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God, Is That You? - 1 Samuel 3

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3/27/2002
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God, Is That You?
1 Samuel 3
Skip Heitzig
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09 1 Samuel - 2002

As detailed by Pastor Skip Heitzig, First Samuel tells the stories of a prophet, a politician, and a poet--Samuel, Saul, and David--and how God used them to form the nation of Israel.

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Well, welcome to Line Online. We're teaching through the Bible, the book of 1 Samuel. We have in the last few weeks.

And Line Online, of course, is taken from the scripture where line is given upon line, precept upon precept. And so we cover every chapter, every book of the Bible. But also it is online, and it is on the internet.

So people can watch a live stream of this. And we've gotten great reports from people all over who are watching Line Online. And probably in May, we think right at the beginning of May, and I'll give you more specific dates and times next week, it's going to be on television around the country from coast to coast so that people can tune in and watch an interactive approach going through the Bible and hopefully give more people around the country a hunger for not just the psalms and Matthew, but all of the Bible, teaching through the Bible.

Now tonight, we're dealing with-- yeah, you can clap for that. That's a good thing to clap for. I didn't announce it. But Marsh [? Schonberger ?] just came back from California, where he mixed a new album. Is that right, Marsh? And when is that going to be out.

This weekend.

It's going to be out this weekend, Easter weekend. And not only is this CD coming out, but what are the proceeds going for again?

We're taking a group of about 25, I think right now is how many we have, high school students to the UK for mission trips.

So all the money is going to be used to raise for the kids. I think that's great. Tonight we're speaking about knowing God's will, hearing God's voice, getting guidance from God. And we have a couple mystery guests tonight.

How's that? Mystery guests. One, the first mysterious guest, is on staff here, and he has a French accent. And his name is Sebastian Flobbier. Sebastian, come on out.

Yes, yes, hello.

That's very good.

How are you?

Do you guys remember the cartoon Pepe Le Pew?

Here we go.

OK, when I first met Sebastian, I just-- that came into my mind. So every time he talks now, I see in my warped little mind Pepe Le Pew as a pastor. That's just how I see it.

As long as it's not the smell, I'm OK with that.

That's OK, all right.

Yes. The other one that I'm going to come up here is Matthew Ellison. Matt, come on up. Matt is also on our staff.

Both of these guys went to our school of ministry. And I thought of them when it came to hearing God's voice for two reasons. Sebastian was discerning what God wanted him to do in his life, and he decided he wanted to be in the ministry.

And then he moved back to Montreal, Canada, where he's from and then after a while came back here. And I was just interested on how that process went for you. You felt it was sure God called you to Montreal. You were there for a while. Then you felt sure, I guess, that God wanted you to come back here. How did that--

Yes, well, let me tell you the first time I left here to go back to Canada, God used a person I trusted considerably, someone I believed in and trusted. And one day after praying with my wife, I--

Was that Matthew Ellison?

Not quite. I'll let you know who it was. After praying with my wife-- and we had come up with the date, September 1. We felt like that's it.

The doors were slowly closing here. And you know, often it seems that God speaks through doors, opening or closing. And then we thought, September 1.

Let's go. It's a beginning. It's fall, and we were getting ready. Next thing I know, Pastor Skip comes to me and saying, Sebastian, I've been considering you in my prayers. I think you should go.

Did I talk like that when I said--

Yes, you did. That's what was strange. You raise your handed and God spoke-- no.

And then you said to me-- you said to me, Skip, you said, I think he should go. I think September 1. Is a good date.

And we hadn't talked. You didn't know. So you lovingly gave me the boot. And--

OK, you know, you imitated me. Now I'm going to imitate you when you talk.

Yes, [INAUDIBLE]. That's pretty good.

Oui.

Yes, and so Skip-- Skip was used for the first time for me to go. On the way back, similar, doors were closing in Montreal. And then you lovingly, with Bob, and you said, you know, why don't you come back? We'll work together and do drama and the whole thing.

When you say the doors were closed, what does that mean?

Well, I was teaching drama in a high school, and they lovingly fired me. So I thought, hey.

That's a closed door.

I'm out of here. No, I just-- they were running out of budget, so I had to go. So anyway, and then I fasted and prayed for four days in the morning.

So I was-- not the super spiritual thing. Just missed, you know, my breakfast cereal and then went to pray in a park. And then as I prayed and read the Bible and wrote in my journal, it just seemed to become really clear. Do not be afraid. I'll be with you wherever you go.

Just take some chances. God really directed me back here. And then my wife said, I want to go.

I'm ready. The combination of you, my wife, prayer, fasting, the word of God, all that came together. And as I prayed, I really sensed that he wanted me back.

Now we have Matthew Ellison up here. And the reason we do is because we just really wanted somebody else on the couch besides Sebastian. No, seriously.

Matthew runs for us and oversees a mission arm of this fellowship which allows us to train young people to go out into the mission field where when you're out in another culture, you want to make sure you're hearing the voice of God when you put your life on the line like that. Hence, Life Line is the name of his organization that he works with here at the church. But Matthew, could you tell me some of the things either, A, you teach people when they go to the field to look for on discerning God's voice or maybe some story that you could recount to us?

Well, as far as getting to the field, I think one of the ways that God speaks is through desires, one of the way God communicates to us. I think of psalm 37:4. Delight yourself and the Lord will give you the desires of your heart.

And so it's not always this mysterious thing, some great revelation or some vision of India. It's just, you're walking with God, walking in obedience, and these desires begin to awaken inside. And they say, you know, Matt, I want to know if God is actually calling me to go on this trip to India, wherever.

