The Lost Voice Of God

THE LOST VOICE OF GOD

1 Sam 3:1-11

1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.

2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;

3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;

4 That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.

5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.

6 And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.

8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.

9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

11 And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.

Ps 28:1-2

Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

The first role of successful merchandising is to give consumers what they want. If they want bigger burgers, make their burgers bigger. Designer bottle water in six fruit flavors? Done. You got it! Minivans with DVD players & TV’s, headphone hookups and 10 personal cup holders? You want 10, make it 20. The rage of the age is KEEP THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED. You’ve got to modify your product and your message to meet their needs if you want to build a market and get ahead of the competition.

Today this same consumer mindset has invaded Christianity. The church service is too long, you say? We’ll shorten it (one pastor guarantees his sermons will never last more than seven minutes!). Dress code to formal? Wear your sweat suit. Too boring? Wait till you hear our rocking’ church band!

And if the message is too confrontational, or too judgmental, or too exclusive, scary, unbelievable, hard to understand, or too much anything else for your taste, churches everywhere are eager to adjust that message to make you feel more comfortable. This new version of Christianity makes you a partner on the team, a design consultant on church life, and does away with old-fashioned authority, accountability, and moral absolutes.

Billy Graham has said, “Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have”

Martin Luther, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”

At the close of life, the question will not be,

"How much have you gotten?" but "How much have you given?"

Not "How much have you won?" but "How much have you done?"

Not "How much have you saved?" but "How much have you sacrificed?"

It will be "How much have you loved and served," not "How much were you honored?"

I: We have a lot of voices competing for our attention in lives:

A. There is the “Voice of the World,”

a. We call it peer pressure:

1. It’s that voice that wants us to fit in:

1a. It’s this voice that says, unless I become like others I won’t be

accepted:

2a. This voice says, “If you don’t they won’t love you:”

2. This voice is heard at shopping malls to car lots, it’s heard from Wal-mart to Bass Pro:

1a. Telling us, we need to buy more so we can have more, more makes

you happy:

3. The voice of the world keeps telling me, God’s not real, and if He is, I have plenty of time to do what I want:

B. Second voice is, “Voice of my Adversary:”

a. This voice convinces some that there is no recompense for sin: