The Possibilities are Limitless: When You Change
1 Samuel 2.16-36
It is not difficult to see that the wind of change is blowing in 2008. The number 7 biblically is representative of completion thus 8 is a new beginning, a time for change, a time for fresh starts. I want you to know as you process in the beginning of this new year that you have an opportunity to start fresh in every area of your life and opportunity for you to walk in the light of new beginnings with new hope and new promise. For our nation 2008 will bring about a new beginning in the presidency. I have been and continue to be fascinated with the 2008 elections especially on the democratic side. This past week the New Hampshire primaries were held and we witnessed history in New Hampshire as we had witnessed history in Iowa. Senator Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary and what we saw was for the first time in our nation’s history that two primaries was won by a political minority. An African American in the person of Barach Obama in Iowa and now a female in the person of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. I want you to embrace what is happening in the political arena as model for your own life that change is possible and that the possibilities are limitless. If the bible is true, and it is, then nothing is too hard for God. God is able to turn situations and circumstances around, God is able to make a way out of no way, able to turn a negative into a positive, able to transform the abnormality in to a miracle. I declare to you on behalf of the Holy Spirit that this is your year for change, your year for maturation, your year to walk into your promise. What did not mature for you last year will find new possibilities in this year. What did not work out the way you hoped or prayed will find fulfillment in this year. God has not started something in you that God is not able to bring to past. What God has spoken to you via the Holy Spirit will come to fruition because the Lord’s word will not fail, will not succumb. Just a not to enemy there is no devil in hell, no demonic spirit in high places that will cause the word of God to falter in your life. On last week we had the opportunity to see how God matured a blessing in the life of Hannah. I hope that you were able to see how she took her worship to a new level and in doing so God honored her and blessed her with the desires of her heart. What we discovered was a process that would lead to change if we too leaned to that process. We saw that it was important to not just be at church but be in church, we saw that we had to take our prayer life to a new level and we saw that had to walk in faith if we were going to experience change. Today we want to build on the premise developed last week that we may see that the possibilities are limitless with God. When we last visited the heroine of our text we found her spirit and personality had changed as she walked in faith after the man of God had prophesied on her life what God was about to accomplish. It takes a change in spirit and personality for change to take place any where else in our life. You have to change how you approach work, how you approach problems, how you approach family and even how you approach church. What we want to share with you today is that the change that will be precipitated by you can create change in every area of your life.
1. It can change church life vs 17 18 “but Samuel was ministering before the Lord” The blessing that Hannah had prayed for and desired had come to fruition. The bible shows that Hannah honored her vow before the Lord by taking the fruit of her blessing and bringing it to the Lord. When the child that God had blessed her with was weaned, or had became old enough to not need breast feeding Hanna took him the Lord. Her son, Samuel was no more than three years of age when Hannah delivered him to Eli. Little could she have known that her actions would create a change in the house of God. This must have been the most difficult thing that Hannah had ever done in her life. She put her trust in God and she honored the vow that she had made before the Lord. So often in the middle of distress promises are made but not followed thorough on when God does what God promised to do. Lord if you bless me with this job I will tithe, if you get me through this trouble I will be faithful. Promises are made but often time not kept. We are quick to promise God while in distress but slow to keep them when God comes though. However Hannah keeps her promise and she delivers the son of her prayers to the priest Eli to rear him in the house of God. The blessing of the priesthood was passed down generationally. The sons of Eli were expected to assume the duties of priest at the time of Eli’s death. Even though Eli had done his best in rearing them his efforts had gone to waste. His sons according to the text were wicked men that had no regard for the Lord. They robbed the people of their offerings for the Lord, the slept with the women that came to make offerings. The bible says of them they treaded the Lord’s offering with contempt. The place that should have been sanctuary for the people had become a holy hell. The place that should have offered hope brought despair and distress. God reprimanded Eli for not bringing his children in alignment and charged him with correcting