out there in attendance today. I hope you have
a wonderful day with your family. Mother's Day
is such a gift. It's such a sweet time. And it's
so good to see everybody. And some of you came
because your mom invited you to come. And we're
really glad about that. Mother's Day is always
a sweet day for me. My first mom, Melanie, went
to heaven on Mother's Day. And I know that for
many people because I've connected with this
too a little bit. Mother's Day can be bittersweet.
It can be a good thing. Who thinks it's a good
thing? Yeah, to be with mom and to be around
mom. But it can also be a bittersweet day for
people. Maybe there's someone here today that's
lost a child or maybe this is your first Mother's
Day without mom and that can be hard. And so
I pray that today is sweet for you too. and that
you have a good day and not just to have that
bitter memory. But I love my mom. I love both
my moms. I have a mom now that God gave me when
I was about 10 years old named Jana. That's my
mom now. In fact, Melana is named after both
of my moms, Melanie and Jana. We put Melanie
and Jana together. Her name's Melana and that's
where her name came from. But one of the best
gifts I ever got from my mom. Janna is that she
is a praying mom. I remember being impacted many
times growing up in my teenage years where I
would walk into my mom's room and she would be
on her knees praying. Probably praying, Lord
help me with these boys. That's probably what
she was praying. But it affected me right like
it's one thing for your parents to tell you to
pray it's another thing when you see that be
the pattern of their life and My mom This is
how how bad it was sometimes. I'd be like ma.
Have you seen my I'm always losing something
right have you seen that she is I haven't seen
it Have you prayed about it? Have you prayed
about it? I'm like No, I just want to find it.
I haven't prayed about it right And so then we'd
stop and pray about it. And you might say, well,
you would have found it anyway. I'm saying prayer
didn't hurt. I'm pretty sure my brother and I
gave her the gift of encouraging her to pray
more. But Jana Jennings, my mom's a praying mom.
And she prays about little and big. There is
power in the Lord. And a faith praying mom can
make a big difference in the lives of her family
and beyond. There are some of us that, where
we're at today, spiritually speaking, and humanly
speaking, it has to do with what God did in answer
to a mom who prayed. Anybody here have a praying
mom? Yeah, it's an amazing thing. In First Samuel
chapter one, we're introduced to a woman named
Hannah. Hannah, in this story, this narrative,
Hannah, we are introduced into her life at a
time where she had some problems, three of them
really, that are given to us right here in the
beginning of this book. First we see that she
has a problematic family structure and home in
the home where she lived. You have your Bibles,
you got your Bible? First Samuel chapter one,
look at verse number one. Now there was a certain
man of that place, of Mount Ephraim, and his
name, I'm just being real, just being real, okay.
and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram,
the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of
Zeph and Ephrathite. And he had two wives. The
name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other
was Penana. Now God's plan for family has always
been one man and one woman in lifelong covenant
marriage. And some people make the mistake that
since the Bible describes marriages where men
are married to more than woman that God condones
that. The Bible though is not always prescriptive.
Sometimes it's descriptive. What do I mean? In
this particular situation and others like it,
God's not saying this is what ought to happen.
He's just saying this is what did happen. People
are messed up and they have been from antiquity.
After Genesis 3, it's flawed, okay? Is your home
perfect? Neither's mine, right? Okay, so she
finds herself in this difficult thing, in this
difficult circumstance. In fact, we see often,
whenever there's multiple wives' polygamy, whenever
that happens, there's almost always problems.
And that's what you see happening here. The Bible
describes the problems that can come from this
arrangement. In verse 6, we find out, Hannah's
relationship with her husband's other wife. It
says in verse six at the very beginning, and
her adversary also provoked her sore for to make
her fret. Who agrees? It would be tough to be
married to a guy who's also married to someone
who's becoming your enemy. Who agrees? It's almost
like you need a reality show about this kind
of thing, right? I'm sure that all of us agree
that that would be tough. So the first problem
she had is she's got this really weird home situation.
The second problem she has is that Hannah dealt
with the dishonor from her culture of having
no children. Look at verse two. And he, talking
about Elkanah, had two wives. The name of one
was Hannah and the name of the other was Penanah.
And Penanah had children, but Hannah had, how
many? No children. No children. Hannah was barren.
