The Faithful but Flawed Familly

That is an old hymn that we've been doing for years. Brother Keith kind of put it to a little more modern tune. If you can call it that, we have been singing that prayer for years, teach us to pray. And that applies to many different circumstances in life. Definitely applies to this circumstance that we have before us. Now, it is not my custom to take a big block of scripture like this. To be honest with you, it can be difficult. There is a lot here in chapter one. Really, there's a lot here in this story with Hannah and her husband, Elkanah. There's just a lot here. And it's difficult to take this much scripture and really take one message.

That's why I hesitate to try to read all of this. And of course, then that's why I hate not just reading a portion of it. It's just so much. But I think the Lord's gonna teach us quite a bit this morning. And if you would take your Bible and turn back to 1 Samuel chapter one, I would have liked to have read the whole portion of scripture, but I trust that you will in your own time. And like I said, we're gonna look at several places. You write them down. Let's just track together along with the message and go back and study the scripture on our own. I think I'll say this from time to time.

I'd rather you write the scripture down and go back later and read it, rather than try to turn and read the verses and then not follow along in the message. I think most of you know that we would normally be in our series in the Sermon on the Mount this morning. We really should be dealing with the subject of divorce and remarriage. Really, there's a whole host of other sins that we're going to get into when we continue studying that portion of the Sermon on the Mount. But we have a deviation from our series on the Sermon on the Mount, and that is Mother's Day. That is Mother's Day.

I saw a small debate on social media this week centered around celebrating Mother's Day in the life of the church. You might say small debate on social media. Yeah, this was a small debate. You may not have ever thought about it like this, but you know, Mother's Day is really a secular holiday. It's not like Easter. It's not like Christmas, which are considered true Christian holidays. In that particular debate, there was one individual. They were saying that we should celebrate Mother's Day in the life of the church, but then there were those who were opposed to bringing a secular holiday in the life of the church.

And like I said, most of you probably never thought about Mother's Day in that way. But personally, I think it's good. I do think it's good. We learned last week when we went into Genesis chapter two that it was God who gave the very first man that was Adam, and it was God who gave the first woman that was Eve. It was God himself who performed that first marriage ceremony there in the garden. We can honestly say that God instituted Father's Day and Mother's Day back in Genesis when he gave children to the first man and the first woman. That was Adam and Eve.

Simply the family is all from God in the first place, and it really doesn't matter what culture says. It doesn't matter what culture does. I think if there is any fault here, it is with the average church not teaching on family enough. If we are out of balance or in error, it is because we do not teach more often and more intensively on what God says about the family. Now I'm gonna be honest with you and let you know what goes on in my mind in a particular subject like this. When I say things like that, the pastor, preacher, teacher, and me starts thinking about another sermon series.

I start thinking about a small group Bible study or something like that. This is kind of an inside joke, but you might not realize that I'm really gonna have to live to be 100 and preach till I'm 100. I don't really have much of a choice. I think back to one of our small group meetings back when we did small groups in our homes. One night after we were through with our small group, there was a couple who hung around and visited, and maybe they even ate supper with us. I can't remember. But I begin to talk about the different things I wanna preach. I wanna go back through some of the gospels.

I wanna go and deal with some of the more theological books like Ephesians and Romans. And I just started talking like this. And the man said something like this to me. He said, "Pastor, if you're gonna preach all of that, "you're gonna have to live to be 100." Well, that is the truth. That is the truth. Well, this morning I'm not starting a new series on the family, but I'm preaching one message on the family. And this message will speak to mothers and it will speak to fathers. Here in 1 Samuel, we're going to examine what I'm calling the faithful but flawed family. You might wanna write that down. This is the title of the message.

This is what I'm calling the faithful but the flawed family. Here in this story, we have a godly family, but they do have a few glaring faults. I think we can learn a lot here. So I do ask you to perk up spiritually. And I pray this often and I say this often, when we're here under the teaching and the preaching of God's word, we're really just sitting at the Lord's table. And we want the Lord to open up the word, grant us an understanding, open up our minds and hearts, and help us to dine on the meat and potatoes of his word. So let's do this before we proceed. I wanna pray. This is a unique day and unique time and a different message.

And I wanna pray and ask the Lord to do what only he can do. Let's pray. Lord, I do thank you that we can meet. I thank you that we have the freedom to preach your word. And I have the privilege and the responsibility to pastor a church and a people and to come week in and week out and to divide your word and teach your people. And Lord, we're in this thing together. Lord, we're all here at your table and we wanna be fed. We wanna be encouraged. We wanna be taught. We wanna see new information. We wanna be reminded. Lord, there's just a whole host of things that need to go on in the life of our church and your people.

