The Possibilities are limitless:
When You Walk In the Plan of God for Your Life
1 Samuel 3:1-21
As we move forward in this year of new beginning once again we are reminded that the possibilities are limitless. On last evening the state of South Carolina went to the voting polls and in what can only be called a landslide victory, Barack Obama where he won 55% of the popular vote more than doubling the numbers of his closest competitor and more votes than the two other candidates combined, reminded us that the possibilities are limitless. They are limitless not just in politics but they are limitless in our spiritual and personal lives. What the Holy Spirit wants you to know is that you have an awesome God, an all powerful God, an all knowing God and an all loving God and there is nothing that God will not do for you. Your possibilities are limitless because of the limitless power of our God. It is easy to loose ones traction, to loose ones bearing and instead of moving forward you find yourself in a bad place, in a place where there seems to be no hope, seems to be no options I want you to know that the possibilities are limitless. The struggle to make sense of life’s situations and circumstances sometimes seems impossible. That is the plan of the enemy to darken the skylines of your life, to darken the hope in your heart to steal the dream from your visions and if you give the enemy and inch it will take a mile. If you slip it will try to knock you down, if you are wounded it will try to kill you. You may have come here wounded by the reality of life. If you are struggling, that is life. If you are hurting, that is life. If you are feeling beat down, that is life. It is life but it is the will of God to empower your life, to lift you to a level never thought imagined. To help and ensure that you walk into the glory of the possibilities that God has ordained for you is the design of worship and the design of Christian fellowship. We gather here in this chapel across from a swamp to be reminded that God’s calling on our lives is to come out of the bog, come out of the dismal places and to walk into the full glory of what God intends. I know that there is a discussion that takes place in our minds that say if that is the intent of God, why don’t God just make it happen, why don’t God just change things, why don’t God take on the role of the leprechaun from lucky charms and just make it magically appear. The reality is that change is empowered by God and created by God but brought to past by our actions. We can and should pray, we trust and should rely on God but for change to take place God requires the actions of those who desire the change. Moses had to confront Pharaoh, Joshua and the exodus generation had to march around Jericho any change or action that leads to liberation, that leads to emancipation, that leads to change requires actions on those that yearn the change. Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us that the oppressor never lets go willingly but only when those that are oppressed demand their freedom. Apartheid did not die willingly, American slavery did not die willing, John Crow did not die willingly but was made to let go. Just as the enemy was the author of that confusion that same deceiver is the author of the confusion in your life. You may not believe that the devil is busy messing around in your life, but the bible reminds us that we war not against flesh but against spiritual wickedness in high places. That’s right you have been fighting a battle that you thought was on equal grounds but the reality is you have been fighting with the deck stacked against you. However there is good news this morning because I have come by to give you some ammunition that will level the playing field. On our last visit or peek into the life of Samuel he had been brought to the tabernacle to serve and grow in the house of God. We found that Hannah’s blessing had become a blessing for the house of God, for Hannah’s family and for the nation as a whole. Now we find that blessing, Samuel, walking into the fullness of his possibilities. I believe that what God would have us see in this text as Samuel walked into the fullness that God ordained for him a road map that will lead us into our limitless possibilities as well.
