
There was no open vision.
Now verse number 19 of chapter 3.
And Samuel grew and the Lord was with
him and did let none of his words
fall to the ground.
That's all we're going to read.
Now, I would like to notice in the
life of Samuel, the way he was growing.
I want to consider that Samuel was growing
physically, but he also was growing intellectually.
And I also see that Samuel was growing
spiritually.
So I would like to consider with you
the growing of this little child.
And one of the things that we notice
here, he was growing physically.
He was growing intellectually and he was growing
spiritually.
Now, if we consider the situation of the
nation of Israel at that time.
We see that he was growing in an
environment that didn't really help him very much.
The environment was very bad.
There was a national spiritual decay in Israel.
Because we read in chapter 3 and verse
number 1 that the word of the Lord
was precious in those days.
And that means really that they lack the
word of the Lord.
They were not looking for the word of
the Lord.
They were not reading.
They were not studying.
They were not looking at what God has
given them.
So they lacked a lot of knowledge of
God in the time when Samuel was growing.
So when we consider that, we see that
his environment was a very difficult environment.
But even so, we read that he was
growing and he was ministering unto the Lord.
So there was a national decay in Israel.
They lacked a lot of knowledge from God.
So this is something that we see today.
And when we look around us in the
days that we're living, we see more and
more in the world that we're living in
the lack of knowledge of God.
Now, as believers, sometimes we get a little
bit scared of the world.
And as believers, we get shy when it
comes to try to give a testimony for
the Lord to others.
Now, see the example of Samuel.
He was a little child.
He was growing in a really bad environment.
But he was a steady growing in his
life.
And I just want to see the example
of Samuel in the Old Testament as a
good example for us today.
And we know that sometimes we are not
as brave as we need to be to
testify for the Lord.
Overall, when we live in this world, most
of what we see today is really bad.
And most of what we see around us
is something that is really going down in
the course of this world.
That's what Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse
2, when he speaks about the course of
this world that is going down.
And many people are going down with the
world and the course of the world.
The believer, sometimes he's going to find out
in the middle of this situation.
And he's going to wonder, what am I
going to do?
Most of the people around me, they don't
know God.
Most of the people around me, they do
what is wicked.
They do what they want to do.
They lack knowledge of God.
And the believer is tempted to go the
same way that the world is going today.
Some course down with them.
Why?
Because we feel scared to give testimony, to
stand for the Lord.
We feel we are shy and we don't
want to just be in the middle of
all the friends or the people around us.
And for them to make fun of us.
And that happens.
It might happen to you.
It has happened to me.
But we read about this little child Samuel.
He was growing before the Lord.
He was growing and at the same time,
he was ministering for the Lord.
And you can see that he was a
little child.
There wasn't much help around him.
We're going to consider Eli in the life
of Samuel, not of much help.
But consider this little child growing in this
environment.
He was growing and he wasn't discouraged.
He kept doing it.
Not only physically, not only intellectually, but also
spiritually.
So I would like to encourage today the
believers, young believers, to keep going for the
Lord.
To keep growing for the Lord.
We are living in a world that is
really, really going farther and farther from God.
And the believer sometimes is like the salmon
trying to go against the course.
Difficult to go against the course of a
river.
Difficult to go against the course of the
world.
But if we know that we have a
God in heaven, not only that saved us,
but also that can give us strength.
If we trust Him, we can do it.
Some believers think that it's impossible to be
a person that could honor the Lord today.
With all the environment around us, some believers
think it's not possible.
This is something that is not going to
work with me.
And they just leave the principles of the
Lord and the principles of the Bible.
And they go the same course of the
world.
Because they think it's not going to be
possible for me to do this.
I would like to encourage you to keep
growing in the knowledge of the Lord.
And to keep growing in the grace of
the Lord.
And we'll consider that, the knowledge and the
grace of the Lord, in a minute.
But look at this.
There is this child Samuel growing in the
middle of this mess.
And the nation of Israel is far from
God.
