Real Peole , Real Problems A Study Of 1 Samuel Part 3a, Samuel- Hearing God Series

Real People - Real Problems

A study of 1 Samuel

Part 3

“Samuel”

“Hearing God, 1 of 3”

Ya’ll know that I really like mules

Every year around Memorial Day

A huge event takes place that is all about mules

Bishop mule days in Bishop California

I have never been but hope to do so one day either as a competitor or simply as a spectator

At the mule days there are every imaginable mule classes from English hunter jumper classes

To costume contests and everything in between

But one of the crowd favorites is the Pack scramble and is only done at Bishop

In this event Mule pack strings enter the arena, and are unloaded and turned loose in the arena

The mules and horses are then stampeded by yelling and firing blank gunshots.

It gets real western – real fast

The event is described as a "wild and wooly spectacular” by the promoters of the mule days

Everything goes from calm to crazy in about 1.2 seconds as more than one hundred horses and mules running loose in the arena.

"Teams of professional backcountry packers compete against each other for bragging rights.

Each team must wrangle its own mules out of a herd in the arena

Pack them correctly, and race around to the finish line as spectators whoop, cheer and jeer.

“The winning team is the one that is first to reassemble and reload its pack string, and lead it out of the arena.

Today we are going to continue our series titled Real people – Real problems

As we study through the book of 1 Samuel

In week on we looked at how to overcome real problems by using Hannah as a good example of faith

Last week we saw how not to overcome Kid problems with the example of Eli and his two sons

As I have stressed over and over again

These are Real people with Real Problems

And we are Real people with Real problems

By studying their lives and their problems

We will prayerfully see how” to” and “not to” overcome our real life problems as well

Our study today is about hearing God and will be the first in a kind of series within a series

There is just too much for one sermon

As believers we will suffer from problems

But our ability to hear God will make the difference between overcoming

Or surrendering to the problems of this life

Our ability to hear God will change the outcome but also change the way we respond and react to the times of trouble

Let me open with a verse from the New Testament from John

John 10:3-5

“3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

Let’s go back to Bishop before we dig into 1 Samuel this morning

The winning teams in the pack scramble all have one thing in common

Year after year

Their animals – Mules and horses have been trained to listen to the voice of their wranglers

Amidst the confusion

The distractions

The chaos

These mules and horses listen intently for the sound of their masters voice and the they respond by moving towards the sound they hear

We also must listen for the sound of our Master

Please open your bibles to 1 Samuel 3

1 Samuel 3:1-21

Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the LORD by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the LORD were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.

2 One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle[a] near the Ark of God. 4 Suddenly the LORD called out, “Samuel!”

“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” 5 He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

“I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.

6 Then the LORD called out again, “Samuel!”

Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

“I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.”

7 Samuel did not yet know the LORD because he had never had a message from the LORD before. 8 So the LORD called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

Then Eli realized it was the LORD who was calling the boy. 9 So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.