So Lord, I offer up what you've been showing me really all week and I pray God that it'll be enough and it's not enough. It'll take you by the power and the work of the spirit to take this little boy's fishes and this little boy's loaves and multiply it and apply it and to bring about a work in all of our lives. So please do this by your grace and it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen. Now I'll explain to you how we're gonna look at all of these verses. We're really gonna look at this portion of scripture in three ways. We're gonna look at three subjects and really all of this ties together. First of all, we'll look at the family.

We're gonna look at this family. Really we'll spend most of our time here with the family. Then second, we'll look at this trial. This could be the most important part of the message for some of you. And then third, we'll look at God's purpose. Now this is the big picture. This is the main thing with the thing. And so I really want you to pay attention. This is three subjects. These are three ways we're gonna look at this portion of scripture. And it all comes together to show us the faithful but the flawed family right here. So number one, I want us to look at this family. I want us to look at this family.

We see the family here in verse three. We have this certain man of Ramatharim, of Zopham, of the hill country of Ephraim. And we see his name right there in the middle of verse one. We see in verse two that he has two wives, Hannah. We're familiar with Hannah. But really verses one and two is a summary of this man and of this family. Now right away, most all of us realize this is not the type of family that we are accustomed to. Now I'm not talking about the names. We're not talking about the genealogy or where they're from geographically. I'm talking about the two wives thing. Verse two says that there were two wives here in the family.

Now I'll get to the two wives shortly, but just hold on. We should easily see who we have here. We have this man, Elkanah, who was the husband and he has two wives. We have Hannah and we have Penaiah. Now Penaiah, we have the woman who has children, but her children are not named. We see later on that she does have sons and she has daughters. And then later on, we do see that Hannah has a son named Samuel. But first I want us to look at this man, Elkanah. If we study his family tree here, we see that he was a Levite. That would have meant he was a descendant of Coath.

We go back to Chronicles, first Chronicles to see all of this type of genealogy. Now that would mean that he was of the family line of Moses and Aaron. Now what's the point here? To the Jews family line and family descendancy was very, very important. But for us, it shows us that he came from a godly family line. Simply, he had a respected family heritage. His forefathers had served God in a unique way. So Elkanah came from a godly line of Jewish people, but there is more that I want us to see specifically about the man. You see, this man was a tender and a loving husband. We see this in verses four and eight.

Simply, he loved his wife, Hannah. Now question, did he love his other wife? Now I would have to assume so. But the scripture shows us that he had a unique love for Hannah. Bible scholars speculate that Hannah was his first wife, but it was more than that. She was childless. She was barren. It seems that Elkanah loved Hannah in a great way because of her difficulty. Verse four says that he would give Hannah double portions for worship when they went to the tabernacle at Shiloh, and he would lovingly encourage her in her brokenness and in her great sorrow.

So we see that this man was a loving and a tender husband, but also he was a faithful man. Verse three tells us that Elkanah went up to Shiloh for worship year after year. We see that in various places in the story. Now this was not the temple that was in Jerusalem, but this was the tabernacle which housed the Ark of the Covenant there in Shiloh. Verse 21 mentions these yearly sacrifices there at the tabernacle. Now there were three annual feasts of the Lord that the Jews were required to attend. But scholars speculate that this was the feast of the tabernacles that Elkanah was attending.

Now no matter what annual feast it was, we see that Elkanah was faithful to worship there at the tabernacle there in Shiloh. So we can see that he was a faithful man of God, a faithful man of worship. But also he was a flawed man. We see that he was a flawed man. Verse two tells us of the two wives and both are named and described in the verses. Now a question, what is the story of these two wives? Multiple wives or polygamy was never ever the plan of God for mankind, never. We see God's plan in Genesis 2.4. God never commanded nor did he condone polygamy ever. He simply tolerated it in the Old Testament.

You see polygamy was a very common practice among the pagan peoples of the day and it was sometimes adopted and adopted practice from the world by God's people. But polygamy always brought with it consequences. You see sin and a deviation from God's standard always brings consequences. Sin always brings consequences. And God never commanded it nor did he condone it. Now specifically, what was the story here with Hannah and Penaiah? Scholars speculate that Hannah was the first wife but she turned out to be barren or childless. They speculate that Elkanah took a second wife so as to have children.

