The Samuel Church And Three Different Kinds of Leadership

Praise God. I want you here this morning to turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 2. I'm going to read one verse. Then to chapter 13, I'm going to read one verse, but I'm actually going to preach from 1 Samuel chapter 8. So if you want to, you can stay at 1 Samuel chapter 8, but I do want to read one very important verse from 1 Samuel chapter 2 and another very important verse from 1 Samuel 13. I'm not going to preach from them. I'm going to preach from chapter 8, but we will go there shortly. This begins this morning, a celebration of a couple of weeks of our 10th anniversary in this church. We want to start with this message, which I believe is very important. I'll explain to you in a moment why it is important, but let me give you my title and then go to our text and read this morning. My title this morning, the Samuel church and three different kinds of leadership. Let me say that again, the Samuel church and three different kinds of leadership. Read in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 25. This is the Lord speaking, and I will raise up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind, and I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before mine anointed forever. Then another verse in chapter 13, verse 14, chapter 13, verse 14. And this is now a prophecy to Saul about David, but now thy kingdom shall not continue. Can you imagine being told that as a leader? A word from the Lord. The Lord has sought a man after his own heart and the Lord has commanded him to be captain over his people because this is the reason thou has not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. You knew it Saul. I told you, you knew what I said. You deliberately disobeyed. That's why your kingdom is not going to continue. You're finished. Oh, you'll continue for 38 years as a leader. You'll still have the position, still have the power, still have the notoriety, still have the army, but in my book, spiritually, you're finished. And yet for 38 years, you'll continue building a kingdom, fighting the Lord's battle, but you're finished. It's over. Leadership in the church is very important. My message, the Samuel church and three different kinds of leadership. Let's pray together. Father, as we come to our 10th anniversary, we look back, we remember all the ways that you have led us. And father, as a church here this morning, we pray that you do speak to us, Lord God, in a very significant way. And Lord God, over the next two or three weeks, we pray that you administer of your heart into this church, of your mind, that you'd reveal your plans, your purposes, your ways, oh God. Lord God, we tremble, oh God, lest we put our hand on the ark of God. Lord God, we tremble lest we should introduce our ideas, our thinking, our desires, our ambition. We tremble as a church on this 10th anniversary. We tremble to think that we could do a work apart from your mind and your heart and your Holy Spirit and your word and your order and your commands. Lord God, I pray, oh God, that you'd bring your mind to bear in this church, that your divine order would be made manifest. And Lord God, we pray that you'd speak again, the further plan and purpose in raising up a church. Lord God, as you did 10 years ago in this city, confronting our hearts, asking us to choose our church or to choose a church. Lord God, we ask of you, don't let it be our choice concerning leadership, but oh God, let it be your choice. Let your will be done. Let your mind be revealed. Let your heart be made manifest in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. It was 10 years ago. I had prayed for three weeks. We were doing a school of Christ, students from various places, and I'd prayed for three weeks intensely every day, morning and night, for a message, a word from the Lord. Nothing came. I began to say, maybe I can just preach this or preach that, or maybe I could teach on this. And yet my heart trembled going, no, I want the word of the Lord. I want a message from you, not me teaching what I think a church needs or Christians need. I want a word from the Lord. Suddenly at the end of three weeks of praying, in five minutes, I walked into the room and in five minutes, the Lord gave me three messages to bring to his people. I walked out of the room, told Candice, said, God has just spoken to me, given me three messages. And over the next weeks, I was going to study, research, and gather the information for these three messages. But they instantly came to me in one moment of time. It was a remarkable thing. We were actually traveling very actively at this very point. We were planning one of the busiest years in our life. 2014 was going to be our busiest traveling time, starting new schools, going to new nations, going to Ukraine, Australia, other nations. We had so much planned, translating the Bible school that we were to do with. All of this was weighing upon us with great excitement. But as those three messages come, when I preached the first and second messages, I could not have imagined what was about to happen. By the third message, I knew a church is going to be birthed. I knew that, but not when we started. Do you know what the title of those three messages was? Choose Your Church. And I want you as a church to go back and listen all three of those messages over the next week. It is very important. You won't understand why this church is here. You won't understand the mind of God or the plan of God or the purpose of God. I cannot tell you how mightily God was working at that stage. I stood in front of many believers and I said, everyone listening to me is going to be forced to make a decision and to choose the church that they want. Little did I realize what I was