It's a blessing to be back in the Lord's house tonight. Appreciate the invitation to be in the services. So thankful for all that the Lord's are doing in these days. And I don't have time to tell you all about it. Sometime you get up toward Weaverville, drop by and we'll sit on the porch and I'll share with you what the Lord's are doing. And I can tell you this, we started out with a set amount of money. We bought the property. And over the last three years, two years, we've bought the property and we're to the place where we're fixing to pour the slab. And the money is within $2,000 where it was when we started. And God's just sent people in to help us. And I bless His name for that. 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel 2. Trust you'll pray for us for just a few moments tonight that the Lord will help us. I'll try my best to preach as fast as I can and get out of the way. Amen. 1 Samuel chapter number 2. If you found your place, I'd ask you to stand in honor and reverence to the reading of God's Word. 1 Samuel chapter number 2. The Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse number 1, And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, and there is none besides Thee. Neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceedingly proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth. For the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumble are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased. So that the barren had born seven, and she that hath many children is wax feeble. The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them. Father, thank you for the portion of scripture you've directed my heart to. I pray God that you would enable me to say what needs to be said. Help us, Lord, to be a blessing to this thy people. Hide us in the cross and use us, God, tonight. Touch this church and this congregation and help them, Lord. I pray God to leave here, Lord, better than they came, lighter than they came, uplifted more than when they came and got encouraged along the journey. Help us now, I pray, to help somebody and we'll praise you and we'll thank you for all that you do. We'll ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. And you may be seated. I want to preach for a little while, if the Lord will help me, on from bitter to blessed. From bitter to blessed. You know the story here in the book of 1 Samuel, how that, thank God, Elkanah had two wives. One was named Peninnah and the other Hannah. And the Bible says that, thank God, that Hannah's womb was barren. Thank God. But I want to say thank God. I'm glad God knew where she was at in the journey, just as sure as He knew. Thank God that woman was coming to the whale. He knew the condition that Hannah was in. Matter of fact, you can take it if you want to or leave it if you want to. This was the providential will of God in her life because the Bible said the Lord had shut up her womb. Thank God. So here she is. Thank God she's in a bad situation. And the Bible says in verse number 10 of chapter 1, she said, and she was in bitterness of soul. I want you to notice first of all the reason for Hannah's bitterness. First of all, thank God, the portion that she was receiving did not satisfy. Thank God, her husband was good to her, and the Bible said he gave her a double portion, or he gave her a worthy portion. Thank God, but thank God he wasn't giving her what she needed. Amen. It wasn't a portion she wanted. It was a baby. Amen. And she was not satisfied with her portion. Secondly, the reason she was bitter is because of a lady named Panenna living in her house. Amen. Now you think you've got problems. You think you're dealing with struggles. How'd you like to go home, lady, to another lady in your house? Help us, Lord. I'm going to tell you, thank God, that would be a hard pill to swallow, wouldn't it? Amen. Now, most of us, when we get stressed on the job or stressed with the, thank God, with the other matters of life, we flee to our homes for a refuge. Hannah did not have a place to where she could flee to a refuge, but when she went home, guess what? The problem was looking her between the eyes. I'm going to tell you, thank God, when you got problems down at the house, you got big problems. Amen. She was bitter. Thank God she was dealing with bitterness because she was not satisfied with the portion and because there was a paninna in her house. But the Bible says that she provoked her sore. That means to hit in the same spot. Continuously. Now if I walk up, Brother Joel, and hit you on the shoulder, thank God, one time it probably won't bother you too much. But if I stand here day in and day out hitting you in the same spot, it don't matter how lightly I'm hitting or how hard I'm hitting, eventually it's going to become sore. And that's exactly where Hannah was. The Bible said she provoked her sore. She had smote her in the same