Sermon

A Parents Promise - Kevin Presley

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. I invite you tonight to read with me from God's word in the

  2. book of 1st, Samuel, 1st Samuel, and I planned over the next

  3. couple of evenings to talk about two, great women, not only in

  4. the Bible, but in my estimation, in the history of the world,

  5. great Women of Faith, great women of Courage, great, women

  6. of decisiveness, who made a difference in the history of the

  7. Lord's people tonight, I want to talk about one of the greatest.

  8. Mothers who ever lived. I want to read to you beginning

  9. in the first chapter of 1st Samuel, beginning in verse 19,

  10. where the scripture says they rose up in the morning early and

  11. worship before the Lord and returned and came to their house

  12. to ramoth and elkanah knew Hannah, his wife and the Lord

  13. remembered her, wherefore it came to pass when the time was

  14. come about after. Hannah had conceived that she

  15. bare a son and called his name Samuel say because I have asked

  16. him. The Lord and the man elkanah and

  17. all his house, went up to offer, unto the Lord, the yearly

  18. sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah went not up for.

  19. She said, unto her husband, I will not go up until the child

  20. be weaned, and then I will bring him that he may appear before

  21. the Lord and there abide forever.

  22. And elkanah her husband said unto her, do what seemeth be

  23. good. Terry until thou have weaned him

  24. only the Lord establishes word. So the woman abode Road and gave

  25. her son suck until she weaned them and when she had weaned him

  26. she took him up with her with three bollocks and one Eva

  27. flower and a bottle of wine and brought him unto the house of

  28. the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young for a

  29. little while tonight. I want to talk to you about a

  30. parents promised for anyone who thinks that God does not think

  31. highly of women. They need to take another look

  32. through the Bible particularly The Old Testament because God

  33. emphasizes in his holy book, the role of women in the history of

  34. his people and he places a great premium upon the faith of some

  35. great women. I think of women who had

  36. tremendous faith and they made great decisions.

  37. Based upon that Faith who altered the history.

  38. The course of the nation of Israel.

  39. God's people and ultimately affected are very Redemption.

  40. I think Of Jacob. And a long time ago, who in

  41. faith hid the Baby Moses, because of that, horrible ethnic

  42. that came down, that those baby boys be thrown into the Nile

  43. River. And it was because that she took

  44. and she hid that goodly baby child, and saved him from Death

  45. that Providence, brought him into the household of pharaoh

  46. himself. And some 40 years later, he

  47. would make a great decision and his own life, that later in his

  48. life would lead him to the height of The leader of Israel

  49. out of Egyptian bondage and ultimately the great lawgiver

  50. and prophet of Israel, the nation that God had promised

  51. unto Abraham so long before I think of Ruth, and we'll talk

  52. about Ruth a little bit more tomorrow night, the Lord

  53. willing. And we think about, in this

  54. case, Hannah and Hannah was, as well.

  55. A woman of great faith and we see that in this decision that

  56. she made in her life now, and of course, had a very sad Sad

  57. story. Hannah was Barren, she could not

  58. have children, and it was a particularly blessed thing in

  59. that time for a woman, to be able to Bear children unto her

  60. husband. There was a great significance

  61. in spiritual significance, even upon that among God's people,

  62. and elkanah had married, Hannah and she was not able to Bear

  63. children unto him, but that didn't change.

  64. The fact that elkanah loved her and he favored her.

  65. Now polygamy was tolerated in that day and don't read into

  66. that that Whatever really desired for his people to live

  67. and polygamous relationships because that's not what God

  68. instituted in the beginning. We later read and the 19th

  69. chapter of Matthew that God allowed putting away, for

  70. example, under the time of Moses, because of the hardness

  71. of men's hearts and polygamy was for a Time tolerated by God and

  72. elkanah entered into a polygamous marriage.

  73. He married, another woman and perhaps He married her for the

  74. purpose that she could bear children unto him and I would

  75. doubt that these two women had a whole lot of interaction and

  76. communication from day to day, but every year the family would

  77. make the Journey about 20 miles north from Jerusalem up to

  78. Shiloh where the Tabernacle was stationed at this time and they

  79. would go up for this particular feast day.

  80. Perhaps the Feast of Tabernacles, there were

  81. different feast days and different times that Drew the

  82. people to the temple and great numbers and elkanah His family

  83. would make the journey up here to Shiloh on this particular day

  84. of the year. And this would put these two

  85. women in contact with one another.