preaching. Even the preacher was going to have to make that decision by the time that last message was given. So I and Candice were also put in that same situation. And those three messages led to the birthing of LCC. Choose Your Church was about three different churches in the life of Samuel or at a place called Shiloh. This church was first called Shiloh before it was called Limerick City Church. Shiloh was the name given to it. Do you realize that three churches were at Shiloh? There was the Eli Church, an old, good, upright, godly church, but it's blind, it's fat, and it's old. And you know what? It tolerates sin in ministry amongst its spiritual children. The second church was Hophni and Phineas, the children of Eli. It was the second church that I preached about. And I depicted how vile they were. They were immoral. They were corrupt. They didn't care about the things of God. That was the second church. But the third church I preached on was the Samuel Church, that here in Limerick City, God was going to have a Samuel Church. And you know how at Samuel Church's birth, it's through an interceding, a travailing, a broken Hannah in the midst of that church. At Shiloh, there's going to be a Hannah who travails, who is broken in prayer. And through her prayers, a church is birthed. Maybe that Hannah was Candace at that stage. I want to tell you, as I think back and consider it now at a distance, I know that lady's heart was utterly broken, broken over the women in this city, broken over the church in this city. She travailed in prayer. When we started this church, it came out of that message, the Samuel Church. This was to be a Samuel Church. And I preached the entire message on it. Go back and listen to that message. I'm not going to preach it again because I'm going a stage further here. It is now 10 years down the road. And here I am the Sunday before our 10th anniversary. Our anniversary is on Friday. And we're not going to have a service at that stage. But I believe this message brings you right back, makes you to think of where we have been and where we're going. The number 10 in the Bible means divine order. It is the number concerning God's mind or the purpose of his heart. The number 10 in the Bible, if you study it, is the ultimate of what God expects of men or from his church. That's what 10 represents. And if you look at Samuel, it says that Samuel uniquely ministered unto the Lord, like the Antioch Church. In the New Testament, the Antioch Church ministers to the Lord. In the Old Testament, Samuel, as a prophet of God, ministers constantly unto the Lord. This ministry of uniquely ministering to the Lord is what we are about as a church. That's what all the ministry that goes out of here. It's all about ministering unto our God, our great and almighty God. And so I want to bring you to part four of the Samuel Church or of Choose Your Church. I'm bringing you right back there. You know why? Because this message that I'm about to preach was to be part four, but I never preached it. When I got to part three, I knew I wouldn't preach this. I wouldn't get to preach it. So I summarized it in a couple of minutes as I closed that third message, because I knew I'm never coming back to this spot again. The choice is going to be made in this meeting. The choice is now to be made. But you know what? Over this 10 years, I've considered coming back and preaching this. Never had the liberty. But on Friday, I knew from the Lord, he came in such a powerful way. I know now it is time to preach this. You know why? Because what I'm about to preach is something of the purpose of Samuel or a Samuel Church. So there's my message here this morning. The Samuel Church and three different kinds of leadership. We're told in Psalm 106, and this is vital when we consider, choose your church. You better be very careful when God gives you a choice. Could be about a wife, a ministry, a job, or a church, or a preacher. When God gives you a choice, don't think that you're sovereign. Your heart's about to be tested. God is watching. You have a choice. We are going to see what's in your heart. God is proving your heart. If you don't realize how scary it is for a decision to be left in your hands, you don't know much of the mind of God. If God gives you the liberty and the freedom to choose your pathway, to go whatever direction you want, if you're not scared of yourself at that point, you know nothing about human nature. If you don't suddenly begin to cry and say, God, don't let me make my own choice. You don't know yourself. Saints, the biggest danger to this church is Keith Malcolmson, I want to tell you, and I distrust this old nature. I get very scared of myself and say, Lord, don't lead me to my own devices. It says in Psalm 106, verse 13 to verse 15, Israel waited not for his counsel. Listen how scary that is. Israel as an entire nation, God's people, waited not. If you can't wait upon God's direction, I'm scared for you. If you want to rush ahead of God's guidance, that's a scary place. Israel waited not for his counsel. The word counsel means his advice, his plan, his direction. Israel did not wait. They rushed into this urgently. But listen to me, don't get distracted this morning. Please, at this point, don't get distracted. But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness. They are in the wilderness. They're in a barren place. God's going to prove to them and show them what's in their heart. And listen, it says, but they, Israel, lusted exceedingly in the wilderness. Lust doesn't mean sexual lust. They are God's people. They are being led of God. The fire of his presence is there, but they lusted exceedingly. There are desires. They're going, I want this. I want that. Are you not scared of those desires in your own heart, that your