The nation of Israel is lacking knowledge.
But he was growing, and he was growing
before the Lord.
But not only that.
Samuel was growing, and the religious system in
his days was broken.
When you consider chapter 2, verse number 17,
and verse number 18.
The way Eli's sons acted, the way they
were behaving.
It was an awful way.
They were supposed to be the people that
had the responsibility to teach about God.
And to teach the Word of God.
What were they doing?
They were doing wicked things.
Samuel is in the middle of this situation.
The religious system in Israel was broken.
Totally, totally.
Nothing good of it.
But there is Samuel, and we read about
him.
While the children, the sons of Eli, were
doing these wicked things.
Samuel kept growing, and Samuel kept ministering.
So, maybe today, somebody gets discouraged.
Because we have not only the wicked world,
but the religious system in the world.
The religious system in the world is something
that is really far from God.
And we realize about that.
We realize that the people that profess to
be Christians, many of them, they say they
are Christians.
But the way they live their Christian life
is really discouraging.
Disheartening.
To know that somebody that says that he
is a Christian, or a believer, lives the
life they are living.
So, the believers get discouraged sometimes.
And they wonder about, is it really worth
it to keep going and follow the Lord?
Look at the other people, what they are
doing.
Or look at the congregation, these other congregations.
What they preach, and what they do.
Most of them are doing exactly the same.
Most of them are doing exactly what is
opposed to what we are doing in the
assembly.
Some believers, they get discouraged.
Because the rest of the world, the rest
of the religious system, goes more or less
the same way.
But in the assembly, things are done differently.
They think, is it really worth it to
do it?
Because when I speak to other people that
profess to be Christians, and when I talk
to them about the assembly, the principles, the
doctrine of the assembly, they think that I
am such a strange person.
And that I have such a strange congregation.
What kind of church are you going to?
They ask me sometimes.
What kind of doctrine are you holding?
What is that?
We have never heard about that.
New believers, they find this, that is something
discouraging to them.
You know what?
You see this little Samuel, how he was
growing.
The sons of Eli, they were doing wicked
things.
They were the leaders of the national religion.
But you know what?
Samuel didn't see what they were doing.
Samuel kept growing in knowledge, in grace, before
God and before man.
So, I would like to encourage you to
keep growing.
You're going to find discouragement in this world
that lacks knowledge of God.
You're going to find discouragement in the religious
system today that has gone so far from
God, too.
And you'll see it the way an assembly
is doing their things, and trying to accomplish
what the Bible says, and trying to carry
on the doctrine of the Lord.
And this is going to be something crazy
for others that don't know exactly how an
assembly should be, how a church should be.
But a believer that sees in the Word
of God what he should do, he should
be encouraged that when the world is going
far from God, and the religious system is
broken, he should be encouraged that the Lord
Jesus Christ says where two or three are
gathered together unto my name, there am I
in the midst of them.
That is something that should encourage me.
It's not a matter of numbers.
It's not a matter of entertainment.
It's not a matter of how many activities
I have in my church, or they have
in their church.
It's a matter of who is in the
midst of us.
That should be the thing that encourages us
to appreciate what we have today, and to
appreciate what the Lord appreciates.
Samuel, he was growing.
He was ministering at the same time.
It didn't matter to him.
Even as young as he was, it didn't
matter to him what the rest were doing.
What the nation of Israel was doing, or
the religious system was doing.
For him, this didn't matter.
What mattered to him is that he was
serving the Lord.
He was serving the Lord.
Not only that, but we read in 1
Timothy 3, verse number 15, that the Apostle
Paul is telling Timothy, and he tells him,
that thou mayest know how to behave thyself
in the house of God, which is the
church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth.
The pillar and ground of the truth.
You know, my dear young brother, that the
assembly, maybe as weak as you see it,
and maybe with all the faults that you
can see in the believers, you know that
the assembly is the pillar and the ground
of the truth in the world today.
It's not the biggest church in town.
What holds the truth is the assembly that
holds the doctrine of the Lord.
