Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10                                                                                        Calvary 011809
Title: Can you hear His voice?

Many of you have seen this Verizon commercial were the guy is on his cell phone and keeps asking “Can you hear me now?” and is in these bazaar places like up on a mountain, in the dessert, in the woods or in a tunnel where you wouldn’t think there would be a signal and he keeps asking “Can you hear me now? Good”

This story about Samuel reminded me of this commercial, because sometimes we are asking God “can you hear me?” and what we’re really asking is, where are you? And other times I feel God saying to us, hello I’m talking to you, CAN YOU HEAR ME?

This morning I’d like us to look at 3 questions that I thought of as I read this text.

1st What kind of experience is need to be in the presence of the Lord?
2nd What is it to live in the presence of the Lord, what does it mean?
3rd what is this idea of hearing or listening to God?

So let’s begin with the first point, what kind of experience is needed to be in the presence of the Lord, to have a relationship with God? and the reason why I ask this question is that many times you hear people say,
I need to get my life straight first before I can start serving God or even start going to church.
Others say, I can’t possibly serve God, I don’t have any experience, or I haven’t been a Christian long enough.
Bible Evidence:
So I started looking through the bible to see what evidence is there to support these ideas, and I FOUND NON, actually I came across the exact opposite. As I looked at the prophets of the OT, and the disciples of the NT, I couldn’t find any that had obvious talents or experiences.
Moses he had a fear of public speaking and it seems he also had a little bit of a stutter.
King David was a shepherd boy, and the youngest of his brothers.
Isaiah, yelled “wow is my for I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people with unclean lips and my eyes have seen the Lord.
Look at Jesus’ disciples Peter, Andrew, James and John they were simple fishermen not highly educated.
Paul’s only experience was in tracking down Jesus’ followers, torturing them and killing them.

Yet through all of them God did some amazing things, they became great witnesses to God’s blessing and presence in the world, and it wasn’t because of their experiences, but simply because God called them, and they said “here I am.”

A few weeks ago the youth had a movie night where they watched “The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian.” Written by C.S. Lewis a theologian and Christian writer, who’s stories always reflected Christian characters. In this particular movie Aslan (the Lion) represented Christ and Prince Caspian along with the other kings and princes represented his followers. Towards the end of the movie Aslan sais, “rise kings of Narnia (the city) and prince Caspian sais “I don’t think I’m ready” and Aslan responds  “it is for that exact reason that I know you are”

So if you’re saying to yourself this morning, I’m not ready I have nothing to offer, God is saying to you, EXCELENT, LET’S GOJ
Because it’s not about you or what you bring it’s all about what God can do through you.
Jesus Said “come to me all you who are tired and weary and I will give you rest.” He didn’t say get your life straight then come to me. Jesus is saying come with all your burdens, worries and concerns and I will help you through them and make of you a light to the world.

Samuel was the least likely candidate to be an instrument of God by all our worldly measurements. He was just a kid, no experience, not even a visible presence. His main job was to clean the temple, open the doors and serve Eli the high priest.
It would make sense for God to speak through Eli who was high priest, has been serving the Lord for Decades, he had a lot of life experience, knowledge, and wisdom.

God is saying to you this morning, I chose you, not because you’re ready, but because God is readyJ not because you have power and knowledge but because God has power and knowledge. All God is asking is that you say to Him, “I have nothing, but Lord, here I am.

But in order to be able to serve God we have to live in the presence of God, which brings me to the second point I mentioned earlier which is what does it mean to live in the presence of the Lord? is it a physical place, a building like a church or monastery? I don’t think that’s it.
Eli’s sons are a good example,
In the previous chapter this is what the writer says about Eli’s sons,
       “Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord or for the duties of the priests to the people. When anyone offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork, and he would thrust it into the pan, all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord; for they treated the offerings of the Lord with contempt.”
They lived in the temple in the one place that was considered a visible place where God was present, yet they were corrupt, abusing the power and authority given to them by God. In their heart and mind they were only serving themselves.

Living in the presence of the Lord is not a specific place, but rather is a state of existence. It is something that is felt, and thought about as well as of course placing ourselves in the right place and with the right people. It is all these things combined.

You might think well Samuel had no choice; his parents placed him in the temple and made that choice even before he was born. But remember Samuel was now somewhere around 11 years old, and even though by today’s standards he is a minor. Back then that wasn’t the case, he was old enough to make his own decisions, by the age of 14 or so most boys were working alongside their fathers, often carrying a big part of the family business.

So Samuel chose to be there at that point, to serve the Lord, to be an obedient servant even before he had a deep and personal relationship with God. These were signs that he was placing himself in the right place and with the right people to get to know and experience God.

If you recall a few weeks ago I mentioned the prayer beads and how they are used as a way to constantly be reminded of God, to feel God’s presence to think about God and talk to him. God becomes a constant part of our conscious and subconscious.

And finally is this idea of hearing or listening to God. As I read the story I began to think about God’s faithfulness and Samuels response.

There’s this story that I heard when I first came to the States several years ago, about this shepherd who liked playing tricks on people so he would call out “Wolf, Wolf” and the people would come running for his rescue and he would laugh because he was just kidding, and after several times of pulling that trip, A pack of Wolfs really show up and the boy screams at the top of his lungs, “Wolf, Wolf” but people don’t respond.

And I thought you know what God always has and always will come, if we are calling for him, seeking him out. God will make his presence know.

In our text despite the fact that Samuel didn’t yet know the Lord and didn’t know where the voice was coming from, God continued to call for him, just as he continues to call for you today whether your paying attention or not God is calling for you.

God calls Samuel 4 times. The first three times he simply calls, but the 4th time the text sais God Came, stood, and called, which to me says that God somehow came closer, made himself more noticeable more visible to Samuel. Whether it was in a physical appearance, or in a vision or dream however it was it was in a more pronounced way.

And Samuel continued to respond, not sure where the call was coming from. It was late at night, and yet he obediently responded each time “here I am” I would think in his place I would have stopped responding or ignored the sound especially after a couple of time of getting up and going to Eli and him saying I did not call. But it shows faithfulness, dedication and willingness on Samuels part.

In many of Jesus’ teachings and parables, he often ended by saying “those who have ears let them listen”.

Hebrews 3 it says,
       “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”

God wants us to pay attention to be on the lookout for God’s call each day. I believe that God is at work in our lives, our task every day should be to listen for God’s voice, to follow by living constantly with our hearts and thoughts in the presence of God, and to trust that there is no experience needed.

Ask yourself:
       Do you feel like you can hear God speaking to you? Is God’s voice clear in your life?

If you answer no, believe me it is not because is not speaking, rather it’s because you’re not paying attention.