desires, your ambitions of what you want in the church could be different than God's? Don't you go, oh God, don't let me get my way. Not even in a marriage or a girlfriend or a boyfriend or some job. Lord, don't let me make my decisions. And it says, and tempted God in the desert. You know what tempting God means? You want him to act out of character or act apart from his word. What his word says, you want him. Oh God, bless me. Whenever you're not blessable. And he gave them their request. Do you hear what I just read? Here they are saying, give me, give me, give me. This is what I want. Do you know what the Lord said? Okay. I'll give you your request. What you're asking of me, I'm going to give it to you. You didn't wait on my counsel. You're not interested in my mind. You don't want to know what's in my heart, but you so demanded. I'm going to give you it. I'm going to give you, it's going to be from God. God is working on it. God is answering your prayers. You want all your prayers answered to you. Do you really honestly think you want God to answer all the prayers that come out of your heart? I don't. I want to tell you, I know the word of God. I've got a lot of maturity. I've got experience, but I want to tell you, I do not leave things in my hand. Oh God, don't let me get my way. Don't just answer my desires. I want more than that. He gave them their request, but he sent leanness into their soul. He sent a spiritual famine. They were spiritually bankrupt. They are starving. They are hungry. They are empty. They're not satisfied. I'll answer your prayers. You won't be satisfied. I'll give you what you want. You're demanding of me. I'll give it to you. You want a nice ministry. You want this church. You want that kind of lifestyle. I'll give it to you, but I want to tell you, if it's your request and not mine, if you didn't wait on me or get my plan, you know what? You will have a famine in your soul. You know, you can get your desires, but your desires will curse you. Concerning a bride or prospective girlfriend, Brother Condon used to say, it's better to desire what you cannot have than to get what you do not want. I want to tell you that's true. Psalm 78 verse 30 to 31. While their meat was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came on them and slew the fattest of them. Do you hear that? God has given them. I'll give you what you want. I'll pour it out upon you. I'll give you all that you want. I'll allow you to get what you want, and you'll be so filled with this. The wrath of God have fallen you first. Do you realize God could answer your prayer, then pour his wrath out upon you? I know these aren't the normal things people preach about, but I'm telling you about human nature. It also says in Numbers 11 verse 20, until it came out of their nostrils, and it be lonesome unto you. Do you hear this is the answer? God answering a certain kind of prayer of a carnal person, a fleshy person, a worldly person, a selfish person. I'll give you what you want. It's going to come out of your nostril. You're begging me for what you want. You live by the five senses. Give me, I want that. I desire this. I want him. I want it to be like this. But you don't wait upon God. You don't want God's mind. You know what? What I give you is going to come out of your nostrils like a little boy who eats chocolate. And if mommy's wise, I'm going to cure you of your love of chocolate. Take him into a room, fill the table bench with bars and bars of chocolate. Tell Jimmy, eat all that you want. Oh, he will. He will. By that night, he's going to be vomiting. I'm telling you, you may well cure him of his lust for chocolate. Little Jimmy might be the same tomorrow. I don't know. He may learn nothing from it. But do you know what? God knows how dangerous getting your way is. And when you see this with us, I don't want God just to give me my desires, my thoughts, answer my prayers. There is something higher, Saint. Church is not about you. Prayer is not about you. This lifestyle, this church is not about you. This is a Samuel church. And you know what it says in 1 Samuel 2.25? It was a prophecy about young Samuel. I will raise up me. God's going to do it. And it's for him. I will raise up a faithful priest that should do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. You know what Samuel was? When he got raised up in ministry, everything is according to the mind of God. Everything is according to the heart of God. There's not anything of himself. It's to be a ministry purely of God. God says, I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before mine anointed forever. And so this prophecy is given. A priest, a prophet, a man of God, Samuel. You know what? God's going to raise him up. He wasn't a Levite but he's called a priest. He wasn't of the Levitical priesthood. You can't be a priest in God's house unless you follow the right order. He was not a Levite but God considers him a spiritual priest who's going to minister unto him. Saints of God, let me bring you to this fourth part that I believe is a vital call concerning Samuel the prophet or the Samuel church. And I believe it's for us and I believe it's for me. I believe I can trace it right back to my childhood as a little boy. All through my ministry, all through my trials, there's been something significant and I believe it's in this church and what we preach in this church. Do you know what it is? The Samuel church and three different kinds of leadership. I believe it's Samuel's interaction with a change of leadership amongst God's people. I'm talking this morning about a change of governmental leadership. I'm talking about a new order arising and I'm not talking about the new world order. I'm talking about a new order in God's house. I'm talking about a mega shift in leadership