Hannah's Prayer: The DNA of God's Kingdom

Well, good morning.

It's a real privilege and honor to be here at Christ the King, to be able to preach this

morning.

And it's an honor for a number of reasons.

One is the people, there have been people in this church who have played a big role

in my life and in my wife's life.

So to be here and preach at Christ the King is a privilege for that reason.

And it's also a privilege to come and preach here as the head of school of Kenosha Christian

Academy.

We are so grateful for Christ the King and your support of us, but also of the people

here who are on mission with us.

To be on mission with some of the families here at Christ the King is an honor and a

privilege.

So I appreciate the opportunity to bring God's word to us this morning.

So for the message today, I want to focus on a few stories.

From the world's perspective, it's odd that we're still telling these stories because they

have little to do with what we would see today as important.

The people aren't rich or famous.

They were actually poor.

They lived in small towns and lived ordinary lives when we first meet them.

We know little of their personalities.

And yet these stories are some of the turning points in God's redemptive work in the world.

The story that I'll start with begins in 1 Samuel, where God is establishing his kingdom amongst

the people of Israel.

And when the King of the universe wants to break into this sin-cursed world, when he wants

to reestablish his kingdom and fight the powers of darkness, what does he do?

Who does he use?

What does it look like?

These are some of the questions we'll look at today, and here's how we're going to do it.

We're going to look at these stories like four acts in a play.

So plays have these different acts that move the story along.

And so we'll have four of those this morning.

In the first act, I'll start by telling the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel, starting in chapter

1 and then chapter 2, which culminates in her prayer of thanksgiving to God.

It's a fascinating prayer because of its beauty and depth, but it's also fascinating because

in this prayer is the unifying thread for the rest of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, revealing

the DNA of God's kingdom.

So after reading through the prayer, we'll walk through a few of those stories in Samuel

to show how the prayer helps us see the meaning of the book as a whole.

But the DNA of God's kingdom extends beyond the book of Samuel.

It reveals the very nature of God and his people.

And naturally, Hannah's prayer becomes an important passage at another key point in redemptive history.

After we walk through Samuel, we'll turn to the act 2 in the play, where there's another turning

point in redemptive history that draws from Hannah's prayer.

So we'll find this act 2 in the book of Luke and act 3 in the book of Acts.

These books are the continuation, the drawing out of the DNA of Hannah's prayer.

And when we look through these passages, here's going to be one repeating thing, one repeating

call on our lives.

As God's kingdom breaks into the world, humble yourselves before God.

So as God's kingdom breaks into the world, humble yourselves before God.

And if we humble ourselves before God and all that that entails, if we trust him to save

us and to work through us, then we'll be a part of this eternal kingdom, God's eternal kingdom

breaking into the world.

So before we get into 1 Samuel here, let me pray for us.

Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you for how it tells this grand and great story about what you are doing in the world

and how you are doing it and how we can be a part of it.

Thank you for this prayer from a young mom that tells us so much about your work and your

kingdom and about how we should respond.

We ask for faith and strength to respond to it rightly.

In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, so you can turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel.

So the background of 1 Samuel is we, when we get to 1 Samuel 1, we're still at the end

of the period of the judges.

And if you remember anything about the period of the judges, it was a pretty dark time in

Israel's history.

By the time the book of judges ended, we're at one of the most depressing parts in Israel's story.

You have these stories of Israel's incredible brokenness and rebellion against God to the

point that these stories are showing that Israel had become worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.

So the end of the judges leaves us with these refrains that there was no king in Israel and

everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

And it leaves us longing for someone, for some king to come and lead the people of Israel out

of this darkness and under God's good rule.

So that's the time we find ourselves in when we hear the opening words of the book of 1 Samuel

that tells us about a man named Elkanah, a man who has two wives, one named Peninnah and the other

Hannah.

And of these two wives, Peninnah has several children and Hannah has none.

Every year they would go up to the temple in Shiloh and they would offer sacrifices to God

there.

And this was a uniquely hurtful time for Hannah because Peninnah would use this time to rub

in that Hannah had no children.

And in this day, and even more so in that day, to not be able to have children was a really

painful thing.

It could even be a really shameful thing.

And so for Hannah not to have any children was deeply hurtful and discouraging.

