Address—Shawn Allan
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Good evening everybody, it's nice to see the Suns come out and such a beautiful evening outside after a cool cloudy day.
So I just like to begin the meeting this evening by singing hymn #230.
230.
Pray and ask Lord's help.
Lord Jesus, we fain would like thee be.
In the topic that is before us this evening, we would so desire to learn from the path that you traced out so perfectly in this world, a life of complete and total dependence upon Thy Father. For every step of every day we pray for help for the hour that is before us, that there might be something for all of us.
From God's Word.
We give thanks that we have this privilege of being together as part of the family of God.
To raise our voices in unison in praise.
We look forward to that day, Lord Jesus.
When we shall do so in the Father's house.
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We do commit this hour into thy hands in thy most worthy and precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
When Tim asked me to speak at the camp here.
I had been thinking a little bit of the subject of fruit.
That subject is all through the scriptures and it was quite striking to me last week.
And noticing that the very first thing that God said to man was.
In Genesis chapter one, be fruitful and multiply. It's partly on my heart because.
This is a family camp and lots of boys and girls and children as part of families here. The fruit of the womb.
And as I was considering that topic, I came to this verse.
That's on the screen here and really this is the subject that I'd like to speak on tonight.
The subject of trusting.
And in particular of a man in the scripture.
That came before me actually, through the reading of a very helpful.
Book. I would recommend it to every parent here.
To the parents of my grandchildren.
That book is, I would unreservedly say, probably the best book you will ever read when it comes to raising a family.
And in that book, very briefly, there's a mention of somebody in the Scriptures whose name means he trusted.
Or Faithful, and that man's name is Heman.
Heman wrote Psalms 88, a very striking Psalm. It's one of my personal favorites, and I'll come to that in a few minutes. But this was the subject that I had before me, the subject of trusting.
I'd like to start by let's just reading that verse. Read that verse in Jeremiah chapter 17.
You can read it up there, but there's actually a verse that.
Is not up there that I'd like to read in the same passage Jeremiah 17 and verse 5.
Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord.
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh.
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when he comes, but her leaf shall be green.
And shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease.
From yielding fruit.
You know, it's so easy in our lives to put our trust in man.
To put in our trust in man's opinions about raising families, man's opinions about career options.
Man's opinions for how we should spend our time off.
Very difficult and challenging to set aside the opinions of man.
And put our trust in the Lord.
And so I'd like to trace out a family.
The family that gave rise to he man. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly, forgive me if I'm not, but we are quite familiar with this family and there's many lessons to learn from it. And we find the a brief genealogy of this family in First Chronicles chapter six. First Chronicles chapter 6.
And I'd like to read from verse 31.
These are they whom David set over the service of song in the House of the Lord. After that the ark had rest. They ministered before the dwelling piece of the Tabernacle of the congregation was singing, until Solomon had built the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, and then they waited on their office according to their order.
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And these are they that waited with their children of the sons of the Coethites, him and a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemolar, should say Samuel, the son of Alcana. And we're just going to stop there. So this is the family.
There's four generations here, and really I'll bring before you today 5 generations. And you know, each one of us in our place here today are part of a genealogy of some type. I'm a father, I'm a son, I'm a grandson, I'm a great grandson. And so there's a great deal of instruction to learn in this.
Family genealogy and what?
Came about to bring forth tremendous fruit for the glory of God.
Through this man human.
I'll tell you right now and then we'll go back and we'll start at the very beginning that he man had a family of 17 children.
14 boys and three girls. A very fruitful family from a from a physical sense, but that family had the privilege.
Of starting the day and closing the day in song to God.
In Solomon's temple.
You can scarcely conceive of such blessing in a family as that.
And it all started with the faithfulness. I'm sure it goes back before this, but I would like to start with the faithfulness of a man called Elkanah.
And we know him as the husband of Hannah. And so we're going to begin with Elkanah.
