Summary of Hear and listen
Preamble
Brent starts by explaining to the audience the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is our ability to perceive sounds. Whereas, listening is when we can understand concept. Listening involves intentionality whereas, hearing is passive. Brent illustrates this with a humorous story about his wife’s birthday and he’s attention towards a Seahawks football game and not her. Of course Brent had to divide his attention between his wife and his favourite sports team. He wasn’t listening to his wife.
Recap of 1 Samuel chapters 1 and 2
Hannah could not have a baby. She vows to God that if she were to have a son she would enter him into priestly service. God hears her vow and she does have a son. She names him Samuel. Hannah does keep her vow. During this same time, Eli, the head priest, had sons who were doing evil in the eyes of God.
1 Samuel 3:7 – God calls to Samuel and gives him a message regarding Eli’s sons
Verse 1 – “In those days the word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions.” Samuel’s experience of audibly hearing God was very rare during that time in history! Just like nowadays.
Eli’s disobedience
Eli wouldn’t deal with the sins of his sons. He ignored them and was complacent. This caused God to withhold his personal contact with the nation of Israel through Eli, the head priest. God worked through Samuel as a way to communicate with Eli. Samuel grew up “surrounded by the presences of God.” When God spoke to Samuel, he was in the tabernacle.
Current day Christians can access God so easily
In contrast to Samuel, we have such easy access to God. Because of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible, we have so many avenues to get easily access God.
Create a place and time to be with God
When God came to Samuel it was in the quietest time of the day. Brent challenges the audience to create a time and place where we can be quiet with God. A time and place where we can focus on Him. Brent compares this to “texting” and “FaceTime.” Texting are short bursts of communication that focus on requests and statements. FaceTime requires us to spend time speaking and listening. We need to stop “texting” with God and start “FaceTiming” with God.
God spoke to Samuel before he knew God
When God spoke to Samuel, he didn’t know who it was. Samuel thought it was Eli. Samuel was confused because he didn’t know God. It was Eli who explained to Samuel that this new voice was God. Eli came along side Samuel and explained God to Samuel. God places people in our lives who can help us see God in our lives.
Just like Samuel, lifetime churchgoers might not know God
Samuel grew up “surrounded by the Lord,” yet he did not know God. We can grow up in the church and in our traditions and yet never know God.
Serving vs. Intimacy with God
Our culture loves the protestant work ethic. We love packing our days with action. We don’t enjoy slowing down and building intimacy with God. Yet all our energy will become rejuvenated when we slow down and build intimacy with Him.
The first message to Samuel wasn’t one of encouragement
God’s first message to Samuel wasn’t a good one. It was scary. It was bad news for his mentor. It wasn’t an encouraging message. Instead it was a test regarding his obedience.
We are scared to hear from God
No wonder why we don’t want to listen to God! No wonder why we are scared to have an intimate relationship with God. We want to hear from God because we want to hear good loving messages. But God wants us to be obedient! This is discipleship.
Discipleship
The process of discipleship: revelation followed by obedience followed by transformation. Samuel didn’t know he would be a great prophet. All Samuel knew was that he had a message to deliver to his beloved mentor and that he had to be obedient.
Are we so complacent that we have forgotten what transformation feels like?
About this Message Series
This is a message in a series called Hear & Obey. This series was started in January 2017.
About the Speaker
Brent is the lead pastor here at SouthRidge. He and his wife Pam were part of the original church plant.