Samuel

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. I am excited to be back in this series. We've got just a couple more weeks on it. And today we are on this amazingly unique transitional character named Samuel. He's the last of the judges and the first of the prophets, sort of. And he's at a hugely transitional time in the people of God where they went from a very disorganized tribal confederacy into a time where, well, it seems like they thought they would be united through having different kings and leaders. But let me tell you, the kings and leaders they got were not the ones that they needed. So you've just got a very unique time. It seems like there's no real grand vision at all going on. Actually, there's a line in our text today, and I want you to just kind of listen for it. It's kind of unique. It's like, why would the authors, why would Samuel's book, this book, say this line? It's like, it's just a little throwaway, and yet at the same time it says so much about what was going on. It just says, and the lamp of God had not yet gone out. You know, it's kind of a poetic way of saying a little more than just the fact that there was this, in the sanctuary of God, a lamp that was lit at night. Why would he have, and the lamp of God had not yet gone out. It's just almost to the point where there is no more faith in Israel, and everything has fallen apart, and Samuel is on the scene. It's at this time of human crisis that we're going to read our text. First Samuel, chapter 3, the whole chapter, but I think it's worth it. Okay, so here we start. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. One night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming weak so that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out. And Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, Here I am. And he ran to Eli and said, Here I am. You called me. But Eli said, I did not call you. Go back and lie down. So he went and lay down. And the Lord God called Samuel. And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am. You called me, my son. Eli said, I did not call you. Go back and lie down. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time, the Lord called Samuel. And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am. You called me. Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, Go and lie down. And if he calls you, say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. So Samuel went to lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there. Calling as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak, for your servant is listening. And the Lord said to Samuel, See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time, I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family from the beginning to the end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about his son's blasphemed God. And he failed to restrain them. Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli. The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering. Samuel laid down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, but Eli called him and said, Samuel, my son. Samuel answered, Here I am. What is it he said to you? Eli asked, Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely if you hide from me anything he told you. So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, He is the Lord. Let him do what it is, what is good in his eyes. The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. This is one of those Old Testament Bible study texts that's used often in Sunday school. Do you remember? Maybe some of you were in Sunday school and you remember hearing about the little boy Samuel in the temple, right? And the word of the Lord coming to him. And it is so not a children's story, though. And that's what happens so often. We think, oh, we're going to... I mean, kids should learn this story. But there is so much going on in this story that kids probably would... It would be a lot for them to take in and understand what's going on. And so we turn this story often into a G-rated version of, you know, be like Samuel. Listen to when God speaks to you. You should be like Samuel. When Samuel isn't really the center of his story, we've said this before, the only hero in the Bible is God himself. An...