If you have a good memory, you know this was the same mistake that Abraham made when he took Hagar. But no matter the reason, this was not God's plan. So Elkanah was flawed even though his intentions might have been honorable. See the desire for children is a good desire and it is honorable. Now notice what we can say about this man Elkanah. He was a godly man and he came from a godly line of people. He was a compassionate and loving man. He was definitely a family man and I say that in the best of ways. Spiritually, he was faithful to worship and to lead his family in worship but he was flawed. He was flawed.

When he struggled for children, it appears that he resorted to the ways of the world for children by taking a second wife. So he was a godly man with a godly family but this was a flawed family. Now in application, there is a lot that we need to learn here. Now I'm speaking directly to us men and to us fathers. First, we must see that we cannot deal with difficulties in trials and our families, the ways of the world or the way the world does. Isn't that what Elkanah did here? He tried to fix a problem with the way that the world would fix that problem and we can never do that. Maybe he did not reject the trial.

Maybe he embraced the trial even from the beginning but he failed to deal with that trial in faith and he went for a solution in the ways of the world. Now remember what we've learned in Psalm chapter three and chapter four on Sunday nights. Trials and difficulties, stresses and anxieties are two things. First, they're an invitation. They're an invitation by God to work in our lives and to do a whole host of things but they are also an opportunity. They're an opportunity to be changed, to be made more like Christ. They're an opportunity for us to see God work in our lives in a unique way and to be used for Christ in the world.

So trials and difficulties are an invitation. They are an opportunity. But then second, we must see that we must love our families and you might say pastor that's rather elementary. We must love them and meet their needs. Spiritually and emotionally and physically. Isn't that what we see here with Akana? Isn't that what he's doing here? And see dads, we must ask ourselves a question. Do we honestly love our families and meet their spiritual needs, emotional needs as well as their physical needs? And then third, we must see that we must lead our family spiritually. We must.

Akana took his whole family to Shiloh year after year, year after year and see, we must lead our family spiritually as well. And you see, we must realize that we lead them. We just might not realize how we lead them or where we lead them. Many dads lead their children in sports. Oh, they're faithful to teach their son how to throw a baseball or a football. Oh, they're faithful to teach their daughters how to play soccer or some other sport. See, we're faithful as dads to lead our family, maybe to participate in sports. Some dads are really good at leading their children how to hunt and fish, you know, that can be good daddy time.

And we can teach them how to hunt and fish. We can lead our children how to make money and find a career and what God would have them to do. We can lead our children to find the right friends and the right social groups. See, we lead our families and children in ways in which we might not even see, but we must lead our family spiritually. So men, fathers, we must lead our families. We must not lead by using the world's methods or the world's means. I mean to say that again, we cannot lead by using the world's methods or the world's means.

And when trial or crisis comes, it creates a crossroads and we can either do it the world's way or God's way. And we must love our families and we must lead them spiritually in worship in every way. Now, in examining the family, we can't just look at the man. We can't just stay with the father. We can't stay with the head of the house, all okay. We must look at his wives as well. Now, there's not a lot here that we know about this one wife. I will describe her as we go on through looking at Hannah. And we'll see more about Penaene as we move along. But second, I want us to look at Hannah.

Now, I've already said that it seems that Hannah was a Cana's first wife. And like I said, it was a common practice for pagan men to take a second wife for children. But Hannah is seen as the opposite of the second wife. Hannah is seen here as a godly woman, much like her husband. This week in my study, I kind of saw Hannah as the main character of the chapter. Now, of course, God is the main character. God is the main character of every page and every story within the Bible. But I see Hannah as the main character and then Alcania and Penaene. And then of course there's Samuel. But I want us to look at a few details here with Hannah.

First of all, Hannah, she was the source of this trial. She was the source of the trial. Now, when I say source, I'm saying this earthly speaking. She had a big bull's eye on her back. She was the problem. The text says she was barren. Now, culturally, this was extremely shameful. Children were very important to the Jews, especially sons. And for Hannah to be barren, it brought shame upon her husband and shame upon her family. Her shame was exasperated by the second wife and her children. So earthly speaking, she was the source of the trial. And also she was provoked in the trial.

Now, we don't see much about this second wife except that she was Hannah's rival. The King James calls her Hannah's adversary in verse six. She was a contentious, bitter adversary for Hannah. So much so that Hannah was provoked to year in and year out continual sorrow and distress. Nowhere in the text do we see Hannah fighting back. She was not that kind of a woman. But year after year, she was provoked. Every time Hannah sees a child from her rival, she is provoked. Every time Al-Qaeda speaks to Panana and goes in with her, she is provoked.

