1 Samuel 3
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here if you'll grab a Bible and go to First Samuel we are working our way through the book of 1 Samuel and we in chapter 3 we have been seeing the growth and the development of Samuel and last week we saw uh judgment being declared against Eli who was the high priest and his two sons hne and Phineas and we are picking up in chapter three we're going to walk all the way through chapter 3 this morning uh we are going to read one verse.
And then talk for a while and if you haven't uh you know don't get terrified that we're going to do that with every verse we're just going to do that with the first verse and then we're going to walk through the rest of the story and we're going to make two big observations from this text this morning the first one is the importance the value the goodness of the word of God God and the second one is the importance and the value and the goodness of someone to declare the word of.
God so we're going to see that we need something to say and we need someone to say it and that's what we're going to be looking at as we work through this text this morning that that's the way God works he gives something to say and he gives someone to say it so um let's ask the Lord for help and we'll jump right in to chapter three Lord we pray that we you would bless this time as we uh seek to Value the word of.
God and to grow our appreciation for the word of God we ask that even in this moment uh that we would do that that we would Place great value on your word in Jesus name amen now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli and the word of the Lord was rare in those days there was no frequent Vision so this is setting us up a little bit giving us a bit of a setting of what's going on here and we're told that the boy Samuel.
Now that word translated boy boy is actually a decent translation of that word in that it does not give us a clear indication of how old he is at all we can say it's a boy and this is an infant and we can say the boys are back in town and that those aren't infants at all they might act childish but they're not infants that's the way this word is used this this Hebrew word it is the word that describes Moses as he floats down the the Nile and is picked up by Pharaoh's daughter it is the word that describes uh Joseph.
When he is 17 it is a word that describes several people who are committing uh High crimes in the Bible that they are referred to as this it's young man as a way to translate it it it it's a wide range so we know that he's been growing up we know that his he now has five younger siblings um I would Place him somewhere let's just say teenager he's probably in that zone could could press a little past teenager could be a little younger.
But it doesn't seem like it I think we're picking up with a 13 to 18 year old okay that's what boy means that's what we're looking at Samuel's been growing he's ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli but then it says this and the word of the Lord was rare in those days there was no frequent Vision now as you all well remember from last week in chapter two a man of God shows up and and declares this Proclamation against the house of Eli.
But the text is like don't get confused that doesn't happen often that's not a consistent thing the word of the Lord is rare we don't have someone who's consistently speaking on behalf of the lord it's not like when Moses was here and at the tend of meeting he actually met with God we have the tent of meeting but there's no there's been no meetings and actually as we to found out in Chapter 2 the tent of meeting has been the tent of a whole lot of really terrible things the priests have been doing that's what's been happening here and it says that the word of.
God is rare that there's no frequent Vision that we're in a time of drought and this is actually one of the things that God will at times it's a it's a punishment it's a judgment it's certainly bad add it's this is no good thing to have a drought of the word of God in Amos he actually says I'm going to send a famine but not a famine of food not a drought of water but of the word of God and you'll travel all across the country seeking it and you won't find it.
So in those days they knew what famine was they knew what hunger was they knew what was like even even for the people who struggle with hunger in our country there's food all around them but when they had famines if I don't have food my neighbor doesn't have food we we have to move we have to go to a different country we have to go to a different place we have to go see if it's been raining somewhere they had to travel.
For it there was no hope in the middle of a famine for there to suddenly be food that's not how it worked and so we're told that they're in a season of a famine of the word of God now we live in an interesting time because we have more access to the word of God you have more access to the word of God than anyone at any point in any time in history you right now on your cell phone can have multiple English translations you can have translations in other languages on your cell phone you can have someone read it to you on your cell phone you can be like I don't like the way.
That person's voice sounds and pick a different person to read it to you on your cell phone you can have multiple copies of the word of God nobody's going to try to take it from you we print them out and we we hand these out you can have this if you don't own a Bible there's a blue Bible sitting in the chair in front of you take that home we want you to have a Bible we want you to read it often that's yours it's a gift to you we want you to have the Bible we have access to the Bible I think we have more access to the Bible than like I said anytime.