At this point, she didn't have children and probably
thought she couldn't have children. This was
a great dishonor in her culture. In a very practical
sense in our lives, our lives are different today
with washers, dryers, dishwashers, grocery stores,
supply chains, right? Labor is necessary, it's
far more necessary then because they don't have
all those conveniences. And children in the home
meant you had help, right? Sometimes children
are no help. In that day, you needed help, right?
Give us this day, our daily bread was a lot more
than... a lot more the reality for most people.
And children were needed to get the daily tasks
of life done. And then in old age, they didn't
have social security. In old age, they had kids
who took care of parents, right? A woman's fertility
was very closely tied then with her worth. In
the way that men thought about women, in the
way that even women thought about women, that
was part of what was going on. And you can see
this as a cultural reality in her time by what
transpired between Hannah and her adversary.
Again, you see that in verse six. And her adversary
also provoked her sore for to make her to fret
because the Lord had shut up her womb. So the
particular distinct issue that was felt in this
adversarial relationship with my husband's other
wife is that that woman was like, well, God must
not love you because you don't have any kids.
God loves me because I got all the kids. And
don't you think she might've even said, and I'm
reading between the lines, I'll admit it, I'm
reading between the lines, but she may have said,
God's blessing me and him and not you and him.
So he must like me more, he doesn't like you
as much, right? Who agrees? That would be weird.
Hard, difficult situation. Here we're told that
the Lord had shut up her womb. This may have
been true in this instance because God's a revealing
God. Who agrees God wanted this to show up in
the scripture? So here we are years later talking
about it. He's trying to teach us something.
But you can also see that it was the assumption
of her adversary. If you didn't have kids, there
must have been something wrong. You must have
not been favored by the Lord because you're less
than. That's what, again, the Bible is not prescriptive
here, it's descriptive. That's what they were
thinking. We see throughout scripture, God doing
amazing things through women who at one time
were barren. If you ever wanna do an interesting
study, go look at that. Sarai becomes Sarah.
Elizabeth has John the Baptist, Rachel, Rebecca,
at all times all these different matriarchs of
the faith dealt with barrenness. And often God
used their eventual children to do amazing things.
We may see the intensity of this honor differently
in our day, but some today deal with the same
problem and on a day like Mother's Day may feel
the same way, may feel very troubled because
they don't have kids. For many ladies, Mother's
Day can come with some pain because they wanted
to have children and could not or have not. If
this is the situation you find yourself in, don't
think of yourself as inferior. That's not true.
God loves you and you have worth. You are made
in the image of God and God gave his son to die
for you. We see a third problem that was part
of Hannah's life. here right at the beginning.
Because of the previous two problems, we see
that there was a tension with her husband that
gets described here in verse number three, talking
about Elkanah, this man went up out of the city
yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord
of Hosts, and Shiloh, and the two sons of Eli,
Hophni and Phineas, the priests of the Lord,
were there. Now make note of Eli, he's mentioned
there. He was the priest of the Lord that will
be part of this story later. Verse four. And
when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave
to Pinnana his wife, and to all her sons and
her daughters portions, but unto Hannah he gave
a worthy portion. Oh, that's cool. Who agrees?
He felt bad. And he wanted to give her, when
I go to ice cream, I like a worthy portion. Okay,
I like that. Don't give me a skinny guy scoop.
Give me the chubby guy scoop, right? He gave
unto a worthy portion for he, what does it say?
He loved Hannah. I love that. But the Lord had
shut up her womb. And her adversary, we read
this already, also provoked her for to make her
afraid because the Lord had shut up her womb.
And as he did so year by year when she went up
to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her,
therefore she wept and did not eat." I think
it's interesting that when they went to worship
God, that's when the other lady was even more
of a jerk. Not all church ladies are nice. Did
I just say that on Mother's Day? The problems
grew more and more intense. Year after year,
no child. Year after year, a provoking adversary.
Year after year, her pain grew more acute. And
it affected her husband. Look at verse number
eight. Then said Elkanah, her husband to her,
Hannah, why weepest thou? And why eatest thou
not? You see her discouragement got to the place
where she wouldn't eat and she wouldn't drink.
I mean, it's pretty intense. Why are you not
eating? Why are you not... Why are you weeping?
Why is your heart grieved? Am not I better than
ten sons? It's at this point we see Hannah respond
beyond her grief. Hannah's example here may be
very relevant for you today because the situation
she's going through. Maybe you have a problem
that just seems like there's no way to fix it.