And Peninnah would rub it in that she didn't have any children and that Peninnah did.

And so this happened year after year as they went up to the temple.

And one year, Hannah was at the end of herself.

She was distraught.

And so she goes up to the temple and she pours her heart out to God.

And she cries out to him and she asks God to give her a child.

And that if she does get a child, that she will give this child back to the Lord.

And she's crying out in her heart to God.

And she's visibly moved and distraught.

But no words are coming out of her mouth.

And Eli, the priest, sees her in this state and he assumes that she's drunk.

And so he comes up to her and rebukes her and says, what are you doing?

Put your wine away from you.

Enough of this.

And Hannah responds, no, no, no, I'm not drunk.

You see, I'm crying out to God that he would give me a child.

And Eli responds by saying, may God grant you what you asked for.

So Hannah leaves and true to Eli's word, Hannah becomes pregnant.

She gives birth to a child.

They name him Samuel.

And after Samuel's weaned, true to Hannah's word, they take him back to the temple.

And leave him to be in service to God for the rest of his life.

And as they go up to the temple and worship God there,

Hannah breaks out into a prayer of thanksgiving to God.

And this prayer of thanksgiving to God, as we'll see,

sets the trajectory for the rest of the book and actually for the rest of the kingdom of God.

So let's read this prayer together.

It starts in chapter 2, and I'll read verses 1 through 11.

And Hannah prayed and said, my heart exalts in the Lord.

My horn is exalted in the Lord.

My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you.

There is no rock like our God.

Talk no more so very proudly.

Let not arrogance come from your mouth.

For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.

Those who are full have hired themselves out for bread.

But those who are hungry have ceased to hunger.

The barren has born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

The Lord kills and brings to life.

He brings down to Sheol and rises up and raises up.

The Lord makes poor and makes rich.

He brings low and he exalts.

He raises up the poor from the dust.

He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world.

He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness.

For not by might shall a man prevail.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces.

Against them he will thunder in heaven.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, and the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest.

So this passage would certainly warrant extended exposition for an entire sermon.

But what I want to do here is just draw out a few pieces of this prayer,

and then show how they're traced out through the rest of the book of Samuel.

So notice one of the main things here is that God is sovereign.

This is all over this prayer.

He talks about how God is the one who breaks the bows of the mighty.

He binds, the feeble bind on strength.

Those who are full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who are hungry have ceased to hunger.

So there's, God is the one doing all of this.

Throughout each of these verses, you can see how God's strength, his power,

his ability to do any work in the world, that God has that power.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces.

We'll see this theme throughout, that God is strong and mighty,

and he can do as he pleases.

We also see that the God raises up the humble,

and he casts down the proud.

So you see how there's this reference kind of to Peninnah and Hannah and their situation,

that those who are full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who are hungry have ceased to hunger.

The barren has born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

So there's this reversal of how things were.

Those who had a lot now find themselves with little.

Those who were strong and mighty are brought down.

Those who were poor, God makes rich.

God brings low when he pleases and he exalts.

And so the proper posture of God's people is to humble ourselves before him.

It's to recognize that we bring to God nothing,

that we don't go our own way, but submit to God and his words.

And then you see, so you see God is sovereign.

You see how he raises up the humble.

And then you see how he's going to raise up a king.

You see that in verse 10,

that he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.

And so through the book of Samuel,

we'll see this continuing on,

how God is going to raise up a king to rule over his people.

So with that, what I want to do now

is to take some stops throughout the book of Samuel

to show how some of the individual stories

and the details of this story

are drawing out the threads from this prayer.

So to start, we'll go to 1 Samuel chapter 3.

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

So Samuel is a young boy ministering to the temple.

And in the temple, you have Eli the priest

and his sons Hophni and Phinehas.

And these are some of the most powerful people

in the nation of Israel.

This is the priest and his sons ministering in the temple.

They have so much authority and responsibility.

And we see that the sons in particular,

Hophni and Phinehas, are abusing this authority.

They are using it to get rich,

to fill their stomachs.

They're using it to indulge in sexual immorality.

And so, as we saw in Hannah's prayer,

that's not what God expects of his people.

So we have this story

of God bringing a word of judgment

to these powerful people.

Samuel, and who does he use but a little boy?

You might know this story.

Samuel is sleeping, and he hears this voice of Samuel.

