Here I am, Speak, Lord, Your Servant is Listening

Homecomings are a special time of year. We celebrate the present, by reminiscing in past, hoping to renew lost relationships. We speak of the good ole days. We reflect on the joys the past victories. For a fews hours today, we will find ourselves renewed, by the hope of redeeming the past.

We remember a time when life was simpler. We long for a time when church attendance filled the pews. Today we will wish to bring a time that our kids just joined us for special occasions like homecomings.

There is nothing wrong with missing the past. There is nothing wrong with longing for time that we honored God, Country, Family, and Friends.

The problem is the let down we experience, after we conclude today’s activities.

Attempting to redeem the past, in order to restore hope for our future is an age old problem. Every generation reaches a point of diminished hope for future generations.

As I grow older, I find myself repeating the same complaints that I heard, in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The complaints sound like:

The younger generation doesn’t respect God, country, or family values.

What happened to the loyalty we once shared in this Country? Loyalty to hard work, Loyalty to those whom support us, Loyalty to God for his protection provision, and guidance.

I wish things were like they used to be. If we could just go back to the good ole days.

This disappointment is an age old problem. We find the same problem in . The problem lies in our attempt to redeem our past, for the purpose of restoring relationships and renewing hope in the future generation.

teaches us that God doesn’t redeem our past, but that God raises up Spiritual leaders to redeem us from our past. Friends we need to stop trying to redeem our past and trust God to redeem us from our past failures, as Spiritual Leaders. We need to listen for God’s call to be the spiritual leaders, he uses to restores broken relationships with His people.

God calls spiritual leaders in every generation, and He uses, those who honor Him to redeem broken relationships with His people.

Let us Pray.

God Calls Spiritual Leaders, who listen for Him.

No one speaks for God, until they pause and listen for God to speak. 1 Samuel tells of a time when God’s people were in need of a priest to represent them faithfully before God. A prophet to proclaim truthfully God’s word to them. And a judge to lead them to live right and just before God and with each other.

Judges 2:6–13 NASB95

When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

Judges 2:6–13

Judges 21:25 NASB95

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

God calls Samuel to be a prophet who faithfully speaks God’s word, and will anoint a king to lead them. A king who will lead them, by faithfully representing God and His will for His people.

Jesus is that Prophet, who speaks faithfully listens for the words of God.

John 8:38 NASB95

“I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”

John 5:19 NASB95

Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

God Calls Spiritual Leaders, who listen for Him.

We must remain loyalty to God, by listening for Him to speak a fresh word of guidance to us. We must forth-tell the next generation that God honors those who honor Him and Calls them to point the next generation to God’s king—Jesus.

God Reveals His Plans to Spiritual Leaders, who listen to Him.

God does not redeem our past. God redeems us from our past failures.

More often than not God’s promises in the OT are conditional and their fulfillment depends on a proper response from the recipient . . . God announces his intentions, but the recipient’s response can and often does affect GOd’s decision as to what will actually transpire (Robert Chisholm, Teach the Text, 17).

God Uses Spiritual Leaders, who Honor Him, to Restore Hope of Reconciliation for Future Generations.

We are to speak truth into all situations. We should not forget the past or rewrite the past. We should proclaim how Christ redeemed us from our past failures, gave us a renewed hope for the future, and honored us when we honored him.

On a mission trip I carried our teenagers on a tour of Portal 31 in Lynch Kentucky. Portal 31 is a coal mine that is famous for bringing to the surface more coal in one shift than any other crew in history.

In 1917 the U.S. Coal & Coke Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, built the community of Lynch, Kentucky, then the world's largest coal camp.  The coal camp was built on part of the 19,000 acres the company had purchased in the southeastern tip of Harlan County, near the Virginia border.

In 1917 the U.S. Coal & Coke Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, built the community of Lynch, Kentucky, then the world's largest coal camp.  The coal camp was built on part of the 19,000 acres the company had purchased in the southeastern tip of Harlan County, near the Virginia border.

On February 12, 1923 the world's record for coal production in a single 9 hour shift was achieved when miners operating 40 shortwall cutting machines produced 12,820 tons of coal, filling 256 railcars.

On February 12, 1923 the world's record for coal production in a single 9 hour shift was achieved when miners operating 40 shortwall cutting machines produced 12,820 tons of coal, filling 256 railcars.

One may think the mine museum is a little cheesy for today’s teenagers, with all our technological advances. But in spite of the talking mannequins and stuffed mine ponies, the recorded conversations reenacted the sense of loyalty and self-sacrifice that once united Americans to teach the next generation Honor God, Country and Family.

God Honors those who honor Him and God rejects those who reject Him.

God calls spiritual leaders in every generation, and He uses, those who honor Him to redeem broken relationships with His people.

God is not surprised that our spiritual awareness has grow dull. God is not that as we age our faithfulness fades. God is not even surprised that we are not watching for the spiritual leaders He will raise up for the next generation.

But God does redeem us for our Past, by calling us to help the next generation recognize the spiritual leadership void that comes with every generation.

God calls us today to point the next generation to the prefect priest, prophet and king.

Jesus is the perfect Prophet

Mark 1:27 NASB95

They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

There in no sin or failure in your past that from which Jesus will not redeem you

Jesus is the prefect priest

Hebrews 9:11–14 NASB95

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

There is no sin greater than Jesus’ prefect sacrifice.

Jesus is the just Judge

John 5:27–30 NASB95

and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Completely innocent Jesus offered Himself in place of sinners, a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and he proclaimed

John 14:6 NASB95

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Jesus died on a cross, suffering God’s judgment for our sins, and God resurrected Jesus from the dead for our justification.

Jesus is King who leads us, by faithfully representing God and His will for our life.

1 Corinthians 15:24 NASB95

then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

Prayer ourselves and the next generation:

Praying for you this morning. May you be filled with the wisdom of Christ, behold His beauty, and proclaim His glory before His people. May the confidence of His grace lift you up, the power of His Spirit fill you up, the beauty of His excellence light you up, so that you stand up, speak up, and fill up on the majesty of Christ’s kingship in your life.