Becoming the Least of These — Brian Guerin

Becoming the Least of These

I'm excited to jump into the Word this morning. Man, and at the end, we'd love to open up prayer for any of you all that need prayer for anything. Could be healing in your body. How many of you know God still heals today?

Woo! Yes, Jesus. Pretty clear in Scripture, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So you can be free in a moment, you know? Anything that's been bothering you, infirmities, whatever. Prayer for anything in your home, family.

Just, we love to see the Spirit moving, Jesus glorified. So let me think. Any announcements I have. I'm not sure. Oh, the Academy will probably do that during the offering. So I'll take up a quick Tithon offering.

And then we'll jump into the Word together. So, just wanna encourage you guys, as we typically do, in being just a generous community, and sort of casting vision. So we have a vision breakfast coming up towards the end of this month, kind of hinged on to our Glory Nights event.

And it looks like pretty certain, many of you don't know this, our students do, but I had seen in prayer, us likely shifting into that building before we even got started here. And it makes sense now, as you can see, like every week, thank the Lord is a great problem, but we're kind of busting at the seams and having to add rows on the back walls.

And soon we may have to start stacking you on the stage, like we do at Glory Nights, and just huddling around. But, and as you can see in the parking lot, we're full every week, people are parking in the woods and trees, and just awesome, just awesome.

I gotta tell you a funny story happened one time, and Lord bless whoever this was, I know they meant well, but we got an email once, and somebody, it's just, I don't even know, Christians can do some interesting things sometimes, man.

We've been known to do some interesting stuff. Interesting's always a safe word, unique, interesting. That's how you don't offend folks, but, so it's a funny story, I just thought about it in the moment.

We get an email, and they're like, cause some of you know, you can tell, we're out in the woods, I love it. There's deer, and man, it's, you know, that's about all that sets off our security cameras at the church, like deer crossing from this woods to those woods, and possum or whatever.

So, but we get an email to the ministry saying, hey, there's a dead deer out front, there's witchcraft on the property. I'm like, somebody hit a deer. That happens all the time. So, so I'm like, Judah, gotta go up to the church, gotta move a dead deer, and so, cause you know, there's literally, I love Georgia, man, so you all know I'm from Louisiana, and a lot of hunting, fishing down there, just love it, but man, I come up to Georgia, it's like, bro, they got overkill on deer.

It's amazing, they're everywhere. So there's signs everywhere that like, watch for deers jumping out in the road, you know? And so I'm like, I'm like, Judah, gotta go move a deer, bro, part of ministry.

And so he grabbed a couple legs, I got a couple, I'm like, on the count of three, sorry for the wet ladies, but, and we're like, one, two, on three, not after three, on three. Two, you know, three, chuck them off into the woods, vultures get a free lunch, it's just nature.

Just how it works, and witchcraft is gone, you know, whatever. So we're, it's just funny, but we, anywho, how'd I get there? I don't know, I'm all over the place. Oh yeah, people are parking in the woods and stuff, so anyway, where we're going with it is, look, man, in the end times, I'm looking for that roadkill.

I'm teasing, you get them just fresh, get some backstrap, you know what I'm saying, I'm totally teasing, but anyway, yeah, as you can see, we're packing out, and so grateful that there's just a hungry bunch, and as you all have noticed, I'm preaching some of the harder stuff, and I'm proud of you guys.

You'd think the crowd would start thinning out, but there's just a hungry people, I believe, in the earth, and really wanting the things of the Lord, myself included, and I was told, which is interesting, too, because we're learning a lot on more the pastoral church side, but apparently, the statistics work the other way around.

I didn't know this, but from some pastor friends and things, I've heard that in the summers, those are your lightest months. I didn't know that. We're still kind of busting out the seams. I'm like, I was like, okay, but nothing got lighter like in the summer, which is encouraging, people are hungry, but apparently, from vacation and things that people plan, which makes total sense, I think it's awesome, but again, the plans are to slowly shift over as the Lord enables and provides, and we know He will, but just wanna encourage you guys, especially just in life, and those of you that watch our extended family online and across the world, obviously, you'd wanna tie that the house you're fed at and you're under.

We encourage that, but being a generous people, just wanna encourage you, and we're so grateful as well, and pray the Lord dumps back on you and opens the floodgates of heaven, as the book of Malachi says, so I think you should have your offering envelopes.

