Real People - Real Problems
A study of 1 Samuel
Part 3
“Samuel”
“Hearing God, 1 of 3”
Ya’ll know that I really like mules
Every year around Memorial Day
A huge event takes place that is all about mules
Bishop mule days in Bishop California
I have never been but hope to do so one day either as a competitor or simply as a spectator
At the mule days there are every imaginable mule classes from English hunter jumper classes
To costume contests and everything in between
But one of the crowd favorites is the Pack scramble and is only done at Bishop
In this event Mule pack strings enter the arena, and are unloaded and turned loose in the arena
The mules and horses are then stampeded by yelling and firing blank gunshots.
It gets real western – real fast
The event is described as a "wild and wooly spectacular” by the promoters of the mule days
Everything goes from calm to crazy in about 1.2 seconds as more than one hundred horses and mules running loose in the arena.
"Teams of professional backcountry packers compete against each other for bragging rights.
Each team must wrangle its own mules out of a herd in the arena
Pack them correctly, and race around to the finish line as spectators whoop, cheer and jeer.
“The winning team is the one that is first to reassemble and reload its pack string, and lead it out of the arena.
Today we are going to continue our series titled Real people – Real problems
As we study through the book of 1 Samuel
In week on we looked at how to overcome real problems by using Hannah as a good example of faith
Last week we saw how not to overcome Kid problems with the example of Eli and his two sons
As I have stressed over and over again
These are Real people with Real Problems
And we are Real people with Real problems
By studying their lives and their problems
We will prayerfully see how” to” and “not to” overcome our real life problems as well
Our study today is about hearing God and will be the first in a kind of series within a series
There is just too much for one sermon
As believers we will suffer from problems
But our ability to hear God will make the difference between overcoming
Or surrendering to the problems of this life
Our ability to hear God will change the outcome but also change the way we respond and react to the times of trouble
Let me open with a verse from the New Testament from John
John 10:3-5
“3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
Let’s go back to Bishop before we dig into 1 Samuel this morning
The winning teams in the pack scramble all have one thing in common
Year after year
Their animals – Mules and horses have been trained to listen to the voice of their wranglers
Amidst the confusion
The distractions
The chaos
These mules and horses listen intently for the sound of their masters voice and the they respond by moving towards the sound they hear
We also must listen for the sound of our Master
Please open your bibles to 1 Samuel 3
1 Samuel 3:1-21
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the LORD by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the LORD were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.
2 One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle[a] near the Ark of God. 4 Suddenly the LORD called out, “Samuel!”
“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” 5 He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”
“I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.
6 Then the LORD called out again, “Samuel!”
Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”
“I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.”
7 Samuel did not yet know the LORD because he had never had a message from the LORD before. 8 So the LORD called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”
Then Eli realized it was the LORD who was calling the boy. 9 So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.
10 And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”
And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”
11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, “I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel. 12 I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family, from beginning to end. 13 I have warned him that judgment is coming upon his family forever, because his sons are blaspheming God[b] and he hasn’t disciplined them. 14 So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.”
15 Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then got up and opened the doors of the Tabernacle[c] as usual. He was afraid to tell Eli what the LORD had said to him. 16 But Eli called out to him, “Samuel, my son.”
“Here I am,” Samuel replied.
17 “What did the LORD say to you? Tell me everything. And may God strike you and even kill you if you hide anything from me!” 18 So Samuel told Eli everything; he didn’t hold anything back. “It is the LORD’s will,” Eli replied. “Let him do what he thinks best.”
19 As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. 20 And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. 21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the Tabernacle.
4:1
1 And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel.
Today the problem we will begin to address is failure to hear Gods voice
And how we can learn to hear and respond to his voice by looking at how Samuel did
And how Eli and sons did not
Hearing God’s voice or rather not hearing God’s voice for believers is a real problem
If we don’t listen
If we won’t hear or
Better yet if we hear and don’t respond
We can easily get caught up in the confusion, distraction and chaos of life like those animals at Bishop
And just end up running around crazy with no direction or purpose
Just wasting time and energy
So in order to understand how we hear God’s voice we must understand how he speaks to us
The mules in that arena were called by their masters in many ways
Some guys have a special call
Some whistle
Some click or cluck
Others may use a bell of a musical instrument of some sort
But whatever method used
The animals are in tune and listening for that sound
It has become part of them
God speaks to his sheep- us in many ways as well
The first way is through the
Holy Spirit
The third part of the trinity
The God in us
The Holy Spirit speaks to us before salvation prompting us into a relationship with the savior of the world
In cowboy terms he knocks on our hearts, convicting us our or sins and causing us to seek forgiveness
Repentance
And a restored relationship
Then once we move into that state of forgiveness
Once we accept the gift of salvation
He moves into our hearts and he brings with him the gifts of the spirit
We have covered these in the past and will more in the future
But today
I need you to know
We get the gift of the Holy Spirit at salvation
We are not saved if we do not have the Sprit
And he gives us all we need to become Bona Fide Believes
Bu we must learn to use the gifts
We do that by listening to his voice
He speaks to us to grow us- mold us
Teach us
Comfort us
And continue to convict us –causing us to choose right over wrong
John 14:26
26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
John 16:12-13
“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
Eli and his sons stopped listening to the sprit and suffered his wrath we are going to cover that more in depth later
Samuel listened and responded and received his grace we will also cover this more in depth later
But today I want to focus on how God speaks to us
God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit
2nd--God speaks to us through his word
The Holy Scriptures
The bible
The good book some call it
The bible – the entire bible is The God breathed word of God
2 Timothy 3:16
You have heard this before
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”
Inside the pages of this book is the power to overcome
The power of heaven and earth
The power of God himself
Psalm 119:105
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
and a light for my path.”