spot and in the same place, day after day, week after week, month after month, until Hannah was provoked sore. Amen. She was in bitterness because of the provoking. She was in bitterness because of the paninna. But I want to say thank God she had a prayer that was about to be answered. Amen. Can I say to you, child of God, don't give up yet. God's affixing to do something. Amen. Just when you think the Lord's not listening, just when you think, thank God, the Lord's not going to answer your cry and hear your petition. Thank God the Lord said, thank God, guess what, Hannah? I've heard your cry. I thank God. Things wasn't right down at the house of God. Things wasn't right at her house. Things wasn't right anywhere she went. But she had a cry in her heart and a petition to God. And God heard and answered her prayer. Amen. Amen. I thank God this was a prayer of bitterness. But bitterness was fixing to become a blessing. Amen. Now the Bible said that not only did Hannah have bitterness, but Hannah had a baby. Amen. The Bible said that, you know the story, she went down and Eli marked her mouth and said, you're one of them drunk women. And she said, oh no, my Lord, don't mark me as one of the daughters of Bilal. I'm not one of them. I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. Amen. And my petition's been poured out to the Lord. I thank God. And Eli said, I thank God God grants you your petition. And the Bible said they went home and she conceived. Amen. God opened her womb. Don't miss this. I thank God her womb was closed by the hand of God and her pain was going to produce one of the greatest blessings of the Old Testament. Did you hear what I said? I said her pain, her trouble, her bitterness, out of all that trial was going to come Samuel, the man of God, that God was going to raise up to anoint kings and prophets, and God was going to use him great. We would have never heard about Samuel had Hannah not been bitter. Can I say something right here? Some of you have got problems. We've all got problems. Matter of fact, I'd say there ain't nobody in here without some kind of problem. You know how I know you got problems? Because you're flesh just like I am. And you're eat up with problems just like I am. Amen. But I'm glad God's bigger than my problem. Amen. When was the last time you told your problem that God was bigger than him? I know you spend a lot of time telling God how big your problem is, but when was the last time you told your problem how big your God was? Amen. I believe, thank God, it'd do us good to talk to our problems every once in a while and say, let me tell you something, buddy, you may be big in my life right now, this may be a big thing in my life right now, but it ain't near as big as my God. Thank God, I'm glad I've got a God that's able to handle every problem. Amen. So her pain and her bitterness was going to produce one of the greatest blessings to the nation of Israel. Could it be tonight that the pain and struggle that you and I are dealing with are going to produce something God's going to use. Amen. Could it be that God's going to produce something from our pain, from our bitterness, from our struggle, that's going to bless His name one day? Amen. Now, I've preached all that as an introduction to get to my message. Amen. I'm preaching on when bitterness becomes a blessing. Now, the Bible said in chapter 1 that Hannah's praying. This is kindly a private prayer, although her lips are moving. We're not told what she's saying. Ain't that right? And I'm going to tell you, thank God, when you're burdened sometimes, it's best that everybody not know your business. Now, if you ain't careful, you'll come to church and you'll tell everybody your business. Amen. I thank God when you're dealing with problems, when you're dealing with bitterness, when you're dealing with those things, I thank God sometimes the best thing you can do is get in your closet, shut the door and pour out your complaint before the Lord. Amen. Besides that, ain't nobody in our church can fix it anyway. If God can't fix it, we sure can't. Ain't that right? So thank God Hannah, Hannah knows what it is to pray in bitterness. Hannah knows what it is to be provoked sober. Hannah knows what it is, thank God, to be, I thank God, made fun of in her own house and deal with the problems in her own home. Amen. But now, there's something going on inside of Hannah. Amen. And there's something growing on the inside of her. Amen. Now, I always thought about this pregnancy thing. It's a miracle of God. Amen. You ladies get to experience something us men don't know anything about. You actually get to have another human being come alive inside of you. Amen. And we're living in a day when that's looked down upon by society. And they'll say, you ladies ought to choose you a better career and forget about that homemaking. Amen. I forget about raising the family. I thank