You wanna fill those out? In a minute, we'll bring up the, well, yeah, we can go and bring them up, the offering baskets on each side to where you can bring them up front, and also, there's text to give, and you can give online, so let's pray.

Jesus, thank you so much for the opportunity to just be in your presence, in the secret place, but also corporately. God, we thank you that we never neglect the coming together of the body, the strength, one in another, how you set this whole thing up so beautifully.

We need each other in you. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your word. Be pleased and glorified, and I pray that you'd unlock the heavens over each and everyone's life as far as blessing, provision, abundance.

God, thank you that you own the cattle on 1 ,000 hills, and the deer as well, because there's a bunch. In Jesus' name, amen. Awesome, you can come up front, and oh, yeah, and we'll go ahead and roll our new academy video, but you can let everybody out in the aisle if you wanna bring the offering envelopes up front.

Abiding in the Word and the Presence of God

How many of you know we really need to adhere to a life that walks in the word, of course, but also the manifest presence of God? You know, the Bible says the letter alone kills, but the spirit brings life, and man, we need his presence, but sometimes you can get a little top-heavy through knowledge, and you start to lack presence, tangible, intimate, relational presence, and may we always be a people that abide in him.

Sometimes you get around people, you're like, man, there's something on them, and then you start to talk about Jesus, and you realize, okay, I get it now, they abide. I'm deep in the vine. This bunch is like no other.

We're starting to see the Lord's for real raising up his bride for his son, and they mean business, but yet it's so beautiful. Going deep in community together, both online and in person, deep in the word, the spirit falling madly in love with Jesus.

Thank you so much, William. Yeah, we'd love to invite you to come join us for our fall trimester. We'll be starting in September, and it's open right now through this month in August, and then we hit the ground running in September.

Gonna be awesome. You'll jump into the graduation class of 2024, and just love it. If you're looking to take things just deeper in life, on a level of the word, the presence of community, I would love to have you.

Samuel’s Early Life and the Mystery of His Calling

Okay, let's jump in together. I'm gonna be in, we're going backwards this week, at 1 Samuel 1, 2, and 3. I'm gonna be paraphrasing a bunch. 1 Samuel chapters 1, 2, and 3. How many of you love the B-I-B-L-E?

Amen. Thank you, Lord, for the book, the book of life. Look, man, when it's all said and done, this is all you need, Him, in the word. Man shall not live on bread alone, but every word comes out of the mouth of God.

So, yeah, so I'm trying to figure out which way I wanna start on this. Maybe I'll paraphrase up to the main verses, because what I wanna hit is these windows that the scripture takes us into over Samuel's early life that I think are very vital, and hopefully we could glean from them and let them kind of marinate within us as well, and become more like Jesus.

But you see in 1 Samuel chapter 1, many of us know this account where a man named Elkanah, he has two wives, Paninah and Hannah, and it ultimately leads to the birthing of Samuel. Well, Elkanah, godly man, every year he'd go up to Shiloh where the Ark of God is, Eli's the priest and all this, and worship God, and his wife Paninah, I love kind of picking out some of the prophetic stuff, her name means pearl, Hannah means grace or favor.

And I love, you can see in this story, I'm gonna go quick through this, because really I'm trying to highlight Samuel, but I love in this story, because I think you can see that we all know Paninah had children, Hannah was barren because of the Lord, actually.

I mean, sometimes the Lord will on purpose put you in barren seasons to birth something greater than anybody else around you. And sometimes the Paninahs in life, they already have inherent worth, a pearl, they have value in and of what they do.

And because of that, they don't cry out in a deep way for the deeper things of God, that is only accessible through grace or favor, which is Hannah. And so you can see this mysterious storyline, heaven was setting up to get Samuel into the earth.

Samuel, to me, is like a sleeper in scripture, one of my heroes that's not often talked about. Man, you hate to rank them at all, because they all play a different part and they're all just amazing. But one of the only three Nazarites in scripture explicitly where it's clear, consecrated one, only prophet you can find where it says, no words fell to the ground.

I mean, we're talking flawless resume. But to get him in the earth, you had to have a vessel that could not lean on its own inherent worth, but into the grace and favor of God. And so Elkanah's going up to Shiloh every year, this is where Eli was, I touched on him briefly last week, the priest and all this, worshiped God, devout man.

