Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Billy McCool
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: Judges 6:21-40, Judges 7:1-3, Judges 8:1-3, 1 John 4:18, Romans 10:8, 1 Samuel 10:1-21

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/billy-mccool--wednesday-night-bible-study-84
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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praise the Lord everyone let's try that again praise the Lord everyone Give the Lord a hand clap praise [Applause] it's so good to see each one of you in the house give me just a little more monitors up here if you would please it's so good to see everyone in the house of the Lord tonight we love the word of the Lord and I appreciate having such a such a wonderful Bible class and we we are split up into so many different age brackets uh I see a lot of what's going out that door with a whole lot older than it's 30. I'm going to start asking them for their ID and see if they can prove their their age I think that's up to 30 now and then that leaves us from 30 on up but we've got a good crowd of folks that's willing to admit that you are above 30. we love the word of the Lord and let me say this um we heard such great preaching over the weekend and we do every every weekend the message that Pastor Whitley preached about bitterness My my what what a message and we all need to to take that to heart Pastor Anthony Pastor Mark and they all just do such a fantastic job and we we needed we need it all we need and we are kind of used to uh uh you quoted the Scripture A lot of times the preacher sought acceptable words and preaching has become somewhat of an art I I was asked many years ago to write an article for the organization that articles entitled technique that will improve your preaching and I have a great I enjoyed preparing that chapter in that book because when you get down to think about there's a lot of things you need to to think about you know you're going to deliver the word of the Lord but there Comes A Time and we love singing shouting we love music if you if you've been around me very much you know I do a lot of uh around the house I'm sure sister McCool gets tired of hearing me one day Easton was at our house and finally she said Papa don't sing she she didn't use much tax she just said people don't sing but the psalmist David was a great songwriter and a great singer but there comes a time that we need to just simply without any um um I'm looking for the right words right now emotionalism or what have you but just to study the word of the lord we want to we we like to be stirred up we we love preaching like brother Joe Osborne he can he can paint a word picture they'll have you on the edge of your seat and that's tremendous and of course Pastor Whitley can do the same thing pastor Anthony and Pastor Mark but there comes a time we need to just sit down and settle down and listen to the word of the Lord and that's what we're going to do tonight father we thank you for this service we thank you for the music and the singing we thank you for all we've enjoyed this past weekend or a Christian School competition the great Evangelistic preaching we've heard over the weekend we thank you for that before we ask you tonight to anoint the lips of clay with the spirit of God give us the word that you'd have spoken as we study the word of the Lord give us what you would have us here tonight in Jesus name we pray do you realize that next this coming Sunday will be starting our summer quarter for our Sunday school lessons that's how fast time is getting away we're a little bit behind we've had some special services and I'm going to do some reading and a lot of hopscotching tonight uh through I'm going to attempt to teach three lessons in the same amount of time that I normally take to teach one so you you tighten your seat belts and hang on and stay with me because we're gonna try to cover three different lessons tonight um first of all we want to finish the lesson we started on Gideon and the strength of of honesty of you who were here you were remembering us we we got to a certain place with Gideon God had called him and uh Gideon and his father was over behind a uh the the uh well wine press and there was threshing wheat and hiding it the midianites were coming down now I understand every time we read something like this the Bible said the children of Israel did Evil again and God raised up the midianites the children of Israel did Evil and that God raised up uh the Philistines and case after case of there was never a time that the people of God were abused or overcome because God was weak it was because they again and again and again they failed god well that very statement in itself is very important to us because when we do wrong there's a there's a there's a price to pay and when you leave God out of the arrangements there is going to be something to pay the Bible said the way of a transgressor is hard Paul said if I build up that's which I'm destroyed I maketh myself a transgressor now when we go back on what we preached many years and I've seen I I've seen this since I've been preaching uh this year 75 years I've seen folks that preached one thing years ago but as the times have changed they have changed their message and and they fit in the category of what Paul said if I build up that which I have destroyed I maketh myself a transgressor Johnny James put it like this he said these folks have said were you a fool then or are you a fool now well that's a little bit strong I guess but the the word our our method may change but our message will not change I don't want to go back to the Tent Revival and dirt floor church and uh the the conditions we were under I'm thankful that God's brought us to where we are I I I was on television many many many years ago way back there before they had uh tape recordings and and before they had the color TV way on