  86. And the Bible says that alkane has wife, taunted Hannah, she

  87. provoked her because she was Barren unable to have children.

  88. Well, that greatly Disturbed, Hannah and that's what we read

  89. here in this text. That Hannah was very, very

  90. bitter of Soul. She was, she was very, very

  91. emotionally moved. And disturbed by this treatment

  92. that this other woman was heaping upon her.

  93. And not only that the fact that she herself could not bear

  94. children under her beloved, husband elkanah.

  95. And so when they go to the Tabernacle there at Shiloh, she

  96. outside the Tabernacle near the door, she decides that she is

  97. going to beg God to give her a baby and she just falls down

  98. right there outside the Tabernacle.

  99. Against to pray to God and Eli. The priest is sitting over here

  100. on a chair by the doorpost of the Tabernacle.

  101. And he sees this, the Bible says that she's weeping sore, she's

  102. in great bitterness of soul and he looks over and he can see

  103. her. As she is praying and her mouth

  104. is moving, but he hears no words.

  105. You ever prayed, have you ever been so emotionally distraught

  106. and moved over some great, dilemma or great problem in your

  107. A life that that words almost didn't even seem to come out.

  108. Well, Hannah was in a great position of distress and she's

  109. praying, she's pouring out her heart unto the Lord, and Eli is

  110. able to see her mouth move but not able to hear her prayer.

  111. And he assumes that she's drunk and so he would rebuke her for

  112. being drunk there in the in the vicinity there of the

  113. Tabernacle, but she wasn't drunk at all.

  114. She was distraught and she explains to him.

  115. Who applied and So He blesses her and she goes on her way and

  116. the prayer that she prayed there at the Tabernacle that day was a

  117. wonderful, and it is a powerful prayer that God answered, and I

  118. want to talk to you about that prayer, that she prayed and the

  119. promise that she made to God, that day as she poured out, her

  120. heart unto him. Now, first of all, I want to

  121. talk about the priority that Hannah had in her life and had a

  122. wouldn't be very popular. Earlier in today's world, Hannah

  123. in fact might be ridiculed like she was this other woman but for

  124. an altogether different reason in this day and time because she

  125. may not have had a child at this point, but she wanted a child

  126. and it wasn't that she just wanted a child because children

  127. are fun to watch grow up, wasn't the, she just wanted a child

  128. because she wanted the experience of holding a little

  129. baby in her arms and all of the joy that that brings to new

  130. parents. She wanted to have a Child that

  131. she could dedicate unto the Lord.

  132. She wants to be a mother and not onto that.

  133. She wants to be a Godly mother and so she prays.

  134. Oh God I want a baby. This woman had an instinct if

  135. you please to desire a child because she understands the

  136. principle that's found in God's word time and time again.

  137. And that is that children are an unmistakable gift and blessing

  138. from the Lord, Psalm 127, and verse Three says, low children

  139. are in Heritage of the Lord. And the fruit of the womb is his

  140. reward. Children are a blessing in the

  141. sight of God. Certainly not a burden, and

  142. notice how God describes the husband in the very next.

  143. Psalm, Psalm 128 beginning in verse 3.

  144. He says, thy wife shall be as a fruitful Vine.

  145. But besides of thine house, that children like all it plants

  146. roundabout by table behold that the shall the man be blessed

  147. that feareth the Lord, it was a sign of God's blessing.

  148. Upon a man and upon a woman if they were able to Bear children.

  149. And what does that say about our culture?

  150. Today, when babies, for example, are being put to death by the

  151. millions in their mothers wombs and it's often justified by the

  152. argument that it's a woman's life and it's a woman's body and

  153. therefore, it's a woman's choice, you know, a mother's

  154. womb ought to be the safest place on the face of the Earth

  155. but unfortunately many a mother's womb has become an

  156. execution chamber. For Untold numbers of babies,

  157. who were simply not wanted many children, who are born are

  158. nothing more than an accident. In the eyes of their parents.

  159. Their unwanted from the day, they're conceived.

  160. And as a result, they're often brought into the world to be

  161. shoved aside, and to be, neglected and raised by others

  162. or even abused. For some people children are an

  163. inconvenience, they're an added Financial strain.

