Thirty Days of Praise
Can You Hear Me Now?
1 Samuel 3:1-10
* Verizon phone has built an empire asking one question; “Can you hear me now?” It’s interesting to me that they have coined the one phrase that every person in this building who owns a cellular phone has used many times. How many times have you stood there with your phone in your hands, believing your phone signal has died, and repeated, “Can you hear me now?” The reason we do this is simple; we want to be heard, to be listened to, and to even be understood.
* My submission to you is that God asks us the same question. He wants us to hear Him, to listen to Him, and to respond to His voice. All throughout history God has spoken to mankind. In fact, the writer of Hebrews begins his book with these words, Hebrews 1:1 Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.
* It is a sad state of affairs when many of those who “claim” to know Christ as Savior will decline to say “God speaks or God spoke to me.” Were I to ask you this morning, what would you say was the message God gave to YOU before your came to the assembly? Did He give you a promise? An encouragement? A rebuke?
* God is speaking to His people, the question is, “can you hear HIM now?” Do you know His voice?
* Let’s read 1 Samuel 3 and glean from the call of Samuel 3 truths about hearing, listening to, and knowing God’s voice. (READ)
* (briefly review this story) Can you hear God?
1) RECOGNIZE GOD’S VOICE – There are many voices screaming at us today. TV, Radio, Hollywood, Newsgroups, and more are trying to get us to listen
* Candidly, not every voice deserves to be heard, so how do we get to the place where we recognize that it’s God speaking?
* I submit that the easiest way is bound up in 2 concepts: familiarity and sensitivity. (when I say sensitivity, I am not asking the men to discover their feminine side) Sensitivity is being a believer who expects, listens for, gives an opportunity, and then listens intently when God speak. This simply means you are sensitive to the fact that God will speak.
* Let me make a note right here; there is a world of difference between hearing and listening. Hearing indicates that you have heard while listening evokes the doing (we’ll get to that).
* To recognize God’s voice means that you believe that He still talks, not just to men, but to you. The reason you know this is because you have heard His voice many times. This is the familiarity, being able to pick out the voice of a friend in the midst of the crowd. You recognize it because you know it and are listening for it. What are you listening for?
* A Native American and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening. Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.” His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!” “No, I’m sure of it,” the Native American said. “I heard a cricket.” “That’s crazy,” said the friend. The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed. “That’s incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!” “No,” said the Native American. “My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you’re listening for.” “But that can’t be!” said the friend. “I could never hear a cricket in this noise.” “Yes, it’s true,” came the reply. “It depends on what you’re listening for. Here, let me show you.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs. “See what I mean?” asked the Native American. “It all depends on what you’re listening for.”
* God spoke to Samuel and Samuel didn’t recognize God’s voice. Why? He did not “know” (I.E. experience, know from experience) God.
* Please consider this; Samuel had been doing all that he knew to do. His mother, Hannah, dedicated her son to the Lord, gave him in service of the priest, and Samuel has performed well. He had a good reputation and was obviously very conscientious. Yet still, he didn’t know God so he couldn’t recognize God’s voice.
* Have you EVER heard God’s voice? People ask me have I heard God’s audible voice and I respond, “never audible, but lots louder.” That not good English, but it is accurate. If you have never heard God’s voice, then you are not a true believer. It is by His spirit and His voice that we are drawn into a relationship with Him.
* How long has it been since you heard His voice? Would you recognize it? John 10:1-5 tells us that Jesus is the shepherd, we are the sheep, and the sheep hear and know the voice of the shepherd.
TRANS: Believers are expected to recognize His voice.
2) RECEIVE GOD’S WORDS – Samuel was a slow learner.
* Three times God called & three times Samuel didn’t understand what was going on. Finally, Eli gave him the proper instructions. It was still up to Samuel.
* Here is my version of what Eli said; “God’s calling you. Be ready and willing to receive His words without any hesitation. Just tell Him, speak because I’m going to listen to every word you say.” Some translations use the word listen, others use a form of the word ‘hear’, but the basic English bible is my favorite at this point, “the ears of your servant are open.” That is what God wants from us, open ears.
* For us to hear God, our ears need to be unrestrictedly wide open and ready to hear all that He has to say. We don’t simply hear what we like, what we want, or even what makes us feel good. We listen with understanding which is the deepest level of human listening.
* There is a reason why we don’t really care to “receive God’s words” and that is this; if we don’t hear Him speak, we believe we can please ignorance and be excused from God’s call.
TRAS: Can you hear Him now? Can you hear Him calling?
3) RESPOND TO GOD’S CALL – God is still calling, He calls us by name, and He wants us to KNOW He’s calling US!
* In verse 10 God does what He seems to habitually do. He calls Samuel by name, not once but twice. He says, “Samuel, Samuel.” (In Genesis 22, He does the same thing for Abraham and in Exodus 3 He does the same thing for Moses). God has a specific call for a specific person and He wants to make sure that person is listening. Are you listening?
* He has a call for your life? It may not be a vocational call to ministry; it may be a call to business. It may be a call to lead a ministry here at HBC, or be one of the faithful servants in ministry.
* Before you dismiss this thought, consider the illustration given through your Sunday School lesson this morning. You have just driven through a fast food drive through and before you get home you discover that you order is wrong. What do you do? Get angry? Bad decision. Ignore it. Probably a bad decision. Actually, you return to get your order correct. Why? You paid for it and believe you deserve to have it right. When we consider how expensive you and I were to God, does it not stand to reason that He has the full right to expect us to Hear and recognize His voice, receive His message and then respond to His call?
* Now, some of you are saying, “When I come to worship on Sundays, I don’t hear God voice, I don’t sense His presence, I don’t feel Him near. Something must be wrong, because I know I should hear, sense, and feel Him close.”
* How about a closing story;
* Jim Smith went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organist miss a note during the prelude, and he winced. He saw a teenager talking when everybody was supposed to be bowed in silent prayer. He felt like the usher was watching to see what he put in the offering plate and it made him boil. He caught the preacher making a slip of the tongue five times in the sermon by actual count. As he slipped out through the side door during the closing hymn, he muttered to himself, "Never again, what a bunch of clods and hypocrites!"
Ron Jones went to church one Sunday morning. He heard the organist play an arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress" and he thrilled at the majesty of it. He heard a young girl take a moment in the service to speak her simple moving message of the difference her faith makes in her life. He was glad to see that this church was sharing in a special offering for the hungry children of Nigeria. He especially appreciated the sermon that Sunday--it answered a question that had bothered him for a long time. He thought as he walked out the doors of the church, "How can a man come here and not feel the presence of God?" Both were at the same church, on the same Sunday. Each found what he was looking for.
* What are you looking for and what are you listening for? God is speaking and He’s still asking, “Can you hear me now?”