structure. I'm talking about the close of one era and the beginning of a whole new era. You see Samuel as a child was right at the heart of one of the mega changes of leadership amongst God's people in the Bible. He was right there when it's moving from judges to prophets, from judges to prophets to kings. There's going to be a radical change in the whole order of God's people from there on and little Samuel from a child was right at the heart of it. Straight through into an old man. He was literally the linchpin. He was the voice of God. He was the mind of God. He was the heart of God and God had this rugged little boy, then this old rugged preacher, a little boy, an old man and he was God's vessel that sat in the midst of this mega change in leadership. Here this morning, here's my three points I want to give you. Three different kinds of leadership that are going to arise and Samuel, it's because of Samuel. Samuel is involved in the rise of all three kinds of leadership. He is involved with them. God uses him with them but two of them aren't of God, of God's mind or God's heart. Only one is and yet Samuel is involved interacting with them all. I'm going to tell you, I cannot tell you how much this preacher has interacted with leaders across this world, different countries at different times over the decades. I can't tell you. I can't even begin to explain the situations I've been in or where I've been or what has happened. You wouldn't believe it if I wrote a book on it. You wouldn't believe it. You'd think it's a myth because it's so strange yet so biblical. It'll line up with 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Kings because that's my training manual for leadership. Go back into those books. You'll be a leader that knows what to do. Three kinds of leadership and this is the first one. I want you to listen clearly and I want you in this church to listen more closely than anyone else because it's a warning to you. Number one, home grown leadership. Let me say that again, home grown leadership. This was the first kind of leadership that was to be raised up in God's house and Samuel was vitally involved with it. Without him it wouldn't have happened. What do I mean home grown leadership? Go with me to 1 Samuel chapter 8 and verse 1 and this is what it says, and it came to pass when Samuel was old. Notice that very carefully. This is at a time where Samuel is called old. It's not just an opinion about him. The Bible says it came to pass. Something happened when Samuel, who's no longer a little boy in the house of Eli, choosing your church anymore. This man has grown up into maturity, ministered widely in the nation. Now he is being called old for the first time in his entire life. It came to pass when Samuel was old. You know what? You better be careful as a church when you begin to get older or mature out of infancy. Certain things are going to begin to happen. There's dangers with the church. Oh, we've always done well, but you may not do in the next step. Do you realize these past 10 years, well done church, you've run well, but you know what? You could make a decision now that you're going to regret as a church. Are those listening faithfully to us online? We have many people who identify with us week by week by week right across this world. We have leaders who listen to us regularly in many different nations. We've got those who communicate with us. You know what? It's them that I would give this warning to. It came to pass when Samuel was old. What happened? What happened here? What's going to happen? That he made his sons judges over Israel. Do you see what has happened here? Only when it came to pass that he was old. See, he's not as able as he was 30 years ago, not as agile, not as active. Most commentators say he must have been in his fifties like me. In his fifties, I'm the lower end, the lowest end, but most commentators believe he was in his fifties or maybe 60 years old. Now, I want you to see this carefully. He dies at 90 years old, but he doesn't know that. Eli died at 98, but here's the time he begins to feel age coming on. I want to tell you when you get into your forties, you begin going, uh-oh. Then you cross over into 50 and you go, uh-oh. It keeps going up. You know, when you reach 50, you begin to think, I'm in my fifties now. I don't know how long I've got. You actually don't think I've got another 30 years here. When you get to 60, you'll be surprised. If God showed you, you have 30 more years, another third of your life to live. And that's what Samuel here actually has another third of his life. It says in 1 Samuel 25 and 1, he died at 90 years old, but he doesn't know that. So he's maybe 60, around 60. He's lived two thirds of his life, one third left. But you know what? He begins to feel, I can't run like I used to. I can't travel. My mind's not as sharp as it once was. But I want to tell you, he is a man of God. There's no doubt about that. It here talks in this verse about his own natural children, his kith and his kin. At this point, he, Samuel, a man of God, or the Samuel church, makes his sons judges over Israel. Judges are the leadership structure of that era. They are the ministry of that era. Remember the judges in the book of Judges? They were unique, unusual men who God laid his hands upon. His spirit came upon and they arose uniquely. They're not made by man. They're not chosen by man. You don't appoint your children judges. You cannot. And yet here Samuel, he is appointing his children. You know why? He begins to feel old. When you begin to feel old, you better be careful about the decisions you begin to make. You're thinking about your limitations. You're thinking about your end. You're thinking about plans for the future. You're thinking of what can happen. So you begin to make