  164. They're a distraction from career and other life goes some,

  165. don't desire. Hire a child because they want

  166. more of this world's things. Or they don't want a child

  167. taking away from their time and from there, their dreams and

  168. their Ambitions. And if that's their attitude,

  169. and they shouldn't be parents. But may I remind you that.

  170. The Bible says that children are a blessing from the Lord and

  171. they're one of God's primary means of transmitting and

  172. preserving the truth from what age under the next.

  173. And one of the things that makes Hannah such a great woman and

  174. ultimately such a great mother. Was the fact that she has a

  175. priority that she did not think that it was anything less than

  176. the very best that life could afford her to be a mother.

  177. You know, there were other women in the Bible who were in a

  178. similar situation is Hannah and they long to be mothers.

  179. They besought the Lord to give them children.

  180. They begged God even for a child and God heard their prayers, and

  181. God gave them children and you know, there's a remarkable thing

  182. when you see all of those. Reyes episodes in the Old

  183. Testament, particularly that when a woman was Barren and

  184. begged, the Lord for a child and the lord gave them that child.

  185. That child was always seemingly. Very remarkable and that child

  186. and one way or another change the world, you think about Sarah

  187. who was some 90 years old and she was Barren.

  188. But the Lord blessed her and she had a son and her son's name

  189. was, of course, Isaac. And Isaac, of course, blessed

  190. the world according to Genesis chapter 20.

    Genesis 20 chapter mention

  191. As we read the story, Rachel prayed and she said, Lord give

  192. me children or I die. And the Lord heard her prayer

  193. and gave her a son. His name was Joseph, one of the

  194. greatest men who ever live and one of the grace greatest types

  195. of the Lord Jesus Christ, in all of the Old Testament.

  196. Elizabeth later, did not have a child and her husband Zacharias,

  197. and she prayed and God gave her a child.

  198. And his name, was John, the Baptist who became the

  199. Forerunner of Of the Lord Jesus Christ and of whom Jesus said No

  200. Greater had ever been born of woman and here we come to

  201. Hannah's a woman who desperately wants a son and God gives her a

  202. son. Little Samuel, who was the

  203. greatest and most influential man to live in the Old Testament

  204. between Moses and King, David for a fact, children are a

  205. blessing of the Lord and God blesses, those who desire to

  206. have children to raise for him. If you ever thought about what a

  207. difference, what a difference. We would see in our world

  208. tonight. If every child brought into this

  209. world, with a result of prayer. If every child brought into this

  210. world were given back to God In Prayer.

  211. What would the world have been like?

  212. Had there? Been no icing.

  213. Had there been no Joseph had there been no John Hannah's.

  214. A marvelous mother because she wants to be a mother.

  215. She wants to have a child. And sometimes you hear women and

  216. they'll say someone will ask them.

  217. Well what do you do? And they'll say well, I'm a

  218. so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so and

  219. oftentimes that's very impressive.

  220. I know a lot of women that they're so, and so's.

  221. And so, and so, and they're very good at what they do and they've

  222. made their Mark in the business world or in the classroom or

  223. wherever it might be, and they can do that.

  224. And if they can raise a family for the Lord, Jesus Christ,

  225. that's wonderful. But then you turn around to some

  226. woman. Here and you say and what do you

  227. do? And she says, well, I'm just a

  228. housewife or I'm just a mother just a housewife just a mother

  229. Folks, there's no greater calling that you can have in

  230. life as a Christian woman than to raise a child for the Lord

  231. Jesus Christ. And if you can be a so-and-so

  232. and so-and-so and so-and-so and still raise children for the

  233. Lord, Jesus Christ more power to you, but I want to tell you your

  234. number one responsibility in this life and this is not a

  235. demeaning thing to say, it is not a degrading thing to say.

  236. God values you as a woman, God values you as a wife, and as a

  237. mother, one of the most impactful And influential and

  238. Powerful things you can do and all of the world is to raise a

  239. child to know the Lord Jesus Christ head.

