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“Have you seen this man that is come up?” —1 Samuel 17:25
All the magazines and the books of our times are talking about the awful confusion that is upon us, and of the world conditions that we face today. There isn’t a department of life where there is not a crisis problem. If it is business, it is a grave problem; if it is the home, it is the greatest testing time that it has ever known; if it is education, it is a mass of problems; if it is religion, it is legion. Preachers are in more of …
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“So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.”—1 Samuel 17:50
The Old Testament is not only a book of history which reveals to us the great seed plots of God’s plan of redemption for the human race. It is that. But it is also a book which unfolds something of the great truths of the New Testament, and puts them before us in picture language, that we may apply them to our hearts and lives today.
One …
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“The Lord called Samuel.” It is easy to understand that this was not a voice which others could hear or Eli could have heard it. The voice was very clear indeed to Samuel; Samuel was sure that some one had called him. This Scripture should show us that while others may be used of the Lord in clearing up our call and proving to us that it is the Lord and not man that is calling, yet the call must be heard by the one called and by him alone.
How foolish we are when we expect others to understand …
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Psalm 77: “I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me…”
This psalm tells the story of David and how he got out of the cave. As Professor James G. Murphy of Belfast says in his commentary, “The psalm was most probably composed on some critical emergency in the eventful life of David. The hiding of David in the cave of Adullam has been suggested by different writers.”
It is the devil’s peculiar joy to get us into a hole, and it is God’s particular delight to get us out …
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Psalm 38 might be designated “The Penitent’s Plea.” It is the cry of a man who is distressed and broken hearted because of his sin and who comes to God acknowledging his guilt and looking to Him for forgiveness.
Over the first four verses we might write the word “Conviction.” We have the expression here of a convicted soul, of a man who is not trying to make excuses for his sins. As long as you find a person endeavoring to excuse his sins and failures, you will know that the plowshare of conviction has never gone in deep enough. …
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(Helpful to Sunday School Lesson of May 16, 1920, 1 Samuel 7:2–17)
“The time was long.” This has been the testimony of all the saints of God when the glory of the presence of God has dimmed, and when the heart has been far from His will. Here the ark was far from the heart of the people. One of the poets has said:
“The midsummer sun shines but dim,The fields strive in vain to look gay,”
Whenever the Lord is not near, and His presence real.
“Return unto the Lord with all your hearts.” This was Samuel’s first …
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Message given at The Moody Church by Rev. Vance Havner, D.D. of Greensboro, N.C.
Turn to the 15th chapter of 1 Samuel and I want to read about King Saul and a very tragic chapter in his life.
“Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. …
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It is surprising that after nineteen hundred years of Gospel light and testimony, one often finds professing Christians who manifest great ignorance in regard to the most important fundamental truths of the Word of God. I do not know how many times I have had people come to me—people who had faith in Christ—and put the question in all seriousness, “Just why did Christ have to die in order that we might be saved?” I want to show from the Scripture seven very clear, definite reasons for which Jesus died.
The first Scripture is found in 1 Corinthians 15. In …
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Among the many characteristics of Christian love listed in 1 Corinthians 13, one of the most neglected is this: “Love thinketh no evil.” If you and I would practice this, what a difference it would make in our relationship with the Lord and with one another. “Love thinketh no evil.”
Even people who do not believe the Bible admit that 1 Corinthians 13 is the greatest statement on love found in any literature anywhere. Inspired by the Spirit, Paul describes true Christian love in terms that excite us and convict us. Apart from God’s love in our hearts, we could …
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Love is the missing link in the world today. Love is the cure-all medicine for our sin-sick generation. By the word “love” we do not mean a fleshly love of the opposite sex, but a divine love shared by those who know the Lord. Love is the foundation of all that is worthwhile.
Love for one’s country is the foundation of a nation. Without this love everyone becomes a law to himself, and unity and strength are dissipated. A nation minus love equals self-destruction.
Love for each member of the family is the basis of the home and a sample …
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