back even before I came to Knoxville uh I was on on TV Bobby and I had a a commercial television program WJHL in Johnson City but I'm saying all that to say this we do we do change our method because we have better ways and better means but our message must never change and because God's word is for he said my word is forever settled in heaven you don't have to change it you're right to have a conference and see if if preaching in the truth or not we're we're preaching the truth and we've been preaching the truth for 75 years but let's get into this lesson uh tonight because I'm going to try to finish out with Gideon um the angel of the Lord on verse verse 21 um uh let's see what what chapter was we in 15 was it uh no judges uh judges six and verse 21 the angel of the Lord put forth in the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh I live in case now when the when Gideon and his father was threshing the sweet and hiding it because the midianites were going to take it from him well an angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon under a tree and called him thy Mighty Man of Valor and in getting corrected him immediately said what do you mean a mighty Mandeville or Valor I I I'm from the poorest family my dad is the poorest of the poor and I'm the poorest in his family I I'm sure not a mighty man and he said if I'm a mighty man said where's God's Miracles all these things we haven't seen that in years we haven't seen these Miracles he began to tell this angel and the angel told him he was a mighty male develop and and getting said you wait right here I want to find out if you are or not so he run and killed the goat and fixed a a meal and had the broth and and the angel waited on him to get back to when the angel when he got back uh he said now that I'm going to make you an offering and uh the angel said you go ahead and and pour the meat out on this rock and and pour the broth out over the top of it and he did that and the angel of the Lord had a staff and he touched it their fire came down from heaven consumed the offering licked up the the broth now then what do you think well you would think they would make a Believer out of Gideon but it goes on to to try to convince himself more than anything else now let's go on the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the Flesh and the unleavened cakes and there arose a fire out of the Rock and consumed the Flesh and the unleavened cakes then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight and would get him perceived that he was an angel the of the Lord get his head alas O Lord God for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face and the Lord said to him peace be unto thee fear now Thou shalt not die because in those days they thought if you saw the face of God you would die well then get him build an altar here right there and there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah shalom under this day it is yet in opraham of ABBA azerite and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him take thy father's young Bullock even the second block of seven years old and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath and cut down the Grove that is by it and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in in the ordered place uh and then take the second Bullock and offer a burnt offering sacrifice with the wood of the Grove which Thou shalt cut down now I get something out of this very important if you're going to do something from a god you better start at home he said your daddy is going to to worship and Baal your Daddy has got an altar over here set up to bail now he's the Israelite but he was so influenced by the surroundings he and his father had become a worshiper of Baal and uh had they they worship in a Grove and one of the commentary said that the reason they had the Grove they had orgies had terrible events there that was part of their worship it was a sinful thing but yet they were convinced of that because you know it's pretty easy to convince folks that if you want to to enjoy the pleasures of sin the Bible said that that Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter because he esteemed their approach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt yeah this is what his father was doing and God said now then your Mighty Man of Valor but the first thing before you can deliver Israel from the bondage of the midianites you're going to do something about your own Daddy you can eat you need to tear down his altar and cut down his Grove and replace it with God's altar well sometimes therefore we can do what God wants us to do we have to tear some things down before we can build you can't bail in the world the worship of God just and and I'm afraid if you look around what's going on in the world today you don't know whether you're listening to the Grand Ole Opry or whether you're watching church am I getting is that is that is that a little too strong you don't know where they're watching a stage show or whether you're watching church I tell you what we need to replace the word he said love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man loves the world the love of the father is not in him cut Daddy's Groves down turn down his Ultra down and build an altar to God and let God be God [Music] here I go screaming and hollering again and and Gideon said well if I'm going to do that I'll tell you what I better do if I'm going to do that I better wait till after the dark because all these everybody's been converted to bailism everybody now these are supposed to be in God's people and and here they were worshipers of Baal and now then get into Ten Men of his service and did us the Lord has said unto him and so it was because he feared his father's household and the men of the city that he could not do it by day that he did it by night I've got to use a little strategy here you got to pick the right time I'm not