You've tried everything. Maybe you're wondering,
does God see me? God, are you really the cause?
of my problem and my pain here, don't you see?
These people who aren't doing right seem to be
blessed and I'm trying to do right and I'm not
being blessed. Maybe like Hannah, you feel this
problem defines you and identifies you to other
people. And maybe like Hannah, you feel it so
acutely that you weep. Maybe you've been in a
place where you don't even eat I certainly have
counseled people through the years that lost
weight because they were in such a grief and
difficulty that they didn't take the time to
eat in their grief and It's at this moment that
and it's at this point that Hannah serves as
an example for us to imitate When we face seemingly
insurmountable problems Every mom can grow in
her faith through prayer by imitating Hannah's
three responses to her problem. And by the way,
so can the rest of us. Moms aren't the only one
that go through difficulty. Any dads going through
difficulty at a particular time? Yeah, for sure.
So let's look at her responses. Here's response
number one. She prayed a promise to God by faith.
Look at verse nine. It says this, 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
in, what does it say? Bitterness of soul and
prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. Was this
lady sincere? I believe she was. Here is the
starting point when it comes to dealing with
your problems. Prayer isn't the last resort.
I've heard, preached many times in my life, you
know, a pastor will say, I heard people say all
we can do is pray, you know. And that shouldn't
be how it is. The first thing we should do is
pray. Who think that preach is good? Yeah, but
sometimes, sometimes all you can do is pray.
Sometimes it's like, it's not up to me. This
is something God's gotta do, right? And if you're
like feeling guilty that man, I haven't been
praying like I ought to and because I haven't
prayed and now I'm really, maybe I wasn't praying
when things were, I wasn't praying when things
were going good and now things are going bad
and so I feel bad about praying because God doesn't
wanna answer my prayer because God wouldn't answer
my prayer. I wasn't faithful when things were
going good and now bad things are bad and now,
so I'm not even gonna pray. Can I tell you? Don't
be dumb. Write that down, don't be dumb. If you're
going through difficulty, pray. Pray. Now don't
stop praying when he answers your prayer. Don't
stop praying when things are good. But if things
are bad, pray. God wants us to pray to him. Hannah
in the bitterness of her soul, came to this crisis
point. She's hurting, she's weeping, she's not
eating. Notice it says after they had eaten and
they had drunk. I believe in the context, she
didn't eat and drink, she was there. She prayed
and she prayed a particular kind of prayer. She
made a vow. She made a promise to God, verse
11. It says, and she vowed a vow and said, oh
Lord of hosts. If, and then later on she says
then, we're gonna see that in a second. I believe
Hannah's heart was right in this. Some people
make a promise to God as a way of trying to manipulate
God. That's bad. That's a bad plan because God
cannot be manipulated. God cannot be manipulated.
Okay. You aren't gonna surprise him. He knows
you better than you know yourself. But I believe
her heart was right in this because the vow she
was making was not ultimately selfish. We're
gonna see that. What she was promising was to
have a right heart attitude about the gift of
God to her. So what was the promise? She says
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 wilt give unto thine handmaid a
man -child. Was she specific? Then I will give
him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and
there shall no razor come upon his head. Notice
that the tone of this vow was not demanding.
It was humble. Do you agree with me? It was requesting.
It was not demanding. The vow was this. If God
would deal with her dishonor by giving her a
son, then what she would do is give that son
back to serve God by helping that son serve God
and keeping a lifelong Nazarite vow. This is
not explained in the text, but it's certainly
implied. Number six talks about what a Nazarite
vow is. I put it on the screen. Here's what it's,
number six, one through seven says this, and
the Lord speaking the most is saying, speak unto
the children of Israel and saying to them, when
either a man or woman shall separate themselves
to vow, a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves
under the Lord, he shall separate himself from
wine and strong drink. and shall drink no vinegar
of wine or vinegar of strong drink. Neither shall
I drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes
or dried." So the first part of the Nazarite
vow is no fruit of the vine, no grapes of any
kind, alcohol, even eating grapes. There, you
got it, verse four. All the days of his separation,
he shall eat nothing that is made from the vine
tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All
the days of his vow of his separation shall no
razor come upon his head until the days be fulfilled
in which he separate himself unto the Lord. He
shall be holy or separated by that long hair.
And shall let the locks of his hair of his head
grow. All the days that he separated himself
and the Lord, he shall come at no dead body.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father,
for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister
when they die, because the consecration of God
is upon his head." So no fruit of the vine. Let
your hair grow out. Don't ever cut your hair.