decisions which aren't God's decisions. Do you see here? He made them judges. It doesn't say he prayed. He did not pray. This is one of the great men of prayer in the Bible. But he doesn't pray about this. You know why? He thinks he knows the right thing to do. It doesn't say he got a word from the Lord. It doesn't say he sought guidance from God. You see, he looked at his own children. They have grown up under my environment. He assumed, he presumed, he took them at face value. You see, his environment was a good environment. He gave them a good example. He had taught them daily, yearly, the Word of God. He thought, here are my children. They have been taught right, so obviously they'll live right. They have a good example of me. Obviously, they'll follow my example. I'm a man of prayer. Of course, they are going to be people of prayer. I make godly decisions. I'm sure they will make the right decisions. And so he knew his children had grown up in the house of God, in the Samuel church. There's correction there. There is order there. There is discipline there. There is biblical judgment there. And so these children, these two boys gave the appearance outwardly that all was fine. They believed this. They lived like this. They followed the example. They were happy with their father. They had a good relationship with their father. And you know what, the people looking in on them, for years, absolutely years, they had a reputation. LCC, you better be careful that those outside don't look in and think you are what gets preached here. And yet you think very differently, and you believe very differently, and you live very differently. Many others in other countries would do anything to sit in here, and yet you sit in it, and if this preacher is removed, what are you going to look like? What direction will you go in? Where will this church be in the morning? And so these children are raised under this ministry of Samuel. You know what the Bible says, God didn't let any of his words fall to the ground. You know all this prophetic ministry. Oh, we're practicing prophecy. We're training. We're at the 50% mark. It's okay, just keep practicing. Keep trial, trial and error. Of course, we get things wrong. None of his words fell to the ground. He was an accurate prophet of God, and he would have been stoned otherwise, I want to tell you. Now look at this. Samuel is old. He's only in his 50s or about 60. He can't travel the same way, so he makes a vital decision. I make my children judges. They are going to make judges, decisions for people's life. They are going to make decisions that are going to affect God's people. What a massive thing. Look at verse 2. Now the name of the firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba. Where did he make them judges? In the southernmost, the lowest, the furthest away point from him in Beersheba. It's the most southern point of Israel. Do you know what that means? They're now removed from his influence. You know, he said, I'll put you where I cannot go. It's about a hundred miles. It's a long distance. That's a long way for an old man to travel, either walking or in the back of a donkey. Even on a donkey, that's quite a journey. When you're reaching 60, well, I'm older now. You know, time is catching up. After all, I'm still in ministry, but I'll just put my two sons down there in a faraway region. They understand my mind. They understand my heart. They understand ministry. They understand how to do this. It's one place, one area, but they can do this. I know they can. And so he established them. The first is called Jehovah. That means Jehovah is God or Yahweh is God. What a name to give your child. Imagine this child. Isn't he fit to be a judge in Israel? I can make him a judge. Yahweh, the Lord is God. He's the only God. This is the true name of God. Yahweh. You know, when they go on about Jehovah, actually that's misspelt. There's only four letters in it. People who say Jehovah is the true name of God. Well, yeah, you can say Jehovah, but you know what? It's only four letters more correctly pronounced Yahweh. So here's a young man. He's going to be a judge, but no word from the Lord, no direction, no supernatural touch of God. Saints of God, we do not need leadership that's just grown into this and learned this. We need leadership that are appointed and raised up of God. If I assume that you believe this and that you're good and that this is in you, I'd be making a grave mistake. We need leadership raised up in this generation across the church widely. You know, he had another name. It says in 1 Chronicles 6.28, it says the firstborn was Yashni. So Joel sounds impressive. Yashni, not as much. It means weakness because of strength. Here's a young man. His strengths actually are his weaknesses. Remember Peter, I won't deny you. I'll die for you. He denied Christ three times, even with curse to a little girl. Do you realize Peter's strength become his very weakness? All the rest may deny you. I'll never deny you. They'll come back to bite you. So here's Joel. He has two names. Joel sounds impressive, but when you go a bit deeper, you realize this is a man. He's not strong in the things of God. He is actually very weak. He prides himself. I know the truth of God. I preach the truth of God. I know the character of God. I live wholly. I'm a child of Samuel. I'm raised up in the Samuel church. You know what? You could become a curse. It's as soon as you're out of sight, away from Samuel, now you're given responsibility. Now you have a ministry. Now you have your freedom. Now you make your own decisions. Now we're going to see what you really are like. And that's what happened to these two sons. The other son was called Abiah, which means a worshiper of the Lord. Look at these two, a worshiper of the Lord