And how he trusted in God at a time that I believe is not unlike the time that you live in today.
So if you go back to First Samuel chapter one, we learn a little bit about this man Elkanah.
It says in verse one Now there was a certain man of Remath am Xolfum of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of.
Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zephaniah. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Penina. And Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice under the Lord of hosts.
In Shiloh, and the two sons of Eli, Hofnei and Finnehas, the priests of the Lord were there.
I'm just going to go over and I'd like to read a verse.
In verse chapter 3 and verse one.
It says.
There the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was should say, rare. In those days there was no open vision.
And what I'd like to say now is especially addressed to fathers tonight.
The situation here was not a nice situation.
For families.
When they went up there every year to Shiloh.
Where the Ark of God was, the two sons of Eli Hofnez were there, and they were doing terrible things, disgraceful things, morally and otherwise, so much so that the people in Israel at that time despised offering to God in that place.
And the consequence of that was that the word of God, it's it's revelation to the priesthood of the day, was exceedingly rare. It was a time of real weakness.
But you know, what is so striking about this is that Elkanah goes up faithfully every single year to offer that sacrifice to the Lord in Shiloh. And if you were to go back to Deuteronomy chapter 16, and there's other passages in Deuteronomy that make this very clear, they were told very specifically the Israelites.
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That in the place where the Lord would set his name, there they were to go each year to worship.
Elkanah undoubtedly knew that.
And he could look beyond the tremendous failure of that.
Situation and in faithfulness to God, even though there was so little fruit evident, so much weakness in the children in Israel at that time. He would go year by year and he would take his family with him and do that. You know, I believe that's trust in a very real way. He simply was obedient.
To what he knew God had told him to do. There could be no ambiguity about it at all.
And he went up year by year under those circumstances to worship God.
And I think for each of us the application is clear and this has been a help to me in time past in my life. You may be perhaps in a situation in your local assembly or maybe you hold a particular view of the believers that you meet and know so well here and elsewhere, perhaps you view.
Things and you say it's weak. There's nothing there for me. I don't see the Lord evident in the meetings.
But you know this man, Alcana.
He didn't look at all that. I am sure it affected him. He was faithful to God.
Faithful to what he knew, the Scripture said. And he went every year.
And you know, I would just like to encourage you in that.
You know we need.
Those of us who are fathers, especially strong leaders in our homes, people who will decisively.
Act for the Lord, even if things aren't that easy.
And you know, he didn't just go with Hannah. He didn't leave some of the people behind. He went.
Every year and you know it says here in.
In verse Sorry 3.
It says.
I'm sorry I'm just I'm missing here.
Sorry, verse four, it says when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Penina his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters portions, but unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. You know what I appreciate about that?
Alcana fed his family from the sacrifice. He offered something to his children. He offered something to his wife. And you know, it's a very good thing for me to take of that which I enjoy of the Lord and share it with my family. There's many ways to practically do that. It could be driving to to Michigan camp. It could be.
At the family Bible reading, which I trust you have made a habit in your home.
It's a very good thing for the man of the house to do that. And Elkanah here, in faithfulness to his family, he fed them, all of them, his wife and his children, and I believe that God honored him for that.
You know, another thing I like in this family is that, and we're skipping ahead here.
But if you go down to.
Verse 25 It says here they slew a Bullock, and brought the child to Eli.
And you know, what I appreciate about this is that that word they there was unity with respect to spiritual matters. I believe in that home.
And so both Hannah, Elena and Elkanah, when they went back up to the temple after that, she had given birth to that boy, Samuel.
Together they slew the Bullock and brought the child to Eli. And you know, I would just encourage those of us again who are married here this evening, that that unity in the things of God is a very important thing.
And we should strive for that as best as we possibly can. We are one flesh after all.
And in the things of God and in spiritual matters in our home, it's important that there be a they.
Now I just like to turn and look a little bit at Hannah, and we know Hannah's story really, really well.