In any history and maybe we have a very low appreciation for the Bible I think we're a little bit in our approach to the Bible like we are as Americans that we actually don't understand what the word famine means and I actually think we don't really understand what it's like to not have access to the Bible but historically and globally lack of an access to the word of God has been common and the idea that this is a right of ours that will never be taken away or can never be infringed upon is not true at this time they would have had had copies some copies of the the word given to Moses they would.
Have had some in the ark that's going to show up later in this chapter and then a whole lot in the book of Samuel it doesn't seem like they were reading it they certainly weren't following it but you needed someone to show up and prophetically speak the word throughout the Old Testament and then the word continues to develop and that gets written down in the time that Jesus is Alive walking on Earth his ministry here they would have had some written Scrolls at uh that you could go and they would read them.
When you gathered at a synagogue but the idea that you would have that at home was not a thing young boys would memorize the first five books if you were good at it you could go into the priesthood and memorize the rest of them a lot of them like Peter James and John they were like hey maybe you should fish but they would memorize the Scriptures then we went into the Middle Ages where they worked hard to translate their Scriptures were originally written in the language people used they translated it into Latin.
Because that was one of the languages people used but eventually it got to where Latin was what they considered the the holy good language and people didn't speak it anymore but that's what you would show up you would show up and they would have a Catholic mass a Latin mass and they would read in a language you didn't know and the reformers begin to press on this and say no we need it back in the vernacular we need it back in the language that people speak and they were killed.
For trying to do that Wickliffe translated into English he died but later they were like no actually he shouldn't have done that he's a heretic they dug his bones up and burned them they got to tendale first he was translating into English they strangled him and then burned him Martin Luther was working to get it into to German this was a thing that happened in the Reformation that they were fighting so that they could have the word of God in Geneva once they were they were this is where Calvin was they would on Sunday they would gather at Sunrise there was a sermon at 9: there was a sermon in the middle of the afternoon.
They had catechism where they trained children and then they had a sermon in the evening and then they had sermons at sunrise on Monday Wednesday and Friday where Luther was they would have multiple sermons like that on Sunday and then they would have three or four on different days during the week at different times in the morning at lunchtime in the evening they were gathering like this to study the word of God repeatedly to hear sermons proclaimed repeatedly because they understood the value of what it was like to not have it and the value of what it was like to have it we ought to Value the word we ought to meditate on it we.
Ought to memorize it we ought to study it when we come in here on Sundays we ought to give our attention to it this should not be the place where we plan our weeks do our meal planning play uh games on our phone that we ought to focused now some of you are using your phone to to look at your Bible I do not do that because I will be looking at my Bible and then I will think I wonder what that word means.
And then I will look it up and once I'm on the internet I might go anywhere and I'll realize I've suddenly learned more about foreign policy because I suddenly was I just was like okay hold on so there are many times in the morning where I will turn my phone off throw it away from me put it so far Out Of Reach just so that I at least have to go you're reaching for your phone don't do it so maybe you need to have a printed Bible.
But we need to have wrapped attention and appreciation for the word we ought to care this is one of the reasons why we as a Church read through whole books of the Bible this is why we start off so often by saying get your Bible out open to this page we want to work through books of the Bible together we want to care about the Bible we want you to hold the Bible look at the Bible read the Bible if we say something up here that doesn't make any sense we want you to be going that doesn't make any sense that's not what the text says this is why in our in our uh Community.
Groups throughout the week we get back together and we look at the same passage we're trying to study and grow in this together but we want to hold this in high honor and we want to appreciate the fact that we are not in a famine of the word of God the thing that we lack is hunger for the word of God and we want to be people who hunger for it and appreciate it I understand that many of you are busy with life most of us are busy.
Because we have filled our life with things if you were to say I am too busy to read the Bible I would respond to you that I've never actually met a person where that was true I think you have had time to do that in this past week you just have to filled your time with other things that are less important I do know of a mother at one point who had a bunch of small children and she said I have found that I don't have time to read the Bible like I want to.
So I've started memorizing it that way while I'm doing all the things I have to do during the day I at least have some verses in my head that I'm meditating on and memorizing so that by the end of the week I've memorized this many verses this much of a section of the text because I am having a hard time with my schedule fitting it in the way I would like to so if you said I'm having a hard time reading the Bible.
But I'm memorizing it I would say good but the idea that we just don't have time is really that we don't have it valued where it ought to be and we ought to be a people who value the word of God and we ought to understand that there are times where the word is rare and we don't live there so let's praise the Lord that it's not the case here and let's be people who love the word grow in the word.
