Good News Club: 1 Samuel 3, God Speaks to Me, Listen

Introduction: Friends, today is our last day of Good News Club for the Spring. However, we are planning to join you again next Fall! This Spring, we have learned that God’s creation tells of His greatness but we need His Word to tell us the things about Himself that He wants us to know. God’s Word came uniquely from Him and the Holy Spirit used men to communicate it and write it down. Last week we learned that God has protected His Word, even when others have tried to destroy it. Today, we’re going to consider, what should be our response to God’s Word by looking at a character in the Bible that my grandma used to tell me about before I would go to bed.

1 Samuel 3:1-10 “1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

Who is Samuel?

Samuel was a special boy that his mother prayed for.

Samuel’s mother’s name was Hannah (say her name with me, “Hannah.”).

Hannah was sad because she had no children.

Hannah decided to go to God’s House, referred to at this time as the Tabernacle, and prayed to the Lord that He would give her a son.

Hannah made a very special promise to the Lord, that she would dedicate her son to serve the Lord his entire life.

So, when Samuel was old enough, his mother brought him to the Tabernacle to serve the Lord his whole life.

As we can see in the picture, Samuel is there with his mother, Hannah, and Eli, the High Priest who served God in the Tabernacle and Samuel would serve with.

There’s a problem: scarcity of God’s Word

Can you imagine a time where we did not have all of God’s Word?

You know, friends, we have the great privilege of having God’s complete Word for us.

This is something that Eli, Hannah, and Samuel did not have the benefit of!

Can you imagine how they would have felt if they had God’s complete Word like we do?

Friends, the Lord has given us a huge blessing in having His complete Word that others before us did not have.

2 It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well), 3 and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, 4 that the Lord called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he answered, “I did not call, my son, lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. 8 So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.””

Friends, when you go to sleep, and then you hear a voice, who do you naturally think that it is speaking to you?

Someone who’s close by: friends as a sleepover, your parents or siblings.

Well, Samuel thought the same thing, that it was Eli calling for him.

But, friends, was Eli calling for Samuel?

No!

Who was calling for Samuel?

The Lord.

Why would the Lord call for Samuel?

Because the Lord had a message to give to Samuel.

The Lord wanted to speak directly to Samuel.

Friends, we don’t have to wait for a voice from the Lord that we can hear.

We have God’s voice for us in His Word right before us!

Notice, friends, what did Eli direct Samuel to say when Eli finally understood that the Lord was calling for Samuel?

“Speak, for your servant hears.”

Samuel was telling the Lord that he was ready to listen to whatever God said.

He was also telling the Lord that he was willing to do whatever God told him to do.

“11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 “In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 “For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. 14 “Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” 15 So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 He said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.””

The Lord had a sad message for Samuel to give to Eli.

Because Eli’s sons sinned against the Lord, the Lord would punish Eli’s sons.

Also, because Eli did not confront his son’s sins, Eli would also be punished because he sinned by just letting them continue to sin, not saying anything about it.

Friends, we have told you before that God hates sin and must punish sin.

Define sin.

But, friends, Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment that our sin deserves so that we can be forgiven!

Even though the message from the Lord was sad, Samuel still obeyed the Lord.

Friends, sometimes, it can feel like it’s going to be hard to obey the Lord.

However, it’s always right to obey the Lord, no matter how hard it might feel like to obey Him.

If you have believed in the Lord Jesus as your Savior from your sins, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you to help you obey God’s Word.

Even though it was a hard message to hear, Eli still received it from the Lord through Samuel.

Eli recognized the authority of God’s Word, that God was right and he and his sons were wrong.

Friends, when God’s Word points out when we’ve sinned, let’s ask God to forgive us!

We have the guarantee from God’s Word that He will forgive us because Jesus died on the cross.

Conclusion: Friends, we have been looking at God’s Word and its importance all Spring. The question is, what are you going to do with it? We gave you a pocket Bible that you can carry with you wherever you go. What will you do with it? Friends, what will you do with God’s Word? Our prayer is that you will respond to God’s Word every time you read it, study it, and hear it taught by having the same attitude that Samuel had - ready to listen and obey God’s Word.