Samuel.

So he runs over to Eli,

thinking that Eli was calling him.

But Eli tells him to go back to sleep.

And this happens a few times.

And Eli realizes it was probably a message from the Lord.

And so Samuel goes back the next time

and hears God's voice.

And God tells this little boy

that he was going to judge Eli and his family.

And so Eli ends up getting this message

of judgment on him and his family

from a little boy.

God raises up the humble,

and he casts down the proud.

So that's one of those stories.

Let's take a stop at another one of these stories.

I'll just give an overview of the story of Saul here.

So Israel is in a place

where they don't yet have a kingdom.

They're this large family group of people

under Moses' law,

but they don't yet have an established kingdom.

And they look out, and they see the world,

and they see the world have these impressive kings.

These kings who rule over them,

who lead them in battle.

And Israel sees these other nations,

and they say,

we want to be like them.

We want kings like them.

They think,

they're thinking like the world thinks.

They think that power and status

is what's important.

And so God, to start,

gives them what they want.

He gives them a strong

and good-looking king

who can lead the people in battle.

And you see,

Saul has military victory after victory.

He's conquering Israel's enemies.

He's doing everything

that a world might want in a king,

except he's doing it for himself.

He's doing it to grow his own power,

to grow his own kingdom.

And God,

even though Saul was so powerful and strong,

he was no match for God.

That God is sovereign,

and so God decides

that he's going to cast Saul down.

He gives a word of judgment to him

because Saul was proud,

and so God casts him down

and said that he's going to reject Saul

and his family.

And that leaves them in need

of another king,

and that takes us

to the story of Samuel

going to Bethlehem

to find a new king.

Bethlehem wasn't the first place

that you would think

that he would go

to find a king,

but he does.

He knocks on the door of Jesse.

Jesse has eight sons,

and he goes into Jesse's house,

and Jesse brings before him

his oldest son,

and the oldest son

is what you would think of

as a king.

He was good-looking.

He was tall and strong,

and Samuel thinks,

surely this man

should be the next king of Israel,

and God tells,

do you remember what God tells him?

Like,

man looks on the outward appearance,

but God looks on the heart.

And so,

Jesse brings out his next son

and his next one,

and God says,

no, no, no,

and he says no

to all seven of his sons,

and Samuel says,

is there any more?

And Jesse says,

well, there's one more,

but we didn't invite him

because he's the youngest,

and he's out watching the sheep.

So they bring in David,

the youngest son,

smaller than any of his brothers,

still young,

and God tells him,

this is the one.

Like, this is who I want

to be king of Israel.

You see,

God raises up the humble,

and he casts down the proud,

because we see David's heart

for the Lord,

that he didn't have,

at that time,

the outward appearance

that would have marked him

as a king,

but his heart was devoted to God,

and that's what God wanted.

That's what God cared about

in a king.

And so,

in the next story,

we get the story

of David and Goliath.

And if you read the details

of this story,

you see that

throughout this story,

there's this heightening

of the different power dynamics,

of status and significance,

of showing Goliath on one hand,

the mighty and strong Goliath,

and the details of the text

show his strength and his size.

And then we see how Israel cowers

before Goliath

as he issues this challenge

to the army of Israel.

Israel.

So as they're out

waiting

across from the Philistines,

David's brothers

were part of the Israelite army.

And so one day,

David's father

tells David

to come in

from watching the sheep

and to go out

and give his brothers

some food.

And as he sends

his brothers out with food,

notice he also sends them,

he sends David out

with some cheese

for the commander

of their thousand.

So again,

these details show

he wants to schmooze

the important people

in the army.

So you have

the commander

of the thousands,

you have Saul,

you have David's

strapping brothers,

and then you have David,

this boy,

coming in

and he starts

to hear

these rumblings

of what's going on

of this mighty Goliath

defying the living God

and he gets upset.

He gets worked up

and he says,

well,

I can take him.

And his brother,

do you remember

his brother's response

of saying,

what are you doing here?

Like,

who's watching

those few sheep?

Just doing everything

he can

to contrast

the status

and power

of themselves

and of Goliath

with David.

But David

is insistent

that he knew God,

he knew him so well,

and he also knew

God's promise to him.