And even as weak as you see the
assembly, that assembly is a pillar and a
ground of the truth.
And that should encourage me.
Look at what Eli was doing.
That's another thing.
There was a lack of leadership in those
days.
Eli, he was the priest.
He was a priest.
He needed to show leadership.
And he tried to talk to his sons,
but they didn't hear him.
They didn't obey him.
They didn't consider his father as a leader.
And they didn't put in practice what he
told them to do.
It was evident that in the time when
Samuel was growing, that there is not leadership.
Some believers, they may find that in their
local assemblies, they may find or they may
think that there is no leadership.
It can be true or it cannot be
true.
Sometimes we see things that are not true,
really.
But, you know, Samuel, he knew who Eli
was.
Samuel was going to see a vision that
told him what was going to happen to
Eli.
And it's interesting that Samuel didn't react against
Eli.
He didn't react against him.
He could have done it.
You say, well, he was a little child.
Yes, but he didn't even have a thought
against Eli.
Even when Eli wasn't doing the things properly,
the best way, Samuel didn't have anything against
him.
And we would like to encourage you that
if you see or if you think that
there is no leadership in the assembly or
where you live or where you're trying to
serve the Lord, look at this.
That was something that God was going to
judge in Eli.
It wasn't for Samuel to judge it.
What was the work for Samuel?
It was to grow and to minister before
the Lord.
That was his work.
That's why in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and
verse number 14, Paul says to Timothy, Neglect
not the gift that is in thee.
Why?
Because we tend always to see others or
around us and forget our own responsibility.
Neglect not the gift.
So be occupied in your gift.
Timothy, you're going to see many things.
You're going to see lots of things around
you.
Many things are encouraging.
Other things are not that encouraging.
But Timothy, neglect not the gift that you
have.
Don't do it.
Put it in practice.
Put it to work.
That's your responsibility before God.
You know, another thing that Timothy was going
to learn from Paul is, Rebuke not an
elder.
In a sense, maybe Paul is talking about
another person more than an elder in the
assembly.
But Paul is trying to teach Timothy that
he needed to focus on the things that
were his responsibilities.
Now, my dear younger brother, believer, If you
see or notice that there is not leadership
in your assembly, Look at this.
Remember, your responsibility is, I'm going to put
my gift to work.
Because if it's true, then God is going
to need to raise leaders.
God is going to need to raise believers
with conviction and with strength and with character
in their life.
For them to be the leaders.
And for them to help.
Not as a boss in a company.
But as a servant in an assembly that
needs help.
And that help comes from you.
So don't get discouraged about that.
Try to get encouraged.
If I don't see that there is much
happening here.
If I don't see that the leaders are
trying to help in the assembly.
Then I'm going to put myself in the
hands of the Lord.
And may the Lord use some of the
gift He has given me to help to
grow myself before God.
And to help the people of God to
grow and to follow the Lord.
That's what we need.
We need more believers with a desire to
follow the Lord.
Looking at the Lord and trying to help
the people of God.
There was a lack of leadership in the
time when Samuel was growing.
You know what?
Samuel, he was going to be a great
leader in Israel.
You know, he didn't say, oh, this Eli,
he's not doing a good job.
He didn't say, Eli's sons, they're wicked people.
He didn't say, look at the rest of
the nation.
They lack so much knowledge of God.
So this is not really for me.
This is not what I want.
This is not what I need.
I need to go the same way the
rest are going.
No, he didn't say that.
The Lord was preparing a leader.
The Lord was raising a man that was
going to bring the nation again to God.
And Samuel is the man that brought David
to the kingdom of Israel.
And Israel became a great nation again under
the leadership of David.
Who did all these things?
Samuel, he was a little child, but had
convictions.
Since he was a child, had convictions before
God.
And God used him to raise the nation,
bring it back to God.
But another thing that we see in the
life of Samuel is the lack or absence
of support.
You see, we read a verse that his
mother came every year to him to bring
a coat for him every year.
