Growing Samuel

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.

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. 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.