So in the word believe the word meditate on the word memorize the word share the word with each other we're going to talk through some of that in our groups this week there are people in your group who do consistently read their Bibles and have figured out how to to build their schedule around that and for those of you who are like I've never really done this I don't really know how to do that would love for you to get with them this week and as yall discuss try to figure out how do I build this into my life I talked to people periodically who were like man I just I got all these big.
Decisions ision I'm having to make talk to men who are trying to lead their families and like I got all this stuff I'm trying to do and they don't read their Bibles and I'm always like good luck there's so much wisdom there's so much hope there's so much grounding there's so much uh that calls you to things that matter in the word of God that helps you reorient your life around things that are not stupid and that so much of us are just building our life around what all the other Americans around us tell us we should build our life around and we.
Look foolish and we have access to the word and should love the word study the word memorize the word and know that there are times where that is lacking okay I could keep saying all kinds of things but I will not verse two that's the setting a place where there is no word of God now I will tell you this in your Old Testament the the Jewish authors and this is true for the whole Bible but it's really true for for Jewish writers.
When they tell you a story they do not waste any time they don't give you details that don't matter they they they are very succinct in their storytelling this is Americans sometimes will be like well what about this what about that why isn't this here I wonder what that looked like and it's like yeah it doesn't matter they didn't tell you it doesn't matter you don't have to know that imagine it however you like but that that it's not there it doesn't matter.
But the stuff they do tell you matters and when it starts off by saying the word of the Lord was rare in those days it'd be like if you were starting to watch a movie and they were like in a time when all the heroes were dead and darkness Ruled the Land I'm like M I bet there's going to be a hero and he's going to fight some Darkness you guys like it's it's already told me what's coming and so when it says the word of.
God was rare it's like oh I think maybe we're about to fix this problem I don't want to give it away but we're about to fix this problem all right verse two at that time Eli whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see was lying down in his own place the lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the Ark of God was okay Eli's high priest he's very old he's going blind the next time they give us some descriptions about us They tell him tell us that he's very old he has fully gone blind and he's very.
Heavy so if you're picturing Eli old heavy can hardly see Samuel is growing in height stature and age and it says that Eli's in his place we don't know exactly where his place is but it tells us that AMU was sleeping in the temple I didn't know that was a thing so they had the Tabernacle set up the Tabernacle had the holy place and the most holy place in the mo Most Holy place there was the the veil that separated that only the high priest would go in there once a year and that's where the ark was.
When it says he's sleeping in the temple where the ark was I think he's in the Holy place not the most holy place I don't think he's actually where only the high priest went once a year because God says he'll kill you you if you do that so I think it just means he's near it rather than in in there he's just in the temple where the ark is because that's where they would delineate the temples where the ark is so I think he's there the the lamp hasn't gone out means that they lit these this lamp it was a uh seven oil burner lamp they lit it at night it would go out sometimes.
In the morning so middle of the night Eli's laying down Samuel's laying down middle of the night samel was in the temple all right then the Lord called Samuel and he said here I am and ran to Eli and said here I am for you called me but he said I did not call lie down again so he went and lay down Samuel hears the Lord calling him he pops up presumably out of sleep goes Eli's calling me I don't know how often this would happen.
But if Eli's eyesight is really dim it's possible that anytime he needed help he would holler at Sam Samu would go help him so he runs to him says basically yes sir you called me here I am you called Eli who now been woken up by Samuel presumably says no I didn't go back to bed so Samuel goes back to bed so he went and lay down verse six and the Lord called again Samuel and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said here I am.
For you my son lie down again so he does it again Samuel uh we don't know how long has happened between this we don't know if this was 5 minutes 30 minutes we don't know if Samuel went back to sleep we don't know if Eli went back to sleep but they have a repeat of this interaction in the middle of the night yes sir you called me no it didn't okay go back down all right verse 7 now Samuel did not yet know the.
Lord and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him so Samuel who's been growing who's been developing who's been serving doesn't yet know the Lord in such a way that when he calls his calls him he recognizes his voice he doesn't yet discern the voice of the Lord he doesn't yet relate to the Lord the way he's going to he does not yet know the Lord the word has not yet been revealed to him so he go and lays back down and the.