And they'll ask him questions where they're at with the Lord and find out, indeed, they're delighting in him. And I said, you know what? Take some steps of faith, some practical steps, and see what God reveals through those steps. So as far as getting to the field, there's an example of that.

Is there something-- has anybody ever recounted to you, recalled to you, a story of I was wondering what God's will was and something crystallized it for me? Can you think of an instance in your life or in somebody else's life?

Not related to the mission field, but yes, absolutely. It was one of those, oh, experiences. I was living in Seattle, Washington. I was about six months old in Christ, and I had this vision of Rene [INAUDIBLE], at the time, who's now my wife.

Your wife, right.

And you always talk about the visions that are brought on by green chili burritos. And so you, you know, I--

There was no green chili up there, was there?

No, no, but maybe it was a Starbucks vision or something like that. But I moved back home to Albuquerque. I was living in Seattle, and I wanted to find out if this was the Lord.

And so we went on and it was terrible. It was the most miserable experience on earth. I thought, you know, it was definitely a burrito.

A year went by and we began to start a connection again and things came together. And in retrospect, I had just been through a divorce. You know that it was through my divorce that I came to faith in Christ.

And it was after my divorce that I had this vision of Rene. And looking back, I really feel like it was the Holy Spirit comforting me saying, you know, I had prepared someone for you. I prepared a woman. And so--

That's great. Thank you, Matt.

Yes, you're welcome. And Pepe Le Pew, thank you.

Hey, my pleasure.

We have an internet question now, don't we?

Yeah.

That we want to look at?

Yes.

Why don't we put that up on the screen? And it's from Ron. It says-- is it from Ron?

Yeah, it is. It says right up there. If it all comes down to obedience and I'm being obedient reading the word and being in prayer, what do you do when you're not clearly hearing God's voice or direction? That's the question. Do you guys want to answer that or do you want me to answer that?

Oh, go for it, Skip. We'll trust our pastor, shall we?

Can I do it in a French accent?

Yes, of course.

No, I won't do it. Ron, there is a great scripture that I rely on when it comes to situations like that. In the Book of James, James said, if anyone lacks wisdom-- and frankly, I lack wisdom a lot of the time. So if anyone lacks wisdom-- my arm goes up, I do-- let him ask of God who gives liberally and does not upbraid or does not chide or does not rebuff.

Let them ask God for wisdom, but let them ask in faith, nothing wavering. So when I come to a situation where I have prayed and I still don't know, I have read the word, I still am not sure, I put all of the weight-- I look at all of the things, my options. I weigh them heavily and then I say, I think this is the best choice.

Lord, give me the wisdom. And I make what I consider just the most logical choice trusting that God will unfold his will through that supernaturally very natural process of making a choice because instead of saying, Lord, give me your wisdom-- well, I don't know if you gave it to me yet-- I trust that he did. And I trust that I have the mind of Christ.

I'm in the word. I'm in prayer. I've counselled with other people.

And I just make the choice and I go for it. And I let the Lord unfold his life or unfold his will through my life. So it comes down sometimes to just that simple praying for wisdom, trusting that the Lord gives it to you, and then going for it.

You know, there's a great scripture in Proverbs that says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he might direct your paths.

No, it didn't say that. He will direct your paths. I trust that he is going to do that.

Man. Skip, I think now we have a question from the audience taken earlier tonight. Susan is--

Susan, where are you?

--hiding right there in the public.

There she is. Say hi to Susan, everybody.

Susan?

She works here with Line Online for us.

She's our research person.

OK, tonight the question is from Darren. He says, how does your ability to hear God or the way he speaks to you change as you mature in the faith?

Is Darren here? Oh, we don't know.

I think he's hiding.

--gave yo the question. I was going to put him on the spot.

Yes, in the cafe, he was--

OK. So how does your ability-- I have the question here too-- to hear God or the way he speaks to you change as you mature in the faith? I think the key word in that question is also the answer-- faith, As. You mature in the faith.

As you mature with the lord, you mature in faith, and you learned to relax a little bit more, I think. Instead of getting all weirded out and worried, am I going to make it to point B, to my goal in the right manner, trust in the Lord with all of your heart. You know, the Bible says that we walk by faith, not by sight. And frankly, we'd rather walk by sight. We'd rather just have it spelled out like a message in the clouds.

Or Skip boots you out or something--

Or Skip boots you out. But sometimes that doesn't happen, and we grow and mature in faith, and we just learn to relax and trust the Lord and let his will unfold because it basically comes down to the character of God. Is God trustworthy? And if God is trustworthy, the more you know him, the more you know he is, the more I think you'll learn to relax in Him as well. All right? Would you give Susan and Pepe Le Pew and Matt Ellison a big hand?

Thank you, Skip.

How does God speak to man? First of all, God is generally revealed to all through creation. The heavens declare the glory of God, and we are without excuse if we fail to acknowledge God's reality as he is revealed in the universe around us.

But a general revelation of God will not meet our spiritual needs. So we have been given special Revelation that provides additional information about the divine nature, man's responsibility, and human destiny. Throughout history, this special communication from God has come in different forms.

But the most complete and accessible communication from God is available to all in the inspired scriptures. Here, we're given a record of the messianic plan fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our studies in 1 Samuel take us to the third chapter, where we discover a young boy struggling to clearly understand the voice of God in his life.