Because remember,

Samuel anointed

David

as the next king

of Israel,

and David knew

that God

would keep his promise.

So David

works his way

up to the king,

Saul,

and says that

he wants to fight Goliath.

So Saul,

at first,

sends him out

with his armor,

which David

can barely move in.

So David says,

I'm just going to,

no,

I'm just going to go out

with my sling

and these rocks.

And David does.

He goes out

to the battlefield,

this boy

with no armor,

a sling in his hand

against this giant warrior

with this incredible armor,

and he gives this speech

to Goliath

that you come to me

with a spear

and a sword,

but I come to you

in the name of the Lord.

Do you remember

that line from Hannah

for not by might,

not in might

does the Lord

raise up?

That God is the one

who doesn't need might

to win a battle.

So David takes out

his sling with a rock,

he slings it around,

throws the rock

through the air,

and strikes Goliath

in the forehead

and kills

the mighty Goliath.

God raises up

the humble

and he casts down

the proud.

So do you see this?

How Hannah's prayer

operates as this thread

that's woven

through the book of Samuel?

How it's becoming

the DNA

of God's kingdom

and what God's people

should be?

Hannah gives us

the keys

to understand

these stories.

And if you read through

from 1 Samuel 1

through the end

of the book,

you'll see how

it goes through

the entire book.

You'll see how

God rejects Saul

and casts him down

because of his pride

and he raises up

the humble David

who trusts in him.

And as you read on though,

you'll see that

David becomes proud too.

He ends up committing

adultery and murder.

He issues the census

and God casts down

even David.

But God made this promise

that he would use

David's house,

that he would use

the house of David

to restore his kingdom

and his world

in the world.

So act,

this first act

comes to an end.

We get to the end

of Samuel

and see the kingdom

being passed on.

We see that David

wasn't the savior

that they had hoped for

and neither were his children.

We're left longing

for one of David's sons

to restore his throne

and to restore

God's proper rule

which brings us

to Acts 2.

Around a thousand years later,

Israel was languishing.

They had returned

from exile,

but God

was silent.

Israel was under

Roman rule.

A king from David's line

was nowhere to be found.

People of all different

kinds

were speculating

about how God

would intervene,

how God would

restore his people.

So how would the great

living God

return to establish

his kingdom?

C.S. Lewis describes

the moment this way.

The whole thing

narrows and narrows

until at last

it comes down

to a little point,

small as the point

of a spear,

a Jewish girl

at her prayers.

That's right.

The grand story

of redemption

zooms in

on an engaged

Jewish girl

from no special family.

An angel appears

to her

and tells her

that she will give birth

to the king

who will sit

on David's throne

forever.

The story continues

with Mary

visiting her cousin

Elizabeth,

a previously

barren older woman,

remember Hannah,

who is also expecting.

Mary greets her cousin

and then sings

a song of praise

to God.

Here are a few lines

from that,

from Luke 1,

51 through 53.

He has shown strength

with his arms.

He has scattered

the proud

in their thoughts

of their hearts.

He has brought down

the mighty

from their thrones

and exalted

those of humble estate.

He has filled

the hungry

with good things

and the rich

he has sent away empty.

Does that sound familiar?

It's almost a,

part of that,

it's almost a quotation

from Hannah's prayer

in 1 Samuel 2.

This new work

happening in God's kingdom

is following

the same storyline

at the beginning

of Israel's kingdom

in the book of Samuel.

A barren woman

giving birth.

God raising up

the most unlikely people.

A song of praise

from the mother

singing about God's work

to raise the humble.

The establishment

of a new king.

The weaving of these things

throughout the rest

of the book.

It's just like before.

It seems as though

God had picked

the least likely people

to be a part

of this new turn

in his redemptive work.

But if you know

the DNA of God's kingdom

from Hannah's prayer,

then it's not

that all unlikely.

God had been working

this way all along.

Using the humble,

the people no one else

expected.

Those who trusted

in him

and not in themselves.

This DNA,

as we see it worked out

in the rest

of the book of Luke,

shows up most clearly

in the Davidic king,

Jesus himself.

So as Israel is charged

with,

in that time,

Israel has so many

expectations of a Messiah.

Of what this person

will look like.

And as that's happening,

the Messiah slips in

without almost anyone noticing.

He's born in a barn

laid to sleep

in a freeing trough.

