Sermons and Services

What does it look like when God gives people a leader like the world? There is a picture in the minds of the people of what a king is to be and what a king is to do. This image is shaped, not by God’s standards, but by what the world deems to be acceptable. However, in giving the people what they desire, the Lord has not ceased to be in control. In this message entitled “A King Like the World,” we will see that “the Lord sovereignly reigns even in the choosing of worldly leaders.”

What authority will reign supreme? Who do we turn to to guide us in the midst of chaotic and confusing times? All too often we turn to the cadence call of the world and align our steps with it than seeking to listen to the Word of the Lord and changing our steps to follow him. In this morning’s message, entitled “A Sovereign not The Sovereign,” we will hear this warning, “When we seek to be led like the world, we reject the Lord’s sovereignty for the way of judgment.”

In this chapter we see a pattern for God’s people to follow that points us to the restoration of God’s glory. While we are not promised that this will transform and revive our nation spiritually, we can know that this will renew the Church. What we see in 1 Samuel 7 is that when we engage in humble repentance, the Lord restores His glory to His people.

This morning we turn our attention to the longest passage we will be focusing on in this series. The summary of this portion of 1 Samuel can be found in chapter 4, verse 22, “She [Phinehas’ wife] said, ‘The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.’” When we look at a passage like this, we might ask ourselves, “What possible relevance and application could this have to our lives today?” I would assert that this passage is just as relevance today as it ever has been. The message of the supremacy of God’s glory is vitally important today, and what these chapters teach us is that “the Lord’s sovereign judgment demonstrates the supremacy of His glory.”

While we do see God calling Samuel, the focus of this chapter has more to do with learning to hear the Lord than it does with someone’s call to ministry. This chapter illustrates something that is appropriate for each and every one of us today. The title of my message is “Hearing with a Servant’s Heart.” The point is this, “The Lord speaks to and through those who are willing to serve Him.”

In 1 Samuel 2, we see two young men whose lineage dictated that they would be in service to the Lord, who would have had all of the advantages in this way, squandering and indeed rejecting the service they were called to perform. We see one young boy born under very different circumstances embracing his calling even as a child. The point of the text is this, “Those who seek after self will be punished; those who serve the Lord will be praised.”

Phil Webb, a friend of Pastor Joshua, delivered a message from 2 Peter 1, addressing the foundation of our sanctification.

Today being Mother’s Day, it is appropriate that we begin this series with the story of a mother, or rather the story of a woman who desired to become a mother. So often in Scripture, God draws our attention to the unlikeliest of people, who He uses to accomplish His sovereign purposes. Hannah is just such a person. Hannah is a women overwhelmed by despair, yet through Hannah’s hope, we learn that the pain of the moment draws the soul of the faithful to seek the presence of the Lord.