  240. I wanted a baby and I want you to not only see Hannah's

  241. priority. I want you to see Hannah's

  242. purpose. She didn't want to just have a

  243. baby in order that she might have the joy of holding a

  244. newborn baby in her arms. She didn't want to just see a

  245. little boy, grow up and wonder what he might grow up to be

  246. loyal. She knew before she ever

  247. conceived this child when she poured, our her heart to God,

  248. she had a plan for this baby. Listen in Just 10 and 11 of 1st

  249. Samuel one, she was in bitterness of Soul, she prayed

  250. unto the Lord and wet sore and she vowed of Hal and said, O,

  251. Lord, of hosts. If thou Wilt indeed look on the

  252. Affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget,

  253. thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid, a man-child

  254. that I will give him unto the Lord, all the days of his life

  255. and there shall no razor come upon his head.

  256. What does that last state in the mean?

  257. There's still no real. Razor come upon his head.

  258. Well, you have to understand something of course, about the

  259. Old Testament and that means that she would give her son to

  260. be a Nazarite, has to do with the Nazarite vow.

  261. Now, the nazarites were very special group of people who were

  262. given over to God in a very special way and Numbers Chapter

    Numbers 6 chapter mention

  263. 6 and verse 5 tells us how these nazirites were to be raised.

  264. Their Moses says all the days of the value of his separation.

  265. There shall no razor come upon his head until the day's be

  266. fulfilled in the which he It's himself unto the Lord.

  267. He shall be holy and shall let the locks of the hair of his

  268. head grow. Here's a very special situation.

  269. It is an exception by Nature. A man's hair is to be short.

  270. A woman's hair is to be long. But in this particular case in

  271. that culture and that dispensation of time this

  272. Nazarite vow, this was marked by the growing of their hair and it

  273. was a sir and that this person had been set apart to the holy

  274. unto God. God and that's what Hannah's in

  275. essence, pray. She is saying God, I want to

  276. have a holy child. I want a child that is separated

  277. unto you. She's asking for a child as a

  278. gift from the Lord, which they are.

  279. And realizing that that child came from the Lord, he purposed

  280. in her prayer that she would turn right around and give that

  281. child back unto the Lord. Do you pray for your children?

  282. Surely, you do we all pray for our children?

  283. Well, when did you start praying for your children after they

  284. were born or whether that's a little too late, Hannah prayed

  285. before Samuel was even conceived, not just that she

  286. might have a baby. She wants to have a baby in

  287. order that she might raise him for God and literally, turn

  288. around and give them over to the service of The Lord.

  289. What do you pray for your children?

  290. You pray for your children to be healthy.

  291. Well, there's nothing wrong with that.

  292. We all desire that our children would grow up to be healthy.

  293. Do you pray for your child's success in life?

  294. There's not necessarily thing wrong with that.

  295. Do you pray for their happiness? Do you pray for opportunities

  296. and education and career? Do you pray?

  297. That they'll find friends and acceptance and there might be

  298. any list of things that you regularly have or continue to

  299. pray for for your children and for your grandchildren.

  300. Children and we've all prayed those prayers to one degree or

  301. another. But is that really your priority

  302. for your child? What is your desire for your

  303. child? Because let me tell you, your

  304. desire is going to be expressed. Consistently in.

  305. What you pray for? What do you really desire for

  306. your children? What is most important?

  307. Do you desire for your children? A good education.

  308. Do you desire for them? A high-paying, lucrative,

  309. career, full of opportunity. Do you pay for them?

  310. A desirable spouse. Certainly nothing wrong with

  311. that. We should hope that our children

  312. grow up certain to make Christians and people that will

  313. help them get to heaven. Do you pray that they'll be

  314. happy and healthy and give you grandchildren one day to enjoy

  315. and so forth. Do you dream?

  316. What do you dream about? When you bring a baby boy or a

  317. baby girl into the world and you hold them and you gaze at them

  318. and you try to imagine the future and wonder what life will

  319. hold and what they will be. You know, there are many people

  320. who would think that it was a great tragedy.

  321. They would think that somehow they went wrong.

  322. Wrong. If their children grow up

  323. without the things that I mentioned, but yet know the

  324. Lord, they would somehow think that they've fallen short.

  325. If their son grew up in simply said, I want to be a gospel

  326. preacher or if their daughter said I simply want to be a

  327. preacher's wife. Oh no.

  328. We want Little Johnny to be a star athlete.

  329. We want Little Susie to be a movie star or a famous musician.

  330. That's the attitude of most people in the world and to one

  331. degree or another. Sadly, that's the attitude of

  332. some people in the church. They think a lot more about the

  333. financial future of their child than they do about the spiritual

  334. future of their children. You know what my desire is for

  335. my children? If my heart deceive me, not

  336. tonight and I believe I can honestly say this my desire for

  337. my children was worded by the Apostle.