and Yahweh is God. Such hope Samuel had for them, but he didn't wait in the guidance of God. He thought this environment's enough. Listening to our preaching online's enough. Surely these people listening to all these sermons must believe this and live this and walk in this. I'm telling you, you could have Samuel moved out of the way. You'll really see what people are. It's happened all through church history. Let me show you what happened to these sons. We're given four things that happened to them. As soon as they're away from Samuel and they enter ministry and they begin to have responsibility, you're going to see what, you know, let me die. You're going to really see who brother Soph is. Do you think you know him? Brother Soph, do you think you know yourself? Hannah, do you think you know your husband as a preacher? Do you realize none of you actually know brother Soph and I don't until the day I'm removed. Then we'll begin to see who brother Soph is. If that doesn't terrify him, nothing will. You see this first point is about home grown leadership. Samuel is involved with this. But look what happens to these. When Samuel isn't there making the decisions, verse 8, and his sons walked not in his ways, his course of life. That's the first thing about them. They're no judges. They now have a title. They now have a ministry. But as soon as they're given that position in Beersheba, they walked not in his ways. They're not the same as Samuel. The second thing, but turned after, lucre. To turn after means to bend away, stretch after. This means that they had been in the right course and lucre is money. So until now, you know what, how they lived was fine concerning money. Everything they'd done about money was fine. They're under Samuel. Remember Samuel says, have I stolen anything? Have I taken him? Have I abused? Have I been a money preacher? No Samuel. You know his children, they walked in this. They're not prosperity preachers. They're not after money. They've lived a good way. As soon as they're by themselves, they begin to veer off this track concerning money. Do you know what, to be after lucre is one of the qualifications of leadership in the New Testament. You must not love money. Oh, I've lived like this for 10 years. We as the Samuel church in LCC, we have proved we're not after money. You better keep that for the next 10 years. We're free of covetousness. We don't desire filthy lucre. You better make sure that's in your heart. Oh, we do believe this. Okay, let this preacher be removed. Just go do your own little thing. And you're faced with decisions and you begin thinking about money. Well, I can just bend things. I can just change things a little. Well, you have to reach out. You have to stretch after money, don't you? Do you? Really? The third thing with them, it says, and they took pride. Let me just say there before I go on, see to be turned aside after lucre. It means for gain, reward. Ministry suddenly had a focus on money and never had before. They become covetous. It says in Exodus 18, 21 about hating covetousness. All leaders are meant to hate covetousness. That desire in your mind, your thoughts, or your desires, and it comes up going, I want money. I desire. I desire to gain something. Surely I've worked hard. You better be very careful of that desire. You could justify and it could destroy you. You could become Samuel's children in the house of God. You veer off and you justify and say, I haven't changed. Yeah, as soon as Samuel's not there, you change direction. The third thing it says, and they took bribes. It also says in Exodus 23, verse eight, and now shall take no gift. It's the same word, bribe. For the gift blinded the wise. You could be very wise in the house of God. You receive a gift in your hand. Suddenly your eyes become blind. You say that couldn't happen to you. Really? You honestly think that this God's word and perverted the words of the righteous. You being given a gift, a bribe. Oh, they wouldn't call it that. It happens all through the church. I just want to support your ministry. And it could actually cause you to pervert the words of the righteous. How dangerous. This was Samuel ministry. This was homegrown ministry. And it looked good all through the years. They are moral. They are holy. There's no prosperity amongst them. There's no immorality amongst them, but just a little deviation. And here they are. They're suddenly becoming covetous. They wouldn't call it that. They suddenly start taking bribes, gifts from people. They're in ministry. Well, I need this. After all, I can't starve, can I? You are not living like your father Samuel now. Do you remember the testimonies I've given you of my lifestyle? Do you realize how we birthed this church 10 years ago? We had no money. We had no finance. We had to stop all our traveling. We started in a living room with six or seven people. That's all we had. No one had evangelized publicly. No one had done the Lord's table. Nobody knew anything. And five of those people left us shortly after. That's where we started. We stopped all the traveling ministry, all the leaders' conferences, all the church ministry, and we stopped in Limerick. Since you better remember the price that was paid. You better remember this. This pastor didn't take a penny from this place. You need to remember Candice had to pray every single month just to put a meal on the table. That's what's behind this church. There is a character. There is a practice. You need to understand that. Now you go, oh sure, we've got planning. Now sure, we've got all we need. You're on dangerous ground. Your attitude towards money. Be very, very careful. The fourth and last thing, and the perverted judgment. Samuel's children perverted judgment. It's the same word as turned aside, to bend it, broaden