God and go off and get... Amen. Help us, Lord. But I'm glad, thank God, that there's something growing on the inside. And can I say by faith, thank God, there's something down on the inside of you that's growing. Amen? Now, if you're saved and the Holy Ghost is inside of you, there's something inside of you. And He said, add to your faith virtue, temperance, knowledge, all those things. And it's up to us to add some things. And when we do our part, that someone on the inside almost said something, boy, that might hurt his feelings. I don't want everyone to do that. Amen. He's a person. The Holy Ghost is not a thing. He's a person. He's got feelings. He can be grieved. He can be quenched. Ain't that right? And so the Bible says that now there's something growing on the inside of her. I was sharing with the preachers today at breakfast, I think it was, I said, ain't it amazing that when God got ready to give Adam a life, He put him into a deep sleep, reached into his side, pulled out a rib, and when Adam woke up, he didn't have a baby that came from a rib, he had a grown woman standing. Only God could bring forth a miracle like that. Amen. He didn't grow him a wife. Amen. If he did, he grew her on the inside. Because when he woke up, thank God, she was... He said, whoa, man. Amen. Isaiah was something beautiful about her. Amen. Caught his attention. You know why? Because she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. And thank God, she was the one that God created for him. You'll never be satisfied, young people, until you find the one God wants you to have. Amen. Well, now she's got something growing on the inside of her. Three months go by, six months go by, eight months go by, she's to that miserable state now. You old ladies know what I'm talking about. If you've ever had kids, you get to that place where you just want that thing brought forth. Amen. I mean, you get to that place. My wife looked at me and she said, I want one thing, this thing out of me. Amen. And amen. You get to that place, don't you? I'm going to tell you, if you carry that bitterness and that burden long enough, I thank God you'll carry it to the place. God will let you push it out. Lord God, I never had thought about that. And I want to tell you, thank God, when God allows you to push it out, that pain, that burden, that bitterness will become a blessing to you and all those around you. Now notice Hannah's praying in chapter 1, and we're not told what she says, but in chapter 2, God says, I want you to write down what Hannah prayed. I don't know if that blesses you or not, but it blesses my heart. that God would write down someone's prayer. He thought enough of this prayer to have it recorded in His book. Does that let you know the importance of this prayer? Does that let you know how much God thinks about this prayer? And the Bible said in Hannah prayed. It could have said, and Hannah prayed again. Amen. Because she'd already prayed in chapter one. But thank God, chapter one, she's consumed with problems. Chapter one, she's consumed with the burden and the bitterness that's in her life. But now, thank God, God's delivered through her pain and through her suffering. That's a blessing to her. And now she's fixing to pray a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. She said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. That don't sound like a woman in bitterness to me, does it you? My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. I thank God. Is anybody in here tonight could say that with me? My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My heart don't rejoice in my bank account. My heart don't even rejoice in my family. But my heart rejoices in the Lord. Amen. She said, my mouth is enlarged over my enemies because I rejoice in Thy salvation. She says if I'm going to rejoice in anything, it's the Lord's salvation. Amen. Thank God. That kind of goes along with what the Lord said in the New Testament. He said, Rejoice not because the devils are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names... You know what He's telling them? Rejoice in my salvation. Amen. Are you saved tonight? Raise your hand. About everybody in here is saved. How long has it been since you rejoiced? I don't, I didn't mean that. Thank you, Jesus. I'm talking about rejoicing, getting beside yourself. Amen. These preachers been talking about the old time all day and, and thank God they're older than me, so they experienced more of that old time stuff. I thank God where they'd shout and run the house and stuff than I ever have. I caught in on the tail end of it after I got saved, but thank God I'm a candidate for it. Amen. Thank God. And she said, I'm going to rejoice in thy salvation. She said, there is none. Can I paraphrase right here? There's none. There's none as the holy as the Lord. What she's saying, there ain't none like him. And thank God, there's