Lord called Samuel again the third time which praise the Lord that he keeps calling like you ever finally do what the Lord's been telling you to do calls you to repent call you and you're like you've been telling me this for a long time thank you Lord thank you that you keep calling thank you that you keep coming some of you became a Christian and it was like yeah but I had this opportunity and this opportunity and this opportunity and I.
Finally like get clicked and I broke and thank you Lord for keeping after me and the Lord called Samuel again the third time and he arose and went to Eli and said here I am for you called me I appreciate this the first time that Samuel goes it says he ran the second two times it doesn't use that word uses it uses he went Samuel's thinking he a little hesitation these second two times I think by the third time he's walking going somebody's crazy either I'm slipping or he's slipping I don't know.
If you've met many teenage boys I think Sammy would be leaning towards Eli's losing it I feel pretty on my game but there's some hesitation he's he's going he's not running he like uh and you know he's also got to be thinking if I'm going crazy I can't keep waking him up you know like if he like I don't know how to help him if he's going to keep hollering but if I'm also just hearing things I can't just be like hey I'm hearing stuff again like I you know this he's just going.
Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy so it clicks for Eli third time that he's come out of the temple saying you're calling me and Eli's like I'm I'm not Eli's also convinced he's not I'm not doing this but he goes oh the Lord's calling verse n therefore Eli said to Samuel go lie down and if he calls you you shall say Speak Lord for your servant hears so Samuel went and lay down in his place so Eli who has not been a good high priest Eli who has not been a good.
Father Eli who has been corrected and has led his sons in this moment he recognizes that's the Lord and he says here's what you're going to say when the Lord calls you say speak for your servant hears you say I'm listening and I'm your I'm your servant he went and lay down in his place and the Lord came and stood calling as at other times so now we're told the Manifest presence of the Lord is here in his Temple near the ark that.
When he said that the word was rare and there had been no frequent Vision we're now being seeing that the word is present and there's a vision to accompany it that he sees him he says Samuel Samuel which is a common framework Moses Moses Abraham Abraham Jacob Jacob there's this this double call this Samuel Samuel and Samuel said speak for your servant hears then the Lord said to Samuel behold I'm about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle that's an intro I'm just interested that.
God is so colorful in the way he describes this their two ears are going to tingle and the text says too he specifies this both ears this not their two ears are going to tingle on that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end and I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew because his sons were blaspheming God and he did not restrain them.
Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever Samuel young man has been woken up multiple times in in the middle of the night he is finally standing now face to face with the Lord and the man he was just talking to Eli he's now given a message about Eli and let's take a moment to consider the message God says everything that the the man of God declared I'm going to bring to pass and his house will not be atoned.
For forever will not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever this was one of the things that we looked at when we were discussing in our group this past week this isn't a if they don't repent this is a passing of judgment there will be no forgiveness for this and the reality of this is the reality that moves forward into the New Testament because you you want to look at this and go wait wa wait I thought God would forgive us I thought there was there was hope I thought there was we could repent how do you get Beyond repentance the answer is you scorn his sacrifice the way in which they would gain.
Forgiveness was through the sacrifice and they had rejected the sacrifice the way in which they would have hope is through the sacrifice but they had scorned the sacrifice they had rejected the sacrifice they had Dishonored the sacrifice they had blasphemed the sacrifice and therefore there is no more forgiveness for them because the only means by which they could be forgiven they had rejected and that's the reality that moves forward into the New Testament with Christ it is not that there are some s sins that are too big to be forgiven it is that.
If you reject the opportunity for forgiveness in the sacrifice where God meets us to atone for our sin for us if we reject and blaspheme against Christ and reject him and reject the sacrifice then there is no hope for forgiveness because there is no other place for forgiveness so that's what he's saying they will not be atoned for because they've rejected my means of atonement there is no other place to go for forgiveness now that's the message who who does God tell he says I declare to him.
Verse 13 I declare to him Eli I declare to Eli that I'm about to punish his house forever he's talking to Eli Eli but who's he talking to Samuel he's not talking to Eli he's talking to Eli but he's talking to Samuel so Samuel has been given a message with implications that this is to be spread specifically to Eli God woke Samuel up multiple times and gave him a message for Eli verse 15 Samuel lay until morning then he opened the doors of the house of the.
