Sermon Outline Archive 2006:

Sermon Outline Nov 25, 2007 Evening Service

Topic: A Mother Who Dared to Dream; Again

I. Who doesn’t consider mothers to be special?

A. Granted, there are some mothers who are certainly “unfit”.

B. But that isn’t the norm.

II. 1 Samuel 1:1-18 is about the birth of Samuel, considered to be the greatest figure in Israel’s history between Moses and David.

I. Hannah Had Her Dreams Shattered.

A. Hannah married Elkanah and was no doubt looking forward to being a mother with children.

B. Many mothers have had their dreams shattered.

C. When her dreams were shattered Hannah turned to the Lord.

II. Hannah Dared to Dream Again.

A. Her dreams were shattered, but Hannah didn’t give up on prayer.

1. She continued to pray and dared to dream again.

2. Hannah took time to pray.

a. When your dreams are shattered you are more open to taking time to pray.

b. Too often we feel we are too busy to pray.

c. We believe we have more pressing things to take care of.

d. If you really are that busy you need to slow down to catch up with God (Psalm 46:10).

B. God heard and answered Hannah’s prayer in a wonderful way.

1. A son was born to her.

a. She called him Samuel because he was a gift from the Lord.

b. He was probably around six years old when Hannah dedicated him to full time service in the Lord’s house.

c. Then later God blessed Hannah with five more children.

2. At the time of Samuel’s birth Israel was plagued with lawlessness and immorality.

3. Samuel’s leadership helped the nation to dare to dream again.

I. Hannah was willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her son.

A. She loved him so much that she was willing to forgo a mother’s greatest joy: that of bringing up her son and having him around her.

B. She was committed to do whatever it took for him to reach his godly potential.

II. The greatness of Samuel reflects in the greatness of his mother, Hannah.

A. He led Israel in its first great revival.

B. He drove the Philistines back into their territory.

C. He re-established worship of Jehovah.

D. He set up the Kingdom of Israel.

E. He anointed David to be king.

III. Have your dreams been shattered?

A. Do you need to dare to dream…again?

B. Don’t give up on God and on His way of blessing your dreams.