I don't think we can begin to understand the ridicule, the shame, the constant provoking she felt from this woman and this situation. So she was provoked in every way, year after year, day after day. And then she was broken in this trial. We see this in verses seven and eight. Verse seven and eight shows us that Hannah was reduced to weeping. She was reduced to a broken heart. She was so broken with sorrow, the text says that she could not eat. So much so that her loving husband could not even console her. I do not think we can begin to understand the brokenness and the sorrow that she was in.

This had developed day after day, day after day, year after year, year after year. So she was truly broken in sorrow and shame and this was all kept raw. It was always raw. It would never heal the cause of her rival. Now question, how does Hannah react? It seems that earlier, years earlier, when Alkana was at a crossroads here, he reached for the world solution. We've discussed that. We've talked about that. It was sin. But here we see Hannah reacts by going towards God and a godly solution. Now there's a lesson here.

The answers and solutions for all of life's sorrow and shame, for all of life's trial and tribulations are found in God, God's word and God's ways. Cana had a crisis and he reached out to the world. Hannah had a crisis and she reached up to God. Now I wanna show you what Hannah did in the circumstances and there's several key details that we need to see in her. We see that Hannah, she worshiped in her brokenness. We see this starting in verse nine and on down in verse 10. It says that after the feast was over there in Shiloh, Hannah continued at the tabernacle.

You see, rather than leave the feast and wallow in her sorrow, she takes her sorrow and distress to God. It seems that in verse nine, we have Hannah walking past Eli the priest through the door of the temple or the tabernacle to worship. So Hannah goes to the house of worship in despair and in her brokenness. And also she prayed in her brokenness. Verse 10 says that in her deep distress she prayed. She prayed and wept bitterly before the Lord. So much so that Eli the priest thought that she was drunk. And we even have her prayer listed here in verse 11. She cries out in her great affliction as a humble servant before God.

So she prays in great distress and great brokenness. And then she vowed in her brokenness. In verse 11, we see Hannah making a pledge. Now this was more than a pledge, this was a vow. This was a vow to give her son to the Lord. Now, according to the Old Testament law, a married woman's vow could be confirmed or nullified by her husband. We see that in Numbers chapter 30. Now later on in verse 21 and 23, we see that Al-Qanah fulfills this vow and he affirms Hannah in the vow. So we see both, both husband and wife here giving their son to the service of the Lord. So she pledges her only son to the Lord, both Hannah and Al-Qanah.

Now notice what we see here in Hannah. Really this is a lot and I didn't cover it all. Hannah was the source of the family shame. Really she had a bull's eye right on her forehead. She was the reason for the trial and the trial became hers. She was pushed day after day. She was pushed around year after year and even pushed to the bottom in true brokenness. But remember, she looks up to the Lord. She prays, she vows and she keeps her vow. Now because of time, I'll only briefly give you the rest of the story. What's the rest of the story? What does that look like?

She conceives after they come back home from being at Shiloh, she conceives and then after her son is weaned, she brings him to Eli the priest of the Lord and literally gives him to the Lord for the Lord's service. She even fulfilled her vow by bringing the offerings and sacrifices required by the Old Testament law found in Numbers 15. So she brought her only son to the Lord and then she went home satisfied. She went home satisfied. Now in application, there's a lot here that ladies, mothers, women that you need to see here. First of all, when trial and difficulties come, they must be taken to God.

You see, when trial and difficulties come in your life as a woman and as a mother, they must be taken to God. Now there are two traps that you can fall into. We know one, the first one is you can go to the world for answers, isn't that what Elkanah did? He went to the world for his answers and it caused him more shame and more heartache. But also second, there is a trap of doing nothing. You see, staying in the trial, wallowing in sorrow and in distress. This ruins you spiritually, this ruins you emotionally and ultimately it can ruin you physically. It can, but not Hannah.

She went straight into the house of the Lord and she was broken in her trial here and she was able to come to the Lord and take her trial and distress and everything that is going, she was able to take this to the Lord. But then second, when trials and difficulties come, not only must you pray, but you must pray all the way through. You see, you can't stop short. Hannah did not stop short. She prayed year after year, day after day. Remember this took a long time. And so she held on and prayed till the work was done. And see, this is a long work. This can be a difficult work. This can be a very arduous work.