And they go up every year, and the Bible says Paninah, she already had worth. I mean, sometimes people that have it all, it's harder for them to tap into the deeper things of God. Sometimes, it doesn't have to be, even Jesus says, look, and rich folks, it's hard for them to even enter the kingdom.

They got everything. But I believe you can find a healthy balance in our desperate need for him by the Spirit. So, but Paninah's already got it all, she has children, and the greatest value, basically asset of that day, of anything you could ever want in the culture was to bear children, to continue on the name and the family, and it was a big, big, big deal.

Whereas nowadays, it's totally backwards. We need to get back to the Word. And so anyway, Paninah would ridicule Hannah. Sometimes, too, you get it going on, you get a little, you know, you just kind of start to, it just sets in the wrong way, a little bit arrogant, and would ridicule Hannah, and she'd be distraught year after year because she had no children, she was barren.

Paninah's got it all going on, looks great, but the whole time, Heaven's setting up a checkmate to get his perfect will in the earth. So you go through chapter one, and Hannah, and they go up one more time, again this year, and hello, welcome, how are you?

Love your hat and gloves, so beautiful. Yeah, come on up, we got seats up here, yeah. Look, come sit right next to my daughter if you want, we got seats. VIP section. Hey, look, you wearing gloves and a hat like that, you need to sit up front.

So beautiful. So they go up, Paninah's ridiculing her again, and the Bible says, I'm paraphrasing, but says Hannah was super distraught, and was beginning to just be really down, and the Bible says Elkanah would always give the normal portions to Paninah, her children, but double to Hannah, because he really loved her.

He'd be like, look, you all get this, he'd give like two ribeyes to Hannah, and they're sitting at the table, on this occasion, Hannah doesn't eat, she's just so distraught, doesn't want to eat. I love one verse, just the humorous side of me, I see into it, it goes, he goes, aren't I, like what's wrong, eat, what's the problem, you know, aren't I worth more to you than 10 sons?

And it's just crickets, she doesn't say anything, it's awesome, you gotta read it in the Word. Like if they had cricket emojis, there'd be like three of them right there. It's like chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, it's that awkward, you know, she doesn't answer him.

But he's a sweet, gracious man, he understood she was just in a heavy state, you know, but she just, in other words, she's like, doesn't answer. And she passes on the two ribeyes, she's like, I just, I want a son, Lord, what's going on?

So she leaves the, oh, it says when they all ate, she hadn't eaten yet, she's fasting, and they got it from the table, and it says she was in bitterness of soul, wept in anguish, and turned to the Lord with that though.

That's where the men and boys separate. If we can take those dire situations when it's hard, and we all have been there and get it, but often if we're not careful, we turn away from the Lord. But you take that distraught situation that sometimes, the Bible says the Lord had her barren.

I don't believe that would apply in a new covenant lens, but figuratively speaking, he'll make seasons barren to have you hit this deep place of turning to him and making vows that nobody else will make.

And man, those unlock Samuels that come in the earth. I've been in a man, I remember late 0405, he put me in one, and I look back going, ah, you don't know when you're in them, you don't want to be in them, but they cause something in you.

And if you'll take that state and turn to him wholeheartedly, and if you dare make a vow there and keep it, oh my gosh, Samuel's coming to the earth. And so she does that, says Eli noticed her and said, may it be unto you as you wish, and she becomes pregnant with Samuel.

Beautiful thing, got birthed in that situation. But we fast forward into chapter two and three, and you see Samuel's upbringing, and this is what I want to highlight, in the context of becoming the least of these.

The Kingdom’s Reversal of Worldly Greatness

Super important and beautiful, and I love that, you know, hopefully we'll get this more and more just as we follow the Lord, that how many of you know the kingdom is totally backwards to the world? And I love Romans 12 too.

It says that we, how many of you are believers in here? Should be everybody now that, yeah. Or somebody was disobedient earlier. I'm teasing. According to you and I, Romans 12 too says, we are not to be conformed to this world, but we're supposed to be transformed, meaning come out of the mold, by the renewing of our mind.

And that's how you find the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. So like that word conformed there, it means it's like I had a container here, say a bottle of water, and it's shaped a certain way.

And you pour water into it, the water's gonna conform to that mold. Well, the renewal of the mind, the biblical true kingdom way, what it does is it transforms, meaning it takes you out of that mold. And if we're not careful, especially in this current day and age and hour, you can easily be conformed to this world, easily.