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But you know, one of the things that we're told here is.
That the Lord had shut Hannah's womb so verse six it says her adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. You know, very often difficulties come into our life, perhaps to a mother.
Perhaps to a father.
And it's a very difficult thing to go through and.
God has allowed it for a particular reason.
But isn't it so wonderful to see here that through the exercise of soul that Hannah goes through tremendous blessing flows? And I just like to encourage us to notice this, that here it says the Lord shut her womb. The Lord brings a circumstance into our life that is difficult. It's a very good thing to take it as from the Lord and to be encouraged.
In knowing that he can bring great blessing out of it.
You know, another thing that we know so well about dear Hannah here is that she was characterized.
By prayer. By prayer, it says in verse 10 she was in bitterness of soul.
And prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the infliction of thine handmaid, and Remember Me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him under the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. Is there prayer in the home?
You know, I'm going to share a little thing exercise. I went through this.
Last couple weeks I was digging through some books at home and came across some pamphlets that had been given to me by.
Actually, my grandfather Donald rule and.
My aunt, I hope she won't mind me saying this. Who's here tonight? She had actually sent this box of pamphlets.
And I took possession of it about a month or so ago, and in that I found a little pamphlet on prayer by Chapter Macintosh.
And I read through that and was deeply exercised about a number of things in that pamphlet, but one of them was prayer.
And in particular the very simple but.
Real fact that we all know about, which is to kneel down in prayer, I believe very often. And Hannah here, we're not told she kneeled, but I'm just sharing. This is something that was an exercise to me.
We often fall into a habit of praying when we drive, which is a good thing to do, and praying as we lie in bed, good thing to do.
And praying when we walk or whatever, but we perhaps neglect to get into the habit of getting down upon our knees in that position before the Lord, which is an expression of.
Understanding who he is and who I am, I'm down at his feet.
In humility before the great God, expressing my dependence before him. That's why I kneel.
And you know, that pamphlet was used for blessing in my life as I realized that I had neglected really to kneel as often as I should. And it's been a help to me. And I just share that Hannah prayed and there was great blessing, as we well know from this story in Hannah's life, you know, chapter 2. And we're just picking at little things as we go through. Here is the prayer of.
And song of praise.
That Hannah wrote and I'd like to suggest that here is the seed of the fruit tree of Hemans family, Hannah.
In response.
And Thanksgiving to God.
For what he did for her.
It was the seed that planted the tree of praise that comes out.
A human's children, you know, if you go through and you read this.
Song. We often read it on Lord's Day morning. How often do we read the verses? Verse six The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among Princess, and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth of the Lords, and he will set the world upon.
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Don't we just love that passage?
You know, if you go through this song that Hannah prayed, you know, I think it really could be summed up in this. With God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible. She learned that. She learned that out of a barren womb could come forth that child Samuel. And you know, this is what trust is all about.
It's learning that with God all things are possible. You think your situation in life is impossible?
It's not.
You're faced with many choices and situations. Maybe you think there's no girls for me to marry. Maybe you think there's no boys for me to marry. Maybe you think it's going to be awfully difficult if I live a life unmarried. But you know something?
These situations can be turned into tremendous blessing and good in our life and with God all things are possible. He can take your circumstances.
And pour out a blessing greater than you could ever imagine in your life. Remember that.
Remember that.
You know, I'm going to share a little story.
I hesitate to do this, but I think sometimes it's a good thing to.
Share some personal anecdotes from from your life so people understand these things are real.
The earlier this year.
Someone.
Was using one of my vehicles and it ended up being written off in an accident and.
We didn't quite know what to do and.
It's kind of, it's difficult to elaborate on these things, but you know, we live in Newfoundland and 50% of the vehicles there are trucks for good reason. And we ended up recently getting a wood stove and you can buy your wood, but it's better if you can go pick it up in a in a pickup truck. And I never imagined in all of my life I have a pickup truck thought that.