a lot of things you can brag on in this world, but there ain't nobody like him. Amen. My wife's good to me. She's put up with me for 27 years, not counting almost four years we dated. Amen. I'm thankful for that. But I'm going to tell you, she's never been as good to me as the Lord has. Amen. She's been good to me. She's been a blessing to me. We've enjoyed our lives together. Thank God. But she's never done for me what the Lord done. Thank God. When He got me out of hell and put a little heaven in my soul, I said, bless His name. Thank God. No wonder. And thank God God passed the bitterness. And now she's rejoicing. Amen. She said, talk no more, so exceedingly proud. Let not arrogance come out of thy mouth. For the Lord is the God of knowledge. By Him, actions are weighed. She said, God's going to put everything we do on a scale one day. Now, a lot of people do things, and you think they're doing it for the right reason. But there's an underlying motive. They might be doing it because the preacher's watching. Or somebody down at the church is looking. Amen. But I'm going to tell you, there's coming a day when God is going to put all our works on the scales. Our actions will be weighed. He's had a blessing. Thank God. I'm glad. I'm glad. Thank God that the scales will be fired that day. A lot of times nowadays you wonder if things is really fair like it's supposed to be. If it's only up and up like it's supposed to be. I'm going to tell you, thank God, His scales ain't going to cheat you. He'll weigh exactly what you swayed out. Hey man, listen to this, I'm hurrying. He said, the bows of the mighty men are broken. Ain't you glad? Thank God. What in the world is He saying? He said, She's saying my enemies are shooting at me, and God read you in and broke the bow. Amen. I don't know about you, but that helps me, thank God. I thank God. There's been a lot of times I've been shot at. Amen. I've been shot at by sinners. I've been shot at by the world. I've even been shot at down at the house of God. Amen. Amen. She said, I want you to know that God has reached in and broke the error of monotony. Amen. She said, I want you to notice, thank God the mighty men of their bows are broke. They that stumble are girded with strength. Anybody here feel like you're stumbling around? Feel like you're just kind of stumbling through life? Don't feel like you have a real direction? Just kind of... Stumbling through life? Any young people feel like you're stumbling through life? Just trying to get service to service? He said the Lord, she said the Lord is there to strengthen those who are stumbling. In other words, that means to hold you up. Amen. Ain't you glad? Thank God the Lord's interested to hold you up. Amen. So this is what she says. She said, they were full, have hired out themselves for bread, and they were hungry, ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children has waxed feeble. You know what she's doing? She's rejoicing about what's going on in her house. She said the one that was barren is going to bear seven, and she that used to be barren is waxing feeble. She's not popping them babies out like she was. Amen. Why? Because God is a blessing hand, I thank God, and He's going to bless her. I thank God in spite of her burden and her bitterness, He's going to bless her. Amen. She says, the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust. He lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill. Now, when I was a boy, my uncle had them Arabian horses out yonder in the barn. big high falutin' registered horses and I didn't know that, all I knew was a horse, a good horse put a saddle on the ride or made a plow with it. It didn't matter to me whether it had papers or not. All I was interested in was staying on. And as a kid, I struggled with staying in and going because my head was the biggest part about me. And it seemed like I was always getting pulled off, amen. But I noticed my uncle and them, they would clean out that barn stalls and they would take that horse waste out yonder and they'd dump it off the bank in a certain spot. And over the years, those two or three wheelbarrows turned into truckloads. And there become a dungheel beside the barn. Are you listening to me? Everybody knows what a dungheel is now. She said, He lifteth the beggar out of the dungheel. She said, I want you to be reminded where He found you, Mr. Bagger. He found you, thank God. You wasn't sitting on a church pew when He found you, started looking for you. Thank God you were sitting in a mass, and He came to where you was at, and He lifted you out of that mess. I say, bless His name. What a blessing, thank God, that God would come and lift a bagger out of the dunghill. He said He lifted them out of that mess and set them among princes. All you that said you were saved, raise your hand again. You know what you are tonight? You're an heir and a joint heir. Do