[0:00] who's the last judge, but he's also, though prophecy happened before him, he's the first prophet, and he is the one who begins the school of the prophets. He's also the man who, I'm just giving you all kinds of clues, who is used as a bridge to anoint the first kings, Samuel. Turn away to 1 Samuel, okay? I'll make it as quick as I can now. 1 Samuel.
[0:29] 1 Samuel is a bridge. Actually, 1 and 2 Samuel go together with 1 and 2 Kings. In the original Hebrew scripture, we know that 1 and 2 Samuel are one book, 1 and 2 Kings are a second book.
[0:42] Later on throughout history, it becomes 1, 2, 3, 4 kingdoms, and then later it's transitioned to 1, 2, 3, 4 kings, and then eventually by the time we get into 1500s or 1400s, I'll say probably even earlier than the 1400s, it is divided into Samuel and Kings. Don't let the name mislead you. Samuel more than likely did not write the books that bear his own name.
[1:07] We know for a fact he did not write 2 Samuel because he dies in 1 Samuel chapter 25, I believe it is. He goes silent after 1 Samuel chapter 12. He lives for some time later and dies in the 25th chapter. He may have written and recorded some portions of it because we are told in the book of 1 Samuel that he wrote them in books, some of the things. He was used of God to be a bridge. He was used of God to be a very important person in the history of Israel. He is the last judge. So he comes up as the final judge and judge the one who would stand not necessarily locally because in the book of Judges we have local judges. In the book of 1 Samuel we have him as the national judge. So he's the final judge. He judged the people. He is also considered the first prophet even though Moses prophesies before him. Others prophesy also but he is the first prophet in particular that is someone who holds that office. We have that recorded for us in a couple passages throughout the Old Testament even into the New Testament where it begins to speak of it came through the law and Moses and the prophet Samuel. He is the one who kind of introduces prophecy as an office among the nation. I hate to say office but as an official position someone who would come and people would ask them. So he is a prophet. People seek his wisdom. He starts the school of the prophets and that is very instrumental in the nation because now they become from they were very organized. When they came into the promised land under the rule of Joshua they became very disorganized during the period of the judges which went about 350 plus years. I think it's 380 something years. My numbers are all kind of running together. So there's this period of the judges where things are really just kind of going wrong. First and second Samuel span about 185 years of time.
[3:05] I think it is over the two of them. So when we come into first Samuel we see him serving as the bridge that connects it from in those days there were no king in the land of Israel. So we go from a time when there is no king and I can't claim this. I can't I believe it was Warren Warren Wiersbe. It could have been someone else who said this that judges shows us when there is no king. First Samuel shows us when there is man's king namely Saul. Second Samuel shows us when there's God's king. So we go from no king to man's king to God's king right. We go from judges to Saul to David. First Samuel chapter 8 is a very very important passage in your biblical history. It is a very important passage in the history of the nation of Israel because it is there that the nation asked for a king. It is there. First Samuel chapter 8 they come and they ask Samuel for a king and God says give them what they want because they are not denying you. Because if we did not understand him as a judge we would not understand why God is saying they are not turning their back on you. He says they are turning their back on me.
[4:12] So they are moving from a theocracy that is God ruling to a monarchy with Saul ruling. Okay and that is really instrumental. We are introduced to the lineage of David at the close of the book of Ruth. We find the person of David in first Samuel and in in particular second Samuel focuses entirely on David. It is in this book that we find such great feats as David and Goliath and we find Saul going and consulting the medium or the witch and we we see Samuel coming and and appearing to him after he dies and we'll get into all those things but we understand that first Samuel is a bridge and it is what connects us from disorder to order to God's purposes. Again remembering that God keeps his hand on society. That God knows what he's doing. Okay we're introduced here in the very beginning to a name of God and we're going to read it in just a minute. We'll read first Samuel chapter 1.
