"Here I Am"

In one paragraph

Amanda Lack brought the Mother's Day message while Brian and Lissa Hunter were out of town for a wedding. She walked through 1 Samuel 3, the story of the boy Samuel hearing God's voice for the first time, and used it to talk about what it looks like to live with a posture of obedience to God. The phrase at the center of everything was Samuel's response: "Here I am, your servant is listening."...

Read together

1. Judges 21:25 quoted to describe the era before Samuel: 'there was no king of Israel, and every man did right by his own eyes'
2. 1 Samuel 1 Hannah's story, her being barren and her prayer for a son
3. 1 Samuel 2:27 a man gave Eli a prophetic word of judgment against his house
4. 1 Samuel 3:1-21 the full passage read aloud, Samuel hearing God's call and responding 'here I am'
5. Isaiah 30:18 congregant shared it: 'the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion'
6. 2 Kings referenced alongside Jeremiah as containing other mentions of tingling ears as judgment
7. Jeremiah referenced alongside 2 Kings as containing other mentions of tingling ears as judgment
8. 2 Timothy 4:3 quoted on itching ears: 'they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear'
9. John 10:27 quoted on knowing God's voice: 'my sheep know my voice and I know them and they follow me'
10. Psalm 103 referenced regarding God's mercy enduring forever 'to those who fear him'
11. 1 Kings 21 story of Ahab humbling himself before God and God delaying the promised judgment to his son's days
12. Deuteronomy 29:29 quoted: 'the secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever'

Talk about it

1. Amanda talked about the difference between hearing and listening, saying you can hear words without your heart being attuned at all. Where in your own life do you notice that gap between hearing God and actually listening to him?
2. God called Samuel three times before Samuel recognized it was the Lord speaking. Have you experienced something like that, where God seemed to repeat the same message through different sources before it landed? What finally got your attention?
3. Samuel had to deliver a hard word of judgment to Eli, the man who had raised him, and he left nothing out. Can you think of a time when obedience to God required you to say or do something costly for a relationship? How did you handle it?
4. Amanda drew a distinction between Eli's sons, who chose ongoing intentional rebellion, and ordinary believers who fail and repent. How do you personally tell the difference between a season of stumbling and a pattern of willful disobedience in your own life?
5. The sermon ended with the idea that before Samuel was ever called to public ministry he was marked by private obedience, using the small example of putting a cart back in a parking lot. What does private obedience look like in the ordinary details of your week right now?