Um, it was impractical, the gas guzzler. Why? Why should I have a pickup truck and.
I was struggling with what to do about a replacement vehicle. We only had one and I realized we needed a second one. And I really didn't want to make a rash decision about how to replace that vehicle. And I really felt like I shouldn't stress about how that vehicle is going to be replaced. You know, Lynn Lynn made a comment to me one day in connection with with a truck and, and I don't think she meant a lot by it, but she was essentially expressing the thought that, you know, it's not something.
Which is right off as a foolish thing to get. And I dismissed it, didn't think anything of it. But I did pray to the Lord that day on the way to the work. And I said, Lord, you know, please show us what to do about a replacement vehicle. I don't want to spend the next two weeks looking and agonizing and which vehicle to buy. I don't have the time for that. And I really feel it's something I should be dependent about. Well, that that evening I come home.
And we're moving our place at and my neighbor, I waved at him, I said hello and he came over.
Cross the lawn and and said can I help you move the playset? And so he helped me move it and as he was helping me move it, he just said to me casually.
Sean, you don't see that truck over there. I'm selling that truck.
And I was flabbergasted. And then he proceeds to tell me that what the price he's asking for it was and it was an extremely reasonable price. 10 year old chef Silverado if you're interested in the details.
I, I just, it was the hand of the Lord. I knew right in that moment that the Lord had had answered the prayer and you know.
It was a very wonderful lesson for me and.
And I know that there are many here who have experienced things like that many times in their life. And I'd like to encourage you that the Lord does do those things. I was just reading a story of Hudson Taylor about 3 weeks ago. Hudson Taylor, you all know his story. He was a missionary to China and you know, he wanted to learn what a life of dependence on the Lord looked like. He had an employer before he went off to China. Who?
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Was very forgetful.
And we'll keep forgetting to pay Hudson Taylor and weeks and weeks and weeks went by where he would not be paid.
And he was deeply exercised that he shouldn't ask his employer to pay him or remind him that he was running out of money. And there was one time where he was down to his very last dollar. I don't know the denomination. At that point in time, it really doesn't matter. And it was needed to buy a little bit of food and then he was going to be completely out of money.
Altogether.
And he ran into a family in the streets of the place where he was at that was very hungry. And they were expressing to him how.
They had nothing. They couldn't feed their children. And Hudson Taylor was feeling the weight of this coin in his pocket getting heavier and heavier and heavier, and he really struggled. He thought, you know, I need this, so I can't feed myself tomorrow and.
My memory is not the best with these kinds of stories, but eventually he surrendered to the Lord in the matter, and he took out that coin and he paid the very last bit of money he had in this whole world and gave it to that family.
And, you know, it was the very next day that his employer called him into the office. And I'm sure you know what happened. He he recognized that he had forgotten to pay Hudson Taylor and things all worked out. And, you know, it's just a really beautiful story that illustrates that with God, all things are possible. What looks impossible is never impossible with God.
Well, I'd just like to go on now.
And take up the subject a little bit further.
I want to talk about Samuel for a moment. So, Samuel.
Was a little boy and he ministered in the temple. And I just want to notice here something. It says in verse 18 of chapter 2, Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod. And then down in verse 21 it says the child Samuel grew before the Lord. And then it says in verse 26 of the same chapter.
The child Samuel grew on.
And was in favor both with the Lord and also with man. But then you'll notice in chapter 3 and verse seven it says.
Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. And I won't read through that whole story.
But here we find Samuel, and he's serving the Lord in the temple, and it says that he's growing and growing and growing. Isn't that beautiful? You know, there are many, many people in this room who are very various stages of spiritual growth for the Lord.
And it's a wonderful thing to see boys and girls who are younger. I know some of you have developed habits.
To read your Bible at night and to get down on your knees and pray and you're growing in the things of the Lord.
And maybe you make a commitment to memorize your verse, and that is a little thing that you can do as you grow before the Lord.