[5:09] We're introduced here in the very beginning to a name of God which we had not seen in a while. Namely we have not seen it since the book of Judges. But the God that was the God not in the book of Judges the book of Joshua the God that was God when Joshua came across the Jordan River is the same God who's in control so many years later and we'll see that name being mentioned for us. Okay so let's read first Samuel chapter 1. I'll read the entire chapter. Again so many of us are familiar with it but do not let the familiarity of it remove the weight of it and hopefully after reading it we'll just bring out just three. I'll try to be very quick three great applications that we can see. Now there was a certain man from I'm going to butcher this name. Okay these names of these cities are really hard. There was a certain man from Ramatham Zophim from the hill country of Ephraim and his name was Elkanah the son of Jerohom the son of Elihu the son of Tohu the son of Zoph and Ephraimite. He had two wives the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Penanah and Penanah had children but Hannah had no children. Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh and the two sons of
[6:19] Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas were priests to the Lord there. When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed he would give portions to Penanah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters but to Hannah he would give a double portion for he loved Hannah but the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival however would provoke her bitterly and irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. It happened year after year as often as she went up to the house of the Lord she would provoke her so she wept and would not eat. Then Ekanah her husband said to her, Hannah why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons? Then Hannah arose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat at the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.
[7:07] She greatly distressed prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said O Lord of hosts if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant but will give your maidservant a son then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and a razor shall never come on his head. Now it came about as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah she was speaking in her heart only her lips were moving but her voice was not heard so Eli thought she was drunk. Then Eli said to her how long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you. But Hannah replied no more Lord I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman for I have spoken until now out of my great concern or provocation. Then Eli answered and said go in peace and may the God of Israel grant that you have asked of him. She said let your maidservant find favor in your sight. So the woman went away and ate and her face was no longer sad. Then they arose early in the morning in worship before the Lord and returned again to their house in Ramah and Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah or with
[8:20] Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her. It came about in the due time after Hannah had conceived that she gave birth to a son and she named him Samuel saying because I have asked him of the Lord.
[8:30] Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up for she said to 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 and stay there forever. Elkanah her husband said to her do what seems best to you remain until you have weaned him only may the Lord confirm his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. Now when she had weaned him she took him up with her with a three-year-old bull and one f a flower and a jug of wine and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh although the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli. She said oh my Lord as your soul lives my Lord I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord there. First Samuel chapter one. We're introduced very quickly to a series of events and things that we need to understand as God is really involved in the history of his people and really involved in the history of all mankind and he's bringing about his purposes.
[9:42] We have the benefit of reading the rest of the story and we understand what all transpires with this but here in our introduction to Samuel we see a godly home which is the hope of a nation. A godly home that is the hope of a nation. Much like when we open up the book of Ruth we are introduced to a man and his family. Unlike the book of Ruth we do not find a man doing wrong with his family though we have some concerns in his family. I know as we look at this and we see that he also had two wives more than likely. Hannah was his first. She could not bear children rather than waiting which we would hope that he would do. He did things and took matters in his own hands which we find throughout scripture. Just because we find things permissible in scripture does not mean that they are accurate in scripture. Okay? So we need to understand that. We cannot use these things and say oh see there we ought to be polygamous. These things ought to happen that this is the way it should be. No.
[10:34] Go back to the law first mentioned. In the beginning God created them male and female and he brought the woman to the man said for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother be joined together with his wife. Right? In the singular. Everything is in a singular position there. So just because we see things being allowed to happen in the history of God's people does not necessarily mean that they were ordained to happen. Man is weak and in their fallacies and weakness we see these things happening.
[11:00] But we do see at least the hope of a nation resting upon this godly home because where Elimelech led his nation or led his family outside of the land at least Elkanah is staying in the land. He is a Levite by descent though we don't know much of his family. One has said that the most significant thing about his genealogy is the insignificance of it which means that when we look at the family of Samuel we don't know anything about any of them and that's okay because God's going to do something with him.
[11:28] We don't know any of them of any significance. We do not know any of them of any importance but we know that God often uses what the world deems as insignificant and really the most unlikely to do the most unlikely of things. So we see this hope here of the nation because the nation needed this bridge.
[11:46] It needed this gap. It needed one who would stand up and not only lead them politically. They needed one to lead them prophetically. One that would be not only a political leader but also a religious leader and he does both. He kind of serves as the if you will for lack of better term archbishop for a while until Saul begins to reign. So he's both spiritual leader and political leader. He is judging the nation and he is declaring to the nation. You also remember by the time we read on we'll read on very quickly that in those days a word from God was rare but Samuel hears God calling him by name right and so he responds and he hears the word of God and we'll kind of introduce all of that right here at the very beginning but I also want to focus on what this godly home looks like and I'll make our way through it quickly for the sake of your time and the sake of mine. The first thing we see here is that the hope of the nation rests in this home and in this home there are things that are transpiring things that are going on much like that go on in our homes today. The first thing is there is a problem. There's a problem. Godliness does not remove problems and pains and suffering. We see that.
