Sunday Message (1st service) - Pastor Jennifer Neuschwander (March 1, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Well, are you guys

awake? Are you awake? All right. Well, I get

the honor. Most of you know who I am, but in

case you don't know or online, I'm Pastor Brad's

wife, Pastor Jenny. And oftentimes when he's

not here, I get the honor really to step up here

and bring the word. So if you came expecting

to hear him, I'm sorry. I hope you won't be disappointed.

He is a powerful word. I am not Pastor Brad.

I don't try to be. The world only needs one.

he's not here and he's not watching online, so

I can say whatever I want. No, not really. Anyway,

well, I'm excited for what God, you know, I'm

just gonna share with you, we have a lot packed

into today. We're gonna receive communion together.

And, you know, I just wanna encourage you, if

you are here today and you don't know the Lord

or you're wrestling even just with your salvation

or wrestling with trusting God, knowing God,

feeling God loves you, or even maybe you've stepped

into a place where you've, found yourself angry

at God. You shouldn't be, but we have those moments.

I'm asking you to just open your heart this morning

and listen. About two or three months ago, my

husband and I were on a getaway time over the

new year and the Lord stirred this message in

my heart. And I really believe it's a prophetic

word for our church in this season that we're

in. So we might get a little vulnerable today,

if that's all right. I have a testimony and we'll

see if I have the opportunity to share. But my

heart is just to be real and let's just be vulnerable.

And sometimes, you know, we're just family. So

you're in my living room and we're just gonna

have a wonderful time together. So the title

of my message today is called The Womb Where

God Works Miracles. And we're gonna learn from

Hannah in the Bible, Hannah's hidden journey

of surrender, silence, and destiny. I wanna talk

about how God works in the hidden places. And

I wanna say this, that I really believe that

this is where God has kept our church for a really

long time and he continues to keep it. And we've

had pastors and leaders and even people in our

life that, have mentored us and now actually

have gone on to be with the Lord, but they would

come out here and they would be like, where's

all the people? Like, we see a bunch of sheep

everywhere, but how do you get people? You know,

if your church was in a big city, it would be

like triple the amount of people and they're

saying all these things. And we're just like,

yes, but God put us here in a little town next

to a river bank that he knew in 25 years, we

would be stepping into a new promised land of

faith. Okay, what's happening out there is not

a negative thing. Amen? We have to shift our

thinking. We have to think heaven down. We have

to think kingdom. We have to realize that when

God brings situations or things happen in our

life that are out of our control, that are man

-made problems, God gets excited. We should not

be discouraged. We should not be depressed. We

should not lose our faith. We should be excited

for the battle and the victory. You know, without

a battle, we never have a victory. And I will

say this. My husband got really vulnerable with

the church a few months ago. When we were first

told about the river bank, they gave us a number

that was absolutely beyond comprehension. I think

pastor may have shared over $10 million. The

chance of that project even happening was almost

impossible. But I will tell you this. When the

Lord provided someone in our body to say we can

do it for 2 .5 or 2 .2 or maybe 2 .5, we were

excited. Now, if we had been told it's gonna

be 2 .5, we probably would have been upset. But

you see what happens how God is? He's like, it's

gonna be 10 million. No, it's gonna be 2 .5.

Thank you. So we're thanking the Lord in the

midst of it all, right? I tell my husband that,

come on, it's 2 .5, it's not 10, it's not 10.

God can do it. But we need everybody to come

together. All right, I need to get to my notes.

We have a message today. So I wanna just read

this scripture, Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret

things belong to the Lord. When God keeps us

hidden, when God keeps things in that place of

a secret, he's working. And those are special

things. In fact, we should understand that before

God unveils his greatest works, he often chooses

to conceal them. Amen. How many of you today

feel like there's things in your life that you've

been asking God to do a breakthrough, but they're

concealed and nobody's seeing it. Nobody's recognizing

it. The GoFundMe, you know, there's things that

feel concealed. There's always a season of hiddenness

that comes before deliverance, a time of obscurity

that precedes advancement and a period of secrecy

before revelation. Come on, revelation, advancement,

deliverance. That's our promise. So in God's

design, what is hidden, hear me, is not forgotten.

If you're in a season of feeling hidden, Or prayers

that you've been contending for. Why don't we

recognize that it's not that God isn't listening.

He's hiding things. He's hiding you. It is being

carefully prepared for its appointed time. God

is all about appointed time. All about appointed

time. And what happens is he knows that we will

ruin it. Because we will run ahead. We will take

it out of timing. And everything that he has

planned, he can't do because we messed it up.

