Wake Up- 2026 Camp Night 1
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Introduction
Introduction
13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Do everything in love.
Summarize theme of the week- we’ve got five different instructions here that we’re going to look at this week. This week we’re going to see how COURAGE SHAPES OUR WALK WITH GOD FROM HOW WE ARE ALERT TO HOW WE LOVE PEOPLE!
Main Point: We need to WAKE UP, LISTEN TO GOD God, and OBEY God.
Main Point: We need to WAKE UP, LISTEN TO GOD God, and OBEY God.
1 Samuel starts at a unique time for the people of Israel. They are living in the Promised Land; they’ve seen God’s Provision, but they do not yet have a king.
Judges 21:25 summarizes how the nation of Israel is living.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.
The Israelites are doing whatever they really want to do. Then along comes a woman named Hannah. Hannah has no child, wants a child badly (there’s a lot more than just this), and cries out to God. She is so emotional in this time that she is weeping as she prays.
Israel is so disconnected from God that Eli, the High Priest, sees her crying and accuses her of being a drunk! He rebukes her and honestly humiliates her because he doesn’t ever see someone pray with genuine passion.
But Hannah is just praying.
And God provides her a child.
Hannah promised that she would give her child fully to God and God’s service. This child is Samuel.
Samuel grows up in the temple, serving as a servant of the Lord.
Body
Body
In 1 Samuel 3, we pick up when Samuel is probably about 12 years old.
The chapter starts off by giving us some more context. 1 Samuel 3:1
1 The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.
The entire nation of Israel is asleep basically. There’s no alertness, no awakeness. Eli shows how out of touch with God the Israelites are, but he’s not the only example.
The people of Israel “rarely” hear from the Lord and they rarely hear from prophets!
I want to be clear- this is not going on because God didn’t want to speak to Israel, this is going on because of what we read in Judges 21:25
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.
Before we jump into the rest of the passage I just want to be honest. I want to set the tone for tonight.
This can be the case for us also. We like doing things in our own ways, we like having our own plans, we like having our own methods, we like living however we want to. We tend towards being ASLEEP as we tryt o live life on our own strength.
But God doesn’t need our plans, or methods, or our efforts. GOD WANTS US TO WAKE UP AND TO WANT HIM!
It’s like what our theme verse, 1 Corinthians 16:13 says!
13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
Did you know that another word for ALERT is awake? That’s another way to translate 1 Corinthians 16:13!
WAKE UP, STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH, BE COURAGEOUS, BE STRONG!
And tonight I want to challenge us; WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WE NEED TO WAKE UP AND BE ALERT TO GOD!
Check out verses 2-5 with me. 1 Samuel 3:2-5
2 One day Eli, whose eyesight was failing, was lying in his usual place. 3 Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was located.
4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Eli goes to bed- now, he’s basically blind. Here’s what that’s getting at- he’s an old dude! He should be super mature in his walk with God! He’s EXPERIENCED A LOT!
So Eli goes to bed, then Samuel goes to bed.
He’s laying down by the lamp- which represented how God would never leave the Israelites and WOULD ALWAYS DELIVER THEM- to make sure that it was lit- which was part of his job.
Samuel is growing up in the tabernacle- referred to as the temple throughout this passage, in the PRESENCE OF GOD! LIKE THE ARK OF GOD IS REALLY CLOSE TO HIM!
SAMUEL IS AS CLOSE TO GOD AS AN ISRAELITE THOUGHT THAT THEY COULD BE!
But everyone’s asleep to it. Like understand- Samuel LITERALLY LIVES IN THE SANCTUARY! HE WAKES UP IN THE SANCTUARY, HE DOES BIBLE STUDY AND OTHER CHURCH THINGS ALL DAY AND HE GOES TO SLEEP IN THE SANCTUARY!
BUT DOES ANYONE LISTEN TO GOD?
Well, the proof is in verse 4.
God calls out to Samuel and Samuel immediately runs to Eli!
But Eli didn’t call!
Eli sends him to go back to bed.