it, change it. Righteous pronouncements. That's what judgment is. The perverted righteous judgments. You know, judgment, we think judgment is making a very somber judgment on something. It's not. It means to weigh. The perverted judgment. Well, it's balancing, but I'm going to make it go, or I'll make it go, I'll just ignore this scripture here, that scripture there. I'll just forget about that. And we'll just make it go err, weighing the balances. You perverted it because you're receiving gifts. You're conscious of people. It's all about you. Samuel was never about that. Samuel was free of that. Samuel has appointed you to be judges in Israel and you're perverting judgment. Saints of God, with this church, with our influence in other nations, online and here in Limerick, I want to tell you, this is one part of this. Just like 10 years ago, the three messages I preached were true from the Lord of God, and they should have been taken heed of. Even this preacher didn't realize how prophetic they were. Everyone will make a decision. Can I say here this morning again, everyone will make a decision. See, over this homegrown leadership are those we know, those we associate with, those who come to School of Christ, those who are in constant fellowship with us. It's talking about young preachers, ministries, ladies ministry. Hannah, how are you going to conduct yourself? You had an outstanding example in Candace. This is how we conduct our evangelism on the streets. This is how we do children's work. All of it comes under this. This is homegrown ministry. Is it appointed of God or is it appointed by man? Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves, in verse 4, together and came to Samuel on to Ramah, which is Samuel's birthplace, and said unto him, verse 5, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Samuel didn't know what they were. You realize they went like this. It's not like Eli. Eli knew what his sons were, never removed them, never dealt with them. This isn't what Samuel done. He saw them as good right up until entering ministry. They're far out of his eyes. He didn't know this. He has to be told, your sons are corrupt. Point two, the dynamic soul leadership. See, Samuel is involved in all of these kinds of leadership in a very dynamic way. Do you know what? I'm going to stop because I've got too much to cover here and I want you to understand this. Saints of God, the Samuel church and three different kinds of leadership. But I want to deal with this in this first message, homegrown leadership. It took the elders of Israel, and this is going to lead on to other consequences that we'll see at another time. You're going to see the consequence of a man like Samuel who was led of the spirit of God, who could hear from God, who knew the mind of God, who knew the heart of God, who literally was dominated by that, made one little step because he was old. Oh, there's a bit of water under the bridge. I'm feeling older. I'm a bit tired. You know, when we had prayer meetings 10 years ago, I almost burst out laughing in them. We would start with a motley bunch in the living room. It took me, I barely was able to pray in an hour and a half prayer meeting. I was there trying to get him to pray. And these people, some of them you didn't even know if they're saved or not. And then there's others, they are saved. But everyone's just praying and seeking and crying out to God. And the neighbors banging on the wall with all of this noise. Poor neighbors. You know, in the middle of one of those prayer meetings and not come to the door, all of us didn't hear apart from one unsaved young man there. He went to the door and said, yeah. He said, well, we live next door, all that noise. Hey man, we're having a prayer meeting and closes the door. He didn't tell the owners of the house until way after. And they went, you what? You did what? He said, well, we're praying. We're speaking to God. I'm not going to let them interrupt our prayer meeting. We had to move from the living room into the kitchen. And then I had to preach between the dishwasher and the cooker. And Candice had this little rickety, she was very embarrassed about it. This little rickety toy keyboard playing. I'm sure she was saying, I hope none of my old fellow students ever see me playing this thing. Saints of God, remember where we have come from. God raised this up 10 years ago to be real, to be genuine, to have the heart of God, to have the mind of God. And I want to tell you, Samuel and this church through its messages online, it's happened already. It will happen. An interaction with leaders. I can talk of decades of my interaction with leaders, significant leaders, just your average, normal leaders, young preachers coming up through hundreds, if not thousands, the interactions of hearts be improved, of my heart be improved. And you know what? At this stage of ministering, I don't want to be an old Samuel who, because he is old, and I don't want us as a church, because we are old, yeah, I'm sure they believe like we do. Is God moving in hearts and calling men to ministry? Are you being called and moved upon? We don't need more preaching. We need more messages from the Lord. We don't just need more evangelism. We need more saints on the high street filled with the Holy Spirit of God, burning over the souls of men. And I want to tell you here on this 10th anniversary that I believe God's got a plan. He's got a purpose that's yet to be revealed. And we as a Samuel church better take care about homegrown leadership, homegrown ministry. We don't just appoint, we just don't fill gaps. We just don't do things just because Candace is gone. We just don't fill the gap of ladies' ministry, our children, our worship, because there's a big gap and there is a big gap. You know