[12:54] Alcanna is doing exactly what he should do. Think about this. This is in the days of the judges right. Not only have we seen that there's Boaz and and there's at least a kinsman redeemer. God always has his man. God had a Boaz but God also had an Alcanna who was taking his family every year to go to Shiloh to worship and every year he was going there and worship. More than likely as a Levite he was going there and doing service as well but as they went they would go there and serve and they would go there and serve and they would worship and we're introduced to this family but we know that this family is not without problems because his wife Hannah whom he deeply loves we're told in scripture that he loves her. Hannah is barren. Isn't it amazing how often God uses the barren woman to accomplish something we never thought would happen and it's because God wants to show that it is not man's efforts but it's God's design and God's plan. So the problem is most like others that we find in scripture is the barrenness of Hannah. Hannah has a problem. Hannah has an issue here and even though Akana is going to worship should I stop or should I just continue to go? It'll be okay right? I heard it as well. See things will be fine. Yeah it's okay. Sometimes y'all look at me like I believe he I can't believe he didn't stop. You must not hear that. I hear it too. Okay. There are men that are scattered around quite often at least I ask them to be here that if I look at them in a certain way they need to respond because I see things sometimes that nobody else sees but that's okay. So things are going on but we don't need to be interrupted with that. All right go back Billy Joel catch up. So the problem is is that Hannah is barren. No matter how much they worship no matter how much they attend no matter how much they go she's barren and each year they go back and each year the same problem. Each year they go back and each year the same problem and it's not an easy problem for Hannah because Hannah so desperately wants children and yet we are told that the other wife of Akana is ridiculing her and mocking her and telling her every year and is reminding her. You notice when they go and they have the sacrifices and they bring the meat back because these are celebratory meals. These are those sacrifices that we would like to have. We call them fellowship meals right. They would bring the sacrifice to the temple. They would roast it literally on the altar and they would take the meat off the altar and they would eat it there in a presence of God. This is like a celebration and he would distribute it to all of her and her children and her daughters, her sons and her daughters and here's Hannah with this problem. But the issue that we need to understand here is not only does is there a problem but there's also a presence because we are introduced to a name. Where did they go? Every year they went to shallow to do what? To worship here's the name the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts. I believe it is actually given a name Lord
[15:48] Saboth in the King James. Martin Luther in a mighty fortress is our God rightly equates Saboth with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of hosts. Lord of hosts which is what we find in the book of Joshua.
[16:04] The Lord of hosts literally means he is the Lord who goes before the armies who marches before us. He's the one that leads us to victory. That's a long that's a long definition of a name, right? But that's literally what it implies. He is the Lord of hosts, not just a host of people but a host of armies. He is the one who goes before. He is the commander of the Lord's army. He is the one who goes before his people. He is the one that ensures the victory. He is the Lord of hosts. See, even though there was a problem, there was also a presence because the problem was that something couldn't happen but the presence would ensure that he would go before them to make it happen.
[16:41] Godliness comes in the home when the home recognizes there are problems. But along with those problems, there is also a presence that supersedes our problems. There is a presence that is greater than the problems before us.
[16:54] It is the Lord of hosts. And we see this very quickly transpiring because they go to worship the Lord of hosts and when she goes to pray, who does she pray to? The Lord of hosts.
[17:07] I need one who would go before me to lead the battle in the armies and it would be greater than my problem. And thankfully, we find here in scripture, he is there. He is there.
[17:17] And though there is this, it looks as if an insurmountable problem before them, things can't happen. The answer to the nation's problem is found in what is going to come about because of his presence. Even though his people did not acknowledge him as there in those days, there was no king in Israel and every man did what was right in his own eyes. Here at least we see there are some who are worshiping the Lord of hosts. We are going to worship he who brought us into the land and we're going to trust that he would lead us through our problems.
[17:47] And we see there's a problem, but there's a presence to go with that problem. The second thing we see is a prayer. There's a prayer. Year after year, Hannah deals with this problem and year after year, this problem just doesn't get any better and she's ridiculed and mocked and really belittled because of this problem. Not necessarily, the word says provoked, not necessarily by her husband, but by her rival, if you will. And all of these things are going on and they're weighing up on her and they're weighing up on her. Her countenance shows it. And verse eight says in Elkanah, her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than 10 sons? And we understand here he's just trying to comfort her best he can, but she knows that the ultimate answer is not in the efforts of her husband because the problem doesn't rest with her husband.