you have any idea what that means? That means everything He's got, you've got. Amen. Now, I've got to illustrate this and get out of the way. So, my son got married back in August. I'll give you a piece of advice. Don't get married in Hayfield in August. Amen. It is hot. Amen. But he got married. He got married in August. He's been living in another house ever since then and been building a house. And he just got it built. He's moving into it now. But when he got married, he's a good young'un. He never gave me no trouble. He never stole nothing or done me wrong. So when he got married, he said, here, Dad, I'm going to give you the key back to your house. I said, no, no, no, no, no, buddy. That ain't how this works. You were my son yesterday, and you had a key to this house. And you're my son today, and you'll be my son tomorrow. And you still got a key to the house. So these are Brother Ken's, I don't know what kind of keys they are, but I'm just using them for an illustration. And there's a house key on there, I can see that. And there's a car key. And I told that boy of mine, I said, listen to me, son. I said, nothing's changed. Just because you got married, your residence has changed. But mine and your relationship's not changed. Are you listening to me? I said, if you need in the house, you've got a key. So now he's blessed. He don't just have a key to his house. He's got a key to my house and his house. You know why? Because he's an heir. Amen. I said, you want something to drink? It's in the refrigerator. You want something to eat? It's in the cupboard. Thank God you need to go to the restroom, take a shower. The bathroom's in there. Thank God you know where everything's at. Don't call me. Just use your keys. You know why? Because he's mine. He's my youngin'. I said, not only do you have access to the house, I said, if your car breaks down and you need, my truck's sittin' out there, and you need a vehicle, you got a key. Now wouldn't it be foolish for him to sit in the yard in the cold tonight, hungry, without any transportation, when he had the keys in his pocket? You'd say, you'd have to be stupid to have that kind of access and not use it. Scooby-Doo would say, rock, roll, amen. And you and I would have to be absolutely ignorant tonight to have access to the throne of grace, to have access to everything He's got. and not use the keys. He set us among princes. Is that what the Bible says? He set us, got us out of the mess, and set us among princes. Do you have any idea where you're sitting at tonight? Ephesians chapter 1, I believe it is, says, He hath, past tense, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He hath, hath, hath, hastens. That means everything you got is over there in the account in your name. Well, I just, I just don't know how I'm going to get a blessing. Well, I'll tell you what you ought to do. I'd get on the phone and use the keys through prayer. And I'd call the Father through the name of the Son. And I'd say, I need some help down here. Amen. And if you don't do that, I can't help you. Amen. He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Then in chapter 2 of Ephesians, he says this, don't miss this. He said we're sitting with Him, sit together with Him in heavenly places. He didn't say one day hang on, hold out, endure to the end and you'll get to sit with me. It don't even say that in the NIV Bible. It says right now we're seated with Him in the heavenlies. Sounds to me like we're at the table. Amen. I don't know about you, but if I'm sitting at the table, if me and this brother are sitting at the table, and there's mashed potatoes on his end of the table, and I want some, I ain't going to get up and go around the table. I'm going to say, pass me the tables. And God's waiting on you to say, how about reaching me that blessing, Lord? I'm really needing it today. I love your fellowship. I love to be around you. And it's something just about being at the table with you. You get to bragging on him like that, and he'll say, what can I give you? He inhabits the praise of his people. He's lifted us up out of dunghill, set us among princes. I think he said something about glory in the last part. She said something about glory in the next part of that verse, didn't she? You sit around and talk about these wicked, old, mean last days. Beat yourself up and get in the molly grubs if you want to. But old brother Reed Cooper preached years ago on the good old days of Noah. It was a day when God was still speaking to His man. It was a day when God was still dealing with them. And thank God, the Word of God was still going out. And right up to the end, God finally said, Come on in, Noah, and I'm going to ride through this mess with you. Amen. Why in the world would I want to be discouraged and get bitter tonight at the struggles of life when the Lord's just waking to bless me? Amen. I'm going to preach over that.