Because we get excited about the word. Come on,

there's lots of great words that have come in

your life, that have come over the church, and

we're like, come on, God, and we're all excited

in the moment of the word, and then we just immediately

think, well, let's go help God out, and let's

start moving things along, and we get rid of

this, and we change this, and we quit a job,

and we move to another state, and all these things

happen because we're trying to help God out,

because God's given a word, and God's like, wait

a minute. That is not how it works. When God

gave Noah the word to build the ark, The world

had never seen rain. There was a long time of

waiting for Noah. But praise God for the victory.

Moses was hidden before he led. Joseph was hidden

before he ruled. David was hidden before he reigned.

Esther was hidden before she was crowned. And

Jesus was hidden for 30 years before the cross.

Every life begins hidden in a womb. Ecclesiastes

3 .1 says, for everything there is a season.

Concealment is protection, preparation, not punishment.

When the Lord gave me this message, we were in

this place of really crying out to God, Lord,

what's happening? And I kept hearing the Lord

say, stop seeing it as a tomb. Stop seeing it

as something of a loss. It's a womb. It's a womb.

You're in my womb. And so there's seasons of

that where God is carrying us in his womb. And

it's a time of quietness. What if you're in the

Lord's womb? And what if the womb of the Lord

is in you? And there's things God is doing in

your womb that he's asking you to pray through,

not necessarily activate, but pray through. So

God's hidden work through suffering. I can't

preach a message without talking a little bit

about suffering. Sorry. When it hurts, come on,

say amen. Everybody's been hurt. God still is

working behind the scenes. I want to continue

to change the way we think about the sufferings

and the pain and the struggles that we go through.

Because when you look through the scriptures,

you will... you will identify better with the

men and women of God. Sometimes we close the

Bible. We're like, I don't wanna read that. I

don't wanna know that story. It's different for

me. We live in the 20th century and all of that.

No, it's the same. God is the same yesterday,

today, and forever. Similar to hidden places,

God works through suffering. Come on, amen. Suffering

is not a sign of divine absence. It's often in

the hidden place where God is preparing resurrection

life. Now, you can't have resurrection life if

there's not death first, if there's not a season

of a womb. You can't have a seed. The Bible says,

unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it

cannot bear fruit. Well, how does that work?

That does not make sense. Well, get your mind

on the Word of God and stop thinking like a human.

We are not of this world. And every answer to

every situation, to every problem, to every conflict

that you go through, through every question of

what God has planned for you is found in his

word when we shift our thinking to think kingdom

and not just thinking human and selfish. I'm

selfish. I'm sure none of you are, but I am.

I'm very selfish. And I'd like to think I'm not.

But when things happen in my life, the first

thing the Lord says to me, why do you think this

is going on? Well, they and he and da -da -da

-da -da -da -da. And the Lord's like, hmm, you're

selfish. And that's it. It's like, what? Yeah.

All right. Psalms 139 .15. I love this. David

describes, my frame was not hidden from you when

I was made in this secret place. when I was woven

together in the depths of the earth, God made

us in the hidden place. He's doing his greatest

creating in the hidden place. Now, we don't go

back into the womb of our moms, but I don't want

this creating to stop. I want God to keep weaving

things. I want God to keep creating things. I

want God to keep developing me. Amen. We're not

fully developed yet. We may be, you know, just

as a baby is growing and you watch a baby grow

all the way up into adulthood. The same thing

needs to happen with our spirit man. Don't stay

a baby. Let the Lord keep developing you and

weaving you. And he's going to do it the same

way he did it in the secret place. And in his

time, he brings it out. If you want to jump on

the stage and say, I'm ready, and here I am,

and look at world, I'm coming, and all of that,

well, then you're on your own. Amen? So don't

rush the stage, right? God often disguises wombs

as tombs. What appears closed, barren, painful,

or final, is not necessarily a place of death.

It's a place of gestation. Jesus himself framed

this for us in John 16, 21. When a woman is in

labor, she has sorrow. But when the child is

born, she no longer remembers the anguish for

the joy of that human being has been born into

the world. You know, I heard a pastor say, as

the child doesn't experience any pain of its

birth. I mean, it might when it's going through

the birth canal a little bit. Who is the one

going through the pain? The mom. Who is the one

experiencing the labor? Come on, God experienced

labor for us. He went through pain for you. He

wrestled. He struggled. Blood, sweat, and tears.

He went to the cross. He labored for our salvation.

He labored for our faith. You did not labor.

You were born. And because of that, we still

question his love for us. We question if we can

trust him when he asks us to do things. We don't

want to do. Go where we don't want to go. Stay

when we don't want to stay. He labored for you.

He will not forsake you. You're his most precious

possession. We are. So that's my introduction.