It's happening at a pace we've never seen. They're trying to infiltrate it and everything. That's why I preach so much. We've gotta be very intentional about disconnecting from the mold. Watch what you watch, what you take in, who you hang around, what you know.

I would even encourage parents, pray about your children. They're in schools, not to go off down this trail, but they're in a school eight hours a day. And so if you don't hear the Lord in that, sometimes you do, and I think it's awesome, but sometimes as well, there's a mold they're being put in eight hours, and then you only have them for a few, before they go to take a bath at night or whatever.

And so just our life, everything, decision-making in this hour, really key that we look for the transforming by the renewing of the mind, the kingdom's way, and it's totally backwards. And I'm just loving it, and I wanna go more and more that way.

So this is another one that is the way of the Lord. It's the pure way of life, the river of life, and choosing to become the least of these. Not popular, but so popular in the kingdom and so beautiful, and this is where life is at, and the enemy will never show you that.

And so we see Samuel do it so, so beautifully, but I wanna preface with some notes I have here. There's a major spirit of consumerism that has crept into the church where it has become all about us. Me, my, and mine.

What's in it for me? And again, what I'm trying to do is, because we don't know it often, we can all, if we were honest, we could admit like, oh yeah, man, you don't mean to, but number one, sinful nature, plus society and the culture, the conforming of the world, it can start to creep in, and it's just not Bible.

And if it's not Bible, it's not life. It's not Jesus, it's not freedom, and I just don't want anything to do with it. And so when Jesus all along promoted and preached the exact opposite, he preached that our lives are for the purpose of being laid down for others.

It's a different mentality, and it's beautiful. I'm trying to find that one. I'm trying to find that narrow path, and a company that wants to go that way. He preached how the servants of all become the greatest of all in the kingdom that he runs, modeling this his entire life while with us in the earth, even leaving us with the final example of washing the disciple's feet before he would die and rise again.

I pray more and more that we would become so fulfilled in aligning with the true kingdom way, and more and more empty when we find ourselves leaning toward the system of this world. You know what I mean?

And it's a journey, it's a life. You're gonna make mistakes, no worries, we all do. But when we start touching the system, the conformity of the world that we touch, it'll be like, yeah, I remember that.

It's a bad taste, bad feeling. There's no life there. Holy Spirit's not there. My flesh likes that way, but how do you follow the Spirit? You don't gratify the desires of the flesh. They're totally different, and I wanna keep going this way.

But I have here, if you want to be insignificant in the kingdom, look to be served. Look to be above others. This is the world system. If you want to be significant in the kingdom, look for each and every opportunity to serve and get under others.

It's a totally backwards mentality, you know? And I want, Jesus says, if you want to be significant in the world that is paved by a broad path that everybody's going down, not knowing that its end leads in death, look for people to serve you.

Climb the ladder of self-prominence along with selfish ambition. Make sure to approach, I'm just pulling the rug out from the world system, because I think sometimes it's healthy that we expose like, oh yeah, whoa, this is, if I'm not careful, this will set in.

This will start to get on my children, and they'll miss the ways of life. You cannot fulfill the will of God going this way. Make sure to approach everything in life with this in mind. What's in it for me?

Or how is this going to benefit me? Or what will I get out of this? How will this better my personal existence? This is the world's mentality. I have here, the more you focused you are, the less likely you are to hit the mark of God's perfect will.

The more him and others focused we become, the more likely we are to hit the mark of God's perfect will. You can hear, and what's beautiful about this, this life of Samuel, there's so much there, but in a fresh way, I saw this narrative.

There's, how many of you know you can crack open the word one week and the same passage is the next week, they're just totally different. And that's why the book's alive. We've got to meditate on his word day and night.

Christ’s Example of Servanthood

But you can see this total polar, sorry, opposite narrative on the sons of Eli versus Samuel floating right before you. And so I'm gonna give us some verses and then jump into his story. Watch this, Philippians 2, three through eight.

Paul writes, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Love this one, man. Basically, Jesus had the pillar in heaven of all deity he could've just hung on to, just stuck by that his whole life, but he let go of that, didn't count that, worthy to be grasped and hung on to, and he came down in human form, humbled himself to serve.

The world's not gonna tell you this. They're like, no, no, hang on to what you got. Put everybody else down, fight for yours, you and yours and your world. And that way will not work in kingdom status or the kingdom narrative.