But you know, it says here Samuel didn't yet know the voice of the Lord, and I would like to make this application.
That there comes a point in our spiritual pathway where all of us have to.
Learn to hear the voice of the Lord in our life. You know Bernie read a verse or quoted a verse yesterday and Song of Solomon chapter 2 The voice.
Of it was the bridegroom, sorry, it was the bride who was Speaking of. I'm going to quote it because I'm not going to get it right. You don't need to turn to this, but the Song of Solomon chapter 2 and it says there.
In verse 8, the voice of my beloved, Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains.
Skipping upon the hills, you need to learn to hear the voice of the Lord. I'd like to suggest a passage to you in Second Peter, chapter one.
That I have appreciated.
And we're not going to go over the details of this little passage, but I do want to commend it to you for further study.
It says here.
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And it is in the context of faith, it says.
In two Peter chapter one.
In verse five, besides this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful. And this is what I was thinking of in the knowledge. And if you look in Mr. Darby's footnotes here, you'll see that it says there the personal.
Recognition of our Lord Jesus Christ, the personal recognition of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's one thing to say I know the Lord Jesus, it's another thing to hear his voice to you individually in your life. Do you personally recognize when He has spoken to you?
Samuel didn't learn that lesson right away, but I would suggest to you that if there's going to be fruit in your life for the Lord.
You need to learn to hear his personal voice to you, personal recognition of his voice to you. And you know, I, I find it very beautiful that if you look at the end of chapter 3.
And verse 19 in connection with Samuel, it says Samuel grew and the Lord was with him.
And did let none of his words fall to the ground. And then it says in verse 21, the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed himself to Samuel and Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
Why, and I say this to myself, why is there such weakness? Often in our assemblies we are so quick to point the finger at so and so and say they're the problem, Look at their life. They're not giving me practical ministry.
But isn't it so interesting to see here that the word of God that was rare in these days?
When Samuel learned to hear the voice of the Lord, all of a sudden the word of the Lord began to appear again in Shiloh. Where does?
Change.
In that way come from in our assemblies. It starts with me, it starts with me.
And that is such a deeply searching thing. You know, if you want there to be fruit for the Lord and you are in the assembly or in your family, it starts with you. It starts with you. So important to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Well, now I'd like to turn to chapter 8 and look at Samuel's son.
Joel And we're just going to read one verse here.
It says.
It came to pass verse one when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel know the name of his first born was Joel and the name of the 2nd Abaya, and they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes and perverted judgment.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Raima.
And said unto him, Behold, our old, and thy sons walked not on thy ways. Make us a king to judge us.
Like all the nations.
You know, I don't want to say much about Joel. Joel was the wayward son, one of a few wayward sons of Samuel. But I'd like to point out this one mistake here on Samuel's part, that Samuel here, he failed to trust the Lord in connection with the leadership in Israel. He failed. He looked at the situation and said, I'm getting old.
And in terms of a succession plan for myself, I'm going to make my boys judges in Israel.
Were judges needed in Israel? I don't believe so. It was the Lord.
Who desired to be their judge but Samuel? Here he made his boys judges.
I don't believe he sought the mind of the Lord in that decision at all.
And, you know, it was an example of trusting in men. He didn't trust the Lord in that particular thing. And what was the result? His boys. They turned aside from following the Lord.
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Turned after money and other things, Perverted justice, we're told here. And the result was that there was discouragement in Israel. And they said, please give us a king.
And that was the result of Samuel's mistake here. Within connection with his boys, he trusted in men.
You know, I wouldn't want to share one other thing just to go back for a moment that I appreciate in Alcana and Samuel with respect to their children.
Hannah particularly, she told the Lord, I'm going to give my son Samuel back to you.
As soon as he's weaned, Can you imagine how difficult that would be, your only child? You've been barren all those years and you take your only child and you give him away after just a short period of time. She did that and she did it with a good spirit. And you know, I have appreciated in connection with that, that for our children, we often, what we want for them is perhaps to be great in this world.