criticizing get in he was he was using a little bit of strategy and we had a brother in our district a few years ago and I don't I'll not call his name at all and uh he's getting uh in uh Walmart in Walmart then by Kmart and he gave it a hollow fire fire fire and everybody together I said holy ghost barn and he would get a crowd but uh it wasn't the right kind of atmosphere it was a it was being a character to just be a a character well Gideon was trying to be a character he picked the right time he said we're going to wait till after dark he took 10 men and with the men of the city of rules early in the morning behold the altar of Baal was cast down and the Grove was cut down that was bad and the second Bullock was offered upon the altar that was built we're going to tear down the old altar we're going to cut down the Groves and we're going to replace it with true worship we're going to replace it with with the worst worship of Jehovah oh listen what we're doing now we're not copying the world the world has come in us we've got the message of the hour [Music] and they said one to another who has done this thing and when they inquired and asked they said Gideon the son of Jewish had done this thing then the men of the city said unto Jewish bring out thy son that he may die because he's cast down the altar of Baal now these supposed to be God's people and because he had cut down the Grove that was by it and Jewish said unto those that stood against him now I get a a real thought right here Gideon's Daddy must have been impressed and he must have got converted because notice what he said and joash said unto all that stood by him will ye plead for Baal will you save him he that will plead for him let him put to death whilst it is yet mourning if he be a God let him plead for himself because one hath cast down his altar it sounded like the Gideon had made some progress with his own daddy his own Daddy was telling those stuff it bails as a true God let him plead for himself therefore on that day he called him zerubbabel saying let Baal plead against him because he hath thrown down his altar then all the midianites and the amalekites and the children of the East were gathered together and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel but the spirit of the Lord Came Upon Gideon and he blew a trumpet and adviser was gathered after him and he sent Messengers throughout all I want you to there's a point I want to make when this throughout all Manasseh who also had gathered after him and he sent Messengers unto Asher unto zebulun and to Neptune and they came to meet them and get him said unto God if thou won't save Israel by my hand as thou said behold I will put a fleece of wool in the floor and the Doobie on the fleece only and the drive upon all the Earth beside it then shall I know that thou will save Israel by my hand as thou have said and it was so for he arose early on the morrow and and thrust the fleece together and ring the Dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water this is where we get the term putting a fleece act it was a actual police of war and get in said unto God let thine anger not be against me and I'll speak but this once let me prove I pray thee but this once with the fleece let it now be dry only upon the fleece and upon the ground let it let be do and God did so that night for it was dry upon the fleece only and there was due on all the ground well this where we get the uh the the saying putting out a fleece before the Lord uh judges seven and one then zerubbabel who is Gideon and all the people that were with him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Herod so that the host of the midianized were on the north side of them about the hill of moroch in the valley and the Lord said to Gideon the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the midianites into thy hands lest Israel bump themselves against me saying mine own hand has saved me now we've heard this but let me drive it home once again you can have too many and so very often we hear it boasts about how many we've got we've got so many so many so many God said you've got too many because if you win the battle you're going to boast about how many you had and you delivered your own self and now therefore go to Proclaim in the ears of the people saying whosoever is fearful and Afraid let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead and their return of the people 20 and 2000 and and there remained ten thousand now he said those that are fearful and Afraid you can go home well he lost 22 000 at one whack think about now why is that well if you could put on the the screen for him uh first John 4 18. first John 4 18. I don't know if it's going to go on the screen in front of me so I can read it but I can't turn around and and look behind me if I need to do that um because uh first John 4 18 it says there is no fear in love now everybody that's afraid go home there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love now let me if you let the devil fill you with fear people live in fear live in fear uh this is going to happen and that's going to happen well I I God is on my side and I have nothing to be afraid of and he said perfect love casteth out fear then I want us to go to Romans 10 and 8. Romans chapter 10 and verse 8. now remember he said all you that's fearful and Afraid gone we don't need naysayers we don't need folks talking down and and doubt but what saith then the word is not thee even in my mouth and in by heart that is the word of faith which we preach now now look at this we're going to go a little further on this but but one say that the word is not thee even thy mouth and in my heart that is the word of faith which we preach the word of faith is in our heart and it comes out the mouth you speak Faith No no no no Romans 8 said that that uh the thing that you faith is a subject of the substance of things so forth now he said