Series: At The House Of God [#2]
GOD’S NURSERY
1 Samuel 1:21-2:11
Introduction:
The devil has always been after babies. If he can kill the babies, he can stop great things from happening. Satan has been using people for 1000’s of years to get rid of babies. He used Pharaoh to kill all male Hebrew babies 2 years old and under; but he didn’t get Moses. He used Herod to kill all the boys 2 years old and under in Bethlehem and in the vicinity of Bethlehem; but he didn’t get Jesus. He uses abortionist today to convince people that it is o.k. to take the lives of these unborn children, but he didn’t get you.
God always provides a place and a mother for these special babies to be taken care of. Moses’ mother had to hide him for the first 3 months of his life and then she had no choice but to take a risk. She put Moses in a basket and placed him among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. Pharaoh’s daughter saw this baby in the basket and knew that it was a Hebrew child, but instead of sending the baby to her dad to kill, she had her servant go get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. The Hebrew woman just happened to be Moses’ mother.
After Jesus was born and the magi had visited Him, Scripture says that an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt. After Herod died, an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to move back to Israel.
I also believe that God is using this Church as a place of refuge and He is going to use some of you to nurse the spiritual infants in this Church with the milk of the Word. It is important that new Christians be nurtured so that they will grow one day to be strong mature believers so that they can nurture new believers. God has placed the responsibility of mothering new believers in our hands as Christians. We can find out how to mother infant Christians by looking at how Hannah mothered Samuel.
She had…
To Nurture Her Child
1 Samuel 1:21-23
Hannah had promised God that she would give Samuel to Him and she had no hesitation in doing that, but before she presented Samuel to the Lord, she nurtured him.
A good spiritual nurturer…
1. Needs to feed that spiritual child God has given them. Before you get mad at that infant in Christ for not reading the Bible during the week and only studying the Bible when they are here please remember that a baby cannot feed themselves. Keep encouraging them to attend Bible Studies and Worship Services. Take time out of your schedule and feed them the Word of God. You don’t have to be a preacher or Sunday School teacher to open up the Word of God with someone. If God puts one of His babies in your care, then I am absolutely sure that He has equipped you to care for them.
2. Needs to take care of their personal spiritual health. If you are not feeding upon the Word of God or you are just snacking on the Word, you will affect that Christian baby. They will not receive the proper nourishment from the Word because of your lack of proper nourishment. By the way, that means that you ought to be eating some protein, like meat. You ought to be in the meat of the Word sometimes. That means that you need some spiritual adult time also.
3. Needs to start with the end in mind. There should be a day that the child God has trusted you with will be weaned off of the spiritual milk. Don’t get so attached to this spiritual infant that you don’t allow them to grow up. There is a time you must be willing to turn them over to someone else’s care.
She had…
To Hand Over Her Child
1 Samuel 1:24-28
The very thing she pleaded with God for, took care of for 2 or 3 years; she now had to go give away. In verse 28 you ought to circle this phrase in your Bible, “For his whole life…”. Hannah wasn’t just sending Samuel to Church Camp. This was permanent.
In order for you to grow as a believer you must…
1. Hand over to God that which is most important to you. God set the example to us by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus. What is that one thing or person in your life that you just can’t live without? Until you can hand that over to God, you will never be all that God has intended for you to be.
2. Hand it over to God with the right attitude. Hannah prepared a sacrifice to God, so that she was approaching God with the right attitude. She was not bitter at God for having to give Samuel back to Him but she worshipped Him and praised Him for what He had done. After all, God had blessed her with Samuel and God has blessed us with that very thing that matters most to us.
3. Hand it over to God and let Him keep it. Hannah got to see Samuel once a year when she went with her husband to offer their annual sacrifices. You never see her taking him back home. If you hand that precious thing over to God, don’t go take it back.
Conclusion:
1. If you are here today and you have never allowed Jesus to be your Savior, then you are spiritually dead. What you need is to be born again. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and that the price of sin is eternal death in a place called Hell. Hell is a place of constant darkness, burning, screaming, torment, etc… Although we deserve Hell, God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to this earth to be born of a virgin. Jesus lived on this earth and never sinned. At 33 years of age He was falsely accused, He was beaten and treated like a criminal, and He was crucified on a cross. On the cross, Jesus went from being the only perfect human to ever walk on this earth to the greatest sinner ever. He carried on Him all of the sins of the world- past, present, and future. He did that for you and I. Jesus died and was buried in a borrowed tomb; but on the 3rd day He came back from the dead. The Bible tells us that while He was in the tomb that He was in Hades defeating Hell, sin, death, and the devil. He did that so we could live in Heaven for all eternity. If you would like to accept that gift of new life through what Jesus Christ did for you, I want you to raise your hand right now.
2. Christians, if you are here today and have something or someone that you need to hand over to God; I want you to get up and walk down to this alter as a sign of humility and willingness to do that. Then you need to talk to God about that. If you want to pray with someone before or after you do that, then you come and pray with one of these deacons or ministers. If it is a sickness that you need to hand over to God and would like prayer for healing then share that with one of these deacons and we will lay hands on you and pray for you.
3. If you need to dedicate something to God today publicly then I want you to do that. Maybe God wants you to make this your Church home, then come share that with me. Maybe God wants you to dedicate your life to vocational ministry; then come share that with me. (Give some time for this to happen.)
After Hannah did this, she prayed a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God. Let this be our closing prayer.
1 Samuel 2:1-10