Let's get to the message. I want to talk about

Hannah. And in her life, we see. hidden suffering

turned transformation. She embodies the truth

of this example. Let's look at 1 Samuel, and

we're going to read some words that are a little

bit difficult to pronounce, so have grace with

me. We're going to dive a little bit into the

Old Testament. So it says in 1 Samuel chapter

one, verse one through three, there was a certain

man of Ramatham Zophim of the hill country of

Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram,

son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuth and Ephrathites.

He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah,

the name of the other, Paniah. And Paniah had

children, but Hannah had no children. The man

used to go up year by year from the city to worship

and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh,

where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas,

were priests of the Lord. We learn as we explore

Hannah's life that she's one of many barren women

in the Bible. We know of Rebecca. We know of

Elizabeth. We know of Sarah, whose wombs that

God opened at crucial moments in redemptive history

to bring forth strategic children. With God,

everything has purpose. He just, again, he doesn't

always reveal it to us and he doesn't have to.

I can relate to this, but I will share that later.

Let's look at the prophetic language. Why do

we say these names and why are these names listed?

Can't we just say, well, there was Hannah who

was married to Elkanah and she couldn't have

children. But why is the Bible specific? Well,

in scripture, nothing is incidental. Names, places,

bloodlines all hold a significant weight in their

meetings. And this is important that we understand

because before Hannah prayed and Samuel was ever

born to lead Israel's revival, names were already

carrying the prophetic significance leading up

to his birth. And so we have to look at his forefathers

and his great -grandfather and the land in which

he was born into to understand the power of why

Samuel's birth was so important, why there was

a waiting season, why there was a barren season.

So the story opens in Rematham Zophim, which

means double heights of the watchman. Hannah

lived in the hill country of Ephraim, which means

fruitfulness, actually double fruitfulness. Here

we've got the anointing of the watchman. We've

got fruitfulness, and yet there's a barrenness

in her womb. And they worship at Shiloh, the

place of rest. What's wrong with this picture?

The land seemed to speak volumes even before

her womb opened, and it foretold a bountiful

harvest. This is the thing. When we are in those

womb seasons, what is the Lord speaking around

us, or are we so consumed with what we don't

have and what I want? Elkanah, Samuel's father,

means God possesses. or God is in charge. I told

my daughter as I was sharing my message with

her, I was preaching to my 14 -year -old because

I figured if she can get it and understand it,

then everybody will be okay. So she helps guide

me along and tells me what things she doesn't

understand and all that. It's great. She's awesome.

Thank you, Jessie. But I was explaining to her

that names had a significance. Not like today,

we name a child because we like a name, right?

You know, we do look at the meeting. We wanna

make sure the meeting aligns, but we often, but

back in the Bible days, instead of maybe saying

Elkanah, it was every time his name was said,

everybody knew God is in charge. God is in charge.

Hello, God is in charge. Hello, God possesses.

So the name was imparting. The name was declaring.

The name was bringing that activation of the

faith that was wrapped around his name. Then

his grandfather, Jehoah, means womb compassion,

means he incredibly cares about our wombs. So

here, even as you're seeing Hannah's prayers,

we'll walk through it. And her season that she's

remembering, okay, God is in charge and the grandfather,

he cares about this womb. So he's not gonna forsake

me. Do you understand what God is doing here?

And then the great grandfather, Elihu, he is

my God. So here we have three generations of

names setting it up for this prophet to be born

that would change the trajectory. of the nation

of Israel and for us today. Hannah means grace.

He is so kind. So even in her name, it kept aligning

her. He is kind. He gives grace. He is kind.

Mercy, grace, fruitfulness, and covenant are

already at work, quietly orchestrating events.

even before Samuel's birth. I wanna quickly highlight

the background. When Samuel was born, Israel's

spiritual condition at Samuel's birth marked

the end of the judge's era. So you read through

the Bible and you read the judges and then you

get to first and second Samuel. They had been

without a king. The people acted according to

their will. Sounds like maybe a little bit of

what's going on around here. The book of Judges

describes the cycle of sin, oppression, cries

for deliverance, temporary peace, relapse into

sin, but by Samuel's birth, the nation was exhausted.

This period was characterized by moral fragmentation,

weak tribal unity, corrupt priesthood, and the

absence of consistent prophetic leadership. Despite

being covenantally chosen, Israel was practically

compromised. Everyone was doing what was right

in their own eyes. God have mercy. Because that

is what we are living in today. And God is raising

a Samuel generation. It's time that we all step

into and be prophetically activated, not by our

soul, but by the spirit of God who is realigning

his kingdom and his church for the purpose of

God today. Eli, the high priest, when Samuel

was born had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, and

they were worthless men who disobeyed God. So

now we've got corruption. We've got sin. We've

got all kinds of junk going on inside the house

of the Lord. They stole from sacrifices, committed

immorality at the tabernacle. They despised God's

offerings and worshiped at the tabernacle. The

worship at the tabernacle of Shiloh was polluted.