The details may be different, but we all would like to hear from God, and this Bible study will provide helpful and practical principles for you. God is real, and he is not silent. So prepare now to study the book of 1 Samuel line on line.

All right, turn to your Bibles to 1 Samuel 3. And we need the lights up. There we go.

I'm going to begin with a quotation from a book. And I think as I read this, you're going to find yourself maybe echoing these thoughts. Tim Stafford wrote a great book called Knowing the Face of God in which he bears his soul about hearing from God. He says basically that there was a time in his life where the fellowship with Christians was great. It was that one on one fellowship with God that he had questions about.

He could speak for hours with believers, but he wanted to hear from God. And so he writes, when I looked for help, my eyes turn naturally to God. I needed his power and understanding, and I needed him. But I could not find him.

I was supposed to hear his voice in a 2000-year-old book. I was supposed to talk with him in prayer. But when I read the Bible, I heard no voices, and my prayers often seemed more like talking to myself.

My sense of his presence was never intense enough to form absolute proof of God, and other people's experiences were other people's. One inky, blustery night when the wind blew the trees' arms high into the air, I walked for miles asking God again and again to simply show himself to me. I shouted to heaven to shatter the silence.

I did not want to work up a feeling of God. I wanted God to break in on me. He did not.

I heard no voice. I saw no lights in the sky. I went home to my dorm room and went to bed.

And I survived. I did more than survive. I grew. But I did not stop longing for God to be unquestionably real, real to me.

Some people try all sorts of different methods to find the will of God. There's the old open and point method. It's kind of like opening in the Bible and going, OK, Lord, that's my verse for the day.

Oh, Judas went and hung himself. On Well, let me try another one. Ooh, go and do thou likewise. Oh, you know, I mean, you got-- you can get really carried away with that.

Other times, we think if we sit meditatively long enough and just put all the noise away that God's going to just whisper to us. Sometimes in the Bible, God did speak dramatically, i.e. Mount Sinai. The law came thundering down-- unmistakably.

On that same mountain some years later, though, Elijah heard a still, small voice. When I was first a brand new believer, I remember reading or hearing about Moses going up to Sinai. So I went to the nearby mountain where I lived in Southern California, and I climbed on top of it. And I even got a little staff made out of wood.

I thought that's what men of God do. So I walked up the hill with my staff, and I actually had-- this is serious confessions now-- a pad of paper and a pencil. I'm thinking God is going to speak to me, and I'm going to write down what he has to say.

So I walked up to the top of the mountain, put my staff down, took my pen and pad, and I go, OK, Lord, go for it. Lord? Any time now.

And I sat there for the longest time actually thinking God was going to audibly speak to me. Now sometimes in the Bible, God did. As we have noted the, Lord said to so and so, and it's put in a very matter of fact way.

But there is something else-- and you knew that I was going to do this, I'm sure-- quote the words of Peter, who was there on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. He said, I was there I saw him transfigured, he writes. I saw the heavens open.

I heard a voice from on high come down saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. But remember how he ended that little passage in his epistle. He said, but we have a more sure word of prophecy.

There is something God has already conveyed, i.e. the Bible, that we can use as our measuring stick against every other form of voice when it comes to hearing God's voice. Now we're studying the life of Samuel. He's a young kid at this point in chapter 3.

And he's really in the first line up of prophetic voices to the nation. Actually, Abraham was called a prophet by the king of Egypt. Moses was known as the prophet and authenticated as a prophet by God.

But there is a period of the prophets, a series of voices that come from God to the nation of which Samuel becomes the first. So let's begin with verse one of chapter 3, where it says, then the boy Samuel ministered to the lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was-- notice this-- rare in those days.

There was no widespread revelation. Now as we go through this chapter tonight, I'm going to put out for you some what I would consider key points in hearing the voice of God. Number one, hearing God is a privilege.

Don't take it for granted. Hearing God is a privilege. Keep in mind the backdrop of God speaking to this kid is verse 1.

The word of the Lord is rare in those days. There was no widespread Revelation. Let me give that to you in another translation which reads, in those days, a message from the Lord was a rare treasure.

That's interesting. God was seldom heard during those days. God wasn't speaking much to people. Why?

People weren't listening much. That's why. It said, every man did what was right in his own eyes.

That's how the book of judges ends, and that forms the backdrop of this book. So it's not that God doesn't want to speak. It's that people, I think, don't want to listen to what God has to say in many cases, not all cases.

The word of the Lord was rare. There was no widespread Revelation. God wasn't in the business of raising up many prophets because either, A, people were listening, or B, the prophets themselves or those in the leadership positions were corrupt.

I think that in this world, when it comes to listening to the voice of God, there's a lot of competition. We have a lot of voices going on around us in our culture. Yes, we can get in the car.

We turn on the radio. Oh, but it's Christian radio. Well, that's good.

Maybe God can speak through that. He does many times. We come home we turn on the TV. I don't know if God speaks through that much.

Or there's something involved where we just are bombarded with signals of information all day long-- sitting on the computer, et cetera, et cetera. Sometimes when we are asking God for his guidance, we need to take the time to listen. And I think that means actively, not passively. It's not just like, um. I think it's actively looking in areas where we might find the will of God and the voice of God. But in those days, the word of God was where? There was no widespread revelation.

There's another reason, by the way, I think, that God wasn't speaking much-- because God had already spoken a lot to the nation of Israel. Representative after representative had come to this nation, but everyone did what was right in his own eyes. In other words, they weren't obeying what God already had said.

Now it's kind of ironic to sit there and go, God, I want to hear your voice. Well, why don't you just do what I've told you to do first? Then I'll reveal more to you after that.

