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Listen to sermons from Church of the Incarnation in Atlanta, GA.
FULL HOUSE
-has kids as main characters!
-our reading today is like that: “the boy Samuel” – it’s about a kid
-and today we have our kids with us in service: so this works well!
{invite kids to here from God}
In our story today—God is speaking to Samuel, but he did not realize it.
I wonder if God wants to say something to you today through this sermon?
Did you know that we believe that God speaks to us through his Word? And through preaching. It’s true, preachers are just ordinary people. But the church believes that God uses them say things to us we need to hear.
So I invite you to listen in today. And see what God might be speaking to you.
Our story today comes to us from 1 Samuel chapter 3. (And if you have your bible with you, I invite you to open it up that chapter)
Since we are new to this book, I want to give a little back ground:
This what you need to know: God’s people are in trouble! 1 Samuel begins in a really dark chapter for Israel:
Once again there appears to be no future for the people!
They are living in the Promised Land that God has given them. But they are poorly organized. They don’t have strong leadership. They keep failing away from God. And the People Groups that live around them keep beating them down.
Anyone here ever feel like they are getting beat down?
-I was on the football team my junior year in high school: Fontainebleau High School – Fighting Bulldogs!
We won our first game. And then we lost the next one. And the next one. And the next one! We proceeded to lose all the rest of our games for the season. It was a long season.
(it did not feel good going out to practice on a Monday afternoon after having lost 9 straight games!)
-Every team in town had given us a whipping—and this is how it was for the People of God. The Israelites were getting beat down by all the people around them. And there appeared to be now hope of winning at life.
And no one in the story knows it. But God is about to do something Big!
Israel will go from being a disorganized group of tribes without leadership and structure needed to flourish
to
Becoming a strong Kingdom with a strong and godly King, David.
How? How will they go from losing are their games to being the best team around?
In the Bible, when God wants to do something big, and create a new Future for his people, it often starts with a Baby that is born against all odds.
(Isaac. Moses. Samuel. Jesus)
The Story of this Magnificent, Hero King David who saves God’s people actually begins with a woman named Hannah.
She was married and she wanted to have a baby so badly. And other people were picking on her and mistreating her because she couldn’t get pregnant (it was really big deal in their culture to have children). And she felt great anxiety and desperation to have a child.
And so she travels really far to visit the Temple. And there, in God’s presence, she prays for child.
And the priest Eli thinks she is drunk—because her lips are moving, but nothing is coming out! So he comes over to fuss at her.
But Hannah says, “No my Lord. I haven’t been drinking. I am deeply troubled and I am praying out of great anxiety.
And Eli says, “Go in peace. May God grant you the request you have made.”
And so she worshipped at the Temple and then went home feeling a deep peace and trusting God with her life.
And a short while later she gave birth to Samuel.
Just as years later, God would save his people through a woman (Mary) and her son (Jesus) born in impossible circumstance—so here with Hannah and Samuel—God was starting to save his people through a godly woman and her baby.
So when God gives Hannah a child [the only thing she ever wanted]
Hannah does something wild:
She gives the child back to God.
Once Samuel is grows up a little, and can survive without his mother, she brings the boy to the Temple and presents him to Eli.
She gives Samuel to God in the service of God’s temple.
-{baptism} this is similar what do when we baptize our kids: we give our kids to God in service of the church
(explain; send them back home to serve in the “little temple”
TELL THE STORY
3 1-3 The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli’s direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen.
One night Eli was sound asleep (his eyesight was very bad—he could hardly see). It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested.
4-5 Then God called out, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Yes? I’m here.” Then he ran to Eli saying, “I heard you call. Here I am.”
Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” And so he did.
6-7 God called again, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel got up and went to Eli, “I heard you call. Here I am.”
Again Eli said, “Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.”
(This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)
8-9 God called again, “Samuel!”—the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, “Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am.”
That’s when it dawned on Eli that God was calling the boy. So Eli directed Samuel, “Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, ‘Speak, God. I’m your servant, ready to listen.’” Samuel returned to his bed.
10 Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Speak. I’m your servant, ready to listen.”
[And then God gave Samuel a really harsh word for Eli and his sons. It would be something very difficult to tell anyone—but Samuel told it to Eli. As hard as they were to hear, Eli received them as words from the Lord.]
Eli said, “He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best.”