This was what Samuel was born into. However,

it sets the stage for God's hidden work. God

often raises his most chosen servants during

the darkest of times. The darker the dark, the

lighter and the brighter the lamp. So let's look

at Hannah's life and her journey. You guys doing

okay? Awesome. Three keys. We're gonna look at

three keys. I have a few points for you. We're

gonna start here. Three keys from Hannah's testimony.

Number one. Hannah's pain. A tomb that was actually

a womb. He is the God who conceals. 1 Samuel

1, 6 -8. And her rival used to provoke her grievously

to irritate her. Anybody have a few of those

in your life? Because the Lord had closed her

womb. So it went on year by year. As often as

she went up to the house of the Lord, she used

to provoke her. I thought this very interesting.

The provoking obviously was the other wife, but

the provoking was in the house of the Lord. The

irritation, the reminding of her of what she

didn't have and constantly telling her, well,

you must have done something wrong. You must

have sinned. God must not care about you, obviously.

Because to not have children in those days was

considered almost a curse. And in some ways it

was. Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat.

And Elkanah, her husband said to her, Hannah,

why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And

why is your heart so sad? Am I not more to you

than 10 sons? Verses nine through 10 and 13.

After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah

arose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the

seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the

Lord. She was deeply distressed and wept bitterly.

Hannah was speaking in her heart. But only her

lips were moving and her voice was not heard.

Therefore, Eli thought her to be a drunken woman.

How many times do you feel like your prayers

are not heard and that you're being misunderstood?

That all you can do really is pray on the inside

and there's things that you know, God, I know

how I'm supposed to pray. I know what I'm supposed

to declare, but you're in that season. or in

that place where your voice is not heard and

you're misunderstood. From all appearances, Hannah's

circumstances seemed hopeless. Her womb was closed.

Her rival thrived. The priest misunderstood her.

And although her husband cared for her deeply,

he could not ease her suffering. Let me explain

this to you. Don't go to people. Don't even go

to your spouse. You go to the Lord and you understand

and you ask him what's happening. Not why are

you doing this to me, Lord? Or why God? It's

Lord, what are you doing in me? And you find

your place. You take that suffering to him and

you keep taking it year after year after year.

They went up every year. She kept taking it before

the Lord, taking it before the Lord. There may

be misunderstanding. There may be people that

will write things on social media about you.

Some of us are afraid to share the GoFundMe because

we're not sure what's gonna come up on our Facebook

page. Sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that.

It's okay, it's okay. God has us and there's

a blessing in it and there's a favor in it. We

have to get with the Lord and take our suffering

to him. It says here in verse five that the Lord

actually had closed her womb. Those are the answers

we need to get from the Lord. Lord, what are

you doing? If this is what you're doing, then

I need to partner with that. So this was a critical

moment when God allows something to close. He

is not always removing life. He may be concealing

it until the time he knows best. We went through

a season personally where my womb in the natural

was closed for 12 years. The doctors couldn't

understand. There was nothing that we could do.

There's nothing that changed. But for 12 years,

we could not have children. And I remember watching

and walking through friends and people in the

body and all the prophetic words and everybody

praying over us. God's going to open your womb.

God's going to open your womb. We even had someone

prophesy twins. No, thank you. I mean, there's

a grace on those of you that have twins. But,

you know, I was like... It got to the point after

10 years, I finally surrendered and I said, Lord,

I release this to you. And two years later, the

miracle happened. And I remember crumpling to

the floor. It took multiple pregnancy tests for

me to believe that it was real because it had

been so many years. And I cried and I wept before

the Lord. And I said, I thought I did something

wrong. I thought it was me. And the Lord said,

no. The timing has been me. And I want to say

this today, that God knew that there needed to

be a Jackie in one generation and a Jessica in

another generation. Where would we be? Where

would life be? I will be without you. He gave

us Jessica. So for Hannah, her womb looked like

a place of shame, a place of loss, a place of

unanswered prayer. saw something else. Heaven

saw a womb transformed into a sacred place where

a prophet was born, destined to guide Israel's

future, who would listen and follow God. God

is looking for us to birth the message of God,

to put it and to impart it into this generation,

to be a church that will listen. and follow God.

Come on, raise your hand if you agree with me.

Will you be a people? Church, let's be a people.

Let's be a people. Let's raise our kids to listen

and follow God. The very platform God would use

to display his glory to his people. When Hannah

experienced as barrenness When Hannah experienced

as barrenness was not a tomb, it was a womb.

Even though in her mind, she may have considered

her womb to be dead. It was living and alive

and waiting for God's timing. This message is

so personal to me because I've walked through

this. And what so many times I thought was the

end and it was death and it was nothing was changing.