1. Recognize the Voice of God vs 7 Our text opens by reminding us of the state of spirituality during the times of our text. It tells us that the word of the Lord was rare and there were not many visions. This is a sad state of affairs, a state of chronic failure, and meaningless worship. The church had become an empty voice with no power or movement. A church without the voice of God is nothing but a social club, a quasi fraternity and sorority that produces nothing. When the word of the Lord is rare and visions are diminished, we dress like church folk, we gather like church folk, we talk like church folk but we don’t have the power to change things. People come but they are not empowered, people worship but change does not take place. We sound good, and look good but we find ourselves doing no good. We are as Paul says at best a clanging symbol. When there is no word from the Lord violence fills the street, wars rage on without cause, the marginalized are pushed closer to destruction and there looks to be no hope on the horizon. When the word of the Lord is rare and there are not many visions. For Samuel the confusion was multiplied he was young and the idea that God would be speaking to him of all people made it seem that more unlikely. So on three occasions when God calls to Samuel he mistakes the voice to be that of Eli. On three occasions what was the voice of God sounded like the voice of Eli. Maybe that is one of the main reasons we miss out on the voice of God for our lives, because the voice sounds familiar, the voice seem like the voices we hear everyday. Maybe God doesn’t speak to us the way we expect, maybe the voice is different than what we imagined and the result is we miss the voice of God all together. We will never walk fully into the possibility that God has for our lives until we are able to recognize God’s voice. To recognize it in the midst of naysayers, recognize it in the midst of the groans of human frailty; recognize it in the midst of bad news and failing faith. We must be able to recognize the voice of God in the midst of a bad marriage, on a bad job, when the money is low and the road seems all down hill. We must find a way to recognize the voice of God in crisis, in chaos, in calamity. The voice of God is calling you to limitless possibilities but for you to walk into that possibility you first must recognize the voice of God.
2. Respond to the Voice of God vs 10: Not only are you challenged to recognize the voice of God but to respond to the voce of God. As complex as it maybe to recognize the voice of God the true complexity lies in the willingness and ability to respond to the voice of God. Samuel’s inability in recognizing the voice of God did not prohibit his faithfulness and commitment to the voice of God. After the third time that Samuel hears the voice and reports to Eli, Eli realizes that what Samuel is hearing is the voice of God. Can you imagine a frightened child being told to respond to the voice of God. With every interpretation that a person could experience he is being told say yes to God. Feeling inadequate, feeling not ready, feeling too young, feeling not worthy and yet the sage advice given by the priest is say yes to God. Not knowing what the future holds, not knowing what God’s plan is yet the sage priest says to him just say yes to God. When you hear the voice again, say “speak, Lord for your servant is listening.” Don’t question the voice just say yes and submit to the voice of God. I would have you know that if you are going to walk in the promise that God has for your life you as well will have to say to God yes to your will, yes to your way, and yes to your desire for my life. You must be willing to trust God enough to say “not my will but your will Lord”. You must be able to respond to God in a way that gives affirmation, even when you don’t know what God is up to for your life. I would have you know that if you are going to walk into the place that God has ordained that you will have to respond to God
3. React to the Voice of God vs 18 A final thing that I want to share with you that will lead us to limitless possibility is the challenge to react to the voice of God. Samuel is still just a child when God speaks to him and yet Samuel responds to the voice of God in affirmation and then he reacts to the voice of God. He doesn’t just hear God but he reacts to what God says. What God tells him is both disturbing and empowering. Let’s first deal with the disturbing aspect of God’s conversation. The Lord says to him that I am going to bring about punishment on the house of Eli because he did not stop what I told him I had a problem with. God had warned Eli of the sins of his sons, and although Eli confronted his sons he did not put an end to the acts and deeds of his son. So God tells Samuel of the plans for Eli’s house. Why does God do this? God does this because God wants Samuel to know that sometimes the word of God that comes fwd will cut like a two edge sword and the challenge of the servant of God is to carry the message of God to wherever God has appointed it to go. Can you handle the tough stuff when God has appointed you to go against the main stream, go against the status quo, go against the norm. If you can handle that, then you can get the empowerment that this text offers. God says to Samuel "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.” In other words God is saying to Samuel I am about to do something that is going to blow your mind and the mind of everybody that hears it. I am about to do something that when people hear about it, it is going to blow their mind. God is going to do something in your life, when you recognize the voice of God, respond to the voice of God and react to the voice of God. God is going to do something that will blow the mind of everybody that hears about it, blow the mind of everybody that sees what God is doing in your life. God is going to do something that create possibility that changes the direction of your life, that changes your life and moves you to a place of limitless of possibility.
