Samuel
How to succeed at life
Introduction
A. What if I were to tell you that you could have the most successful life
B. First thing that comes to mind is what is success
C. By success to I mean $$
D. Do I mean fame?
E. Do I mean having a lot of material possessions?
F. Living a simple life?
G. Rising up kids who love the Lord? Does that give me success
H. Let us look at Samuel’s life and find out what it means to Succeed at life
I. First we have to see where he began
J. His mother was Hannah. Hannah was not part of royalty
K. Just a common lady
L. She could not become pregnant and her husband’s other wife would make fun of her for that
M. Finally she prayed to God and had Samuel
N. She made a deal with God that she would give Samuel to God and let God use him
O. As soon as he was done nursing, Hannah gave Samuel to Eli in order to fulfill his promise
P. From those very humble beginnings we are going to look at what caused all the success that Samuel experienced in his life
Q. This did not happen overnight there were step he had to take
R. The three Steps to a successful life
· Talk To God
· Tell Others
· Truth as a Priority
I. Talk to God
A. Explanation
1. We hear that we are suppose to talk to God all the time
2. We have heard this time and time again
3. But we do not really understand what that means, let us look at Samuel
4. The first time that Samuel heard the Lord speak was one night as he was sleeping
5. Samuel thought Eli was calling him. Eli was his mentor (Read 3:1)
6. However, Eli was not, in fact Eli became really annoyed at the number of times Samuel wok him up
7. Finally Eli realized that the Lord was calling Samuel, and Samuel should respond to the Lord
8. We also learn that Samuel used some interesting military strategies
a) He led them into battle by having a concert of prayer
b) Read 7:3-11
9. Every time Samuel needed advice, needed council he went and talked with God (read 8:6 for example)
B. Application
1. How can we apply this to our lives?
2. You know what is really sad? What we have done to prayer
3. First of all let us define what Prayer is, Prayer is talking to God
4. With that in mind, how do we talk to our friends?
5. If we can talk to our friends then we can talk to God
6. The Lord’s prayer was put in simple terms that they could understand
7. The important thing is to talk to God, and to listen to God
8. The talking part is not that hard for us to understand (especially for some of us)
9. Listening to God is tough for must of us
10. To wait on the Lord, Sometimes God will use audible voices
11. Most of the time it will be a quit feeling that you have inside
12. When you get those feelings, make sure you test it against the Bible
13. Talk to God, this can be done wherever whenever
C. Illustration
1. You know where some of my favorite prayers come from? New Christians, and the Psalms. The usually have some of the most honest heart opening prayers that you will ever here. Sometimes I hear people say well he didn’t say Thee and Thou and stuff like that. That is not the issue hear. Honestly open up your heart and talk to God. That is what prayer is meant to be.
2. That is how Samuel Talk to God
II. Tell others what God said
A. Explanation
1. After morning after Samuel had talk to God, Eli ask him what God said
2. Now Samuel did not want Eli, for what the Lord to Samuel was that He was going to carry our all the threats against Eli and his family
3. Picture this poor young assistant having to tell his boss that God said He was going to kill his boss
4. Samuel tried to act like nothing happened but Eli asked him and he Samuel told Eli – (Read 3:18)
5. Samuel was bold enough to tell Eli what God Said
6. (Read 3:19-20) every thing that he said was wise and helpful, those things that he said had to be from God
a) Humans on their own have a hard time saying wise and helpful things
b) I would be up hear fumbling around if God did not direct me
7. Samuel not only heard God Say stuff to him
8. He was bold enough to tell others
B. Application
1. Lets apply this to our lives
2. God talk to us and tells us stuff
3. Unfortunately for many of us that is were it ends
4. Maybe we need to be bold enough to tells some one else what God has said
5. Maybe we need to go up to someone and tell him or her that God will judge him or her.
6. This is not to be done in a mean way, it has to be done out of love
C. Illustration
1. Todd Beamer was not afraid to tell others. In fact he was bold enough to do it to his end (show video)
2. If God gives you a message, you better make sure it goes were it is suppose to go
III. Truth as a priority
A. Explanation
1. Notice how many times it is mention that Samuel truthfully do something
2. Let me explain
3. He live a wonderful Childhood, obviously to gain that much respect at a young age he had
4. First of all, Telling Eli, his mentor, that God was going to kill him and his family, yes that is truth
5. Later on in his life he had on many occasion told Saul
a) Read 13:13-14
b) Obviously he had to speak truth there
6. He also was a judge
a) Being a judge you have to have truth as your priority
b) It is not about who has the best lawyer it is about the truth
c) That is what Samuel was concerned with
B. Application
1. What does this mean for us today
2. We do not set truth as a high enough priority
3. Truth needs to be one of the top priorities
4. There is times when we even as Christian will choose to lie just to make things seem easier
5. We are not willing to tell the truth all the time
6. Nobody want to admit anything these days
7. I was confronted with this last week,
a) We were suppose to start picking up the kids this week, and I forgot, just plain slipped my mind, and we told them to come last week. Hey I screwed up! My fault
8. I could have easily made up some story, or tried to blame someone else or something like that, but the reality is that I made the mistake.
9. Truth has to be a high priority
10. Without truth we have nothing to stand on
C. Illustration
1. The OJ. Simpson case really annoys me. I do not know if he did kill her or not. What bothers me is that the one case he won and the civil case he lost. Now if the truth was told in both cases the outcome would be the same. Obviously it wasn’t
2. Truth, Be willing to tell the truth
3. Be willing to be honest genuine, truthful people
Conclusion
A. Samuel lived a very successful life
B. He did that because he followed the steps of success
a. He talked to God
b. He told others
c. He kept truth as a priority
C. My hope is that all you have as successful life as Samuel
D. That you will be gain the respect that Samuel had among his people
E. He was not the strongest, fastest, best looking…he was a man that knew how to have a successful life
F. If you follow these steps of success
G. You too can have a successful life
H. Understand that this is not something I made up
I. God gave us this pattern to follow
J. Will you follow the Steps of Success?
Step by Step to close