And never touch a dead body of any kind. That's
the three parts of the Nazarite vow. Part of
them taking this vow was not just to make these
boundaries, it was to consecrate them for service
to the Lord. They didn't do this just to practice
these requirements. They practiced these requirements
so as to be used of the Lord. The most famous
long -haired Nazarite is probably, hey, good
job, Samson, yeah. And notice he broke all three
of those vows, right? Here's the point. In the
midst of her grief and in the depths of her despair
and problem, Hannah went to God in prayer. She
prayed a prayer that did not demand. She had
faith to believe that God would solve her problem.
And she had faith to believe that if she gave
God what he had given to her, that this would
be a right response to his answer. Pause. Time
out. In the story, let me ask you some questions.
Have you sincerely, intensely, and wisely brought
your problem to God? Is prayer to God the pattern
of your life? Is it the pattern of your parenting?
Is it the pattern of your marriage? Have you
surrendered your desires to God's will? A good
place to start growing in your faith in the middle
of your problem is to start with prayer. Here's
our second response, response number two. Hannah
received the answer from God by faith. She prayed
by faith. Now she receives an answer from God
by faith. Look at verse 12. And it came to pass
as she continued praying before the Lord that
Eli marked her mouth. What does that mean? He
sees this lady praying or her mouth moving. He
explains it here. And he sees it and he's like,
what's going on? Verse 13. Now Hannah, she spoke
in her heart and only her lips moved, but her
voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought that
she was drunk. That's what he thought. Here's
some crazy lady. A little too much wine. She's
acting weird. Who thinks she was passionate?
She's weeping. Her mouth is moving. He's probably
not as sensitive maybe as he should. I don't
know. But I probably shouldn't have said that.
I have no idea. The point is he thought she was
drunk. Now look at how Eli took it. Verse 14,
then Eli said unto her, how long will thou be
drunken? Put away thine wine from thee. I love
the forwardness there. Stop drinking, woman.
Verse 15, and Hannah answered and said, no, my
Lord, I'm a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have
drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have
poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not
thy Hamada for a daughter of Belial for a daughter
of deception and drunkenness for out of the abundance
of my complaint and grief Have I spoken hitherto?
I'm not drunk. I'm not a daughter of deceit.
I am in grief I am going to God with my problem.
I look at verse 17. This is gonna be such an
encouragement to her Then Eli answered and said
go in Peace. Do you agree that that's at least
a part of what Hannah needed? She needed peace.
And when he says it, let me ask you a question.
When he says go in peace, well, let's keep reading.
And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition
that thou hast asked of him. And she said, let
them handmade find grace in thy sight. I cannot
say this for sure because all we know is what
the text tells us. This is my opinion. I believe
that many conversations that are described in
the Bible give us the theme of the conversation
and not necessarily every word that was said.
This is what we know. Eli's heart turned from
admonishment to compassion. Are you with me?
He realized the rightness and health of her request
to God, and he encouraged her in her petition.
And then she received it, and I believe she received
it by faith. Why? Look at the second half of
verse 18. Go in peace, the Lord grant you according
to your request, he says. So the woman went her
way and did, and did what? What was she not doing
before? She wasn't eating because she was grieved.
Now she heard, somewhat of an answer. She took
what Eli said as, okay, this guy thinks that
God is answering. Maybe God used that to speak
into my life. I believe that God is gonna hear
my request and he's heard me. So she went away
and did eat and her countenance was no more sad.
Was she pregnant? Come on. Was she pregnant?
Is that what she was asking for? Did she want
a son? To have a son, you gotta get pregnant.
Write that down. Right? She wasn't yet. But her
countenance was no more sad. She went back to
eating. She believed it by faith. Her disposition
was a disposition not of grief, but of faith.
Look at what happened next, verse 19. And they
rose up in the morning early and worshiped before
the Lord and returned and came to their house
to Ramah. And Elkanah knew his wife and the Lord
remember her. The Bible is clear without being
crass. In faith, Hannah believed that God would
give her a child. The term knew here speaks of
intimacy. And I love the expression at the end.