[18:34] We see that the problem rests within her, but the presence that is there needs to be a addressed by prayer. It says, and then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in shallow. Now, Eli, the priest was sitting on the seat of the doorpost by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. Now just stop right there. You need to back up, stop right there, pay attention to this. Just because Eli is a high priest does not mean we need to esteem him in an honorable position. Okay. Eventually it is Eli's two sons that will die and the Ark of the Covenant will be carried away. And we say, we know that they're not doing right. We can understand that we find later on in first Samuel, they're doing so many things wrong. We know that Eli is aware of the wrong that his two sons are doing. Even later, the sons of Samuel will do wrong. And we know that he is aware of that as well. But Eli is not only aware of it, he is more than likely participating in it because he is grossly overweight. And one of the things that his sons were doing were taking of the meat and eating what should have been sacrificed and consuming the sacrifice, the better portion of it. And you don't get grossly overweight by not eating a lot. And so Eli more than likely was doing it with them. But I'll say that one of the very first things that we find Eli doing wrong is right here. He was what? Seated at the doorpost of the temple. And all of the furnishings, remember this, and all of the furnishings that God commanded the nation of Israel to make in the tabernacle, there's one thing that was absence in the furnishings. There were no seats. And the reason there were no seats is because the work of the high priest was never done. The work of the high priest would never stop because as long as man continued, man would sin and the priest would need to continuously bring an offering for the sin of man. There was no place to rest because the sins of man required an ongoing sacrifice. That is why it is so important that we read that when Jesus offered his sacrifice, he took his seat at the right hand of the father because that signified my work is done. He took his seat. Eli had no right to be seated because his work was not done.
[20:41] Each of us do something like that in our own home, right? So you know when the day is done. You know when it is. There are probably something that you do that signifies to you your day is done.
[20:52] A couple of years ago, Carrie told me, she said, you know what I like seeing? I said, what? She said, I love seeing you walk into our room and empty your pockets because I know when you take everything out of your pockets, you're done. You're not going back outside. For one, I won't go outside without a pocket knife or my keys and you won't do anything. You're not going anywhere. That means your day is done. You're finished. There's something that signifies I'm stopping, right? So now I have to be careful because if I ever just try to take out my pocket, they're like, oh, are you done? Wait a minute. I'm not done yet. I go back outside. But anyway, it's taking that seat at the right hand of the father and Jesus showing that it is finished. It's done. Absolutely. Nobody else needs to offer any more sacrifices because it is done. Eli here is seated in the temple, which should never take place. Never. And when the irony of it is, is that Eli, the high priest is seated, but Hannah, the one with the problem is praying. She's crying out in prayer. She's petitioning the Lord of hosts and she's doing one of those heart-wrenching cries. We know about it, right? That again, I wish I could remember who said this. Someone once said, better to have a prayer with heart in it without words than to have words without heart. It is better to pray from the heart and not know what to say and to know exactly what to say, but had no heart involved in it. And here she has that kind of prayer. Her heart is breaking and she's weeping and she's, by her own, you know, great concern and provocation, she's crying out to God. And it was customary to pray out loud.
[22:30] She's praying in silence. And Eli's watching her. Don't miss this. Quite often when we are walking in the most godly sincerity, there will be others who will mock us, ridicule us, and doubt us. When we walk in godliness, sometimes even those that we would expect to understand will absolutely misunderstand. And Eli looks at her and says, you're drunk.
[22:58] It's amazing to me that the high priest can't even understand this and he accuses her of drunkenness. And she says, no, we are thankful for Hannah's boldness because she says, I'm not drunk.
[23:10] My heart is broken, right? You're seated and you're accusing me of something that I shouldn't be, even though she doesn't do it. But again, she refers herself as the maidservant, the maidservant, the maidservant or the handmaid of the Lord. You know, and it's this humbleness and this humility that is so unnatural at that time. They had not seen much of that because every man was doing what was right in his own eyes. But here, it just surprises Eli. But we understand the godliness of the home is built upon this humble prayer. There's a problem, there's a prayer, and then we get to the last thing. This prayer demonstrates for us a priority. Now, we do take notice of the reality that after Hannah prayed, Eli gave her a blessing. We don't know how much Eli's blessing is worth because the blessing only counts as much as he who gives it. We understand that. But at least he pronounces a blessing upon her.