  338. John long ago in 3rd John verse 4 when he said I have no Greater

  339. Joy than to know that my children walk in truth and

  340. that's it. I have no Greater Joy than to

  341. know that my children. Walking truth and I'm not nearly

  342. as concerned with them being poor in material things.

  343. As I am to being poor in spiritual things, I have prayed

  344. many prayers throughout their life, that they will grow up to

  345. know. The Lord, that they will always

  346. serve him all the days of their life.

  347. I think that's what a parent should pray for.

  348. I think that's what a parent should promised unto the Lord.

  349. God has given me this child, they are a gift from the Lord.

  350. They are a solemn and sacred responsibility.

  351. And I have an obligation to the Lord to do everything within my

  352. power to take this child and to dedicate them under the service

  353. of the, under the service of the Lord and the service of his

  354. kingdom. It's a sad thing to me when I

  355. see Christian parents, who are obviously more wrapped up and

  356. more worried about whether their kids succeed in the classroom,

  357. or on the ball field. That's the big one today on the

  358. ball field, whether they're rather than what whether they

  359. succeed in the eyes of the Lord. There's a brother down in the

  360. south Not far from where I live. I was holding a meeting and his

  361. home congregation a few years ago, he raised five children.

  362. One afternoon, we were driving through the countryside on our

  363. way to a meal appointment. And we were talking about the

  364. challenges that young parents face in today's world.

  365. We were talking about how difficult it seems to be to

  366. shelter, our children from so many of The Temptations and the

  367. evil influences of the world. And he said, you know, he said,

  368. I had five kids, they really didn't give me much trouble.

  369. He said I was very blessed. My children were always pretty

  370. easy to raise. He said I had one rule in my

  371. house. He said one steadfast Rule and

  372. that was a curfew He said and it was kind of a strict curfew.

  373. I mean, it was an early curfew dude.

  374. Most kids, of course, wouldn't like that but he said I said

  375. that curfew fairly early and my children do the when it came to

  376. that curfew. I meant business and he said, I

  377. couldn't go to sleep until I knew that all of my children had

  378. kept that curfew and were in my house.

  379. He said Friday night whenever the time would come when other

  380. kids were out with, who knows what involved, in whatever he

  381. said. It was a wonderful sound too.

  382. Me to hear the door open and close one, two, three, four,

  383. five times. And to know that all of my

  384. children were safe and sound under my roof, where they ought

  385. to be and he said, I could go to sleep.

  386. And then he said and this was very moving to me.

  387. He said, you know, now what the greatest and sweetest sound to

  388. my ears is on the Lord's Day. At 10:30, in the morning, when I

  389. hear the door closed at the back of the church building for the

  390. last time, and I turn around and I see all five of my children

  391. sitting in the house of God. Now, I will tell you that in

  392. happened by accident, that didn't happen by itself that

  393. happened because there was a Christian father and a Christian

  394. mother who took their responsibility.

  395. Seriously, it happened because there was a Christian father and

  396. a Christian mother who had the priority when they had children.

  397. And Raise their children to raise their children for God.

  398. And as a result, the church was their life and the church is

  399. there life yet today. Does that describe your family?

  400. Does that describe your children?

  401. Rather than praying for your children to be rich, rather than

  402. praying for them to be successful.

  403. Let me give you a prayer to pray for your children and is right

  404. out of the word of God. In fact, you ever struggled with

  405. what to pray for. If you're on praying turns with

  406. God, I don't think you can do any better than to Simply pray.

  407. A Bible prayer and let me read you.

  408. A prayer of the Apostle Paul over and Ephesians chapter 3.

    Ephesians 3 chapter mention

  409. And here, Paul was, praying for Spiritual children.

  410. So to speak is a prairie, offered for the church.

  411. I don't want you to listen to this, and I want you to see if

  412. this isn't a wonderful prayer to pray for your children.

  413. Beginning in verse 14, for this cause I bow my knees under the

  414. father of our Lord, Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in

  415. Heaven and Earth is named that he would Grant you.

  416. According to the riches of his glory.

  417. To be strengthened with might, by his spirit in the inner man,

  418. that Christ May dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being

  419. rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All

  420. Saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height and

  421. to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that ye

  422. might be filled with all the fullness of God.