And the Lord remembered her. God answered. Her,
what did she pray? God, don't forget me. God,
remember me in my affliction and the Lord remembered
her. She believed, she trusted, God answered
her prayer. She received the gift that God gave
her by faith and she even commemorated her request
to the Lord and receiving of the Lord in a special
way. Verse 20, wherefore it came to pass when
the time, when the time was come after Hannah
had conceived, that she bear a son and she called
his name Samuel, saying, because I have asked
him of the Lord. The name Samuel sounds like
Shemuel, S -H -E, Shemuel in Hebrew. My apologies
to any Hebrew professors here, right? The name
means name of God, but any Hebrew speakers would
know that the name sounds like heard of God,
okay? Elohim El, that's God, right? So Shemuel
literally means name of God, but to the hearer,
it sounds like heard of God. And for Hannah,
this is what she was pointing to in the name.
She named her son, God heard me. Is that encouraging
to any ladies out there? Anybody in your difficulty?
When you pray, God hears you. Now God isn't obligated
to give us anything and everything we want. He
doesn't, God's not like Amazon .com. You know,
it'll be here in two days, because that's not
how he works. But when we pray according to His
will, He'll do it for us. We receive it by faith.
He says, and she called His name, saying, you
know, because I have asked Him of the Lord, the
Lord heard me. She's saying I asked of the Lord
and He heard me and gave me my son. The Bible
says this in Hebrews 11 six, but without faith,
it's impossible to please Him. For he that cometh
to God must believe that he is and that he's
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
God's desire for us is to trust him. God's desire
for us is to trust him, to believe him. He wants
us to go after him. This does not mean that God
is lacking in some way if people reject him.
He's not less than. what he is when people don't
pursue him. He wants us to pursue him at least
in part because it's what's best for us. Hannah
struggled with her problems and that struggle
pushed her towards the Lord and pushed her to
her knees. It put her in contact with Eli who
would be instrumental in raising Samuel and use
of God to prepare him to be the great prophet
that he would end up being. God used the difficulty
to expose and encourage Hannah's faith and to
grow her into who she needed to be. And she became
an example of the Lord's goodness to those who
will humbly ask in faith. I have learned so much
more in my life in the difficulty than I have
in the easy times. Are you with me? Have you
been there? you learn so much and you grow so
much more when things are hard than they are
when they're easy. And in that way, sometimes
those difficulties, God allowing them is good
for us. There's a band I like a lot that I'm
getting older and they're getting older. And
so I'm not as cool as I used to be. They're not
even around anymore. But they wrote this song
and this is what they said. How can a day be
a day without a night? How can a win be a win
without a fight? I will not be shaken by the
troubles up ahead. I'd rather trust your goodness
instead. How can a love be a love without a cost?
How can a life be a life without the loss? No,
I will not trust my senses over anything you
say. It's harder, but it's better this way. Thank
you for the heartbreak. Thank you for the pain.
Thank you for the sadness on the gloomy days
of rain. Thank you that the hard times have a
reason and a rhyme. Thank you that healing makes
the beauty shine. Thank you for the heartbreak.
For Hannah, the difficulty and pain pointed her
to her need for God and produced joy and growth
in receiving an answer from him. But that's not
where it ended. Remember she made a vow? Remember
that? Here's the next way we grow in our prayer
life for the Lord. Number three, response number
three, she kept her promise to God by faith.
Verse 21, and the man Elkan on all his house
went up to offer the Lord the yearly sacrifice
and his vow. But Hannah went on up. For she said
unto her husband, I will not go up until the
child is weaned. And then I will bring him that
he may appear before the Lord. Here it is. And
there abide. How long? Forever. What is she saying?
I made a promise. I'm gonna keep my promise.
I'm giving him back. Elken and her husband said
to her, do what seemed without good, tarry until
I have weaned them. Only the Lord established
his word. So the woman abode and she gave her
son suck until she'd weaned him. She said, I'll
do the part that only I can do and then I'll
keep my promise to God. And in this she showed
wisdom in keeping the promise. Verse 24, and
when she had weaned him, she took him with her
with three bullocks and up off a flower and a
bottle of wine and brought him under the house
of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young
and they slew a bullock and brought the child
to Eli. And she said, oh my Lord, as thy soul
liveth my Lord, I am the woman that stood by
thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child
I prayed, and the Lord hath given me the petition
which I have asked of him. Eli, let me introduce
you to this little guy named The Lord Heard Me.
