Speak Lord, Thy Servant Heareth

1 Samuel 3:1-10

Introduction:

Now just to give you a background of this passage. Israel is facing a spiritually dark time in their history. The bible says that their was no open vision meaning no one has heard from God for about 400 years. The church of God was corrupt with Eli(the priest) and his sons taking advantage of the offering and even the maid servants in the entry of the gate. This was a dark time in Israel spiritually.

Samuel is likely a teenager at this time. He’s been serving in the tabernacle all his life since his mother Hannah had given her son into service for God. And in a time of such darkness and sin, he is still serving the Lord. You know you can still serve the Lord? Even in a world that is dark and evil and ungodly, you can still live a life for the Lord.

This is a great passage about how to hear from God. You know you can hear from God? Now It’s not an audible voice. God can speak to you through His Word He can speak through a message He can speak through a song or a book. God can speak to us in many ways.

There’s a lot o things that we can learn in this story.

I) God calls you personally (vs 3:4-5)

1 Samuel 3:4–5 “That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.”

God did not wait until he was 40 before He spoke to him. God starts young. It’s not that God is not willing to start talking to someone young: It’s that are you going to listen when you’re young?

We shouldn’t be focused on God calling others to do something for Him. Just because the adults are doing it, doesn’t mean you as young people can’t. Spirituality is for all ages guys.

God speaks to us personally, and we must respond personally.

Here's a question, if God called you and spoke to you by name tonight, would you recognize his voice? Are you close enough to Him to recognize Him?

I fear that God is standing at our doors and knocking and we don’t even know that He’s trying to speak to us.

II) God Tests you in the Little things

1 Samuel 2:18 “But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.”

1 Samuel 2:26 “And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.”

Samuel, as a little kid, learned how to serve God and minister before the Lord. He grew even in a area that was dead that couldn’t hear from God.

And You know how he did that… He was faithful in the little things of his life. He pleased his parents, he pleased his master, Eli. And most of all he plays God. We need to be faithful in the little things of our life.

You may not think it's worth making your bed in the morning or brushing your teeth or taking a shower or picking up the trash at church or cleaning the church or helping out of the church, but it really matters. God sees your heart and you wanting to please him and if you try and please him he's pleased with you.

We must be faithful in the little things. If we Are not faithful in the little things God will not trust us with the big things. Samuel judged a whole nation and people feared him because he was faithful in the little things.

Are you willing to be faithful even when somebody doesn't recognize it. You may think nobody recognizes it, but God sees your heart and he sees your service.

III) We must block out the World.

I fear we have too much sound in our lives. Too many things in our minds.

Many pastors and writers say the enemy’s easiest move is to flood your life with noise and busyness so you never slow down to listen. That can look like:

Constant entertainment (phone, social media, streaming) so silence feels uncomfortable

Staying overcommitted—work, social life, even “good” activities—until there’s no time or energy left for prayer or Scripture.

If I wanted you not to hear God, I’d keep your hands and mind full all day so you never become still enough to notice His voice.

I fear this is spot on. We can't hear his voice because we're too busy. It's not that God isn't speaking. It's that we aren't fully listening. And I'm not even sure we want to hear from God. That's the first step… Is to want to hear from God. When we want to hear from God, we will listen intently.

Do you want to hear from God?

I started leaving my phone at home when we went to church. And you know what I started getting so much more help when I didn't have that distraction. When we get the things out of our lives that distract us we start listening for something.

A preacher once said, “Shut your ear to God, and he will shut his ear to you; but incline your ear, and come to him, and, sinner as you are, your soul shall live, for God will hear you.”

I fear that if we shut our ear to God long enough, he'll stop speaking to us and that's a dangerous place. So let us take the things that distract us out of our lives so that we can hear from the Lord and get what we need to get from him.

Speak Lord for their servant heareth