But not only that, Jesus came down as human form, but then in the human form, he went as low as possible, seeking to be the least of these. It doesn't make sense to, I'm telling you, we've got to renew our mind, otherwise it will not come natural.

This one does not, you guys know what I mean. It does not come natural. But I'm finding life, it intrigues me. I want to seek it more in becoming like him, desiring to be the least. It's who God exalts, it's where the true greats are made, and you can see it all throughout scripture.

So that's what Jesus did. He let go of deity, hit the earth. Not only that, the Bible says he came just in normal human form, like he wasn't even really amazing to look at. He chose just the lowliest of the low.

But then death on the cross, humility to the point, the lowest you can go to serve and give his life up. Mark 9, 34 through 35. But the disciples kept silent for on the way, they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

You can just picture them on the path, they're like, I fish way better than you, man. I caught more fish last week. But obviously in the status of the heaven and where they're going with the Lord, but they're arguing who's the greatest.

That's just sinful nature. Who's better, I'm better, you know, it's always, and it creeps in. And the Bible says, and Jesus sat down and called the 12. He said to them, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

This is the gospel. This is the story of the good news, just Jesus, it's his narrative. He literally sits them down, it says they were walking along the way arguing who's greater. And it was so important, the Bible says, Jesus sat them down.

He was like, no, we can't be just talking while we're all walking, I need eye contact, this has to land, this is very important. Have you ever been talking with somebody and tell they're not listening?

They're like looking off, you know, and I've done that plenty. And you're like, did you hear anything I just said? Me and the kids, you know, it's just in life, it'll happen, I'll be like, hold on. You know, and then, and they're there, and then I'll do it a bunch, I'm like, I'm so sorry, please, I didn't hear a word you said, my mind was, you know, off somewhere.

So the Lord's making sure that's not gonna, he's like, let's sit down, boys, everybody looking at me, eye contact. Okay, listen to me, if you wanna be great, I'm telling you, it's backwards. You've gotta be the least, servant of all.

And I pray we'd find life there, comfort there, and it'd be a renewed mind thing. Mark 10, 42 through 45. I better move quick. And Jesus called them to him and said to him, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you.

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Desco, who was that? Somebody's with me, one person. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

I love this even quick, in Acts 20, verse 35, Paul reminds the elders of the church of Ephesus. He goes, look, it's the words of Jesus. He goes, it's more blessed to give than to receive. That's the more, it's a more blessed life to lay it down this way, to give instead of receiving.

Samuel’s Five Stages of Faithful Service

And if we're not careful, we're wanting what's in it for me. It's really strong, honestly. And we wanna get out of that mold. So I have here, before jumping the word on Samuel, Samuel became greatest by taking the doorway of becoming least.

Meanwhile, Eli's sons were constantly seeking their own, seeking to be served instead of seeking to serve, keeping themselves elevated and of utmost priority, which led to their own quick and final demise.

As far as the kingdom function, when we start to keep in mind what's in it for us first, your downfall is not far. You won't last long. You can see them, it doesn't last long. But the greats, they're always seeking to be the lowest and after the least.

And it just doesn't make sense to the natural mind and intellect. You would think, no, I've gotta stay in the light. I've gotta be seen, and people need to know. And you hear it in conversations, people, if we're not careful, we wanna hurry up and tell everybody our resume and how much we, so we keep climbing the ladder.

But the people that are securing him, they know the Lord elevates when he wants. He exalts in due seasons. And when he exalts anyway, it's permanent. It's the better way. And so it's like intentionally seeking to be the least is actually the greatest.

This is what Jesus taught over and over again. You know, and it's so, so beautiful. So I have five stages of Samuel's life that we can see. I'm just gonna pull them out. And hopefully they land and bless us.

But in 1 Samuel 2, 11, I love it. Hannah just received Samuel, brought him back to Eli and devoted him. She kept her vow. And the Bible says basically Samuel was reared in the presence of the Lord all the days of his life.

Incredible. But in 1 Samuel 2, 11, Elkanah says they went up that year, left Eli, they went back. And it says, but the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. So this first stage, because what you can see here, maybe you read it slower on your own time, but what you can see here, it's awesome.

It's almost like they'll do in movies sometimes, which my only really gauge on that would be like cartoon stuff. But you know, sometimes there's like a scene going on and then another storyline and they're bringing you back and forth.