[24:05] We notice also from scripture, even when she goes back to him, he never once apologizes for making this accusation against her. He never admits it. He never says anything about it. And we're not here to bash Eli. We're just here to be honest and show kind of the contrast between this family, this home, and even where the nation had got to spiritually, and how God's got an answer to the nation's spiritual problems found in this one family. And it's an unlikely family. And it says that, so the woman went away and she ate. She went her way and ate. And that's in verse 18. She said, let your maidservant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate. And look at this last phrase. And her face was no longer sad. Shows us the power of prayer here in that she went before the Lord of hosts. And with this grand problem, she laid her petition down at his feet and she left it there. And her face was no longer sad.
[25:01] For many, many years, she'd carried this sad reality. For many, many years, she'd carried this weight. For many, many years, she'd carried this kind of unworthiness. And here in this moment, she goes in with an honest, humble prayer. And she brings it to the Lord of hosts. And she's content with the reality that once she has proclaimed it to him, she can leave and no longer be sad. Because there's this understanding that he whom I've petitioned is greater than my problem. Therefore, I don't have to carry it any longer. And she leaves it there. And her face no longer shows sorrow, no longer shows sadness because she's made a request. No. And we see the priority in the fact that God answers her prayer. You know the story, right? They go home, God answers her prayer. And she has a son.
[25:54] And she names him Samuel. Samuel, many people who really carry weight in name. By the way, name Hannah means kind of grace or gracious one. And she deals definitely in grace and graciousness.
[26:05] Samuel means, it's kind of a hard word to translate, but it means I have asked. And it's the same word, Saul, by the way. So we kind of see this wordplay here. So the first part of it is the same word as Saul. You say, no, it's not. It's Sam. Well, yeah, kind of. But if you take it back to his original language, it's the same word as Saul, which means I have asked. L, E-L means of God. So it means I have asked of God. So you have, I have asked of God is what his name means because L is the name of God. So many people will kind of, not many people, some people will lay Samuel and Saul beside one another. So here you have Samuel, the one that you asked God for, the one that was asked of God and Saul, the one that was asked of man. Saul is what you get when man gets what he wants.
[26:53] It looks pretty good on the outside and starts out pretty good, but fails miserably, right? Samuel is what you get when God, when you ask of God, which by the way, I'll take a Samuel over a Saul any day, not to pick on anybody's name. I'm talking about biblical names here, right? So we see here, he says, for this one, she says, for this one, I have asked. So she names him Samuel and we understand it goes down. And then Alcona, keeping up with his annual thing, the next year is going to go back and worship. She says, I'm not going to go. Surely she tells her husband her vow that she has made because there's also this rule in the book of Leviticus that if a wife makes a vow, then the husband can overrule that vow. He can say, no, we're not going to do that. Now think about this.
[27:34] Hannah is the woman he loves. So just in case we give credit, all the credit to, to Hannah, Hannah is the woman he loves, probably his first wife. There would be no reason for him to marry another one if it was not his first wife. And all of a sudden there's going to be this first born male child. And he, along with she, willingly gives him up. Okay. It has been pointed out that unlike other vows in scripture, most vows say this, God, if you will do this, then I will do that.
[28:08] So if you do X, I will do Y. Unlike that, what Hannah says is, Lord, if you do X, then I'll give you back X. So the gift from God becomes the gift back to God. The very thing she petitioned for is the very thing she gives back. And it's here that we see priority. Because we understand that in this home, worship, faithfulness, and obedience takes priority, even over personal concern.