And the Lord kept saying, there's life, there's

life, there's life. You just have to trust me.

With the Lord, we must keep in mind that he does

not see suffering as we do. Our human nature

wants to avoid it at all costs, amen? However,

God often uses suffering to produce the depth

of faith and reliance on him, not decay and not

loss. If gemstones and precious metals like pearls,

diamonds, gold, silver could talk, They would

tell us about the amazing journeys that they've

been on to become so beautiful, valuable, and

wanted. Factors such as heat, pressure, irritation,

and time represents the challenges encountered

during their formation. Ultimately, these demanding

conditions yield results of exceptional worth.

Often adorning royalty, these materials derive

their significance from the rigorous transformations

that they endure. What is God forming in us?

I want to be a ruby. I want to be a diamond.

I want to be a pearl. We say those dangerous

things, but that's what is precious. Come on,

all of that is around us. Sometimes we can get...

Within the church, we like how it feels. It feels

clean. We don't want to face difficulty. We want

to face the things around us. But God uses those

things to form you. God uses those things to

make you beautiful. God uses those things to

make us precious and priceless gems. Hannah's

grief was genuine. It was not sinful. She described

herself as a woman of sorrowful spirit, yet remained

devoted to God. Let's look at some keys within

Hannah's pain. Number one, let trials cultivate

the fruit of the Spirit. In the waiting, God

shapes patience, faith, gentleness, and self

-control. Let those trials cultivate. Number

two, trials serve as opportunities for spiritual

growth as demonstrated by Hannah's life. Romans

8 .18, the sufferings of this present time are

not worth comparing with the glory. that is to

be revealed. 2 Corinthians 4, 17, this light

momentary affliction, that word affliction means

pressure, crushing, trials. It refers to something

being squeezed is preparing us for an eternal

way of glory. Four things that this scripture

highlights, earthly afflictions are temporary.

Every trial is brief and passing in the grand

scheme of God's eternal promise. Number two,

affliction has purpose. Affliction is not just

a hurdle to endure, but a part of God's transformative

journey in conforming us to Christ, refining

our character and preparing us for eternal glory.

Number three, trials deepen our dependence on

God. Despite suffering, scripture reveals it's

part of God's plan and his power. Christ comforts

us in our struggles, drawing us closer and teaching

us to trust God. These challenges were showcased

in Jesus's life. And number four, trials shape

and refine us. God shapes our character, develops

perseverance and prepares us for eternity through

trials. Light afflictions like pressure crushing.

Trials are significant compared to the eternal

weight of glory we experience. That is how we

measure affliction. If we put eternal glory on

the scale and we put our affliction on the other

side, that's how we measure it. And the weight

of the eternal glory cannot even compare. And

that's what makes the affliction light. The weight

of the glory, far. It probably takes the scale

all the way to the bottom. When you're measuring

your affliction based on someone else's affliction,

your scales are off. When you read that scripture,

because I was looking at that scripture going,

I don't think I agree with light affliction.

This isn't light. I don't know affliction to

be like pressing, crushing, trials, being squeezed.

That doesn't sound light to me. But when you

compare it to the glory. and why God has the

afflictions so that you will receive the weight

of the glory, it can't stand. The second key

to Hannah's testimony, number one, Hannah's pain,

number two, Hannah's prayer. The womb where desperation

births destiny. How many of you in this room

have experienced a place of desperation? Maybe

you're in it all the time and you're like, I'm

tired of being in this place. Well, then you

just might be birthing a lot of things. It's

okay. We look at desperation. Again, are we measuring

our affliction on the scale of other people's

affliction? Or are we measuring them on the weight

of the glory and what this affliction is doing

in preparing us for what we will receive? We

are not of this world. Hannah's grief drove her

to the house of God, not away from the house.

Our grief, our pain, our isolation, our insecurities,

our struggles, our sin that we're ashamed of

will often drive us out of the house of the Lord.

It will drive us to a place of separating ourselves

because of judgment or we have a wrong perspective,

but instead it should drive us to the house of

the Lord. Every time we come, we come and we

bring it before the Lord and we recognize that

this is where we need to be. Hannah's prayer

stripped her of religious performance. It took

away the thing that was her identity that somehow,

again, comparing ourselves to one another, we

put on a religious cloak and we think we have

to perform. But her prayer of desperation stripped

her of that. It caused her to pray agonizing,

wordless prayers, not from her soul, but from

her spirit. Hannah did not conceive Samuel casually.