We've learned that in dealing with David in Psalm three and Psalm four. So in the trial, you must pray, but pray on through. And then third, you must give your children over the Lord. Yes, just like Hannah, you must give your children over to the Lord. See, our children do not belong to us. They're really on loan to us. I'm gonna speak about that a little more when we conclude. But you must see that your children are not your children. Our children are not our children. They are the Lord's. You know, I think we should be more brokenhearted for our children. I think we should be more brokenhearted for our teenagers.

I think we are not praying enough diligently for their salvation or for them to be set aside and set apart to be used to the Lord in the world. You see, this life is going by faster and faster. And we need God to do what only God can do. And that is to save our children and teenagers. You see, they're not ours. They need to be given over to the Lord. So ladies and mothers, you must bring your family to stresses to the Lord. You must not look for worldly answers and you must give your children over to the Lord. And I'm asking you, how are you doing here? And then next, number two, this trial.

Like I said earlier, these last two truths in our outline, number two and number three will be much shorter. So number two, this trial. Now a question. How should we describe this trial? Think about that with me for a minute. Was this Hannah's trial? Was this Elkanah's trial? Was this a family trial? Now think about that for a minute. Was this Hannah's trial? Was this her husband's trial? Or was this the family's trial? Well, the answer is yes, but the answer is no. Truthfully, this was God's trial. Let me repeat that. Truthfully, ultimately, this was God's trial. You see, verse six says that it was God who closed her womb.

Note that God was the one who closed Hannah's womb. And later it was God who opened up her womb. See, God brought all of this on Elkanah and Hannah. Now think about it. On one side of the situation, you got a godly woman who can't have children, but on the other side, you've got a selfish, mean woman who does have children. The godly woman who would surely be a good parent can't have children, but the selfish, mean woman who probably was not a very good parent, she has children. Now why? You must see. You must see that God governs all. There's no such thing as chance in this circumstance nor in any.

This was the providence of God in their lives. God's desire here was not to fulfill Hannah and her husband. It was not to meet their personal needs. God's desire was to mold and to train them. God's work was to mold them into the people that he desired them to be and to train them for his purposes in the world. This was God's trial, not theirs. This trial was God's instrument, God's tool, his process to bring about God's purposes in them. And we must understand that God governs all, folks. God governs all. Back in Psalm two, we learned that God governs the pagan nations of the world, no matter how they rage against God.

God is Lord over creation. God is Lord over nations and peoples. And see for us, we must see that God operates in and around us for his purposes, you see? So embrace God's sovereign work in the world in us. Now this isn't fatalism, no. This is optimism. This is hope because our God is God. And then third, God's work. God's work was God's purpose in all of this. God needed something. You see, God needed something. Whether you know it or not, he needed a prophet here. Eli the priest's sons were wicked. If you look over into chapter two, verse 12, chapter two, verse 12 says that Eli's sons were worthless.

God knew that he was going to have to kill them and God needed a prophet and God needed Samuel, you see? You see, God needed a prophet and he brought all of this work about for his purposes. Now question, think about this. You mean to tell me God used this second wife and this second wife thing and these kids? You mean to tell me God used all this? You mean to tell me that God used this husband's big mistake and hand of suffering all those years? Yes, he uses it all. Don't forget what the verse says. All things work together for the good to them that love God. You see that? All things, yes, even their grievous mistakes.

All things work together for them that love God. But notice the second part. To them who are called according to his purpose. You see, this was all God's plan, even with their flaws. You see, this is God's work. This was God's purposes to bring about a prophet. And we must embrace, we must even chase after God's purposes and God's work in our lives. Oh, but we must realize something. This ain't easy. This is mighty hard. This is tough. This takes a lot of dying to our flesh. This takes a lot. Sure did for this family. Now as we begin to close, I wanna give us a few lessons from this story, from this message, seven to be exact.

These are very practical lessons. They pertain to our families. They pertain to fathers and pertain to mothers. And these pertain to the Christian life. But the first lesson, we must recognize and embrace the providence of God. Our God is sovereign. I've taught you that faithfully. Our God is Lord over all. He governs all. And listen, He does all of this for us. I was talking with one of the men of the church this week about the coronavirus crisis. And he just said, "You know, I'm just not worried. "Our God is sovereign. "Our God is good. "I love God. "And I'm gonna be careful "and I'm gonna make wise choices.