  423. Now, on to him, that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above

  424. all that we ask or think, according to the power that

  425. worketh within us, isn't that a wonderful thing to pray for your

  426. children? If they might know the Lord,

  427. they might be strengthened in the things that count and the

  428. things that matter. Had a had a purpose and our

  429. purpose was God, I want a child that will serve you and listen

  430. she wasn't just making a promise to the Lord in order to get a

  431. child. She kept Promise, little

  432. samuelosborne, little Samuel and she tells elkanah the first time

  433. that the sacrifice comes around and there to make the journey to

  434. Shiloh. She says, I'll not go this time.

  435. She was going to attend to her responsibilities in her Duty as

  436. a mother to this new little boy. And she says, when he is weaned

  437. which back in that time probably would have been about three

  438. years old. She said when he is weaned I

  439. will take him to Shiloh. Whoa, and I would imagine in

  440. those three years, she sang to him as she rocked him the songs

  441. of Israel. I would imagine that she told

  442. him about God and maybe told him the stories of Moses and the

  443. children of Israel that she recited to him, perhaps The Ten

  444. Commandments and the law. When that little boy was

  445. probably about three years old, she took him to the Tabernacle.

  446. She took him to Shiloh. And she left him.

  447. She took him to the priest Eli and she committed him onto the

  448. service of the Lord. You talk about faith.

  449. You talk about courage, here's a woman who meant what?

  450. She prayed for and shit. Takes a little little toddler of

  451. a boy and entrusts him in the keeping of the priest there at

  452. the Tabernacle to remain there, and she would see him from year

  453. to year as they would go back to the Tabernacle to offer

  454. sacrifice, and she would even make a sweet little story in the

  455. Bible. Of course, she'd make a little

  456. coat for him, and she would take it to him there at the

  457. Tabernacle, and he would grow up, of course, to be the great

  458. prophet of God. She not only had a priority, she

  459. not only had a purpose, she not only prayed a prayer.

  460. She not only made a promise. She kept her promise and she

  461. influence that child for the Lord.

  462. Jesus Christ. Don't underestimate your Godly

  463. example. Take your children to Shiloh.

  464. Mmm. Immerse them in the things of

  465. God, seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

  466. Don't underestimate the power of that.

  467. I wasn't raised in the home of a Preacher.

  468. I wasn't raised by parents that you might consider influential

  469. in the kingdom of God, rather inconspicuous.

  470. But I was raised by two parents who believed that.

  471. Three times a week. We went to church I was raised

  472. by two parents who believe that the church is having a gospel

  473. meeting. We go.

  474. I was not immersed in football and baseball and basketball and

  475. that's all. All right.

  476. And it's Place into a point that wasn't our life.

  477. Our life was the church, there was no debate, there was no

  478. deliberation, we didn't have to wonder, will we go Wednesday

  479. night? We didn't have to wonder if

  480. there was a gospel meeting where we go tonight, where we go

  481. tomorrow, night will be attending the meeting this week.

  482. If there was a gospel meeting, we win if there was a meeting

  483. within driving distance of. Our congregation.

  484. If it was at all possible, we went and my life from the time.

  485. I can remember was the church. And one of the most one of the

  486. most Vivid memories that I will always have Of my time at home

  487. and my mother particularly was early in the morning when I

  488. would get up to go to school, my mother had her chair there in

  489. the living room. She had a little side table and

  490. a lamp and every morning you could just count on it, you

  491. would walk in the room and there would be an Open Bible laying

  492. there on the table into that burning lamp.

  493. And a notebook nearly full and she did that every day she would

  494. get up before anybody else. And she would spend an hour

  495. reading and studying the Bible, we didn't have a lot of times in

  496. my home of sitting down and having what you might think of

  497. as a structured time of Bible study and so forth.

  498. But I grew up knowing that the Bible the word of God was an

  499. important and a sacred book I grow up knowing that it knowing

  500. that it's worthy of our time and worthy of reading it and Worthy

  501. is studying it and certainly worthy of obeying it and I'm

  502. reminded Minded of a tender and a sweet passage in the New

  503. Testament. When Paul wrote the young man

  504. Timothy, and second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5.

    2 Timothy 1 chapter mention

  505. And he said, when I called remembrance the unfeigned faith,

  506. that is in thee, which dwelt first in my grandmother, Lois,

  507. and my mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in the also.