She conceived him through tears. Tears, a consistent

place of faith and vulnerability. She conceived

him through misunderstanding. She conceived him

through a prolonged waiting. And she conceived

him through full surrender. Hannah's suffering

was not in vain. Her pain led to desperation,

which paved the way of the prophet that God had

planned to bring through her. Her struggle had

purpose. Your struggle, church, has purpose.

Let that sit for a minute. First Peter 1, six

through seven. Though now for a little while,

you've been grieved by various trials. so that

the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious

than gold that perishes though it's tested by

fire, may be found to result in praise and glory

and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Gold and silver and precious gems, they will

eventually be destroyed, but your faith will

not, if you will allow it to be tested. Let's

let the Lord, again, I feel this is such a prophetic

message to our church right now, or maybe it's

just to me. So you get to sit here and listen,

but it's where we're at because we've looked

at things from the wrong filter and recognizing

God, I want. Faith that can stand before the

King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And I want

my faith to be genuine. And in order for my faith,

I think it's genuine, but God's like, no, it's

really not. And we've got to test it. And the

testing of the fire and the process that you're

going through is taking our faith to a genuineness

that we may be found to result in praise and

glory and honor. Those who sow in tears shall

reap with shouts of joy. Psalms 126, five. Come

on, we're gonna reap with shouts of joy. Amen.

And maybe you need to do that every morning.

I sowed all night in tears, but today I'm rejoicing.

Let's look at some keys within Hannah's prayer.

Number one, know your source. Just like Hannah,

we turn to the Lord of hosts seeking help from

him, not from people. I'm gonna skip the scriptures

here. Number two, pour out your soul honestly.

Couple of scriptures you can put. Psalms 121,

one and two. Just put that on your notes. Number

two, pour out your soul honestly. God can tolerate

our bitterness, tears, and confusion. He values

our honesty over pretense. Be vulnerable with

the Lord. Be real, pour your heart out to him,

but go to him. Don't, you know, do you know why

that God kept Zachariah quiet? all the time that

John the Baptist was in the womb. You all probably

know, but I'll tell you anyway, because he didn't

want him to undo by his doubt and unbelief through

his words. He kept him quiet because he couldn't

speak according to the agreement of what the

Lord had spoke. And so he said, I've got to close

your mouth because what you say, can divert the

plan and purpose of God. What we say, we have

to be so careful. Prayer is not just speaking.

It's an act of yielding oneself. And that was

precisely what Hannah's prayer was, a complete

surrender of her soul. We pray in the spirit,

but we surrender our soul. Number three, we stay

humbled and surrendered. Hannah's journey reaches

its deepest and most transformative moment in

the union between her prayer and her vow. Her

prayer is the outpouring of a desperate heart.

Her vow is the surrender of a yielded heart.

Her prayer is the outpouring of a desperate heart.

Her vow is the surrender of a yielded heart.

We can do that. We pour out our prayer to the

Lord. but then we can vow and say, God, I surrender.

And we keep saying that. Together, those prayers,

that pouring out and the surrender form the womb

in us that God can conceive destiny. What looks

like a tomb of loss or barrenness is often the

womb where God creates his greatest works. Number

four, Hannah's prayer is not polished. or performative.

It is a soul outpouring. She does not hide her

anguish. She brings it raw before God. Number

five, she knew her soul could find rest even

in the midst of her pain. Psalm 62, one and two.

My soul finds rest in God alone. My salvation

comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation.

He is my fortress. I will never be shaken. And

number six, Hannah's prayer is marked by perseverance.

A persistent, unrelecting cry that refuses to

quit. Year after year, she returns. She stays

until something shifts. We stay until something

shifts. We don't take it into our own hands.

We are staying, church. And we're watching God

shift it. And we're gonna keep saying, and we're

gonna keep praying and pouring out our soul.

And then we're gonna stand up and surrender.

And then we're gonna go over here and pour out

our soul because we struggled with the surrender.

And then we're gonna come back over here and

surrender. And then we're gonna do it many times

over and over. We're gonna keep coming to the

house of the Lord. Keep coming to the house of

the Lord. Keep encouraging people. Keep imparting

unto them. Listen, church, this is what we've

been called to do, to carry the faith of God

and to be tested in it. And see the salvation

of the Lord. Because without the testing, we're

not going to have the victory. And oh, what a

victory we're beginning to see. Hallelujah. I'm

excited. Amen. Give him glory. The last key of

Hannah's testimony is Hannah's promise. The surrender

that secures the breakthrough. Now comes the

moment of faith after Eli says in 1 Samuel 1,

17 and 18, go in peace. The God of Israel grant

your petition. Soon as she hears those words,

her countenance changes before her circumstances

do. Church, we gotta change our countenance.

We gotta change our confession before the circumstance

changes. Because God has spoken. The God of Israel

will grant your petition. Receive that this morning.