the behavior of his wayward sons. Yet the actions of the two boys continued to be a blot against the house of the Lord. With all of the distrust that was taking place and the ire that had been turned against the house of Eli there was good news in the house of God. The good news was that Hannah had kept her vow, because what Samuel brought to the house of God was hope. What he brought was possibility, what he brought was new beginnings. In the mist of the narrator’s discourse about the failures of Eli’s son is the glimmer of hope in regard to Samuel. We are told that Samuel ministered before the Lord and grew in statue and favor with the Lord and men. What Hannah did in honoring her vow, was create change in the house of God. I want you to know as much as your change is going to bless you, as much as your change is going to cause you grow and mature in other areas of your life it is going to bring honor to the house of God. When you keep your vow, when you keep your promise there is a blessing for the house of God. Hannah brought the promise back the Lord the first fruit of her womb. It is because she honored her vow that the house of God was blessed. You too are going to be a blessing to the house of God when God blesses you. When you walk into your promise it will be a testimony to what faith and trust in God will do. Too many folk get blessed and get quiet, I am looking for the Lord to bless me a way that I can’t keep it to myself, that I can’t shut about his goodness and his mercy. There is a blessing for the house when the people began to shout, began to give declaration to what God has done in their lives. When the tithe become the first fruit and not the last fruit, when God becomes first and not last.
2. It can change family life. Vs21 “the Lord was gracious to Hannah” Not only will our change create change in the house of God but it will also create change in your family. I want to make a general observation and that is that most people who complain about things in their life become chronic complainers. The more they complain the more complaining they do. Their complaining doesn’t modify the situation it just make the wait longer, make the change less likely. The only way change is going to happen is when the complaining stop and positive actions for change began. Sometime the biggest hindrance to our success is ourselves, the fact that we are unable to change in order to create change. We are not willing to give anything in exchange for what we want. Change is like falling dominoes, it is only when one domino falls that the others began to fall. Your change will not take place until you began to change. Hannah’s family life would change forever because of what she had done. The fact that she honored God with giving of her son as she had vowed created a change for her family. After her vow at know other time are we told that Pininah teased and ridiculed her anymore. After God’s promise being fulfilled no longer did she feel as if she had no hope. Yet she gave him back to God. She went back to the place in her life where her anguish was it’s greatest. But look what happens the bible says that after giving he son she and her husband Elkanah would go to offer sacrifice and Eli would pray "May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord." God was gracious and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Children are a blessing to a family and God blessed their family five fold for their faithfulness. God will honor what God has promised and this is a powerful moment when God blessed her family due to her faithfulness. Somebody has come to church this morning and they need a blessing for their family. You could use a blessing on your job, you could use a blessing with your finances, you could use a blessing with your health. But that is not what got you praying, that is not what got you in worship you need a blessing for your family. The arguments, the disruption, the confusion, the anguish needs to change. If it is not one thing in your family it is something else but today I am going to let the cat out of the bag. God has a blessing for your family and the change that God is maturing in you will be a blessing to your family. When I give my offering my offering has an assignment to produce a blessing in my family. A blessing for my children, a blessing for their health, a blessing for their success, a blessing for their favor. When you give, give with a purpose knowing that what and how you give will generate a blessing for your family.
3. It can change life of a nation vs 35 “ I will raise up for myself a priest” You know what else this text shares with us, it shares that a nation is blessed because of what Hannah did. Her blessing and commitment to her vow caused a nation to be blessed. When Samuel finds favor with God it produces a blessing not just for the church, not just for her family but the entire nation. What the sons of Eli did was threaten the sanctity of a nation. The fledgling nation did not have a king at the time of our text, Saul had not been elected king at this time in the nations history. Not only did the priest serve as spiritual leader but he also served as the national unifying figure. The failure of Eli’s sons threatened the life of the nation. But in Samuel the nation is given new hope, given a new chance, restored to favor with the Lord.
