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Pastor Pancho Juarez - 1 Samuel 1 - Subject of Bitterness - 5/4/2014
Pancho ask us to think of someone that makes us bitter. He describes how sometimes when he is the pastor at funerals that he has to break up fights.
Job was put through great trials and he said: Job 7:11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Hezekiah was bitter: Isaiah 38:3 and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
When a lot of people get bitter the get bilingual - they get Johnny Walker or Jose Cuervo, or they get over medicated. People get an erupting volcano inside them of bitterness.
Paul the Apostle tells men not to get bitter to their wives, it does not tell women not to get bitter. Pastor Pancho says us men should know why it says that.
Hebrews 12:15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
1 Samuel 1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu,[a]the son of Tohu,[b] the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. 4 And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.
When there is preferential treatment in the family then we all know there is a problem, if we are preferential to one kid the other kids know and have resentment.
1 Samuel 6 And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb.
We do not know why God closed her womb.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
1 Samuel 7 So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.
We read that Hannah is emotionally distraught and does not eat.
1 Samuel 8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
Her husband, like most of us husbands, does not understand why she is upset. He thinks that his love is enough.
1 Samuel 9 So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.
She basically and emotional basket case, the Bible describes her soul as being bitter. The heart is in anguish. Then she comes to a point of pouring her heart out to the lord. Before you get to that point, many have lashed out at others, hurting family and friends, becoming alienated from those they love.
Bitterness causes a loss of many of the emotional blessings of God.
Ruth 1:20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi;[a] call me Mara,[b] for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
Pastor said when someone told him to turn to Jesus and his problems would go away, but Pancho said he did not do that, he decided that getting high could make his problems go away. But that was only temporary, drugs make problems go away for some temporary and then they are an additional problem.
When you become a Christian your problems will not go away, but you do have a leader a counselor and someone to turn to. His name is Jesus Christ.
3 Reasons from the Bible for suffering:
Produce fruit
Glorify God
Rebuke our sin
God can remove the bitterness from your heart, He gets it and loves you and you are not alone.
1 Samuel 11 Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” 12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!” 15 But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. 16 “Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman,[d] for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.” 17 Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” 18 And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. 19 Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.” 21 Now the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever.” 23 So Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him. Only let the Lord establish His[f] word.” Then the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. 24 Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of theLord in Shiloh. And the child was young. 25 Then they slaughtered a bull, and brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “O my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.28 Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.
Hannah’s son Samuel became one of the greatest prophets of the Bible.
Pastor Pancho said when he accepted Jesus into his life, he went from a drunkard that woke up at 2 pm that afternoon 39 years ago to accepting Jesus into his life that evening and has not looked back.
Have you accepted the grace of Jesus Christ yet?
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