And it's good to be home. I appreciate the fellows taking care of the services and you who labored in prayer for them. Lord, it doesn't matter who does it. It's all dependent upon our Lord and His sweet, kind, gracious Holy Spirit. If you turn with me this morning to 1 Samuel 9, there were a couple of more things that I wanted to bring out in Psalm 51, and I don't know if Or when I might get back there, but this is the only thing The only direction I've had For today's service 1st Samuel chapter 9 And in a few moments We'll begin reading with verse 18 and read to the end of the chapter. Only a few verses, but would you bow with me as we seek our Lord. Our Father, We've heard Already Such a sweet and gracious command of our Lord And it is a place Thou art the being that we must get to and learn. We must learn thee as an individual. So I pray that you might open our hearts to a greater understanding a greater desire and a longing to know thee. I think you might be pleased to open our ears and our eyes and give this people that from above Not that from a man, that'll do them no good. Hopefully it might direct them, prod them in a right direction. So they've got to get to thee, and learn thee. And just be overcome with the realization that I can and am walking with the Lord Jesus. I can and I do speak with the great God of creation through Christ by Thy Spirit. Magnify thy name today, exalt thy son, and give help and edification to the children. And if it's pleasing, Father, begin stirring hearts and opening hearts, making us know and creating a desire within to get to Thee so strong that it overcomes all obstacles. Give us Thy Spirit to accomplish all this we ask in Christ's name. Amen. 1 Samuel chapter number 9, verse number, we'll begin reading with verse number 18. Now you can go back, all of you I'm sure are familiar with the incident recorded here. Saul's father Kish has lost two of his new donkeys, I think the King James, two of his asses. And Saul and a servant have been hunting them. And Saul says, we need to turn around and go home because our father will be more concerned about us than he is his two donkeys. And the servant said, well, there's a seer over there, a prophet, and he can give us direction. And Saul said, well, if you go see him, you need to take him something. And the servant said, well, we got this to take to him. So they go to see the prophet, try to find the prophet, to find out about two mules that are lost. And you can see clearly the providence of God in two mules straying away. a greater and higher end did our Lord have in mind when he brought this about Saul hunting two mules is going to be anointed the king of Israel now in verse number 18 before I read let me Speaking about the providence of God, I remind you again Romans 8, all things work together for good. All things work together for good. Now some things are devastating to the natural man. You don't see any good out of them. But I heard one of the best illustrations, I think, that I've ever heard concerning this. You walk in and the wife or the mother is baking a cake. Well, you don't sit down and get a handful of flour and eat that flour. He said, that's just, that'd be awful. Or you don't get a half a cup of butter and sit there eating that butter, or two tablespoons, or whatever amount of flavor, and you don't drink that. One at a time, they would be awful. But you let her put all those ingredients together, that flour, Whatever all that goes in in the cake Let her bake it And you got something really good to sit down So there will be some things in your life that are bitter Just as a single event or happening But just stay as calm as you can with the help of the Lord and let him put it all together and put you in the oven and you'll come out a purified piece of silver or a shining piece of gold. That's the intent of everything that happens to you. Now in verse number 18, Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer. Go up before me into the high place, for ye shall eat with me today. And tomorrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart. And see, God's seer, prophet, messenger already knew why they were there. And as for thine ashes that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them, for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and all thy father's house? And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Wherefore then speakest thou so to me? And Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the parlor. And made them sit in the cheapest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons. And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee. And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left. said it before thee, and thee, for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day. Samuel already had the meal prepared, he knew he was coming. Didn't like to The king that sent his wife said, disguise thyself and go up to the prophet's house and ask him what's going to become of our son. The prophet was blind and couldn't see. But before she ever knocked on the door, he said, come in thy wife, and I can't remember the king's name. God already told him. The king's wife is fixing to be here. And this is what she's going to ask you, and this is what you will tell her. So, the seer and the prophets had discernment, they knew. In verse 25, And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. And they arose early, and it came to