So Samuel does.
But in verse 6, we see this happen again. 1 Samuel 3:6
6 Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!”
Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go back and lie down.”
AGAIN GOD CALLS OUT TO SAMUEL! BUT AGAIN SAMUEL DOESN’T RECOGNIZE GOD’S VOICE!
SO AGAIN, SAMUEL RUNS TO ELI!
AND AGAIN ELI TELLS HIM TO GO TO SLEEP!
So, AGAIN, Samuel goes back and lies down.
Look at what happens next. 1 Samuel 3:7-9
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 Once again, for the third time, the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
We learn in verse 7 that the WORD OF THE LORD HAD NOT BEEN REVEALED TO SAMUEL YET!
Here’s what this means- Samuel is around the things of God all the time, but Samuel doesn’t KNOW GOD!
Samuel is in the temple- it’s like being brought to church. Samuel spends time with people who talk about God, who do the right things, who fit the mold. HE KNOWS ALL THE THINGS TO DO AND SAY, BUT HE DOESN’T KNOW GOD!
That’s the lostness of Israel! That’s how ASLEEP THE ISRAELITES ARE! THEY ARE SO LOST THAT EVEN THE CHILDREN THE HIGH PRIEST HAS AND THE CHILD HE’S ACTIVELY RAISING DON’T KNOW THE VOICE OF THE LORD! THEY DON’T KNOW WHO GOD IS!
But YET AGAIN THE LORD CRIES OUT TO SAMUEL!
AND YET AGAIN SAMUEL RUNS TO ELI!
FINALLY, ON THE THIRD TIME; THE THIRD TIME THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED, ELI UNDERSTANDS WHAT IS GOING ON AND TELLS SAMUEL THAT GOD IS SPEAKING TO HIM!
HE IS TO GO BACK, LIE DOWN, and ANSWER GOD SAYING, “SPEAK LORD- SPEAK YAHWEH- FOR YOUR SERVANT IS LISTENING!
That’s a great lesson for us! We can get so busy in life, so focused on telling God what we want or need, that we don’t just LISTEN TO GOD!
But hey, check this out! WE NEED TO WAKE UP AND JUST LISTEN! WE CAN’T LISTEN WHILE WE’RE ASLEEP AND WE CAN’T LISTEN WHEN WE JUST TELL GOD WHAT WE WANT!
WE NEED TO WKAE UP AND LISTEN! WE NEED TO HEAR FROM GOD!
And I’m really confident that you’re going to hear from God this week! I’m confident that God’s going to speak to you this week! I know it!
It probably won’t be in the middle of the night, but it will be in your quiet times each day. It will be in those questions you want to ask that leader or your friend. It will be as you wrestle with God’s WORD EACH NIGHT IN HERE TOGEHTER!
Like when we read the Bible, we are reading the LITERAL WORD OF GOD AND GOD IS SPEAKING TO US THROUGH IT!
THAT’S SUPER AWESOME!
So I want to encourage you, WAKE UP! WAKE UP AND LISTEN TO GOD!
Look at verses 10-14 with me. 1 Samuel 3:10-14
10 The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that will cause everyone who hears about it to shudder. 12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family, from beginning to end. 13 I told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are cursing God, and he has not stopped them. 14 Therefore, I have sworn to Eli’s family: The iniquity of Eli’s family will never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering.”
So God calls out to Samuel again and SAMUEL RESPONDS! HE WAKES UP!
HE WAKES UP TO GOD!
God doesn’t wait until Samuel is an adult or until he’s in college, or until he’s married with 2 kids. God calls to Samuel when he is 12 years old!
Just think about this! Samuel was the right age to be at camp!
THE LORD COMES TO SAMUEL RIGHT THEN; WHEN HE IS 12 AND SPEAKS TO HIM!
THE LORD PHYSICALLY COMES AND STANDS NEXT TO SAMUEL AND GIVES THIS MESSAGE TO SAMUEL REGARDING ELI.