I remember when I was growing up and I would ask my parents questions and I would frustrate them. And I remember distinctly my dad or my mom saying, you know what? I have nothing more to say to you until you do what I've told you to do already.

And I think God was posturing himself that way with the nation. They weren't obeying what he had already said. Look how corrupt the priesthood was. So the word of God was rare.

It could be said, unfortunately, that the word of the Lord is rare in many churches. And I'm not here to pick on other churches because I think we should look inwardly, but I think the focus of a church ought to be the word of God, listening to his voice by teaching the Bible. There is enough of the Bible to keep a church occupied for its entire career, line upon line, precept upon precept, 66 books, years of revelatory material where we can learn to hear the voice of God.

And it's not just in America. I've talked to missionaries who tell me the deplorable state of many churches in foreign countries where there isn't Bible teaching, where there's just experience oriented type of stuff and lame messages that people give supposedly from God to manipulate the people. Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Rebuke, convince, exhort with all long suffering and teaching.

And frankly, all over the world, I've discovered, and surely in our own country, people are hungry for the real stuff, for the Bible. They want to hear what God has to say about certain issues. In fact, listen to this.

A poll was taken asking unchurched people who had stopped going to church why they stopped going to church. In that poll, 49% stated church is not efficient in helping me find meaning in life. 56% declared church is too concerned with organizational issues, not spiritual issues. You know, I go to church, but they're talking about this meeting in that meeting and this committee and that committee and this pledge and that pledge instead of helping me find what God is saying, giving me spiritual issues.

Now that's interesting that unchurched people have enough savvy to tell church people that they ought to be preaching the Gospel. It's a sad day when you have the unchurched telling the churched, you know, you guys ought to do spiritual things like the Bible. The word of God is rare, even in these days.

And there's a trend, and we have to be careful, to eat junk food rather than the scripture and unfolding it and applying it. If we eat spiritual junk food, anything else than the Bible, it might be great, but we'll be malnourished eventually. So the Bible is very important.

Now in Psalm 19, God outlines two basic ways-- now I'm backing up and giving you a general umbrella here-- two basic ways that he speaks. He speaks generally through creation-- he speaks specifically through his word. The Psalmist begins, the heavens declare the glory of God.

The firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day, they utter their speech. Night unto night, they reveal knowledge. There is no voice nor language where their speech is not heard.

So David is saying that God's creation is speaking to us. It's giving us a message. We look at the planets.

We look at the moon. We look at the stars. And they're telling us a message. What is the message?

The heavens declare the glory of God. We can look around and say, God is glorious. In other words, if the art that God hangs in the skies is that cool, how much more glorious is the artist himself?

Declares his glory, and I think I think Christians ought to be able to appreciate our environment, our world, the creation, much more than anybody else because we know the one who made it. The other night, I was up in the hills, and I was looking as the sun was setting behind me and the moon was coming up. And it was this luminescent, bright light.

When I see those kinds of things, I often feel like and sometimes I actually do applaud. God, that is awesome. It's declaring your glory.

But that is general revelation. It reveals the creator. But then there is special revelation. That's the word of God.

Same Psalm-- it talks about the law of the lord is perfect. The testimonies of the lord are sure. And it segues, beginning in verse 7 of Psalm 19, talking about the benefits of the Bible, the scripture, the written special revelation from God, that his testimonies are sure, perfect and righteous, clean and true, et cetera.

So he's saying, though nature is an eloquent preacher, it doesn't tell you all there is to know about God. You need special revelation. The stars, the moon, the sun, the trees, they will tell you that God is glorious, but they'll tell you nothing of the love of God, the plan of God.

You need special revelation for that. That's where the Bible comes in. So you could never then say, wow, isn't this a beautiful world we live in?

Forget Bible study. Forget going to church. Let's just go camping.

Because you'll never get the full message. To get the full message, you need not only general revelation, but you need special Revelation now some people will say, well, that's fine, but God never speaks to me.

Wrong. What perhaps you are expecting is sort of a Cecil B. DeMille experience. You want the heavens to open up, God to hang two billion watt speakers from the moon, call your voice audibly. Skip, my will for you today is Krispy Kreme.

Hallelujah, Lord, I'll bear witness. Now in all fairness, some times in the Bible, we can't pass that up. There were prophets that heard from God and spoke for God.

And even in the New Testament, there is a gift of prophecy. There's a gift of the words of wisdom. There is a gift of the word of knowledge.

There are supernatural gifts that God uses. And it's also true that there are visions that were given, dreams that were doled out from God. But be careful in saying, I must have a dream or a vision or a miracle. That's the only way I can hear the voice of God.

There is a great book and I recommended to you. It's by John White. It's a book called The Fight. It's about Christian growth.

And he talks about how God guides and God speaks. And John White in this book says that some of these special types of guidance were often in the Bible given to those who are headstrong or even unbelievers who are set in their ways, like pharaoh, who said, who is the lord that I should obey him? Oh really?

You want to know who the lord is? He's about to show you. Plague after plague after plague-- OK, I get it. I know who he is.

Nebuchadnezzar, headstrong unbeliever, Balaam, the unbelieving prophet. Then there was Peter on the rooftop, who had to have a vision, and even with the vision argued with God. How's that?

You have a miraculous vision. You go, no way, Lord. I'm not going to eat that even though you just told me to eat it and you're the Lord. Not going to do it. Not gonna do it.