The God of Israel will grant my petition. She

is a living example of the principle. Believe

that you have received. Hannah becomes a living

portrait of sorrow, plus persistence, plus faith,

plus surrender. Sorrow, plus persistence, plus

faith. And there's the word we all love, surrender.

One of the most striking elements of Hannah's

story is this. She was willing to give back what

she had waited for. God often asks us to return

the very miracle he gives us, not to remove it,

but to secure it. 1 Samuel 1 .11, O Lord of hosts,

if you will indeed look on the affliction of

your servant and remember me and not forget.

your servant. Notice she calls herself your servant.

Remember me and not forget your servant, not

her servant, his servant. But will you give to

your servant a son? Then I will give him to the

Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall

touch his head. That's a big vow. Her vow is

breathtaking and costly. Hannah is seeking something

she truly desires while also vowing to return

it to the Lord. Her story rocked my world. And

I realized, because so many times, even in this

journey of Life Bible Church, we'd say, Lord,

you gave us this. You gave us this. You gave

us this. What's happening? Well, if it has to

go into the river, it goes into the river. It's

the Lord's property. But that's not God's plan.

Lord, you gave it to us. And what is he doing?

Give it back to him. Just give it back to me.

It's not for your glory. It's not for your image.

It's not to make you look good and to be your

mark of ministry, mark of success. No, give it

back to me. The very thing that you wanted and

desired and you fought for and you asked the

Lord for, the Lord comes and says, will you give

it to me? Because the Lord only wants you. And

sometimes the things that he gives us, we begin

to worship more than the giver himself. And he

has so much for us. And so he asks us in that

season, but there's so much that he's doing.

This was not when she returned it to the Lord.

It was not an emotional bargaining. It was consecration.

It was consecration. And what if that's what

God is doing in your individual life, but it's

what he's doing at Life Bible Church. He's consecrating

us. He's cleaning us up. He's removing things

in our heart. Church, I need you to hear me.

I hope everything I've said has been okay and

you're not offended and you're not frustrated,

you're not bored. But if you can hear me say

this one thing, we give our things, we give our

life back to the Lord. We give what he's given

us, this beautiful place, all of you, but the

church is people. So it's not about the building.

So what if God is saying, put yourself back in

a place. Because God is consecrating us. Jesus

said in John 10, 18, no one can take my life

from me. I lay it down of my own free will. Hannah's

surrender was real, tangible, and costly. Let's

look at a few keys within her promise. Letter

A. Receive God's word with faith before you see

the answer. First Samuel 1, 17 through 18. Then

Eli answered, go in peace and the God of Israel

will grant your petition that you have made to

him. And she said, let your servant find favor

in your eyes. Then the woman went her way and

ate and her face was no longer sad. Therefore,

in Mark 11, 24, therefore, I tell you, whatever

you ask in prayer, believe that you have received

it and it will be yours. Believe, perceive, receive,

and conceive. Believe, perceive, visualize the

answer, receive, take hold of it, conceive, completed

action. Faith is present tense reception. It's

not future tense hope. It's present tense reception.

We believe we receive the answer even if I don't

see it. And this was Hannah who received it inwardly

before she ever conceived physically. Faith is

present tense. I receive it now, not when I get

it. I receive it now. Letter B key, recognize

your influence. You may think you're unseen,

but people are watching. The faith that is in

you is contagious and it has the power to create

the next Samuel. Someone who will live on after

us. You know, Hebrews 11, 39 through 40 talks

about, I mean, it's a great faith chapter and

it talks about those who did not receive what

they prayed for in their lifetime. But the Bible

says, and I'm just gonna paraphrase this, the

Bible talks about how they're actually waiting

in heaven. God spoke it to them. They received

it, present tense reception, and they stood in

it. They're going to receive the benefit of that

promise even though they didn't see it on the

earth because they're waiting for us. But that

word speaks to us because we're looking back

at their life and we're going, wow, they continued

in their faith before they even saw it. They

didn't live their life with a sad countenance.

They changed their countenance. And so God is

preparing a people, our brothers and sisters

who have gone on before us, they're waiting for

us to finish the race. So if they had finished,

part of it was God said, no, you're gonna wait.

for the final, because I care about this generation.

They lived with faith, holding on to what we

now see coming to pass. They're cheering us on.

They're like, don't give up. Don't give up. Don't

give up. No, no, no, no. Don't do that. Trust

me. We're seeing it. It's going to happen. We

had to do the same. Don't give up. Oh, no, no,

no. They're starting to get weak over here. Okay.

We got to pray. We got to intercede in there.