Lord it's possible he slept it says he he lay there that word can sometimes be used for sleeping like when someone say I'm going to go lay down they don't just mean lay down they're going to go to sleep it's the same kind of way that works but it also might just mean he just lay there with a heavy message and then he says he opened the doors of the House of Eli and Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli yeah have you noticed that Eli's called him my son multiple times this is who's been raising him this is who he's been studying under this is who he's been being developed by he's.
Got a horrific terrible message to give him he's young yeah I would say fear is involved here makes sense but Eli called Samuel and said Samuel my son and he said here I am and Eli said what was it that he told you do not hide it from me may God do so to you more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you I don't exactly know the interaction and the tone of how Eli had to call Samuel to him and the the way Samuel responded.
But at some point and maybe it was already really clear to Eli but at some point Eli is well aware of the type of message that Samuel has I don't know if he kind of seemed like he was avoiding him that morning I don't know if Eli stayed awake all night too and since Samuel never came back he was like and Samuel wakes up and don't really it's like you know but at some point he says tell me everything he said and he basically places a conditional curse on him may.
God apply all of it to you if you don't tell me verse 18 so Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him and he said it is the Lord let him do what seems good to him Eli's response humble resigned he accepts the message he says he's the Lord let him do what he sees fit and Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and he let none of his words fall to the ground that means that he confirmed him confirmed him as a prophet that's what none of his words fall to the ground that.
When Samuel would speak on behalf of God that he'd declare a thing none of that fell flat all of that was confirmed all of that came true he let none of his words fall to the ground and all Israel from Dan to beeba you're like wow all the way from Dan to Beba yeah knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord that from Dan to berseba Dan's City high up north berseba city high really low down south it's like.
When we say things like Coast to Coast you know from sea to shining sea that sort of thing it's saying they all knew all Israel from Dan to BBA knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord and the Lord appeared again at Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord one of the ways that that is translated in some translation is that the Lord kept appearing or continued to appear so that.
Now the tent of meeting is a tent of meeting again the Lord is now appearing at Shiloh the Lord is now speaking through Samuel Samuel is established as a prophet chapter 4 verse 1 and the word of Samuel came to all Israel that's how chapter four starts no more drought God has called established a prophet God is meeting and declaring through Samuel the word of the Lord is coming to all Israel from Dan to berseba they know prophecy has resumed God's word has resumed his leadership has resumed through His prophets this is wonderful.
For the people of Israel because they are in the middle of a season that needs guidance the temple has been the Tabernacle has been in Shiloh for years is it's been there and they have had the the time of the judges but the judges most often were not working in a prophetic role most often they were working in a uh a leadership role they were called by the Lord to do a task they would judge and oversee the people of Israel.
But they were not always speaking prophetically to the people of Israel but now we have a a prophet the word has come and then it says something very interesting though in verse 4 I mean in chapter 4 verse1 the word of Samuel came to all Israel now is it the word of Samuel or is it the word of the Lord yes cuz we're told at the beginning that the word of the Lord was rare and then it ends with this basically it's not anymore the word of Samuel has come.
But it's like is it Samuel's words yes is it the word of the Lord yes and this is the way God chooses to work he has a message but he chooses to have a messenger he needs to talk to Eli he talks to Samuel but Samuel is going to declare the message this is how he works throughout the Old Testament this is God's method for speaking is that he takes a person and he has a Herald he uses them to Proclaim his message he does this throughout the Old Testament.
And then something very interesting happens in the New Testament we're told in Hebrews that God had spoken many times through His prophets but now he's chosen to speak through his son and so that Jesus Christ comes the word of God became flesh to dwell among us and that Jesus comes is the Fulfillment of all of these promises of all of this hope Jesus comes to rescue and to redeem and then Jesus sends out his disciples to proclaim the message that there's forgiveness in his name that he is the sacrifice that he has died on the cross was dead buried rose again has ascended to heaven and that anyone who believes in him will be saved.
Will be forgiven we'll have hope but he sends his disciples to declare this and here's how the the book of Acts puts it so often as his disciples are going and sharing this this is Acts chapter 6 verse 7 and the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith which is great because we saw that they sometimes have problems and now they're becoming Christians it's excellent.