God speaks in many ways as I have already said
But
In the world today
God speaks loudest
Clearest
Through his written word
He has guided the hands of the writers in order to give us the tools we need to overcome
Tools we need to not only survive
But to thrive
His written word is truth
But better yet
It leads us to the truth – Jesus Christ
John 1:1
“In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.”
Jesus Christ the living word
John 14:6
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
The living truth
The scriptures ---the written word leads us to the living word
Show us right from wrong
But
We must open the word
Read the word
Study the word
Meditate on the word
Hide it in our hearts
It will do you no good if it is not opened
You just as well stuff your ears with peanut butter
We need to open God’s word
In order to hear God’s word
So that we can learn to please God
And receive the good things he has planned for us since before we were born
God speaks through his spirit
God speaks though his word
And God Speaks through his
CHURCH
Remember
The church is the body of Christ
The believers
Not this building or any building
If God’s church- the people stopped meeting here
As I have said many times we could stack a lot of hay in here
If that offends you- I’m not sure you truly understand what God’s church is
We are the church – not this or any building
The church is not made of wood and steel
Brick and motor
Not made of plywood or stained glass
We are the church
And
God speaks through his church
We are all, if we have accepted the gift of salvation part of the body of Christ
And God speaks to believers through his body
And he speaks to unbelievers through his body
Paul says in Romans 10:17
“So faith comes from hearing that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”
Back up to Paul’s teaching in Romans 10:14
“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”
God speaks through us- that is part of the plan
And part of hearing God means that we also proclaim God
Let’s look at another passage from the Apostle Paul
Colossians 3:16-17
“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”
We as believers have been given a great privaliude and also a huge responsibility
Both an honor and duty
To proclaim the word of God
Though the teaching, singing and encouraging each other
And by leading the lost to a life of salvation
Evangelism they call that
Making disciples Jesus says
Going as He commands us to do In Matthew 28
We are to
Listen- But more than listen we are to Hear
Learn- This means we are to apply his word to our lives- Move- respond- act
And then we are to proclaim though witnessing- teaching- preaching and right living
There are people in the world who think God no longer speaks
But they are wrong
He still speaks they just are not listening or don’t know how to listen
Make no mistake
God still speaks
He speaks through his spirit
He speaks though his word
And he speaks through his church
God also speaks though
His Creation
Romans 1:19-20
19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.[a]
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
God’s word tells us that he put inside of all of his creation the desire to hear his voice
The desire to seek him
The desire to serve him
Every person ever created is seeking the meaning of life
Seeking fulfillment
Seeking peace and contentment
Unfortunately
Many are listening to the wrong voices
Looking for love in all the wrong places as Johnny Lee sings
God tells us in his word
That
The world itself gives us the evidence of
His existence
His greatness
His glory
And his voice
We must open our eyes
Open our ears
Open our hearts
And listen intently
God speaks to us though his creation
Proclaiming his glory and showing us that the world is not an accident
In the movie” a river runs through it”
Norman McLain says
“Long ago, rain fell on mud
and became rock.
Half a billion years ago.
But even before that, beneath the rocks...
...are the words of God.
Listen.
And if Paul and I listened very carefully
all our lives...
...we might hear those words.”
They earth itself was planned before creation
And beneath the rocks are the words of God
Not happenstance
But a plan that was laid out before the creation of this world
God speaks though his spirit
God speaks though his word
God speaks through his church’
God speaks through his creation
And God speaks through his
Son- Jesus
Hebrews 1:1-4
“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their name.
God has spoken to us maybe most clearly though his Son Jesus Christ
In the living word
We have the perfect example of how to live a perfect sinless life
Jesus is God answer to the problem of sin
And the penalty of that sin
God’s work and his great plan were accomplished though Jesus
God is saying simply
My creation is made perfect though my Son
Next week we will begin to look at barriers to hearing God
And then wrap up with the importance of and the blessings that come from truly hearing
Samuel listened
Samuel responded
And Samuel sets an example for us in the process
Are you listening?
God is speaking
He is calling you first to salvation this morning
Then he is calling you to service
He is calling
Will you respond?
Come out of the chaos and confusion
Will you listen for his voice?
And come out of the mess
If you have responded to his call to salvation
Will you keep listening?
Keep growing
What is he calling you to do?
Will you accept the fruits he has for you?
Will you Listen- will you hear- will you move?
Samuel
When he realized it was the voice of God said
“Speak Lord, Your servant is listening”
And God used him in a mighty way as we will see through this study
He can and will use you in mighty ways
If you will listen and hear
How will you respond to his voice?
Close from the heart
Pray