You know, they're in heaven cheering us on and

we're like, huh? what's going on why you know

god are you even real you know and they're like

ah you know come on read hebrews see what is

happening they're in the race with us they won't

get to cross over till we get there and they're

ready to receive with us that's what that's how

god does it oh hallelujah i gotta wake you up

No sleeping in church this morning, right? Letter

C, keep your vows. Integrity matters. God honors

those who keep their word to him. Ecclesiastes

5, four through five. You can look it up later.

A promise made to God is a sacred thing. Hannah

keeps hers and history was shaped by her obedience.

Quickly, three ways that God responds to Hannah.

And we're gonna begin to get ready to receive

the communion table this morning. Number one,

multiplication. What is released to God is never

lost. What is surrendered to God is never wasted.

And what is given back to God is multiplied.

Hannah's story proves that after surrendering

Samuel, God gave her three more sons and two

daughters, five children, the number of grace,

which is what her name means. When she gave to

God, God multiplied to her. Galatians 6, 9. In

due season, we will reap if we do not give up.

Number two, ways that God responded to Hannah

through miracle working power. Hannah's pain

made her desperate. Her prayer is the cry that

brought an open heaven and her promise was the

surrender that secured the miracle. Hannah illustrates

that the greatest breakthrough occurs when three

things happen. Desperation meets surrender. Faith

meets obedience. And our deepest longings are

placed back into God's hands. Desperation meets

surrender. Faith meets obedience. Our deepest

longings are placed back into God's hands. And

number three, the great legacy. When Samuel was

born, it was not merely the end of Hannah's suffering.

It was the beginning of something great. Greater

than her personal joy. Samuel guided Israel from

the judges to the kings, anointed Saul and David,

and brought back, come on, the nation's prophetic

power. We are in seasons, continual seasons,

but I believe prophetically for our church, there's

a birthing of another generation. The Gen Z generation,

and I don't know, what's the name of the one

after that? Alpha? Sorry. I'm gonna ask my daughter

about that. But what if that is the generation

that is in being weighed in the balance? Something's

happening to that generation and there's a hunger

for the spiritual things. But it's gotta be the

right spiritual things, church. And so we, as

the generations before them, have got to be willing

to have it. birthed in us so that the next generation,

the alpha generation, the one after that will

live and usher in the second coming. And there

will be a prophetic power released over the church

and over the nations. Come on, we need God to

speak more than ever because there's enough voices

and enough answers out there being spoken. We've

got to hear what is God saying. And let's commit

to that from the front row. To the back. I see

y 'all up against the wall. I see you. Staying

awake. Thank you. All right, we're gonna prepare

the table of the Lord as we close. I'm gonna

have the worship team come and the ushers are

gonna sit up the communion table for us. Hannah's

story shows us that God does his deepest work

in hidden places. We need to trust God in the

silence and surrender with what we love the most.

In hidden places, it's easy to feel self -pity

or loneliness, but it's important that we believe

in him before we see the promise. Nothing surrendered

is wasted and nothing placed in God's hands fails

to bear the fruit in its time. This quote from

A .B. Simpson says this, God is preparing his

heroes and when the opportunity comes, He can

fit them into their places in a moment and the

world will wonder where they came from. So for

all of us today, some of you feel like you're

in a place like a tomb, a closed door, a silent

heaven, maybe a barren season or an unanswered

prayer. But what if it's not a tomb? What if

it's a womb? What if it's the place you have

labeled death, but it's actually divine gestation?

Hannah thought she was carrying shame, but heaven

knew she was carrying a prophet. You may feel

like today you're carrying disappointment, but

heaven may be forming destiny in you. I said

this earlier, but I want to read it again. John

12, 24. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the

earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies,

it bears much fruit. You know, the enemy is always

trying to get us to be alone. He's always trying

to isolate us. And I, if you'll just bow your

head with me, I want to pray as we just. prepare

we're gonna the worship team's gonna sing and

we're gonna come and receive dismiss to receive

the table of the Lord but I want us to just pray

this prayer within our heart and I'll pray it

and you can just be in agreement with me Lord

I release the things that I love the most Lord

I bring to you a surrendered heart I give you

my dreams Lord I give you my timeline I give

you my children. I give you my ministry, my reputation,

and every unanswered prayer. Lord, I surrender

it to you. And God, as we come to your table,

we recognize that we are stepping into the ultimate

expression of surrender and covenant. And we

receive today this table in remembrance of you,

remembering. That you surrendered all. And for

that, God, we surrender it back to you. That

everything we give will be multiplied for your

glory. Thank you for taking the time to listen

to this week's message. We are so grateful for

those who tune in each week and have given generously

to this ministry. If you would like to give,

click the link in the episode description below

you can also help us by subscribing to this podcast

and sharing it with your friends and family lastly

if you are in need of prayer send us a text message

at 541 -625 -1365 we would love to pray with

you