  508. Well, Louis grows into a woman, she gets married and she has a

  509. little baby girl. She names her Eunice, she holds

  510. her and she rocks her. You probably sang lullabies to

  511. her and I'd like to think that she whispered in his ear or

  512. whispered in her ear rather in those formative years God loves

  513. you. The she sang to him the songs of

  514. God's people. And years later, Lois, she would

  515. grow into a woman and she would fall in love, and she would get

  516. married, and she would have a baby, and she would name that

  517. little bouncing baby boy, Timothy, and just as her own

  518. mother had done, she would swaddle him, and she would rock

  519. him. And she would whisper in his

  520. ear. Jesus Loves You Timothy.

  521. And now Paul says the unfeigned faith it is in thee was in your

  522. mother, it was in your grandmother.

  523. A father has a powerful influence on a child, but a

  524. mother makes such a deep deep impression and shapes and molds

  525. that child, Hannah was persistent.

  526. She persuaded that little boy, Samuel, she dedicated him unto

  527. the Lord. And listen, she changed the

  528. course of history. There's nothing greater than to

  529. raise a baby for Jesus Christ. And for his kingdom, I want to

  530. close tonight with two true stories.

  531. Nancy Hanks was a woman who arose out of a dark and Troubled

  532. life, she lived a humble. And in many ways, a very

  533. difficult life, but she was a woman of deep faith.

  534. For many years, she was illiterate and it said that she

  535. learned to read by reading the Bible.

  536. She was married, she had a son when he was just a boy Nancy

  537. died at just 9 years of age. That little boy helped his

  538. father, build his mother's Coffin by whittling, the pegs

  539. that held the wooden planks together.

  540. Some 50 years later when he was the president of the United

  541. States Abraham, Lincoln recalled, the prayers.

  542. That he'd heard a mother pray and he said, all I am or ever

  543. hope to be. I owe to my angel mother.

  544. You've probably heard that story.

  545. You certainly heard that quotation.

  546. But there was another young man who lived about 100 years later

  547. and he had a very different story.

  548. This boy also had a mother. She was a mean.

  549. Cruel dominating woman. A selfish woman.

  550. She had no time or love or anyone else but herself she was

  551. married three times. It said that her second husband

  552. divorced her because she abused him.

  553. This little boy, when he was a child never experienced.

  554. Love he never experienced discipline.

  555. He was neglected, he was shoved around, he was overlooked one

  556. time. It said that his mother Then

  557. when he called upon her at work and said, don't you ever bother

  558. me while I'm at work? I don't need you pestering me.

  559. He felt totally rejected. This boy had a high IQ but he

  560. dropped out of high school. He tried the military, join the

  561. Marines, but was given a dishonorable discharge.

  562. He really had no Talent no skills, he was lost in life.

  563. He later ended up in a foreign country.

  564. He married a woman from that country.

  565. The marriage began to fail and she left him.

  566. He hit the bobbin. He felt he was a failure.

  567. He begged her to come back. She eventually did come back and

  568. they moved back to the United States.

  569. The only appreciable skill that this young man had was handling,

  570. a rifle. He learned that during his time

  571. in the Marines and on November 22nd of 1963, he took his rifle

  572. up into the upper story of a book storage building in

  573. Downtown Dallas, Texas. And he fired three shots.

  574. That changed the world that changed the world.

  575. Any historian will tell you that, that was the moment that

  576. America changed forever. And in many ways, the world

  577. changed at that moment in time. Ever wondered how different the

  578. world might be had Lee Harvey Oswald had a mother who actually

  579. loved him. If he had a mother who took him

  580. to church, had he had a mother that read the Bible to him, who

  581. prayed to him, who sang to him? Jesus loves me this.

  582. I know for the Bible tells me, so how different the world would

  583. be you as a mother. You as a parent tonight, have

  584. the power to change the world. You certainly have the power to

  585. change the course and ensure the future of the kingdom of God

  586. upon this Earth. And I hope you take that promise

  587. to the Lord very seriously. We thank you for listening to

  588. our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.

  589. Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional

  590. information or you would like to receive a free Bible

  591. correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at

  592. search of Christ. Bakersfield.com, our service

  593. times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays

  594. at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us.

  595. We would love for you to be our honored guest.