So his mother wasn't with him all the
time.
It was just once a year when he
saw his mother coming to encourage, to try
to help him.
He didn't have support around him.
His loved ones, they were so far from
him.
So that was another good excuse.
He had to say, you see, nobody supports
me.
I don't have support around me.
So I am alone here.
Samuel kept going, growing.
Acknowledge.
Growing and grace.
And he says, in favor, both with the
Lord and also with men.
No support.
And the little child kept growing.
So do we have support?
Sometimes we don't have support.
Sometimes we just find ourselves alone.
We know what the Bible says.
We know the doctrine of the Bible.
We know what is right.
But it seems like the rest don't know
it.
Sometimes it seems like it is that way.
What am I going to do?
Am I going to say, no, I'm not
going to go alone by this way.
I can't do this alone.
It's interesting that every time Samuel's mother, Hannah,
came to see him, he had a different
size.
And another coat and a different size.
The child was growing.
It didn't matter if she came just once
a year.
He was growing.
Did you find yourself alone?
Trying to hold what the Bible says and
teaches?
Please, I encourage you to keep going.
Keep growing.
And keep ministering unto the Lord.
Someday, you're going to be rewarded for this.
Remember that the work in the Lord is
not in vain.
And we read in the Bible.
It's there in 2 Timothy 2 and verse
number 3.
The Apostle Paul, he says, endure hardness.
You know what?
Not always it's going to be easy to
be a Christian.
And hold convictions before the Lord.
Sometimes we think that the Christian life has
to be easy.
If I am doing what is right before
God, it should be easy to be a
Christian.
No, it's not true.
Sometimes it's going to be more difficult to
be a Christian.
When you're trying to hold the truth of
God in your heart.
And trying to do what God wants you
to do.
No support sometimes.
But that doesn't mean that God doesn't matter.
Or God is not watching us.
You know?
In the Bible, we understand and we learn
that we have sometimes to endure hardness as
good soldiers.
It's not always going to be easy.
Always.
Sometimes it's going to be difficult.
Do I have to suffer it?
Yes, I have to suffer it.
It's not that the Christian life has to
be easy all the time.
No.
It's going to be hard sometimes.
And yes, I have to suffer it.
And yes, I have to go through that.
And yes, I have to accept it.
As the will of the Lord, sometimes, for
me.
Samuel, no support.
Just once a year, he endured it.
He enjoyed that God was with him.
And at times, and at proper times, God
brought a vision to Samuel.
And God started to manifest himself to the
child.
He saw the light one time in his
life.
We can see the light.
Maybe today we don't see any light.
It's too difficult for me to follow the
Lord.
I will see the light.
When the Lord, when is the will of
the Lord for me, I'll see the light.
And I'll be glad to say, I'm thankful
to the Lord that he preserved me and
kept me going on in the ways of
the Lord.
We read three times in the book of
Samuel that Samuel ministered.
And we read three times also that he
grew.
So there was a balance in his life.
There was a balance in his life.
Interesting.
As young as he was, he was a
man of balance.
In one way, he was serving the Lord.
In the other way, he was knowing the
Lord.
He not only was doing one thing or
the other thing, he was doing both.
He was knowing the Lord personally in a
devotional way.
And he was ministering and serving the Lord
by the other way.
He was doing both.
We need that today, too.
We need to have balance.
We need to grow in knowledge of the
Lord.
That's what Peter says.
2 Peter 3 verse number 18.
Grow in the knowledge and in the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowledge and grace.
Knowledge and favor.
Knowledge and truth.
Knowledge and grace.
And you know what?
If we are going to hold the truth,
it's because we're going to show grace.
How do I know that somebody is bringing
truth?
Because he's bringing grace, too.
Because grace and truth came by the Lord
Jesus Christ.
So I would like to encourage you.
And in spite of the world decay.
And in spite of the religion broken system.
And in spite of the lack of leadership,
if there is.
In spite of the absence of support.
Please, my dear young believer.
Grow in knowledge and grow in grace.