And to have a career or to get involved in something that perhaps makes me look good somehow.
And we all fall prey to that tendency. I know I certainly do. Do we desire to put our trust in the Lord and say Lord, I want to give my children?
To you. I want to give them back to you. They've been loaned to me. I'm going to give them back to you.
I'd like them to be of service to you, Lord. That should be the desire of all of our hearts. Who our parents here this evening.
Well, you know, I just like to make a suggestion now in connection with Joel. Joel, the wayward son.
He was the father of this man Heman.
And.
I can't help but wonder if.
Psalm 88. And let's just look at that Psalm for a moment.
I'll read the header because it's it's inspired and it's important to the Psalm. A song or Psalm after for the sons of Korah, to the chief musician upon Mahalith, Lianoth Maskell of Hemen, the Ezra height. O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee. Incline thine ear unto my cry, for my soul is full of troubles and my life.
Near under the grave I am counted with them that go down into the pit. I am as a man that has no strength.
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou remembers no more, And they are cut off from thy hand. And I'd like to just read.
Skipping down to a question that he writes in verse 10.
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee, Sila? Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness and destruction? You know, I can't help but wonder if this boy, Heman, he grew up with a father who failed him badly.
Who had a very poor reputation in the land of Israel.
Who went after money and not after the things of God? And that was a discouragement to his boy.
Haman And perhaps life was very difficult in that home.
And he cries out to the Lord and the difficulty of the circumstances, and he says.
He says in verse 11, verse 10, Will you show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Lord, I'm like a dead person. Am I ever going to feel like I can get up and praise You in the circumstances that I am in?
You know, it's possible that this Psalm is an expression of a transformation in humans life that took him from a place of despair and a feeling of abandonment and difficulty in the home and transformed him into a person who had literally, as it were, come back from the dead to praise his God. And it was that which led to such tremendous blessing in that home. You know, I don't know that for sure.
What I do know is that Haman would have lived during the time when Absalom rebelled and his children, too, rebelled against David. And perhaps it was born out of that period of trial. We don't know. This is not what you would normally consider a Psalm or a song at all. You read through this Psalm. There's nothing in it that's positive. It's a, it's a cry of agony. How can this be a song?
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But you know, I can't help but think that this one and only song from human is in the scriptures.
Because it was from the depths of this experience that came a change in his life.
That had such a deep and profound impact upon his family. It's just a thought.
We don't know it for sure, but I've wondered it. And you know, I can't help but think, too, that this Psalm is read so often in the breaking of bread.
An expression of the.
Sorrow and the pain that the Lord felt.
As he suffered at Calvary's cross for you and me, I would ask, is there any boy or girl or an adult here?
Who has trivialized that experience of the Lord Jesus and the cross?
And despised it. He went through that for you. And you know when you get ahold of the fact that you're a poor loss Sinner, but Jesus loved you so much that he would go through those agonies for you. What happens? There's a song of praise that arises in your heart. And if you haven't yielded your heart to him, please get down on your knees this evening and say, Lord Jesus, I want to be changed.
I want to be a singer in your court.
Want to call you Lord of my life? If you do that, there will be so much blessing in your life. You know this man human.
He gets his break, as it were in First Chronicles chapter 15, and I just like to look at it. I know our time is nearly gone, but let's just look at what happened here. David desires to bring the Ark of God.
Up to arresting police in Jerusalem.
And it says here.
In verse.
14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel, And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God upon their shoulders, with the staves thereof thereon, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord. And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers, with instruments of music, sultries, harps, cymbals, sounding by lifting up with voice with joy, the voice with joy, so the Levites.
Appointed Human, the son of Joel and of his brethren Asaph the son of Berakaya.
And of the sons of Murari, their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaya.
You know I say this to the young men here.
God perhaps has given you something to do for him, some talent I don't know how many years, Heman.