19-21 Samuel grew up. God was with him, and Samuel’s prophetic record was flawless. Everyone in Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was the real thing—a true prophet of God.
Samuel would go on to have a profound ministry, lead Israel, and God would tell him to select a boy named David as King over Israel.
BIG IDEA
God calls Samuel when he was just a boy.
God speaks to and through a child.
God uses children to accomplish his will.
I didn’t really know this as kid.
When I was a kid, I thought being a Christian—living for God—reading the bible and praying—and all the kind of stuff—was for boring grown-ups. (And maybe nerdy kids)
I wanted to be cool and wanted to have fun.
I thought following Jesus was not fun. (Too many rules).
I thought—when I’m grown up –like maybe 30—and married with kids—then I will start following God—but while I’m young I want to do my own thing.
I wasn’t very wise. I was actually more like the sons of the priest Eli in the story. (We didn’t read much about them—but they were priest’s sons who spent all their time in God’s House but did not honor God—and so God decided to punish them).
CONVERSION
But at age 13, something happened. God began to bring some young people into my life that had a relationship with God—and God used these friendships to soften my heart and become more open to what he wanted to do in my life.
It was during a summer like this one—that I went to a church camp out in the middle of no-where. And there God met me in a special way.
I put my faith in Jesus.
I repented of my pride and my sinful ways.
I asked Jesus to be Lord of life—to put his spirit in me—to help me live for him.
Something changed that week.
CALLING
Soon after giving my life to Christ—I had the sense that God was calling into vocational ministry; that I would serve as a pastor in some capacity one day.
I am sharing this story—because I want the older and the younger people to know—that God calls people even when they are young. And God wants to use young people to serve his purposes.
It doesn’t always happen this way. Hopefully, one day Deacon Heather can share her full story with you. But she didn’t come to know Jesus until she was older. God found her and revealed himself to her in a powerful way as an adult. And he called her into ministry.
So it can happen when we are older and it can happen we are younger.
Maybe God isn’t calling you to be a prophet like Samuel. Or to comfort for the sick and dying like Deacon Heather. But I think God is wanting to call each one of you to serve him in a special way.
In Acts 2:
When the Spirit is poured out on Pentecost, Peter explains by quoting the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
All kinds of different people—young and old, sons and daughters, rich and poor—God is putting his Spirt in them and empowering them to serve in his church.
One pastor, Jim Wimber, put it this way, “Everyone gets to play.”
That is the good thing about the Spirit. It is given to everyone.
WHAT CAN WE TAKE HOME WITH US TODAY?
1. Just as God made Samuel with a special purpose in mind,
God knows you and made you with a purpose.
Listen to our Psalm reading again today----Psalm 139:13 says this:
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
You were wonderfully and marvelously and purposefully made!
You are not an accident! God dreamed you up!
He had a plan for you before you were born.
He sent his Son, Jesus Christ to live and die that you could know him back and be in relationship with him.
God made you! He knows you better than you know yourself! He loves you. And he is thinking about you. And he wants to be in relationship with you.
If nothing else, I hope you go home from here knowing that you were made by for a purpose.
2. Like Samuel, God is calling your name!
He wants to reveal himself to you in powerful ways.
He wants to use you for his purposes.
How can you hear God’s call? How can you recognize God’s voice?
1. Put yourself around the right people (godly People who know God’s voice.)
Samuel lived with Eli. And Eli helped Samuel learn to recognize God’s voice.
Put yourself around godly people who are more mature in the Lord. This church community is here to teach you how to hear from God and discern his will. That’s is what they do.
2. Put yourself in the right place.
Samuel was resting in the presence of God when he heard God’s voice.
I want to encourage you to find quiet places where you can sit in God’s presence and listen for his voice.
(I just returned this week from a time of leave—and part of my leave was a chance to find more quiet space to hear from God and listen to what he might be saying to me. And I am thankful to our church members who have been so gracious to me and allowed the gift having some extra space).
3. Immerse yourself in God’s Word
If you want to hear God’s voice, reading his Word (the Bible) is key. He will meet you time-and-time again as you meditate on his Word.
As kids we often start off with Storybook Bibles (and these are great), but as soon as you can, I recommend to start reading the actual bible for yourself. Nothing can help you grow in the Lord more than reflecting on scripture.
God knows you. Wants you to know him. Wants you know your purpose in him. Amen.