[28:49] Because it says she weaned the child, which was probably three years. Some translations say three bulls. New American Standard, along with others, say a three-year-old bull. We're not sure which one is right. Either one, you're supposed to take a year-old bull to offer in sacrifice of redemption for every male child. When they go back, if we stay with the New American Standard, which is what I read from, she takes a three-year-old, her and her husband take a three-year-old bull, and they take a full effa of flour. You're to take one-third of an effa with the first. So three years worth of flour and a jug of wine, which will be three years worth of wine. So they bring three years worth of sacrifices they should have given for this child when they finally bring him back. So now let this settle. She suffered for years with this problem. She petitioned the Lord of hosts and he answered the prayer. And then she has three years with the boy, and then she willingly gives him back. Because it shows us the priority. She didn't just make a commitment that said, if you'll do this just so she could get what she wanted. She declared a vow with the full intention of bringing it back. And she brings three-year-old Samuel back to Shiloh. And it says, this is the one that I've asked for, because the Bible tells us, though the child was young, in verse 24, that's three years old. So I have also dedicated him, verse 28, last verse, to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord. And he, that is Samuel, worshipped the Lord there. She gave him back. The priority was not necessarily just in personal concern, though the stigma would have been removed from her once she had this male child. But that's not priority. Priority is faithfulness to God. Priority is dedication and commitment to the Lord of hosts. Priority is worship. And when you have a home with that type of priority, as we do in 1 Samuel 1, it's no wonder that that changes the course of the nation's history and even the history of the world to the remainder of the book. Because it's a foundational element of the culture and of society and the world is the home. And when the home has it together, then it begins to affect the nation. And we see this here, right? And it's when the priorities are right that all of a sudden the purposes and the plans of God begin to transpire. Now, not everything's going to be good. Not everything's going to be right. There'll be mistakes along the way. Saul, what the people asked for, is going to be just, he's not going to be good at all. David, he's a man after God's own heart, never attempts to supersede the reign of God, though he does wrong, desperately wrong. But the heart of all men is wicked, even the heart of David. Yet he at least comes back in humility and humbleness and we'll see all those things. But the book of 1 Samuel introduces us to this person who's the bridge who will bring about the hope for a nation. We have seen that hope in the kind of a small structure in Boaz, Ruth, even the redemption of Naomi. Now we're going to see it in a national structure through the man of 1 Samuel or the man of Samuel found in the book of 1 Samuel.
[32:24] It's a book very easily divided. First portion of 1 Samuel deals with the man Samuel himself. It is Samuel and the man Saul. The second part of it deals with Saul. And in the third portion deals with David until we get to the second Samuel and it's all of David. There's three main characters that run throughout the whole thing. But really the big theme through 1 and 2 Samuel is the transition from a theocracy to a monarchy to a throne. And that throne will be the throne in which Jesus was set upon eternally. Okay, very instrumental. But it came because of this person, Samuel.
[33:08] All right. Anything else before we close and dismiss? I'm going to sing, so we're just going to close and dismiss. Anything else? All right. We're right on time. I appreciate your time, your patience, your questions, and your interactions. And thank you for letting me know, Judith. See, I've got that in my mind now. Anything else? All right. Let's pray. God, we thank you so much for this night. We thank you for your word. God, it's so refreshing to spend time together with brothers and sisters in Christ, just digging into the word of God. Lord, we pray that those moments would equip us. Lord, empower us to be used by you in the days ahead. Lord, as we leave here tonight and we seek to have a good rest of our evening. But Lord, we know that tomorrow we continue to show up on your mission field wherever you've put us. And Lord, we pray that these truths would resonate in our life. Lord, that we would be the families that you would use as individuals, as family groups, that we would be your people used in this society for your good and your glory. Be with those that can't be with us tonight. We continue to lift up those who are sick. Continue to pray for those who are hurting. And Lord, I ask that you would move in a powerful, powerful way. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you guys. I greatly appreciate deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg deleg
[35:26] Thank you.
[35:56] Thank you.
[36:26] Thank you.
[36:56] Thank you.
[37:26] Thank you.
[37:56] Thank you.
[38:26] Thank you.
[38:56] Thank you.
[39:26] Thank you.
[39:56] Thank you.
[40:26] Thank you.
[40:56] Thank you.
[41:26] Thank you.
[41:56] Thank you.
[42:26] Thank you.
[42:56] Thank you.
[43:26] Thank you.
[43:56] Thank you.
[44:26] Thank you.
[44:56] Thank you.
[45:26] Thank you.
[45:56] Thank you.
[46:26] Thank you.
[46:56] Thank you.
[47:26] Thank you.
[47:56] Thank you.
[48:26] Thank you.
[48:56] Thank you.
[49:26] Thank you.
[49:56] Thank you.
[50:26] Thank you.
[50:56] Thank you.
[51:26] Thank you.
[51:56] Thank you.
[52:26] Thank you.
[52:56] Thank you.
[53:26] Thank you.