Then there was Paul. Bless his heart, great guy, but I believe Paul the Apostle was a headstrong individual. He had to be knocked off of his horse for God to get his attention.

And then even later on, he went one direction, didn't pan out. Went another direction, didn't pan out. Went another direction, the Holy Spirit closed all the doors.

And in that moment of silence, he saw a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And then the scripture says that we got up the next day and concluded that God wants us to go to Macedonia. And perhaps with certain cases, that's how God must move.

An interesting point to insert in your own life-- the Bible never talks about guidance. Never uses the word in the Bible. But the Bible talks an awful lot about a guide personally. See, we get so hung up on I want to seek guidance.

Why? You have the guide personally living inside of you. It's called the holy spirit.

However God gets you from point A to point B is irrelevant. Know that he will. Know that your life should be based upon special revelation, what God's word says, and then let God take care of the rest.

OK, verse 2-- it came to pass in that time while Eli was lying down in his place and when his eyes had begun to grow dim so that he could not see and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the Ark of God was and while Samuel was lying down that the Lord called Samuel. The lamp of God, the lamp stand-- like, we have a little model, actually, a scale model of it-- was in the tabernacle. It had seven candles or lamps burning on it.

God's commandment was that this lamp should be burning perpetually day and night. The priest's job was to never let this thing run out of oil. It's a scripture directly out of Exodus 27.

Tell the people of Israel to bring pure olive oil for the lamp stand so it can be burning continually. The lamp stand will be placed outside the inner curtain of the most holy place in the tabernacle. Aaron and his sons will keep the lamps burning in the Lord's presence day and night.

This is a permanent law for the people of Israel and it must be kept by all future generations. But no one filled it that day, obviously. It shows you the backslidden state of the priesthood in the Tabernacle at the time. They just let the lamp sort of go away on their own.

It's a picture of the priesthood, and I think it's also a picture of the nation of Israel as a whole. The light was dimming. The leadership couldn't see very far even spiritually what God was saying.

Morally, spiritually, there was this darkness that was covering the land of Israel. But God was raising up a young boy by the name of Samuel. When the word of God was rare, when his Revelation wasn't heard by most people, there was one little kid who was about to hear God speak to him.

So the flame was dying out in the tabernacle. The flame was dying out in the nation of Israel. A young boy named Samuel will be called to rekindle that flame of God in the hearts of the people.

During the dark days of American history, in the time of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin received a very pessimistic letter from a statesman deploring the condition of the United States of America. Of course, we still do that today. So it was bad even back then.

And this man wrote a letter at the end of the letter, he wrote, the sun of liberty has set. The sun of liberty has set. Benjamin Franklin, not afraid of a challenge, not afraid of the dark, wrote back. And at the end of his letter, he said, then light the candles. The sun of liberty is set. Great, let's light them candles because light shines in the darkest places.

Remember when God hung his star in Bethlehem for people to see? It was a dark night. It was a dark world. It was a dark culture.

The leadership was dark and unbelieving. Morally, there was darkness over the land-- politically, economically. But a single sunbeam can drive away many shadows.

And that's a challenge to us. You know, really, it's bad now in the world. But you know, your parents said that and your grandparents said that and Benjamin Franklin's parents said that. It's always a dark world. So it's always an opportunity to have that single sunbeam drive away many shadows.

Now listen to this great story. The Lord called Samuel verse 4, and he said-- this is a good thing to say when God calls-- here I am. So he ran to Eli and he said, here I am, for you called me.

And he said, I did not call. Lie down again. And he went and he laid down.

You picture it. He was probably a 15 to 17-year-old teenager. He likes the tabernacle. He sort of grew up in it after he was weaned.

He thinks that the high priest is calling him. He's learning to discern the voice of God. Samuel?

I'll be right there. You know, he's asleep. So he wakes up.

What? Do you mean what? I didn't call, you go back to bed.

What I love in this story is I see this young teenager with a heart to serve God. What? What should I do? What do you want me to do? It's God speaking, but he's saying that to the high priest.

One time when Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist, came home after one of his evangelistic meetings, his wife said, honey, how many got saved tonight? He said, 2 and 1/2. She said, do you mean two adults and one child?

he said, no, two children, one adult. The adult has already wasted half of his life. The kids' got their whole life to live for God.

And here's a kid. His whole life is available from here to the future to live for the Lord, and that's a challenge to all of you young people. You're here tonight. You might be tomorrow's prophets. Ask God that you might become that.

And don't be afraid to let your light shine. Don't be afraid to be bold for Jesus Christ. There's enough people that will want to squelch that, tame that,

And just a note to us older believers-- don't quench the spirit of these younger believers. You might think, well, they're so energetic. They move around so much.

And their music-- listen. What do you want? You should be excited.

Oh no, I want them to become stale like me. I'll mentor them and teach them to tone down. Don't let them tone down.

Let them turn it up in their lives. Let them turn their zeal up all the way for the Lord. Go for it. Don't let anybody look down on you because you're young.

So what do you want? Nothing, I didn't call you. Go back to bed.

Verse 6, the lord called yet again. Samuel? I think the lord's smiling as this is going on. He's getting a kick out of it, like he's playing a trick on him or something.

So Samuel arose and went to Eli again and he said, here I am. You called me.

He answered, I didn't call you, my son. Lie down again. Go back to bed. It's like the alarm clock going on and off.

Now Samuel did not yet know the lord, verse 7, nor was the word of the lord yet revealed to him. I think verse 7 is an appositional statement. In other words, the second defines the first, as if to say he didn't know the lord yet. Meaning, the word of the Lord had not been revealed to him.