That's what's happening here. And so it'll go on about Eli's sons and then it pops you back into Samuel, where he's at. And then it hops back over and it just lets us into these windows of Samuel's life as he's growing up, similar to the Lord.

At the age of 12, you pop in and then you pop out and come back in. So this is the first one. It says, but the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. What this basically means is Samuel's serving Eli.

That's his whole role as a child. He just starts to serve Eli. And by doing that, it's actually ministering to the Lord. This first stage, you know, scholars believe that he maybe could just light some candles initially, start to learn to play some instruments, like not much.

Nothing seemingly amazing, number one. Number two, he's just serving the purpose under somebody else. Very insignificant role, seemingly. But heaven's going, yep, he's my guy. He's who I'm raising up.

Hophni and Phinehas are out of here. The Bible says literally the Lord just was waiting to remove them. And you can see Samuel, they're being brought up together under Eli. And I can promise you, Eli's sitting there going, man, this is the son I wish I had, that I never did have in Hophni and Phinehas.

He should have rebuked them harder, but I feel like he had a second chance in Samuel. But what's beautiful, I think the way that the word depicts it is, in this first window, you just see the child. It was accounted as ministering to the Lord, but he served Eli.

So this first stage is when you find yourself serving someone else with no initial apparent status of notoriety. He's just a child, not even named. Didn't he give him a name right there? Hannah knew his name, she named him.

It was like just profound. But when it was given over to the stages of walking out God's perfect will, sometimes you can find yourself in these seasons where you're not even noticed. People barely know your name.

You have no identity. You're just serving somebody else's vision. And we never really leave this place, which is beautiful. That's why I want us to love these things. Just get over the flesh, love the word, love the Lord's way.

But it says, serving someone else with no initial apparent status of notoriety or identity of your own, that is actually seen as truly ministering to the Lord. I have here, this is where a lot of people fall off and never even advance past stage one.

They can't handle serving someone else's vision or call without being seen or recognized, without any true self-notoriety or recognition in the now. And this is why we've gotta get over us. We can't go into things, and again, kingdom.

If you're in the world, man, go make a million dollars and be miserable the rest of the days of your life and hope you make it into heaven. Seriously. Man, go for it. I don't want anything to do with the world system.

And the Lord blesses, don't get me wrong, you may make a million following the Lord, praise God on that too, but there's a big difference. The Bible says, the Lord blesses and adds no sorrow with it. The blessing of the Lord adds no sorrow.

The world, kind of date myself plus back before Jesus. You ever heard that old rap song, mo' money, mo' problems, or whatever? That's what it is in the world. And that's guaranteed going to happen. Sorry, we got a little unsanctified there.

Please forgive me. But in the world, the blessing may come, but sorrow's gonna come with it. I don't care how many doctors you got behind your name, who's who you may think you are, you know you're miserable.

You need the Lord Jesus. There's a void, a hole deep in the heart of man that's always gonna be there until Jesus comes in. Always, man. I remember we were preaching to the gangs in El Salvador. And I remember Jocelyn had a powerful word of knowledge.

One of their backs got healed. But I'm thinking, man, we gotta keep it basic, simple. And through the interpreter, I just went that route. I said, there's a hole in every man's heart. I tried to commend them on the loyalty, honor them as we got in the door, but there's an emptiness until Jesus is there.

But we've gotta go into this thing, because if any of that's still in us, it won't sustain through time, and God can't raise up his greats. But he takes us through these seasons, and it's so beautiful, to then mold his greats.

And that's why I pray early on, we just find attractive again the ways of the Lord that are very counter to the flesh, a very anti-world system, don't make sense. People are gonna think you're crazy.

Why are you always deferring others? It's the kingdom way. Why are you seeking to be the least and the last, and picking up the trash over there that nobody sees or cares about, because they just love him?

And so this is where Samuel, this is all Samuel knew. He aced this thing. He's under Eli, never really had parents, so he didn't know any otherwise. Long, long hair, never cut his hair, he was a Nazarene.

And he goes, okay, Eli, this is my call, this is what I'm here for, got it. You say jump, I say how high? I'll light candles, nobody'll ever know me. While, you know, Hophni and Phineas are getting all the rewards of whatever it may be, I don't care.

And so this stage, though, if we go into it, any slight crack in the door of what's in it for me, you'll fall off, you'll never make it. And I've seen it happen time and time again, if we're not careful.