He grows up

in the backwoods town

of Nazareth.

And as the book

of Luke unfolds,

we see

the resemblance,

we see the resemblance

to Samuel continue.

Just like Hannah's prayer

presents the theme

of the rest

of the book of Samuel,

Mary's prayer

sets the theme,

the major themes

of Luke

and Acts.

So this theme

introduced by Hannah,

that God raises up

the humble

and casts down the proud,

shows up everywhere

in the book of Luke.

Jesus ministers

to the poor,

the sinners,

the blind,

the outcast.

He proclaims good news

to them,

that God's reign

is coming.

Characters like

Zacchaeus,

Lazarus,

and the rich man,

the publican,

and the Pharisee

who pray in the temple,

the prodigal son,

those stories show up

only in the book of Luke.

And in Luke's gospel,

more than any other,

we hear Jesus calling

his followers

to minister

to the poor,

the blind,

and the outcasts.

It's continuing

the same message,

the same unfolding DNA

from Hannah's prayer.

And these stories

and these characters

are remarkable.

But it's nothing compared

to how this second act closes.

While most kings

are coronated

in a palace

with a lavish ceremony,

King Jesus is crowned

by dying naked

on a cross,

being tortured

and killed

to save his people

from their sins.

You couldn't imagine

a more humble

and humiliating way

to die.

Jesus embodies

the message,

the cry of Hannah's song

from so long before.

But the story

doesn't end there.

because Jesus

is raised up

by God

from the dead.

And this brings us

to Act 3

in the story.

The risen

King Jesus

ascends into heaven

and he sends

his spirit

to empower the church

to continue

his work.

I know you went

through the book

of Acts last year,

so you probably

remember the many ways

that the church

reflects the practices

of Jesus.

They carry the same

DNA as him,

humble, trusting

in the sovereign God

to bring people

to himself

and to build up

his kingdom.

And so the cast

of the early church

isn't Caiaphas

or Herod

or Nero.

It's fishermen,

slaves,

jailers.

God's people

aren't marked

by a hunger

to pursue fame

or influence

on the world's term.

They're marked

by humility,

care for the poor,

submission to God's word,

preaching of the gospel

just like Hannah

described,

just like Jesus

described.

And as Act 3

continues

or as we move

into application,

Act 3 isn't over.

We don't move on

from Act 3

as we come to today

because as

Christ the King Church,

this is your part

of the story.

This is your act.

The DNA

of God's kingdom

found in Hannah's prayer

is your DNA.

You're trusting

in a sovereign God

who will rescue

the world

through his King Jesus.

The risen Jesus'

spirit lives among you

working to make you

humble and godly

people like Hannah,

like Mary,

like Jesus,

like Peter.

And as we close,

I want to draw out

a few ways

that that looks

for us today,

both as individuals

and as Christ the King Church.

So for us

as individuals,

as we are surrounded

by pictures

of another kingdom,

maybe you're

a high school student

or a middle school student,

and when you're at school,

you feel the need

to fit in.

And you feel the need

to fit in

by being funny

or pretty

or by dressing

in a certain way.

You want to fit in

with the cool kids,

and that's not anything new.

That's what was happening

in Hannah's day.

It's what was happening

in Mary's day.

Or maybe you're

at a job

where all the time

you're watching

as people are jockeying

for attention,

for a raise,

for a new title.

They're schmoozing

the boss,

misrepresenting

their own work

and yours

in order to get ahead.

Well,

you see,

first,

that doesn't work.

To try

and gain

the approval

of others

and get satisfaction

from others,

it doesn't work.

To try and raise

yourself up

like that

doesn't work

because once you

become popular

or rich,

you realize

that it offers

no fulfillment

at all.

That you're left

emptier than

when you started.

Do you remember

those stories

of Eli

and his sons,

of Saul,

of the Pharisees?

God casts them down.

It doesn't work out.

God isn't impressed

with their power

or with their looks

or with their strength.

But know also

how God's ways

lead to life.

Instead of working

to puff up

your own image

or to fit in

with the crowd,

remember that

you're a part

of a kingdom

that follows

a crucified Savior.

One that

looks to serve

people in his interactions

rather than

to be served.

And remember

that following Jesus

means looking different

from other people.