"But God's Lord over all of this." What was he saying? I'm trusting in God's providence. That isn't fatalism. No, it's optimism. And it is hope. I was also talking to one of the men of the church and he was sharing with me how he was witnessing to a coworker, witnessing to someone who's not lost. And he was explaining how they were embracing these times and they were worried and they were fretful and they did not have hope. Why? Because they don't understand God, nor do they know God. We must recognize and embrace the providence of God. And then the second lesson is, we must embrace the surety of trials and tribulations. They're gonna come.

They're going to come. And listen, a trial, the most difficult of circumstances, no matter what it may be, it is an invitation. We must see it is an invitation by our Lord and from our Lord to be engaged in a work that is greater than our way, than greater than us. And it is an opportunity for us to be formed into the people that God wants us to be and ultimately to bring glory in our lives and to make us more useful. Aren't we seeing that in Psalm three and four? So we must embrace the surety of our trials and tribulations.

And then the third lesson, we must run from the temptation to look to the world and the world's ways for solutions instead of to God. See, our flesh will always look to the world. If we give an inch, our flesh will take a mile. And if we're not careful, we will reach out to the left and to the right. There are a whole host of ways that the world will tell us what to do, but we must die to all that. We must die to what the world says. We must look to God. We must look to God's word and God's ways. And then the fourth lesson, understand that there must be an inner work of God within us.

Listen, there's this experiential, difficult, sometimes secret work of God in us. Sometimes it takes a long time. Listen, these trials are not just like the microwave. You pop them in the microwave, hit a few buttons and ding, ding, ding, it's all over and good and fine. No, this went on for Hannah, how long, year after year after year? Not just when they were worshiping at Shiloh, when she went home on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, every time she looked into the face of her rival and saw her children, listen, it went on year after year in the inner work of God within us. Look, it takes time. It's difficult.

We can't deny it and we can't cheat it. And then the fifth lesson, we must see that children are a gift from God. They're a gift. They're a gift. And they're long to us. And they're not given to us for our purposes. You see, so many parents today, they just wanna live out their dreams and their aspirations through their kids. And they just look at what the world does and they want something better for their children. And they don't even consider what God's word says and his purposes. We all need to be reminded that our children are long to us.

I'll never forget when we had our firstborn, I was in the hospital in Jackson and our firstborn was a little jaundice and I was holding her in my arms with a window in the hospital room behind me. And the sunshine was just right on her face, right on her little body there, helping her with her jaundice. My pastor called me and encouraged me and checked on us. And he said something that's always stuck into my mind. He said, "Just remember, they're not ours, "they're long to us." And listen, folks, children are a gift from God, but they're still not ours. And the sixth lesson is, we should see the great need for godly parents.

See moms and dads, we don't get to do this thing called parenting our own way. If we do, we'll do it the way of the world. Those of us who are born again Christians, we need to see that we must be godly parents, no matter how much we provide. You know, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if they can hit a baseball out of the park. It doesn't matter if they have the right social group, it doesn't really matter. We must see that we must be great parents for God. Our children are gifts from God and we have the need for great and godly parents. Oh, Hannah, wasn't she a jewel of a mother? Wasn't she a jewel through all of this?

And even Alkana, he made a mistake, but he was ultimately a great man of God. And we must see the great need for godly parents who will roll up their sleeves and do this thing the right way. And then second, or seventh, the last lesson, discover and embrace. And I say those words purposely. Discover and embrace the purposes of God for our families. Some of them are universal. God's purpose is for you to be pouring your life in the local church. Yes, God's desire and God's purpose is for you to be here, dad, every time the doors are open with your wife right next to you with your children in tow.

God's desire is that they would be here to study God's word at Vacation Bible School and youth camps and Sunday School and small groups. God's desire is that you would pour your family, dad, you leading the way into the life of the local church. And then ultimately, God will begin to flesh out purposes for your family, but ultimately those purposes are to be used for his glory in the world. So what do we see? The faithful but flawed family. Isn't that what we have here? But I'll add to the title. I do that sometimes. The faithful but flawed family used for the glory of God. Look at that. The purposes of God, the plan of God.

Ultimately, all of this factored into a great man of God used in a mighty way. You see, a faithful and flawed family used for the glory of God. And ultimately, may that be said of all of us that we would be faithful. Oh yes, flawed, but used for the glory of God. And with God's help, make that your prayer and your heartbeat and make that your life's work. Let's pray. Let's commit what we have studied this morning to the Lord and let's ask the Lord to do a work in us accordingly. And then we will dismiss.