if you can see it that is in faith you already see it but you've prayed for something and you believe it's going to happen even though you don't see it you don't have to see it to believe it and you don't talk doubt some of us if we're not careful we will we will dwell too much on the doubt well let me quickly go on because I want to I want the Hopscotch through this well God says you got too many well he was left with ten thousand and remember the midnights they're camels and the you remember the the study were like grasshoppers or without number they came down they swooped down and and they they took their their food they took the things that they'd raised and and destroyed the land they were without number and now then they are down to to ten thousand to go out and fight this Mighty group and the Lord said unto Gideon the people are yet too many bring them down to the water and I'll try them for they there and it shall be that of whom I say unto thee this shall go with thee the same shall go with thee and whomsoever I say unto thee this shall not go with thee the same shall not go so brought him down to the water and I'm going to paraphrase and summarize when he brought him down by ten thousand to the water to drink there was 300 that just reached down and picked up water in the hand and lap like a dog they were observant they were they were uh on their Mark watching for anything that might be wrong they were very astute very attentive to what they were doing but all but the 300 fell down and drank like a horse and they wouldn't look at anything else they wasn't concerned enough and so God said you take the 300 and tell the rest of them to go home there's a lesson right there for us the saints of God you and I need to always be alert dare night I we don't we don't need to let the devil slip upon himself one way or the other be always alert and prayerful and believing well let me let me summarize real quick well when he got the 300 and then they've been getting himself again to be a little bit afraid and God said and I get in if you're afraid send your servant down to the the camp tonight after the dark where he'll be safe and and go to the tent of the midianites and see what you hear well he went down there and to show you what God does we talked about speaking doubt and fear and what fear will do and and this that and the other but when his servant went down there one of the midianites that I had a dream last night and he said I dreamed that there was a cape come rolling down that mountain there and said it roll right through our tents and knocked our tents down and took and I can interpret I know what that is that cake is Gideon that is all get ensures the world he's gonna he's gonna he's gonna annihilate us and put fear in their heart and so get in and said here's what I want you 300 to do I want a hundred of you to go on this side 100 here 100 and make a triangle and said take a take a picture and and and put a lamp under that picture of where it'll it'll hide the light and take a trumpet in your hand and said I've got my trumpet and some well you over here and you over here and you over here when I blow my trumpet you blow your trumpet and said when I break my picture you like break your picture and let your light shine well here's the effect it had over here our trumpet blue and all the trumpets with them blue and then all the way around the camp of the midianiza the trumpets began to blow and their their pictures broken and the skies lit up all around like they do some of these football games they'll have everybody to hold up their telephone and put that on the light and it just lights up the whole place and when they saw this they became so uh fearful and afraid they began to jump on one another and they slew each other and God won the victory with 300 somebody's hey man well it's not over there let me quickly and get in sent messages throughout Mountain from saying come down against the midianites and take therefore them the waters into Beth Barrow and Jordan then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and took the Waters of but they bear them and Jordan and they took two princes of the midianites orb and Zeb and they slew orb upon a rock orb and Zeb they slew at the wine press of Zeb and pursued Miriam and and brought the heads of orb and Zeb to Gideon on the other side of Jordan now then I want you to notice and didn't sent Messengers throughout all Mount April said come on down and fight now Judges 7 when God does something somebody is going to find some reason to get offended you remember the scripture I quoted or read a few weeks ago great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them now we've just read about Ephraim now the men of Eve from said unto Gideon why hast thou served us thus that thou called us as not when thy witnessed the fight with the media Knights and they did chide with him sharply it's the devil's business no matter how good things are going the devil wants to plant some Discord remember this these six things God hates and the seventh is an Abomination and that seventh thing he said that was without a remedy that is sowing Discord among the Brethren did you know the Bible said that so the seventh thing that God hates is without remedy and that is so in Discord among the Brethren after all this great miraculous victory the the the the children of Ephraim even though they've been called they said you didn't call us and that they wanted part of the glory and they chatted with Gideon sharply well this teaches me one thing that no matter what God does in our midst the devil will do his very best to plant somebody that they don't like this or they won't like that or they won't like something else somebody did this it was too loud it was too low it was too hot it was too cold it was too loud here we go gotta have some excuse to criticize well how's Gideon going to handle this is he is he going to blister