You see, he had never previously had a personal revelation of God up to that point. He didn't know-- was that God's voice speaking? Was it my mother's tapes playing in my head? Was it somebody else speaking to me? He was discerning that.

So Samuel didn't yet know the lord, nor was the word of the lord yet revealed to him. And the Lord spoke to Samuel again a third time. And he rose and he went to Eli. And he said, here I am, for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the lord had called the boy.

Number two, principle number two in hearing God's voice-- hearing from God requires involvement and availability. Let me explain. Here, you have a kid already in the tabernacle.

That's where he lives. That's where he sleeps. That's where he hangs out.

He hadn't gotten this voice of God thing down yet, but he was a servant to the high priest. He was an assistant. He was already involved and available in at least a perfunctory sense doing whatever needed to be done around the tabernacle.

He's already involved, and as he's involved, god is speaking to him. Now when I say available to God, it's not just a cavalier attitude of, OK, God, look. You have my number, dude. Give me a call if you ever need me.

No, I'm talking about an active involvement. I think many Christians are frustrated and flounder with what God wants them to do because they're spiritually inactive. Member how it was learning to ride a bicycle?

What, did you read a book on it? No, you got on it and somebody gave you a push. And you learned as you were making motion.

You were going, whoa! But eventually, you got it. You need to just go in the direction that you're sensing God is calling you and let him make the proper adjustments as you go.

Some people will just sit back forever and wait. So you'll see him two years after they're safe. Well, what are you doing? Well, I'm just waiting on God. OK.

See him five years. Said, what are you doing? I'm still waiting on God. 10 years later, doing that waiting thing again.

No, I think God's waiting on you now. I'm waiting for the elders to come grab me and say, thus saith the Lord, do this ministry.

OK, here it is. Ready? Thus saith the lord. Get involved. There, now you have an elder telling you to do it.

But just find something that you are sensing, God has given me a gift. He's given me an aptitude for this. I'm really good one on one with somebody, mentoring somebody, discipling somebody.

Get somebody and say, let's spend a couple hours a week or a month together and let me help you grow. Whatever it is, start riding the bicycle. Get involved.

In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus describes three servants. You remember the parable of the talents where he said Jesus gave-- Jesus said the man was going away to a far country and gave 10 talents and five talents and then one talent and said now do something with this. And so he came back and the guy with the five talents doubled it.

These are weights of gold or silver. He doubled his investment. The one with two or five doubled the investment. The one with one just sat on it and said, you know, I know that you're an austere man, and I didn't really do anything. And Jesus said, "To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But to those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away." And then Jesus in Luke chapter 16 said further, he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Do you know what spiritual gifts you have? And if you don't, it might be as simple as finding a friend and saying, hey, what spiritual gift or gifts do you think I have? You know me pretty well. What would you say?

And you might be surprised at what they say. And that might give you enough confirmation to move on a little further in that, in discovering how those gifts work. So waiting on God or being available to God is not a passive process, but an active process.

Verse 8, the lord called Samuel again the third time and he rose. And he went to Eli and he said, here I am, for you did call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy.

Therefore, Eli said to Samuel, go lie down and it shall be if he calls you that you must say speak, lord, for your servant hears. So Samuel went and laid down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times.

Samuel? Samuel? Twice-- maybe he was in a deeper sleep.

Samuel answered, speak, for your servant hears. You see the word hears? It's a word that means I am actively listening in order to obey. The Hebrew word shama or sham-a in this case, means to pay heed to.

It's not just, I'm recording what I hear audibly. But it's you, tell me what you want and I'll do it, which brings me to the third point in hearing God's voice. Hearing from God requires Willingness

Eli said, hey, if you hear that voice again, it's the Lord's speaking. So you tell the Lord, speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Ebed shama is listening in order that he might obey.

Don't you find it interesting that God called him three times but he doesn't reveal his will until he says this? It's only when he says speak, Lord, I'm ready to do what you want me to do that God tells him the rest. And how's that for a principle? Hearing from God requires willingness.

Could it be that sometimes, we say, I really want to know the will of God, but I think I want to know what it is first? Because if he wants me to go, like, to Espanola or something, I just don't know if I'm going to be obedient to that. If he says Hawaii, I know it's the Lord. That really is definitely from God.

So God, tell you what. You tell me what you want first and then I'll tell you if I want to do it. If not, I'm going to take my marbles and go home. Speak, Lord-- your servant hears. Let that be a motto for you.

Remember, Paul said that we are to bring our bodies before God or present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Here, all of me-- hands, feet, mouth, eyes. I'm yours. What do you want me to do?

God wants a willing heart because when you are willing to serve him, then serving him is pleasurable. God doesn't want to go like this to you-- oh, OK, OK, OK, I'll do it, I'll do it. He wants a willing servant because then your heart is in it, and its enjoyable.

In 1981 on June 13, I publicly asked [? Linnea ?] [? May ?] [? Farley ?] to be my wife. I asked her privately. She said yes.

I didn't hear her the first time. She told me, I said yes. And we made it public on June 13. At the wedding ceremony, I did not have a ring in one hand and a gun in the other.

I didn't point a gun at her and say, you're going to marry me or else. There wouldn't be any love. You want the willing heart.

You want willing love. And God wants that willing kind of heart and willing kind of love as well. Love once a willing response.

She did take a gun and point it at me, though, during our wedding. I didn't bring that up. That didn't happen.

