Real People Real Problems A Study Of 1 Samuel Part 3b, Barriers To Hearing Series

Real People – Real Problems

A study of 1 Samuel

Part 3b

“Samuel” hearing God

“Barriers to hearing”

Today we will continue in our study of 1 Samuel

In our Real People – Real problems series

With part 3b

Or part 2 of hearing God

I told you last week about the mules and horses at Bishop Mule days in the pack scramble

And the importance of those animals

Fist

Listening for

Then hearing

Then responding

To the sound of their masters voice

We saw how the wranglers at Bishop used many ways to call to their animals

Encouraging them to come out of the chaos

Come out of the confusion

Come out of the distraction

And continue with their purpose

And we learned how God speaks to us in many ways as well

And began to explore the importance of listening- hearing and responding

We studied how God speaks to us primarily in 5 ways

Through his Holy Spirit

Through his Word

Through his Church

Through his Creation

Through his Son Jesus

Today

I want to focus on what causes us to not hear- not listen or not respond

We will be back in 1 Samuel chapter 3 again this morning

Before we dig into to God’s word

Let me take you back just for a moment to Bishop

Imaging with me

The chaos in that arena

Following those shouts

Those Gun shots

The yelling crowd

The running animals

The dust

The excitement

The fear

Imagine yourself as one of those mules

This may be easier for some of you than others

Because you like me

May be just a few chromosomes away from being a mule

At least in mentality

But imagine with me

How hard it would be to hear your master’s voice in that madness

I really hate to tell you

But the world we live in has far more distractions

Far more mess

Far more chaos

Far more confusion

Than that arena could ever hold

So it should come as no surprise that sometimes we have trouble hearing the sound of God’s voice

Life

Satan

The world

The media

The politicians

Your job

Your own wants and desires

Cry out constantly for your attention and your time

And it is imperative as born again

Bona Fide believers

That we learn to listen for- hear and respond to our Masters voice

If you are not a believer

I can tell you it is even more important for you to learn to listen – hear and respond

Your eternal life depends on it

Not hearing God

Not listening to God

And not responding to God is a real problem in our lives

It has always been a problem

We see all though the bible

A failure to communicate with God

Take the nation of Israel for instance

God delivers them

Feeds them

Fights for them

Provides for them

And as soon as the dust settles

They get distracted and start listening to other voices

And the cycle starts again

Even Samuel

Our model in this study for hearing God

The high Priest

Israel’s last Judge

Did not always listen

Why?

Let’s get back into 1 Samuel to see

How he learned to listen

And how he overcame

And thrived

1 Samuel 3: 1-10

3 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.

10 And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

One of the very first barriers to hearing God’s voice is