pass, about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out, both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, bid the servant pass on. And that's the title for today. Bid the servant pass on before us. And he passed on. But stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the word of God. God had a particular message to a particular individual and he was all alone. When Samuel was about to anoint him, Cassius' servant, Saul's traveling companion, was not with him. When Israel in bondage cried time and again, God raised up a deliverer, Ehud, and he sent him down to the king Eglon. And some came with him, and he brought the king a present, but he sent them all away. And he said, I have a secret errand to thee, O king. The king said, keep silence. And he sent them all away. I have a message from God. And I got the king's attention. I mean, he was a heathen. But it got his attention when he said he had a message from God. He didn't know that that message was that he would die within the next hour or two. So Samuel sent Saul's servant away, just the two of them. And the king sent all his servants And the deliverer that God had raised up for Israel, he sent all those that came with him away. And it was just Ehud and the king. One on one. The Lord always works on an individual basis. Now you're fixing to bring up to me that on the day of Pentecost 3,000 souls were added and there were other occasions where souls were added to the church. Yes, that's true, but each one of the 3,000 had a personal, private, secret work in his or her heart. And never how many thousand that might have been in the crowd that day, he, one of the three thousand added to the church, was the only one there as far as he was concerned. God was speaking directly to him And no one else. If you ever hear from the Lord, it will be you and the Lord. And though I might be speaking to all of you, if God does not speak to you as an individual, you will leave having gained nothing today. A teacher might have 25 students in a class. A professor might have 125 or 250, and though he's speaking to everyone in the classroom, only the student that hears as an individual. that comes in and sits down with his or her mind focused entirely on obtaining what the teacher has to say that day, only he gets the lesson, especially if it's a difficult class. Now there are some things easily grasped. And you can do them with your mind traveling in 20 different directions. A mother that has baked bread a thousand times can listen to the radio. She can listen to her child asking questions or talking. But in hearing God, it's different. Nothing else you can be doing. No one else but you. You must be alone to hear, bid your servant pass on, and learn of the Lord. The verses that Tim read in the devotion Christ was speaking, there might have been several there that day, but he was speaking only to a particular individual. Now, several individuals might have heard him and come to him, but they came as individuals. You've got to be alone. Now folks, you can hear about Christ, God, in a church gathering. You can even read your Bible and hear about God, about salvation, but no amount of intellectual comprehension can ever bring you into a personal, vital, saving union with Christ. That's one-on-one. You can be regular in your attendance. You can be active in, about all you hear today out there is good works. You've got to keep active in doing this or that. You can be active in good works. But when it comes to hearing God, you're all alone. You're still. And you're quiet. Now it's right to do good works when the opportunity avails itself. But this gospel of carrying the gospel out to everybody as your responsibility, it's been misapplied and abused. Now if you can find someone that is needy, And someone that will hear you, that would be really good to share the gospel with them. But it's not your responsibility to go out there and spread the seed everywhere. Follow the direction of the Spirit. Well, I got off topic a little bit on good words, but Psalm 46, be still. That is alone, another word for still. feeble or idle and know that I am God. They that rest only in the letter of this book can only use steel there as a ceasing of motion. You quit walking. You sit down. You become idle. Folks, you can be all alone and doing nothing. You can be at complete rest and not be still because at complete rest physically your mind could be running in a thousand directions. within you is so great you can't hear anything. To hear God, it means silence. And that's a difficult place to get. It's not facts about an individual, but a personal relationship Well, you get to know them. It's private conversations. You talking. He or she talking to you. That's when you get to know someone. Be still. Be alone and know. Saul, bid your servant pass on, because I've got a word to you from God. Now God did not intend on your total isolation from all human beings. I keep that in mind and I'll share a couple of verses in a moment. He didn't mean for you to be a monk and move off in some monastery somewhere. He made you salt and He made you light. And God created you as a sociable individual. Where you can commune with another. You can share good news if you find one receptive. So whatever, well let me labor this point, Ecclesiastes 4. Set this before you so that you'll know I'm not saying you got to be all alone in the world Ecclesiastes 4 beginning with verse number 9 2 are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have he. But how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. A fellow mate, a companion, a close, trusted friend, God intended on us having. He sent them out two by two. One falls, the other will help him up. Matched them up with two different personalities. I mean, Peter and John, they're just totally opposite in their personality. Yet, they go together. Now, this is my putting it in my words, what Solomon said, a man that hath friends, and this is why I'm going to change it to my language, must play the part of a friend. King James said, must show himself friendly. You're not going to have a friend, a true friend, Unless you yourself are a friend. In many ways, friends are alike. Same interest, maybe the same hobbies, like this, don't like that, yet their personalities are different. Same with marriage. There, two different personalities attract each other. Now if each, be it a friend or be it a mate, has a good heart, not one of these is always right, and cannot be told differently if each has a good heart then they're able to help each other getting to know closely over the years a few that have remained close personal friends, being close to them and walking with them, they unknowingly have exposed a lot of my weaknesses. Now hopefully, I have maybe helped them in some of their weaknesses, and one of us on the left and one of us on the right, and I'm not talking politics when I use left and right, but one on the left and one on the right, we just, we kind of blend together and merge into one, helping each other so that we don't blunder off and fall in the ditch and ruin our lives. Friends are to help one another But there are some out there and I'm sure you know quite a few That are so arrogant and proud and never wrong Now you couldn't pull them. You can't even tell them You're not right there That's wrong. You just learn to keep your mouth shut because they're not gonna hear you And you can't pull them in the right direction Folks, there's only one That is right in everything that he did and everything that he said and is saying And it is our being alone with Him that draws, now He's perfect, our being alone with Him that draws from us all our Adamic nature over a period of years and years and years. We'll never get rid of it now. but he draws us to a loving, a submissive, a holy walk. Now to be taught by the Lord, and to learn the Lord, then bid your friends, your companion, your work, Your activities and your hobbies bid them all to pass on And gather up just a few moments that's about all that you can find in this day Of being alone and still Now let me give you one of the old 19th century He would be labeled a mystic in our day. And there were two or three others, but I've lost them this week. But this one said, even a friendly human presence is an obstacle to fellowship with the Lord. Even one comrade is too many. He distracts, He keeps God at a certain distance. It is seclusion with Him, which is the mother country of peace, holiness, and strength. Your parents can be of benefit to your children. Your husband or you as a wife can be of benefit to your companion. You with a close friend can be a help to that friend. But only to the degree that you derive nourishment from the Lord when you are all alone. You can't tell your children anything but what God's already taught you. You can't tell your companion. God's not going to teach you in a crowd. You might be in a crowd and be taught by the Lord, but you're in the crowd as an individual. Mothers that breastfeed their babies must themselves pull up to the table and get a sufficient diet that they can pass along to that newborn infant. One of the saddest things that I've ever witnessed is a newborn baby coming into the world with an addiction to drugs. Derived it all because that's what the little one's mother took into her system, and she passed it on to the baby. Be careful what you eat, dear children. Because that's what you're going to pass on to a mate, to a child, to children, to a friend. Paul said, we were gentle This is the first letter to the Thessalonians. We were gentle among you as a nurse. You know how gentle a mother is to a little infant. Paul was one of the most devoted of the Lord's servants to the church of Jesus Christ. You cannot read his letters, but what you feel his very heartbeat for all that he's writing to Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Thessalonians. You hear it, you feel it in him. And even when he is stern, and some today would consider him very harsh, but even in that it was always for the good of the whole. And if you had to take on an individual, he didn't mind it. Get him out of the church. He said to the church at Corinth. Later on he wrote, you can restore him now. But turn him over to the devil. But in that he was looking after the good of the whole of the church. He had everybody in the church at heart. And it was harsh to dismiss one from the congregation and turn him over to the devil. But this is what he said, I have delivered unto you that that I received of the Lord. Paul, where did you get that? Well, in my time of quietness and stillness, alone, he didn't have anything to give anybody except that which he received. That mother feeding that little one, She can't keep on unless she nourishes herself. And unless you bid everything pass on, you've got nothing to give to anyone. That's what's brought us to such a low state in Christianity. I'll give you one more Acts chapter 20. And I