But before we talk about that message, I want you to hear this. Just as GOD CAME TO SAMUEL AND MET SAMUEL, GOD IS CLOSE TO YOU AND WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!
20 See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
This verse was originally spoken by JESUS TO A GROUP OF CHRISTIANS; a CHURCH!
JESUS WANTS TO TALK WITH THEM! BUT THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA? THEY ARE ASLEEP!
And do you know what Jesus says He’ll do with them? Here it is: Revelation 3:15-16
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.
WAKE UP CAMP! WE NEED TO WAKE UP TONIGHT! DON’T WAIT TO GET OLDER, DON’T WAIT FOR THIS HARD SEASON TO BE DONE, DON’T WAIT FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN; TONIGHT, PULL CLOSE TO GOD! TONIGHT, WAKE UP TO GOD!
THIS IS TRUE FOR ALL OF US HERE TONIGHT! GOD’S BROUGHT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US HERE FOR A REASON! MAYBE YOU’RE HERE AND YOU DON’T KNOW GOD AND YOU’RE GOING TO MEET GOD THIS WEEK! MAYBE YOU NEED TO CUT OUT THAT ADDICTION TO SIN! MAYBE YOU NEED TO STOP DOING THAT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND OR GIRLFRIEND! MAYBE YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT YOU RATHER THAN THE WORLD! MAYBE YOU NEED TO JUST STOP AND LISTEN TO GOD RATHER THAN LISTENING TO FEAR AND ANXIETY!
GOD HAS BORUGHT YOU HERE FOR A REASON!
But listen, God’s message that He gives to Samuel? It’s not all that positive! It’s a message of judgment really!
God is sending judgment on Eli’s family!
Here’s why; ELI IS ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL!
Listen to me and hear me very clearly on this- you cannot rely on someone else to listen to God for you!
It’s on US TO HEAR GOD! It’s not on your youth leader to hear God for you; God wants to speak to YOU!
Let’s actually talk about this message for a few minutes.
Eli is going to be punished for the sins of his sons. They are priests who are cursing God and are defrauding, or stealing, from the Israelites.
They know how to worship God and yet they choose not to! They choose to mislead people. This sin and promised punishment should break our hearts because we do the same thing! This is James 4:17
17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
We do that all the time! Not about a sacrifice, but we see a friend having a hard day and we just walk by! We stay ASLEEP RATHER THAN WAKING UP AND LIVING COURAGEOUSLY!
We know that we SIN AGAINST GOD ALL THE TIME!- Romans 3:23
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
we keep going down that road of sin. We run after it again and again. We pursue it rather than pursuing God!
But hey, God has given us- and I’m talking to myself and all of us- a really awesome chance this week to WAKE UP AND TO WALK VIBRANTLY WITH GOD!
I said that God is going to call you to something this week; maybe you’re here and GOD IS CALLING YOU TO STOP BEING ELI!
See, Eli is great at going through the motions. He knew the right answer, said the right thing, on the surface, he even DID THE RIGHT THING!
HIS HAND WAS UP DURING WORSHIP, HE WAS SINGING LOUD AND PROUD, HE ALWAYS WAS AT YOUTH GROUP, BUT HE DIDN’T LOVE GOD!
He just went through the motions. He did it not to worship God, but for PRIDE!
Eli knew what made him look a certain way!
ELI NEEDED TO WAKE UP!
So we’ve seen Samuel WAKE UP, LISTEN TO GOD, but now he needs to OBEY GOD!
Understand, there’s a reason that God spoke all of this to Samuel. We see that in verses 15-18. 1 Samuel 3:15-18
15 Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
“Here I am,” answered Samuel.
17 “What was the message he gave you?” Eli asked. “Don’t hide it from me. May God punish you and do so severely if you hide anything from me that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and did not hide anything from him. Eli responded, “He is the Lord. Let him do what he thinks is good.”
Eli calls samuel into his room the next day.
Samuel is scared- understandably- to pass along the message.
Here this- what God calls you to won’t be easy or simple, or comfortable! It just won’t be! There will be hard parts. God calls us to obedience, not to easy!