Verse 11, the lord said to Samuel, behold. I will do something in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day, I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end, for I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity, which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile and did not restrain themselves.

Ooh-- so I guess that in the ministry, God does call us to a higher standard. Yes, he does. If you're in that position of leadership where people look at you, there is that standard, as Spurgeon used to say, to live head and shoulders above the rest. And God was holding a parent responsible now for the way he didn't restrain his child or discipline his child.

Remember, they were taking whatever they wanted to. They were having sexual relations. There was no repentance, and Spurgeon also once said a man's repentance should be as notorious as his sin.

And that didn't happen. There was no change here. So God holds this parent responsible.

What was the issue with him? Why didn't he discipline his sons? You know, I don't exactly know.

But I could get into his mind and I could conjecture, for a moment, as a parent. Perhaps as his sons grew up and they were on the wild side, he said, oh, they're just kids. And I don't want to discipline them because I love them.

Well, it might sound good. But the truth is, when you have that mentality, you see, it's easy to get lazy and say, oh, I'll just let it go. I don't want to step in and do anything, or I'm too tired.

I've worked all day. Just let it go. The bottom line often with lack of discipline is laziness. It takes a commitment to have a consistent plan of discipline of a parent to a child.

Proverbs 13:24-- I think my dad must have memorized this. He who spares the rod hates his son. He who loves him disciplines him promptly.

Promptly-- now I'm not advocating brutality. Yeah, hit him, man, hit him. I'm advocating a loving correction of a spirit or will that is bent against obedience.

Listen to what Proverbs 19:18 says. Discipline your children while there is hope because if you don't, you'll ruin their lives. In other words, one who refuses discipline is like somebody who desires the worst for them.

It is a mistake to threaten your children. You should never threaten your child. You should promise and follow through on the promise.

Here's a threat. You boys stop that. If you don't stop that, you're going to be in trouble.

You wait five minutes, they keep it up. I said, stop it. If you don't stop it, I'm going to come in there and I'm going to knock your-- or whatever. OK, 10 minute, I told you-- and you just keep that up, all you're doing is threatening them.

You should just calmly say at whatever level, you stop that now, or there'll be a consequence. And if they don't stop it, follow through with the promise. Give them a consequence.

Otherwise, they'll have you so figured out really early. Oh, that's just mom. She's just on what-- she's going to rant and rave, oh, another 15 minutes, then it's over. I'll do whatever I want.

Two Harvard sociologists did a lot of research on this. And they discovered the primary factors necessary to, in their words, prevent delinquency-- big issue these days-- number one, a father's firm, fair, and consistent discipline-- firm, fair, consistent, not erratic. Number two, a mother's supervision and companionship during the day.

Number three, the parents' demonstrated affection for each other and the children. Number four, the family spending time together in activities where everyone participated. Now that last part is also part of discipline.

That's called preventative discipline. There's corrective discipline, and there's preventative discipline. And you need both, not just, you know, if you guys don't do that, I'm going to smack you. I've been waiting to do it all day long.

Preventative discipline, like preventative medicine, is spending time with them, loving them, praying with them, paying attention to them, playing, creating. which bolsters the other form of discipline. They know there are safe parameters. Anyway, this didn't happen with Eli and his two boys.

And therefore, verse 14, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. So Samuel laid down until morning. Now it doesn't say he slept, and I bet he didn't.

I bet he was wide eyed processing what he had just heard. Like, whoa, I just heard God speak, and it wasn't very good, right? Which brings up another point about hearing God's voice-- hearing from God may not always be pleasant.

I want to hear from God. OK, what if he tells you something not good? Be aware of that. It could happen.

He laid down in the morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Boy, I'm glad that's written, aren't you? He's a prophet who's afraid to say the truth.

He knew that hearing from God isn't always pleasant. He just learned his first little lesson about it. And he was afraid.

I've been afraid before. Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever had the Holy Spirit nudge you and say, go witness to that person? Oh, not now.

I don't want to. He's bigger than I am. He's meaner looking than I am.

Do I have to? Yeah, go do it. Go tell him my love for him.

And so you suppress it. You hold it in. Your heart starts beating-- buh-boom.

You think everybody can hear boom, boom, boom, shh, sshh. And then you start speaking. And the first words are always the hardest, right? You just are saying, excuse me-- can I tell you about Je-- and then you're obedient. And then the words start to come.

Scriptures come to your mind. It goes easier and easier. Pretty soon, can't shut you up.

It's like shaking up a Coke. [EXPLOSION SOUND] You go for it. But at first it might seem awkward.

It might not be pleasant. Then the Lord shows up and he blesses it. But he was afraid to speak the word that the Lord told him.

And Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, here I am. You know, he's used to any time anybody calls his voice, here I am. And he said, what is the word that the Lord spoke to you?

Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all the things he said to you. Uh oh.

Got to tell him. Then Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord. Let him do was seems good to him.

Principle number five is right here. Hearing from God requires responsibility to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And here is his first test.

Will he compromise? or will he tell everything that the Lord told him? Even though it's unpleasant, he has now the responsibility, since he heard from God to be that messenger. And he passes the test.

And I bet he did it in love because he was afraid. The Bible says, speak the truth in love. The Bible also says in Galatians 6, if someone that you know in the body of Christ is overtaken in any fault, you who are spirit shall restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering yourself, lest you also be temped.

When you have to confront someone, do it in love and humility. Anybody can come up to someone and go, hi, I have a message from God for you. Yo, what is it?

Turn or burn. OK, that's it. God bless you.

