We got the church. We got this. We got this committee. We got all these things. So we've got the Lord. And he said, I'm going to tell you something. I cannot be imitated in any way that you can come up with. There is an anointing that cannot be counterfeited. And he says, learn to be a people

who discern well enough to know

when I am present

and when I am absent.

Thank you. You may be seated and turn with me to First Samuel chapter three.

I'm going to get you camping at chapter three, but we're going to glance back at two for just a moment. Talk about the unfolding of what's happening in First Samuel,

because we're going to see that First Samuel is going to put us in the soil, in the time frame

in the history of Israel, where the seed that is going to come forth through the scriptures,

the seed of God's word, is planted, and where our whole concept is going to come forth through the scriptures, the seed of God's word,

is planted and where our whole concept is going to grow up. So we're going to see it unfold from

these passages. Now, let me tell you a little bit about what's happening here. We're in a time

period in the kingdom calendar or in the agenda of God that is laid out in the scriptures,

we're in a midpoint in Israel's history. So it's been about a thousand years from the call of

Abraham and would be about a thousand years until the birth of Christ. So that's the point at which

we catch up with those that we'll see on the page in the opening chapters of 1st Samuel. So it's a time

period that is described at the very end of the book of judges when it says,

and people just did what was right in their own eyes.

This is the period of the judges.

We're going to meet Samuel in a moment, and he's going to be the last judge in this period of judges.

We've gone from the patriarchs.

We've gone with Joshua into the conquest. They've divided

up in the allotments of the tribes all over Israel, and we're seeing what is taking place

...