It means

often being unpopular

because we care

about different things.

And remember

that on the other side

of the cross

is resurrection

and life,

eternal life

with Jesus.

That's a word

to individuals.

Now,

a word to

the church

as the whole.

We looked at

the DNA

found in Hannah's prayer

and how it shouldn't

just mark individuals.

It should mark

the people of God

as a whole.

First,

the nation of Israel

and now

in the church.

The first thing

I want to point to you,

point out to you,

and point you to,

as Christ the King Church,

is the glory

of being part

of Hannah's story,

of Jesus' story.

The living God

has chosen the church

as the primary way

to display

his redemptive work

in the world.

As the world

looks to politics

and money,

you know that

God's redemptive work

is continuing

and breaking in

as you love the poor.

Study and submit

to God's word,

deny yourselves,

and gather regularly

around Jesus' table

to remember

his broken body

and spilled blood.

It breaks in

as you choose

to be humble before God,

as you seek

to love God and neighbor,

and if you have eyes to see,

you'll realize

that's what's going on

in these things.

And that is far better,

far more important

than what's going on

in Washington

or Madison

or Hollywood.

God's work

was through

a dejected,

barren woman,

a shepherd boy,

a teenage girl,

a crucified Messiah.

It can break in here

in this place

if you seek

his kingdom

above earthly values.

But there is still

a draw for us,

even as God's people,

to live by the rules

of other kingdoms.

We can be tempted

by money

and influence,

things that aren't bad

in themselves,

but become

the things we trust in.

we can be tempted

to place

or we can be tempted

for our conversations

to be surrounded

or centered around

values that more reflect

values of the world

than of God's kingdom,

where we're trying more

to impress other people

and show others

how important we are,

where we look

at outward appearance

more than the posture

of the heart.

But God calls us

to something different,

to not look

on the outward appearance,

but to look

on the heart.

So when someone

comes into Christ the King,

are they judged more

by their job

or social status,

or are they judged more

by their sensed need

for a savior?

One other note here

of application

for us as a church.

There is a draw

in the world

to think that politics

is the most important thing,

that that is

the most important activity

of the church.

But I think

a clear point

from Samuel and Luke

is that what's going on here

in the church,

in the local church,

is far more important

than politics.

There's an interesting passage

in Luke chapter 3

Luke 3 · chapter mention

where Luke mentions

the most important people

in the world.

Remember, politics

were really important

in Jesus' day too.

They were really important.

It was what people

were talking about.

And so in Luke chapter 3,

Luke 3 · chapter mention

it mentions them all.

Or the most important,

Caesar.

It mentions Herod

and Pilate.

But it mentions them

almost in order

to forget them.

It mentions them

and then goes on

to talk about

the Simeons

and the shepherds

and the fishermen

and John the Baptist.

It says,

yeah, there's Caesar

and, by the way,

there's Caesar

and Herod and Pilate.

Let's get to the real story.

Let's get to the most important

part of the story.

And it's the part

of the story

that's talking about

these humble people

who God is using

to establish

His kingdom

in the world.

And that's for us too.

That though politics

can be an important way

to love our neighbor

and to do good,

it is not more important.

It is not preeminent

over what is going on

in the life

of the local church

as we love each other

and submit to God's word,

as we preach the gospel,

as we do acts of love

in our city.

That is more important.

That's where God

is most glorified.

Christ the King,

we're a part of God's kingdom,

God's story.

And in a world

dominated by appearance,

status,

money, and power,

we're a people

pursuing humility,

submitting to God's word.

And as the church

in 2023,

we're still living

in this third act

of the story.

There's a fourth act

to come.

One day,

the trumpet will sound

and Jesus will return

to establish His kingdom

once and for all.

Hannah's prayer says

that God will exalt

the horn of His anointed.

And on that day,

with the world

made right again,

with death defeated,

with every tear wiped away,

every knee will bow

and worship the King

who became obedient

to death,

even the death

on a cross.

Let's pray together.

Father,

we are so grateful

to You

for how You are

working in the world.

You don't want

what we bring to the table,

but You want us

to humble ourselves

before You.

So may we do that.

May we live

and dwell

this story

of Hannah's prayer,

of David,

of Mary,

of Jesus.

And may we long

for the day

when You will come

and establish

Your kingdom in full.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.