Keystone Camp Session 3- Hear God

Introduction: 2 stories

Ok I’m going to tell you 2 stories and then we’re going to do something that changes your life forever.

Story 1: Joy not mom

When I was a teenager at church my mom used to serve a lot. And I always realized something, every time we were there and I would call out to her, she would never respond! Everyone else would come up to her and say hey miss joy, and she’d always respond back. So I had a thought, let me call her joy.

Do not ever call your parent by their first name. Be respectful.

So I would try, Mom, mom? And then I’d say “Joy” and she immediately respond. Same person was talking she didn’t realize it.

Transition: Here what I think, for a lot of us in the room, small and tall, God is speaking to you, you just don’t realize it!!

Story 2: Samuel in the Bible

Our second story comes from the Bible, lets look at this together. We’re going to look at 1 Samuel 3:1-11.

If you have a Bible I want you to open up and we’re going to read through this part in the Bible.

New Living Translation Chapter 3

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 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.

Observations:

Samuel- Samuel was really young, he didn’t know that much but who did God speak to? Samuel.

Multiple Times- Did God speak once? No he spoke 4 times!! Sometimes we think that if God speaks and we missed it that he’ll never speak again. Is that what the Bible says? No.

God is really patient with us! If we don’t understand at first God is going to send people to us to help!

The voice- did the voice sound big and scary? No! Who did he think the voice sounded like? Eli right? It doesn’t mean that God will always sound like someone we know but it does mean God’s voice sounds normal?

Personal Story

I told you a few things about my leg yesterday, I can’t help but wonder if God was speaking to me when all that stuff happened. What do you think God might have said to me?

Would he have said: You’re never going to walk again! I’m glad this happenned to you! I’m going to take away every thing you like! No!

So how do we know what God would say to us? Well in the Bible we see that God came here as a human being named Jesus. He sounded like us, talked like us, but he was God and spoke exactly what God thinks.

I have to imagine that he might have said, “Colin I love you. I’m not happy this is happening to you. I’m with you no matter what!”

Listening guide

So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to take a moment right now to talk and listen to God. He’s real, he’s right here in the room. And I think he has maybe been trying to speak to you, so can we try something for a minute? We’re going to ask God a question in a moment and then we’re going to be quiet for 25 seconds. Here’s our question: God whats one thing you like about me?”

After: Now when God speaks to us, we write it down! Because we don’t want to forget anything he says. Sometimes we need to pray through what he says, to make sure it was him and not something else.