them and is it gonna I would I want you to notice you can call it psychology or you can call it wisdom I want you to notice the wisdom that Gideon used and answering this criticism and you and I will be wise when you get in trouble with the neighbor whatever whatever the problem is and here's what Gideon said he said what have I done now in comparison of you it's not the gleaning of grapes of April better than the Vintage at bye bye seizure God hath delivered into your hands the prince of Midian orbizive and what was I able to do in comparison of you he turned around and started heaping Praise on them said look what you've done you've done greater things that I've done and this is where we get in trouble A lot of times there's a spirit of competition and I'm not talking about in the natural like we've seen run the fastest and and the competition that we just had but we we don't like to be outdone in certain things he said look what you've taken care of or received and what was I able to do in comparison of you then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that that teaches me that there's a way to handle things some folks like they take pride in I'm just plain spoken Plain Talk makes plain understanding I say just what I think I well something I don't save everything I think and a lot of folks they say everything they think depending on the size of the person they're talking to but you'll be better off the Bible said a soft answer turneth the way Wrath do you hear what I'm saying now this is good teaching in everyday life you know I'm not discounting the spiritual part that's that's great that's that's true but let me tell you something if it's dealing with a neighbor if if it's dealing with a husband or wife children what a soft answer turneth the way around but some of us were too quick you speak loud and sharp to me I'll speak loud and sharp to you the Bible said agree with an adversary quickly he didn't find any grounds on which to agree but some folks I've talked to some folks that questions me on the doctrine or whatever and they're not interested and knowing what I believe they're looking for something they can disagree on well what do you think about this and what do you think about this and this well I agree with your adversary quickly and that don't mean to compromise but you don't need to pick a fight and a fuss with everybody that you come in contact with quickly Samson another lesson God called Samson and empowered him Samson holds a unique distinction among the numerous leaders that populate the book of the the books of the Bible of all the judges Samson alone received God's call from his birth the man of God appeared to Samson's parents and told them of the amazing child which would soon enter their lives he also gave them instructions for raising their special boy God's prenatal call to Samson has yet another layer of uniqueness most Barren women in the Bible cried out to the Lord when they could not conceive however Samson's mother chose not to cry out to God because the Lord had grown tired of the Israelites falling into sin being delivered into the hands of their enemies and they're crying out to God for a deliverer as a result God got tired God got tired of Israel repenting and going back and doing the same thing he would no longer save them he said they should pray and they should pray vain now then uh she God just a sentiment of God With An Angel the Lord and told her that she was going to have a baby and that he was to be a Nazarite they never were going to cut his hair and it was uh have no strong drinks and the mother was not having a strong drink and this baby that was going to be born Samson's parents likely desired a child but they'd heard the Mandate of the almighty forbidding their prayers therefore the Lord intervened God called Samson before birth and empowered him despite his unique calling and the story Samson failed to always recognize his need for the Lord Samson was one of the most careless uh uh uh trifling judges he he was a judge in Israel for 20 years but he was guilty of of taking the ministry that God had entrusted him with so frivolously and so lightly and I I thought about going through all of this and then I happened to think uh David did a lot of preaching by his singing and songwriting my brother my oldest brother Don wrote a song that just about tells the whole story of Samson's life and let me read it to you the the name of the song was Samson it said Samson Sampson strong man Samson Samson strongman Samson Sam stronger the strongest in all the land if you will turn with me to the Book of Life there once lived a man a man and a wife God gave them a newborn son that said the world needs strong men and this is one he shall not be defiled by drank a word his strength will life where you never heard don't you cut his hair not a little bit because the longer it'll grow the stronger he'll get he was walking alone in a lonely place when him and a lion came face to face he slew the lion right there that day and the bees made honey in his bones they say a few days later when he came back by the bees and the Honey must have caught his eye he ate the honey and went on his way and he killed a thousand with a bone they say then he met a little woman that he thought he loved his mind must have drifted from God above she found out where strength didn't lay she cut his hair right there that day then she called for the Philistines that must have been cruel and so mean they had them iron as red as wine they helped it through his eyes till he went Stone blind then they took him to the mill to turn the wheel his hair started growing back in God's will then they took him to the temple to have some fun gonna have a little show in front of everyone I see him there as bipillary stood he leaned up again like anyone would he grasp it tied he pulled it down upon himself and everyone around you've heard the whole story of Santa