what? We pray. We seek the heart of God. We look for God to stir and raise up. We don't just make our own decisions because there's a gap and there's someone missing in the ranks that was vital. You know what we do? We want the mind of to be led by the Spirit of God, to have the heart of God and for Him to lead us. Here as we go into this time, saints of God, will you stand with me? And as we pray, I want to open this altar up just for a moment. We are now, I'm taking you back 10 years to our beginning, to the call of God and birth in this church. I believe the Lord said He's going to raise up a church and His word will go out of this church to many nations, to many peoples. We have watched the Lord do that. We have watched Him do that. And you know what? We have a calling upon us as a church. This is the 10th anniversary. What's the number 10 mean? The order of God, the mind of God, the heart of God. Can I ask every member of this church, everyone online right now, everyone who watches this video afterwards, who identifies with us and feels a part, can I ask you, it's not enough to be under good ministry, to say I'm not immoral, I'm sound. That's not enough. Like I began, are you demanding your own lusts? Do you have the mind of God in your life? Is what you want to do in the house of God, is it out of your heart, you're doing it? You know, some of you could birth things and bring it into the church that's going to curse the body of Christ. And we've fought hard in this church to go, that's not going to operate, and that's not going to operate, and that's not going to operate. We don't want the flesh operating, but we so desperately want a move of the spirit of God. We so want you to operate and move. And I'm not preaching fear here this morning. I don't want you to be in fear going, I can't do anything. I better be so careful. No, give yourself, go evangelize on the street. Oh, I don't have a prophecy. I don't have a word. God's not leading me. Don't do that. That isn't what I mean. Oh, I'm not going to pray in the prayer meeting. I might pray in the flesh. Rubbish. You're looking at excuse so you can keep your mouth shut. Don't do that. Church, let's be all hands on deck. Let's serve God together. Let's minister unto the Lord. But you know, in this homegrown ministry, we're looking to see raised up as a life in the order of God. They know the mind of God. You know what Eli's sons, they did not know the mind of God. It was not in them. It was in them while they're around Samuel. As soon as they're not around Samuel, I think this, we can do this. I can bend. I can take gifts. It doesn't matter what we do with money. It doesn't matter what we do about our decisions. Doesn't matter how we live or who influences us. Where have you been? Where have you been? Have you wasted your time in this church? You listen hundreds of messages and haven't even caused something to be created in you of a heart to say, not my will, but your will. Don't you even understand what it took for this preacher to stand here and preach these years? Preach while my wife is on her deathbed. I'd come and preach and pour out. You know why? Because there's something greater than even death, even love, even your marriage. There's something higher and it's not ministry. I want to tell you. Do you know what it is? It's the heart of God. Saints of God, do you want God to give you what you want or what he wants? Have you been pleading with them and saying, I want that. I could do that. I would like that. Are you saying, Lord, make me a servant that's utterly yielded to your will? Oh God, don't give me what I demand or I want or I think. And as an entire church and with all of our friends and other nations that we are so close to, that we have desire, surely it's time for leadership, ministry in the body of Christ. That's not according to the mind of man. I heard a prophecy many years ago in the church that was a great part of the impact of me. And a prophecy was given. Man has many dreams or desires that he desires to fulfill. And because I see his heart, I'll do it. But where is the man? Where is the church that will stand still long enough to hear my heart? For I have a dream. I have a desire that I long to fulfill in the midst of you. All across the body of Christ, God's granted men ministries because he saw their heart. And yet church, nobody has stood still long enough to hear what's in God's heart. So we keep carrying on with good ministry. Oh, I learned from Samuel. I grew up around Samuel. I see how it's done. And yet we go after our own ambitions and we don't even realize what we've done for the house of God. Stand with me. Father, we thank you here this morning. Father, we pray in this 10th anniversary, Lord God, that you would speak into this church by the guest preachers, by ourselves, that you'd bring forth the word of God. Father, Lord God, if you were to tarry and we are to be here another 10 years, we need to hear what you are saying to this church. We need to be warned of the dangers. We need to understand your mind and your purpose in placing us here. We need to understand the very heartbeat of God. We want your character to be here. We want your mind to be here. We want your eyes to be here. We want your spirit to be here. We want your words to be here. My God, order us according to your own heart. And like Samuel of old, find a man who has the mind of God and the heart of God. And Father, as we come to a stage of being older or considered old in the work of God, Father, I pray that because of being old, that we won't suddenly start to appoint and make man-made ministry out of our own midst, out of our associations to create things that's going to be a curse to the body of Christ. Lord God, help us. Forbid us even here this morning. In Jesus' mighty name.