In the manner in which Samuel presented it, Eli heard the message and said, it's the Lord. He knew. He knew his history.

He remembered Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, whom God struck dead because they offered strange fire before the Lord instead of taking fire from the altar of sacrifice, which they were required to do. They just probably pulled out a Bic lighter or just took it off of the altar of incense or some other fire rather than doing it the prescribed way. And so he knew if they did that and they were in trouble, my kids are toast because of what they've done.

So Samuel grew. The Lord is with him. And let none of his words fall to the ground.

And all of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba that's from top to bottom. We would say from Maine to California or from Canada to Mexico or, in our state from Red River to Las Cruces. From Dan to Beersheba, everybody in that area knew that Samuel had been established as a profit of the Lord. Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

Brings us to our last principle of hearing God's voice-- hearing from God will be evident. It will be evident. You never have to strong arm, nor do you have to manipulate anyone, telling them, I have a message from God. This is God's word.

You better listen to it or else. It'll be evident. If you predict something or you speak something, it better come to pass.

And it was shared in a way where Eli said, this is the Lord. It will be evident. If God speaks to you, it will be evident. It will pan out. It will show itself.

You don't have to prove yourself. So none of his words fell to the ground. You could apply that a number of ways.

If God calls you to be an evangelist, you know what's going to happen? People will get saved. There'll be fruit or evidence with the gift and calling God has given yo.

If God calls you to be a teacher, people will be get taught. They'll mature. They'll grow. Whatever gift God has given you, there will be the manifestation or the evidence-- the fruit of that gift shown in the life.

Verse 1 of chapter 4 I can't pass over. I have to close with it. I think it belongs to the narrative.

It says, and the word of Samuel came to all of Israel. God spoke to Samuel, but he spoke to Samuel for a purpose-- not just to speak to Samuel, but to speak through Samuel. Samuel had become a receiver of the word. He also needed to become a transmitter of the word like the Thessalonians.

Paul said, the word of the lord came to you. In verse 8 of chapter 1, he said the word of the lord sounded forth from you. So it goes back to that responsibility thing.

If the lord God is directing you, guiding you, pushing you, teaching you something, I do think we have a responsibility to share those principles somehow, somewhere with other people. He wants to speak through you. Does God speak today? Yes. And maybe he is speaking through you to other people.

So the word of Samuel came to call of Israel. Are you available? Are you listening?

Are you involved? And are you willing to take responsibility for what God leads you in, even if it's hard? A few years ago, I went to Scotland, and I was at the house of David Livingstone, who was a great missionary to Africa and some of the most difficult places on earth.

He moved to Africa. In the midst of disease, poverty, he preached the gospel. Somebody wrote David Livingstone this letter and said, have you found a good road where you are?

If so, we want to send men to help you. Livingstone wrote back, and he said, if you have men who want to come only if there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.

You don't stop guys like that. If God says go, I'll go. And God told us go into all the world. He never said you'd return, but he said go. So we have a responsibility.

I would finally say this-- trust God. If God wants to speak through a vision or a dream or a scripture or a best friend or a wife or circumstances like getting booted out of your employment or whatever I was being accused of, however God wants to speak, who cares? Really.

No, no, I went the two billion watt speakers from the moon. I want my voice and I want it spelled out. Why?

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. He'll get you to where you need to go. Just trust him. and let him worry about the methods.

Lord, we do long to hear your voice. Some of us have had that experience where we have sensed the tug of the spirit, a direct impulse that comes to us, and we really sense this is from the lord. At other times, lord, we're looking at a blank sheet of paper. We don't know what to do, where to go. But you manage to direct our steps as we trust in you.

Lord, some of us need things more dramatic. But either way, lord, we want to say that we trust your character to guide, direct, to speak. Thank you, Lord even more than guidance, for the guide himself, the Holy Spirit living within us.

May we just get a feel for it as we walk. May we just learn how your spirit fills our sails as we live day in and day out so that we can look back and say, ah, that was the lord moving me, directing me, speaking to me. We admit, lord, we don't have it wired, but we say, speak, lord. Your servants here in Jesus' name. Amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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3/13/2002
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Why Me, Lord?
1 Samuel 1
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3/20/2002
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Generation Next?
1 Samuel 2
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4/3/2002
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Spiritual Superstitions
1 Samuel 4
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4/10/2002
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The Battle Of The gods!
1 Samuel 5-6
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4/24/2002
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Revival: Repentance Versus Conviction
1 Samuel 7
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5/1/2002
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A Tale Of Two Kingdoms
1 Samuel 8
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5/8/2002
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Civic Duties Of A Christian
1 Samuel 9-10
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5/15/2002
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The Just War
1 Samuel 11-12
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5/22/2002
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The Downward Spiral Of A Leader
1 Samuel 13-15
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6/28/2002
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Telling A Book By Its Cover
1 Samuel 16
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7/3/2002
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Overcoming Giant Problems
1 Samuel 17
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7/17/2002
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The Green Eyed Monster Of Envy
1 Samuel 18-19
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7/24/2002
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The Four Faces Of Friendship
1 Samuel 20
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7/31/2002
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The Fugitive
1 Samuel 21-22
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8/7/2002
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Who Is My Enemy?
1 Samuel 23-24
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8/21/2002
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Suffering With And Submitting To A Crazy King
1 Samuel 25
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8/28/2002
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Sorrow Without Repentence
1 Samuel 26-28
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9/4/2002
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Saul's Ending, David's Beginning
1 Samuel 29-31
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There are 18 additional messages in this series.
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