That's pretty cool. Therefore also I have lent
to the Lord, as long as he liveth, he shall be
lent to the Lord." And he, who? Eli, worshiped
the Lord there. Think about what happened in
the life of Hannah, Elkanah, Eli, and even to
us. Hannah was freed from her dishonor. She was
given a son. She had the opportunity to honor
the Lord and her faith grew. We see that her
husband trusted her and led her in the Lord and
he grew. Eli was encouraged. What you don't know
about Eli is that his own sons, Hophni and Phineas,
ended up being ungodly and eventually unusable
in the Lord's work. Eli was getting a second
chance in raising and training Samuel for the
Lord's work. He was encouraged and worshiped
the Lord for what he had done in and through
Hannah. So what does that mean for us? Today
we're encouraged to be people of faith bringing
our problems and worries to God and watching
him answer and move and can I just tell you I
Feel like I need to say this God answers prayer
God answers prayer God answers prayer. You guys
believe it? God answers prayer. He can answer
prayer without us praying. He can. But he wants
us to pray. He wants us to pray. You know what
happens when we pray? Our faith in God grows.
Jesus said, when you pray, go to your closet.
Don't pray in this corners of street. God wasn't
forbidding people to pray in public. Jesus wasn't
forbidding that. What he was saying is, if your
prayer life is just done in public, it may be
an indication that you're just doing it. You're
actually not really praying. You're talking so
that other people hear what you say to God, right?
Like and he said if you pray like that you have
so the people that pray like that they have their
reward What's their reward? I'm praying so that
other people hear me He says well when you pray
go to your closet and the Lord that sees you
in secret Will reward you openly now. Why would
he want you to pray in private? Because if you
don't believe there's actually a God Or you don't
believe that God will hear you. Why would you
pray? by yourself. That makes sense? The only
reward in praying would be just to be seen of
other people, for people to think I'm really
spiritual, because I pray. He says, don't pray
like that, go pray in private. And the Lord sees
you in private will reward you openly. He's not
saying don't pray in public. Alan didn't violate
today that when he prayed in public. The idea
is that, what's the point? God wants our faith
and dependence on Him to grow. And then when
God answers our prayer, man, our faith grows
like crazy. I know that there is a promise that
God has made and a prayer He will always answer
when we ask it in faith. God won't always give
us everything we ask for. Anybody here thankful
for the prayers that God didn't answer the way
we wanted? Yeah. I've prayed some dumb prayers,
and God has been gracious to me in not giving
me some of those dumb prayers. I know that there's
a prayer that he will always answer if it's prayed
sincerely. When we repent of our sins and turn
to Christ by faith for forgiveness and for salvation,
God will always respond to that sincere request.
If you ask God to save you, And you do that sincerely
because you know that Jesus Christ died, was
buried and rose again for your sins. He will
always answer that prayer. He who comes to me,
he says, I will in no wise cast out. The scripture
says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth under
righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. For the same Lord over
all is rich unto all who call upon him, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Who's grateful for that? If you ask God
to save you, he'll save you. He'll do it. That's
not where he wants us to stop praying. He wants
us to keep praying. So, in the middle of your
difficulty, maybe things are going really well
for you. Don't just pray when things are bad.
Thank God for things when they're good. Maybe
you're going through difficulty. Maybe a day
like Mother's Day is a hard day for you. Can
I just encourage you to pray? What could God
do in your life if you became a faith praying
mom a Faith praying dad the scripture says I
don't think I'm taking this out of con Context
think about it within the context of what it
says, but scripture says you have not because
you ask not What an incredible response it would
be today then in the middle of our difficulty
we would go to God and pray where we would receive
whatever answer that he has from us through his
word, and that we would live according to his
promises, and we would do the things that we
have promised to him. What an incredible response
would be, would honor God if today, the next
few minutes in response would just be all of
us taking a moment to take whatever we need to
take to God, to him. not just to attend the service
and go through the service and from here to the
end, just endure whatever what's gonna happen
so I can go on and take mom to Olive Garden.
But if you would take the next few minutes, and
as I talked about what is heavy on your heart,
you know what that is. And if you would actually
take the next few moments to give that over to
God. If you're here today, maybe you don't feel
this. If you don't know Christ as a savior, the
most important thing you need to do is call on
the Lord to save you. We love to take God's word
and show you how you can know for sure heaven's
your home. There's a prayer that he'll answer.
God forgive me, save me. He'll do it. If you're
here today, how awesome would it be to fill up
this altar, praying to God sincerely and seeking
his provision and his moving in our lives. Would
you stand with me?