pointed out this verse to you Paul had been preaching all night Giving away everything that he had received And they get ready to leave, verse number 13, Acts 20. And we went before the ship and sailed to Isis, there intended to take in Paul. For so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. He's got to be replenished. He's got to be fed again. He has given away to the people here everything that he had received. Now remember what I told you about the old rider. One companion is too many. He will distract from you And you're walking with the Lord. Now, when I say that, I preface that all with that in Ecclesiastes you were meant to be sociable with others. But there are times you've got to be all by yourself. Quiet. For the Lord communicates with the children in a still, small voice. So Paul sent them all along. You go on. I don't know how many days it took for him to walk. But I'm fully convinced his purpose was just commune with the Lord, hear Him, receive from Him, get that which He had had me deliver to the next group. And it's that still, small voice that Paul had to get by himself. Elijah in the cave, wind, earthquake, fire. It said the Lord was not in the earthquake or in the fire. They had no voice. Providence had no voice to a depressed servant of God that requested that he could die. But after the earthquake and after the fire, there was a still small voice. And when Elijah heard that, he wrapped his face in his mouth. He knew that's God. Rocks being torn in two, mountains quaking, wind, such force out there. But it had nothing to say to Elijah. But when God said something in that still, small voice, he bowed. I want you to get to the place, children, where you discern the voice of God in the stillness and quietness of your heart. Isaiah 42, he shall not cry nor lift up his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. And he turned from the multitude and talked to his disciples. Deuteronomy, my speech, shall distill as dew. But when does the dew fall? In the stillness, the quietness, and the darkness of night. But those tender herbs, they are revitalized by that whispering, gentle falling of the dew. I will give thee the treasures of darkness, Isaiah 45. You'll gain a lot in your darkness. I know you don't like it. I don't. I'll give you the hidden riches of the secret place. Children, you've got to find one. Did everything pass on? The Lord said to Moses in Exodus 34, be ready in the morning. Come up to the mount. Present thyself there before me. God gave him all night to get ready to meet him. You just can't rush into his presence. Isaiah comes to Hezekiah and says, God told me to tell you, you're going to die. And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall. Now, folk, there's nothing spiritual in looking at a wall. The way he was doing it, he was turning his back on everything. Putting everything behind him. And you cannot begin to get a sense of the reality of God's immensity, God's power, God's greatness, the vastness of God's heart, His long suffering, His Eternal mercies, you can't get that until you're all alone and quiet. You might know all those things in your head, but you can't get a real sense of them until you're alone and quiet. All that most do, all that most professing Christians do in our day is they attend a religious service, might be a good service. They sing hymns and it might be good, edifying, spiritual hymns. And they might listen, and it might be a good, right exposition of scripture, yet they never move one degree in heart towards God. If we had some kind of thermometer that could measure our love, we probably all would hang our heads in shame and cry out for mercy. Be still. Did the servant pass on? You stand here all alone, Saul. For it is in that stillness and quietness and you being alone that you gain a true sense and awareness of yourself. Most of us take for granted, this is who I am and what I am. And often times our opinion of ourselves is too high. Paul said to the Romans, don't think more highly of yourselves than you ought to, but think soberly according to the measure of faith. In quietness and in activity I began to come to a clearer knowledge of me, who I am. And that's brought about by the purity and the brightness of the light emanating from the glory of God. That light manifests such darkness and impurities within me that my opinion of self dwindles to almost nothing. But now children, don't dwell here. It's good to know that you are a son or daughter of Adam. It's good to know that you are depraved. But don't dwell on this for an extended period of time because you'll end up in great depression. Look away from this. From this poverty of spirit, climb out. And it will magnify Christ and His work to your hearts. And seeing Him, it strips me of any hope of self or confidence that I might have within, casting me totally upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Folk, if I or you am accepted, then we are accepted in the Beloved. In my hand, no good I bring. What I find out about me? all along with the Lord? Or do I find out about my righteousness and sanctification and salvation and acceptance with God all along with Christ? But our problem is the almost impossible, difficult task of getting still and alone and when I get still and when I get alone I still have me to contend with and it's a hard labor to get quiet within but that's the only place you'll hear from God So bid your servant pass on. I have a message from God for you.