But that's not the point I'm trying to show you the word of God continue to increase what that's saying is that the Gospel spread that's how we would probably would word it the Gospel spread and there were many more disciples but it calls it the word of God that now there are Christians with the word of God in their mouth spreading the word of God this how it puts it in Acts chapter 12 it says but the word of God increased and multiplied and it doesn't mean the Bible got twice as big certainly they were writing letters.
But that's not what it's talking about here what it's talking about is the Gospel going forward people believing the Church growing because the Church the word of God had come to them and and now they were commissioned to go with the word of God in their mouths to people the thing that has happened in the New Testament is that we if you belong to Jesus and the word of God has come to you we are called and we are sent there is a new prophetic Ministry of Declaration of the word of.
God which is the Gospel to be spread we we say this every Sunday we say that we we know a message but we're surrounded by people who don't that the Church is plan a and there is no plan B and you are sent that's what God's been doing forever you stand in the line with Samuel when Peter preaches his first sermon at Pentecost he says we knew this was going to happen Joel told us this that the spirit was going to fall and that your Sons and Daughters will prophesy that will'll go forward proclaiming this message that this has happened.
And then they were sent I will tell you one beautiful distinction between us and Samuel Samuel had very bad news to declare Praise Jesus we have very good news to declare that there is forgiveness of sins that there is hope that there is joy that there is everlasting life that there is an eternal glorious King who has rescued us that loved us enough to die for us but far be it from us to not declare it Eli says to Samuel say speak.
For your servant hears and I think some of us right now need to take a moment to say to the Lord tell me tell me who I need to talk to I said earlier that the reformers they had four sermons on Sunday they had them all throughout the week I like preaching I'd be up for preaching more probably not that much seems like a lot we only do this once and it's not because we don't value this highly but it's because we've been sent with the word of.
God to people who do not know him and our goal is not to have you in this building a lot during the week our goal is that we would gather as people who love the word of God study the word of God Rest In Hope in the Gospel gather together to sing to worship and then we would go I don't I don't know if this is weird to you your pastors want you to join a bowling leag we want you to be a part of neighborhood watch we want you to join PTO.
And if you're like I don't like bowling I don't like PTO that's not the point it's not the point but if you've ever been a part of a PTO you know those people need Jesus if you ever been part of a neighborhood organization you know those people need the Gospel we want you to go and I I don't want you to care about the height of grass but I want you to care about the souls of the people who care about the height of grass we want your time to be taken up spent out in studying the word of.
God and then going to people who need that message you have good news to declare and y'all the people around us are miserable and lost they are without God and without hope in the world but we know we know what happens if you Scorn the sacrifice we know how good he is we know the rescue we know the hope we know the Gospel we know the joy we know the peace the rest the Comfort why are our mouths closed let's take a moment I'd like.
For you to close your eyes and if you're if you're a Christian if you know the Lord I'd like for you to to talk to him I'd like for you to ask him Lord who do I need to speak to Lord where do I need to serve we've been given a message of good news May we not keep it to ourselves so just take a moment where you are and ask that for Lord may we be a people who repent of Silence.
Lord we repent of a lack of care of your word or we ask that your spirit would move and that you would call and that we would listen some of you have neighbors and co-workers and people at the gym that you need to begin to be very intentional with and you need to tell them about the Gospel and some of you there are places in the world where the the Gospel is not heard where churches do not gather like this some of you have been feeling like maybe I'm called to Ministry maybe I'm supposed to be a pastor maybe I'm supposed to be a missionary it's tugged at you the Lord's called your name a.
Couple of times you felt it at different times at a youth camp at a retreat at a thing where you were pressed and you thought maybe I'm supposed to do that and some of you right now need to say Lord I'll go wherever you send me Lord I am your servant and I'll take whatever position you give me some of you right now need to stop thinking about this as if God has got to fill out a contract and you're going to sign it.
When you see all the details some of you need to sign your name and slide a blank sheet of paper across to the Lord and say you fill it in I'll go so God may your spirit move may we hear your voice Lord we are your servants may we serve may your blessing be on this Church for the Gospel to be proclaimed for people to believe for hope to be held out Lord we're thankful that our hope is in Christ and not in our service we're thankful that our hope is in the Gospel the blood that was shed we're thankful.
Lord that it's not about us and our ability to work and our ability to serve and our ability to declare but Lord may you by your grace Empower and send us as we have the joy of the Gospel may we spread it we ask and pray all this in Jesus name amen.