Went by, perhaps, when he didn't get to exercise his particular and unique gift of musical ability.
But you know, there came this day, what an interesting day when the King David said, I want that man Heman.
To be one of the singers as the ark is brought up to Jerusalem.
Can you just imagine what he felt and you know the Lord is something to do for you?
He's given you something to do for him, some service. That's what the Levites were. They were servants in this, in the, in the, They were the ones who looked after the Tabernacle. They were doorkeepers. There were singers, there were ones who carried things. They all had something to do. But his particular human's particular thing to do in this case was to be a singer. And he did it.
He did it. I believe he did it faithfully. I have no doubt he did it with tremendous joy. I can't imagine what he felt when that day was over.
But you know, it was the start of tremendous blessing for that man. And when you go over there to Chapter 25, First Chronicles.
There you have.
It says.
Verse one of chapter 25. Moreover, David and the captains of the hosts separated the service of the sons.
Of Asaph and if he went and of Jed youth and who should prophecy with harp sultries and with symbols, and the number of the workmen according to their service was And then if you just go down.
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To verse four of Haman and these were his boys, the sons of Hemen, and we won't read all their names or difficult names. All these were the sons of him and the king Seer in the words of God to lift up the horn and God gave to him in 14 sons and three daughters. All these were under the hands of their father for song.
In the House of the Lord, you know, if you read through this account carefully, you will discover that.
David, in the very closing days of his life, appointed the service of the House of God under Solomon's reign.
And he specifically appointed that this man Haman and his family would be singers in the courts of the House of God.
And that's exactly what happened. And so we see the fruit from the faithfulness of Elkanah Hannah, culminating in this family of 17 children united in praise to their God. And you know, that's something else. I would just say how beautiful when a family, a family can lift up their voice and praise to God.
Is it true of your home? You know, I don't want this this.
Meeting to be a discouragement to those.
Who? And it happens over and over again. There's many homes where there's difficulties and perhaps a wavered son or daughter. It could happen to me. It could happen to any of us.
But you know, isn't it so wonderful that God in his grace overrules a Joel? Or he overrules?
A mistake like Alcana having two wives.
To bring out such blessing as you see in this family over 4 plus generations.
We serve a God of grace. We cannot see the end of our story right now.
But if you put your trust in the Lord for your family.
For your career, I don't like to speak of careers, but for what you may choose to do as a profession in your life, who you may marry, the day-to-day choices you make, you can be sure that the tree is not going to cease from yielding fruit. And this story is such a beautiful illustration of that. We can all take so much encouragement from that. Hannah means grace.
Haman means faithfulness. Faithfulness he trusted. I thought it would be good.
To close with the hymn that we all know and enjoy so well. And I thought it'd be good to stand up and sing it.
256.
Praise the Savior.
You can tell how much we owe him.
Like we love the stranger to him.
All we have and all.
She's a spirit life in the charm to us.
Before.
Conflicts and unjust nothing.
Could send my big alarms us while we trust me.
To thyself and show me living.
Tell me.
How to receive Rain destroyed me?
And we shall.
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Just thank the Lord.
Our God and Father.
We love to think of the day that's coming when.
We will all be singers.
United in that.
Song of Praise Revelation chapter 5.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
And Lord Jesus.
Thou art so worthy.
In this world of discouragement and challenges, we pray that we will prove you.
That we will learn to trust you and hear your voice in our lives. That we will come to a deeper appreciation that we.
Serve a God of grace who desires to bless and will bless that abundantly.
We give thanks for.
The blessing of this camp.
And we give thanks to that. You've put it on the hearts of so many in connection with it to work so hard.
To give us these days of enjoyment. We pray that you will bless them for that.
And so we just commit the rest of our evening.
And our time here to you, should we not hear the shout first?
And we do pray, too, for our families.
That we would be faithful with our children, their spouses, with each other in the family of God to encourage and to build up. And so we just ask these things in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.