Here’s where Samuel OBEYS GOD!
He goes and he tells Eli the message from God.
Listen- I’m a lot less focused on Eli’s response today- although he does accept what God says- than I am on what we see from Samuel.
We see COURAGE AND CHARACTER FROM SAMUEL!
WE SEE THAT HE WAKES UP, HE LISTENS TO GOD, AND HE OBEYS!
His obedience requires courage- which isn’t the whole absence of fear thing; instead, I think we could say that courage is- BOLDNESS TO LIVE DIFFERENTLY FROM THE WORLD- by bringing a hard message.
And here’s the truth for us; we are given a message by God to bring to the world. It’s called the Gospel.
GOSPEL! (Super short- we are all sinners. We needed a savior. Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life, was sentenced to the cross, was killed, rose again on the third day, defeating sin and death so that we could be saved; given new life, new hope, and new purpose!)
And it’s our job to share the GOSPEL with everyone!
But it’s a hard message because the GOSPEL says that everyone is a sinner and that we need to repent!
it’s hard, but it’s also true!
And sharing that takes COURAGE AND BEING AWAKE!
See, first, we have to wake up to the fact that we need God and then we need to have the COURAGE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
I’ve got one more verse I want us to check out today. We’ve seen that we need to WAKE UP, LISTEN TO GOD, and OBEY GOD, but what does all of that lead to? What’s the purpose?
We see that in 1 Samuel 3:19
19 Samuel grew. The Lord was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied.
Here’s the reason why! THE WHY IS SIMPLE! GOD WAS WITH SAMUEL!
Samuel’s life was totally transformed. See, when it says that Samuel prophesied, it means that Samuel spoke ON BEHALF OF GOD!
GOD SPOKE DIRECTLY TO AND THROUGH SAMUEL!
And Samuel gets to talk directly to GOD!
Do you know what that all capital letter thing in verse 19 means? It says LORD, but it’s a translation of the name of GOD- YAHWEH! YAWHEH IS THE NAME THAT GOD SHARES TO MOSES IN EXODUS 3!
Do you know why God shares His name with Moses and in turn us? It’s because God wants to have a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH US and you can’t have a real relationship if you don’t know someone’s name! Imagine if I didn’t know my wife’s name! We wouldn’t still be married!
SO LET that sink in! WE KNOW GOD’S NAME AND GOD KNOWS US, JUST AS GOD KNEW SAMUEL!
Listen, the most important thing that you could ever have in life is a real relationship with God.
There’s a lot of fun parts about camp. It’s fun to throw axes, it’s fun to shoot a bow and arrow. It’s fun to fish, it’s fun to swim, it’s fun to eat, it’s fun to keep Joe up all night because you’re doing crazy things; but all of that pales in comparison to the most important thing! BECAUSE THIS WEEK COUDL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
See, every single day of my life, regardless of where I am in the world- in Champaign, at camp, in Denver, in Prague, I GET TO WALK WITH GOD AND HAVE A REAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!
That is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT YOU COULD EVER HAVE! DON’T MISS THAT THIS WEEK!
THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE! DON’T PRESS THE SNOOZE BUTTON ON WALKING WITH GOD THIS WEEK!
WAKE UP TO GOD THIS WEEK!
As we close out tonight I just want to leave us with that passage from Revelation 3:14-21
Takeaway
Takeaway
WAKE UP TO GOD THIS WEEK
WAKE UP TO GOD THIS WEEK
14 “Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent. 20 See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
21 “To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Let’s WAKE UP TO GOD TOGETHER THIS WEEK!
LET’S NOT THINK THAT WE BRING SO MUCH, BECAUSE WE DON’T! INSTEAD, LET’S RUN TO GOD AND TRUST GOD!
HEAR JESUS KNOCKING AND LET HIM IN THIS WEEK! BE ZEALOUS- PASSIONATE- AND REPENT, OR TURN FROM YOUR SIN THIS WEEK!
LET ME PRAY FOR US!