right there and that and that one verse or one song or recitation it tells just about everything that Samson did and he was trifling he went into a prostitute he went he went in to mirror a a a Philistine and his mother and father can't you ever find a a woman of your own uh people and I I saw her and I water you go get her for me it don't matter what God says and that was the life he lived and he eventually paid the price with his own life that's the story of Samson now then our final story is help to understand God's call and the first Samuel 10 and 6 the spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and thou shalt prophesy with them and shall be turned into another man and let it be when these signs are come unto thee that thou do as occasion serve thee for God is with thee now then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head and kissed him and said is it not because the Lord is Anointed me to be Captain over his inheritance now the people of God um the uh the priests and the judges one after another would fail God would fail God Eli his sons he allowed his sons to get so wicked and corrupt the Bible said his sons knew not God it's a bad thing when we know God and our children don't know God when there's some way another we don't teach enough to our children to have them to fall in the footsteps Eli's Sons the Bible said they didn't know God women would come to the to the temple to the house of God to to be counseled and they would turn around and commit adulterer with them they didn't observe the rules according to the sacrifices uh when when and then later on in the later life Samuel's sons did the same thing the Great Men of God yet their sons did not walk in their way now what we've got now Saul's father his donkeys had got out and he sent he sent Saul and his servant to find these lost donkeys and they looked and they looked and they looked in the loop and they couldn't find the lost donkeys and finally they said where are we the servant said to Saul uh I I hear that the prophet Samuel lives over here on the hill said maybe we ought to go talk to him well so what if I said we ain't got no money the servant said I've got a little bit of money he said well I lost it and because they felt like that they had to take some kind of present to the to the man of God and so when they went to the man of God much to their surprise the man of God started telling them right off what they were there for said don't worry about it said the donkeys have already been found but now then I've got something to tell you now he said when you depart from me today then thou shall find two men by Rachel Sepulcher in the border of Benjamin and they will say unto thee the answers which thou want us to seek are found and lo thy father hath left and cared for the asses and Sorrows for you say what shall I do for my son then shall thou go on forward from thence and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor and there shall meet the three men going up to the to God to Bethel One carrying three kids and another carrying three loaves of bread and another carrying a bottle of wine I want you to notice how meticulous and and how direct he was it was not vague at all Samuel was telling Saul who was going to be the the Future King that that had the service of the high priests and Prophets had been their leaders and judges and now then the people that wanted a a king and God's going to let them have a king but now then the man of God is is telling him exactly what's going to happen and they will salute thee and give thee two loaves of bread which Thou shalt receive of their hands um if God speaks God is going to do what he says he's going to do years ago uh right here in our old church we was having some kind of a conference and there was a a minister that had written a book on Prophecy and it interested me and he told about his book on Prophecy and I went to him and I said I'd like to buy one of one of your books on Prophecy well he said uh I don't have any I'm gonna he said I've got some new ones printed said there's been a lot of things happened since they were with that last book and so I want I've Rewritten this well you don't do prophecy that way you know you don't write prophecy after the fact and what Samuel was saying to Saul was everything exactly like he said it was going to happen right down to the three loaves of bread the three goats that the man's going to be caring everything he said after that thou shalt come to the hill of God where's the Garrison of the Philistines and it shall come to pass when thou art come through to the city that thou shalt made a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a soldier and a tablet and a pipe and a harp before them and they shall prophesy and the spirit of the Lord will come upon me and thou shall prophesy with them and thou shalt be changed into another man and and let it be when these signs are coming to thee that thou do as occasion serve thee for God is with thee and thou shall go down to for me to gilgal and behold I will come down unto thee to offer burn offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of Peace offerings seven days shalt thou tear it till I come to thee and show thee what Thou shalt do and it was so when he had turned his back to go from Samuel God gave him another heart and all those signs came to pass that day if God says it it will come to pass beware of somebody telling you a thing in a vague way and it it don't happen and they leave leeway if it don't thus and sow and when they came through to the hill Behold a company of prophets met him and the spirit of God Came Upon him and he prophesied among them and it came to pass but all that knew him before time saw the behold he prophesied among the prophets then the people said one to another what is this that is coming to the sons of keesh his soul his soul also among the prophets and one of the and one of the same place answered and said but who is their father therefore it became a proverb it's Saul also among the prophets and when he had made an end to prophesying he came to the high place and Saul's uncle said unto him and to his servant where they went ye and he said to seek the asses and when we saw that they were no where we came to Samuel when we could not accomplish our mission we couldn't we we came to the man of God I tell you this sometimes when you can't find the solution to your problem you never better find a man of God that can counsel with you he said when we couldn't find my father's asses said we came to the man of God and the man of God they were lost themselves and their daddy's animals were lost but now then here's what happened and Saul said to his uncle he told us plan that the asses were found but of the matter of the Kingdom were of Samus Bank he told him not and Samuel called the people together into the Lord and said unto the children Israel thus saith the Lord God of Israel I brought up Israel out of Egypt delivered you all the hand of the Egyptians and now they handled all the kingdoms and them that oppressed you and ye have this day rejected your God who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations and have said unto them nay but said the king over us now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands and when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near The Tribe of Benjamin was taken when he had caused The Tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families the family of Matra was taken and saw the son of keesh was taken and when they saw him he could not be found now then we're going to quickly bring it to a close because what happened when they got ready to anoint Saul the king at this time he was a humble man though he was a very he stood a head and shoulders taller than any other man in Israel and when they got ready for the coronation got ready to make him King now God was allowing this God didn't want them to be led by a king but they they requested that they demanded that well they couldn't find the Saul he was hid among the stuff and they had to go looking for him because of his humility he again along with Samuel and Eli and so many others and later life Saul allowed jealousy of David to enter his heart and he died a suicide it lets us know you can lose out with God it was uh I believe in the book of Peter he said that if God spared not the angels which left their first estate but he reserved them the chains of Darkness what do you think God's going to do with people that lose out with him now don't don't try to preach me a doctrine that just because you made a profession of Faith there's nothing you can do to be lost no don't do that you better continue on in the faith would you stand your feet with us all right we have gone through three lessons tonight hopscotting paraphrasing summarizing but I hope that you understand what we're saying there was a little story I want to read you quickly in the Sunday School lesson it says as we journey through life some of us may have difficulty finding our calling we may feel a twinge of Envy when we hear others testify that they absolutely knew what God wanted them to do as a teenager or even in between we may wonder why we remain unsure about our spiritual future even though the Bible tells us to walk worthy of our calling Ephesians 4 1 we may also face the very real possibility that God has already revealed or calling but we have not yet realized it such was the case of singer Connie Francis Francis had achieved minimal success as a singer but the lighting vote of Fame had to strike her and Rocket her to the top of the church she wisely thought through the contingencies having received a scholarship to New York University kind of considered a career in medicine before heading off to college her father insisted she give singing one more chance she appeased him by recording who's sorry now and what she thought would be her very last recording session she even argued so much with him during the recording that she barely had enough tape to complete the song who's sorry now Connie thought she knew the answer to that question she was sorry for listening to her father she was sorry for wasting time recording the song she was especially sorry when the song seemed to take the same path as her other pieces headed straight from music Oblivion as Connie watched the show American and stand she heard the host Dick Clark praising an amazing girl and predicting her song would boost would boost straight to the top of the charts Connor fell envious wishing she were that girl then she realized she was that girl Clark praised her song who's sorry now suddenly Connie was no longer sorry she was elated Connie went on to have a successful career in music Connie seems a lot like young Samuel and Saul they were not sure what they should do they were surprised when they heard God's call that would change their lives forever their stories show that we all sometimes need help to understand God's call let us understand you if God's got a work for you to do he'll let you know and you just wait and they've been waiting on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall Mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint we just need to walk by faith father we thank you tonight for the Blessed word of God I pray that you'll let the word of God sink deep into our hearts I pray that we will receive something from this word that will encourage us and will make us to understand that you know what you're doing and that you have your calling laid out preached and every one of us and that we must be willing and ready at any time to answer that call father I pray your dismiss us from this place but not from your presence bring us back at the next appointed time in Jesus name we pray amen shake hands and be friendly you're dismissed In The Name Of The Lord thank you