Well, listen, we return for the last time for this year, believe it or not, to 1 Samuel. Next weekend will be something that has to do with Thanksgiving, and then we got December. And December, if it's not something about Christmas, it just doesn't feel right, because here we're singing Christmas carols, and then we're going like 1 Samuel chapter 4, the Philistines capture the ark. It doesn't just feel right. So today is the last time we're going to be in 1 Samuel. And so if you have your Bible, 1 Samuel chapter 3. 1 Samuel chapter 3. If you don't have a Bible, maybe you have a Bible app. Go ahead, either way. If you don't have either, there might be a Bible in the front row you can use. And if you don't have one, keep it. It's our gift to you. All right, 1 Samuel chapter 3. Soon I'll read it, but we'll read it and we'll go through it together. We're going to attempt to do all 21 verses. Yeah, yeah. We're going to try. We're going to try. I really am. I'm really going to try. And I'm telling you, we will be out of here by 1. Guaranteed. You give me till 1 PM, I give you 21 verses. All right? Let me get going, because I don't see everybody smiling anymore. Well, you remember this guy, this guy, you don't remember? He used to work for Verizon, right? He used to work for Verizon. It was so good at Verizon, he left, right? He did, he didn't end up, but if you remember the commercial, he would be found at different places, and he would say, can you hear me now? And then if you said yes, he'd say, good. And then he would go to the next one, and can you hear me now? And he would go around, and I kept asking the same question, can you hear me now? And then if it was positive, good. Let's see if marketing and advertising does its work. What was the point with this man and Verizon? What point was Verizon trying to make? Okay. I am not the Lord, okay, sitting on high. I might be standing on high, but I'm not definitely sitting on high. Because all I heard with my 57-year-old ears and that I'm going, you know, deaf, I heard a solid coverage. Yes. Okay, and she said it like strong too. I'm not taking it personal. I really not. I'm not taking it personal. But she was clear, decisive. You're right. The point of advertising in that particular case is Verizon has you covered. No matter where you're at, you can have a good signal. Now, here's the question you and I should be asking ourselves is how good is our signal strength when it comes to hearing from God? Okay, that's what we're after. When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, how is it clear? Or are there any, you know, dead spots? You know, those, what do they call them? Those, you know, dead spots, you know, you're traveling, you're going, you know, because... Okay, how many bars of signal strength do you have when it comes to talking with the Lord and receiving from the Lord? One bar, two bar, three bar? You got nothing? It says no service? SOS? Okay? Where are you? See, if God was trying to get through to you, would He be able to say, can you hear me now? See, that's what's behind this passage of 1 Samuel chapter 3. It marks a transition from when Israel would not have a ready word from the Lord to a time when they will always have a ready word from the Lord. 1 Samuel 3 is transitional and it's super important. And we can learn some things about what it means to receive revelation, what it means, how to receive it, and how we should act upon it. So let's dig in because there's plenty here. There really is. All right? The first thing I want you to look at, and I put it under the heading, famine in the land, the Lord is silent. Now, verse one, now the boy Samuel, and by the way here, the word boy, we always have this thing that we think that it's a little boy. The word boy, na'ar, in Hebrew can mean a little boy, it can be a young adult, it can be a servant, depends on the context and we really don't know. Most scholars will go back and forth, their arm wrestle for a little bit, and the best thing you can come up with is probably he's a young person. Not as old as a teenager, but he wasn't three or four. Okay? So we really don't know. But it says, 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. Stop there. That's a problem. Now, here's the kicker. Remember that we talked that there's so much contrast going on. Please don't think that religion wasn't happening. Religion was happening. There were priests in the tabernacle, sacrifices were going, religious duty was happening, and all the rituals were being observed. And at the same time, there was widespread idolatry and nationwide debauchery. Now, does that describe sometimes the people of God? It might have described you last night, I don't know. You're here this morning, who knows what happened last night? Religious activity doesn't stop. It was still going on, but yet there was a big problem, okay? Because chapter 3, verse 1 says, the Word of the Lord was rare in those days. We take so many things for granted in life. The older I'm getting, the more I'm aware of, I go to the gym, right? So I'm like, I see kids half my age, I'm like, I can lift that, I can squat that, I can do that, until I don't. But now at turning 57, I look at this kid doing three plates, four plates, I'm like, no, no. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is definitely weak. Now, if I can get the three plates on the back squat, I'm happy. If I can do three plates on this, I'm OK. All right? I'm 57, man. And then, you know, when people ask me, I'm 62. Because then they really get excited. Like, wow, you're 62? Yeah, baby, what can I tell you? All right? But the thing is, the reality is we take things for granted. It's not until we don't appreciate them. We don't appreciate certain relationships. We don't appreciate certain creature comforts until they're gone. And once they're gone, now we got a problem. As long as these things are part of our normal life, we give little importance to them, like AC in the car. Now, when the AC goes out, watch out, baby. I'm talking like, yes, Jesus, come even now. Okay? Come now. Well, one good that is taken for granted by many and is even unknown to others is the Word of God. We take for granted what it took for you and me to have the printed version of the Bible to sit in our laps. Forget about the you version and your Bible app. Forget that. Travel back to a time when there was ignorance prevailing in the dark ages and the corrupted priesthood at the time of Roman Catholicism, all they did was mislead the people. There was no printed version. And those who did decide to do that, they paid with their lives and they paid dearly. We take this for granted. We take the fact that God has gone out of His way to make Himself known. We take it for granted. It's like AC in the car. See, here's the problem. It happened to the people of God then, easily as it happens to the people of God today. See, and a few hundred years later, God would raise a prophet by the name of Amos, and he would declare through him this dire warning. It's on the screen. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. The absence of the word of God. that Yahweh was not speaking, was not saying stuff, was an act of judgment against the people of God. We tend to forget that. It was almost like, Israel, you prefer darkness? Here you go. I've said this before. Careful, careful, my friend. You choose to live your life in such a way that you live your life with your eyes closed to the revelation of God. There gets to a point where God and only God Himself can turn off the lights. So when you do open your eyes, you're still in the dark. He almost says, you want to live in the dark? You prefer living in the dark. That's what Israel did. Well, here's darkness. I do not speak. You have no word from the Lord. You see, Amos warned his hearers that there would not be the word from the Lord. On the screen there, it is difficult for us to sense the horror of Amos' warning because we do not really appreciate, on the one hand, the goodness of the Word of God, and on the other hand, our profound dependence on God's Word. Let's face it. Let's face it. We eat physically more than we eat spiritually. Right? I mean, we can do without. We can fast from God's Word for an extended period of time. And really, some of us will go like, man, I know I should be, but I'm busy. So here I go. Now, you try to fast from food, it don't go too quick, especially Baptists. We don't do fasting well, man. We leave that to the other ones, Pentecostals and more spiritual people than us. But Baptists, we're like quick to the front of the line, baby. What goes with Baptists is buffets. OK? But you see, We take the Word of God for granted because we don't know how good and how needed it is. So we return to the days of young Samuel and Shiloh, and they're the days of what Amos would say in the future. The Word of the Lord was rare. Why? Why was it rare? We've already studied it. Chapter 2. Why? Because the famine of the Word of the Lord The fact is that the priesthood was corrupt and needed to be changed. And we're going to get to that. He already had announced it. He will reiterate it in just a few verses. And because the priesthood, the leaders were corrupt, God would not speak to them because they could not represent God and the people. So they said that Eli's sons were worthless. They did not know the Lord. Those who have been appointed by the Lord God Himself to be the mediators, to receive His revelation, to offer the sacrifices, these were worthless people. What a clear connection between the rarity of God's revelation and a corrupt priesthood. Let me fast forward a few centuries, millennia to us. Be careful, be careful. There is a connection between the rarity of the preaching of God's Word and a corrupt Pastorate Not every person that stands or not every man that stands behind a pulpit is bringing the word of the Lord We need to be discerning you need to be discerning. You should be discerning whatever I say Because if I start doing this this sermon at for Christian at three points in a poem It's time for you to say it's been real has been nice dip step Okay, and we need to part ways due to health reasons. You know what that means, right? We got sick of each other. Get it. All right, get it. So there's a clear connection. God would not speak. In fact, when he did speak to the priesthood, he pronounced judgment. That's how God, that's what he means, and that's how much he values his revelation, his word. It's not to be taken for granted. It's not to be abused. It's not to be just for self-aggrandizement. It's just for me, for me, for me. No, no, no, no. So there's a famine. So, from verses 2 to 10, the Lord goes ahead and does something about it. He speaks. And He calls Samuel. He calls Samuel. And in this dark situation, our attention, again, the contrast. You have the corrupt priesthood, you have Samuel. You have Samuel. And this is the fifth time, by the way, we hear a brief statement about Samuel and his activities. Follow with me. Follow with me in your Bible, alright? 1 Samuel chapter 2. We hear this about Samuel, chapter 2, verse 11. Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, and the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest. Go down to verse 18. Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. Verse 21. Indeed, the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man. And then we go to verse 1 of chapter 3. The boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. Don't miss the progression. What starts as a boy just doing the basics ends with the boy ministering before the Lord, before Eli. And by the way, it's not Eli the priest in chapter 3 like it's Eli the priest in chapter 2. God's already saying, I'm going to make some changes here. You see Him, you see Him saying He's developing and He's growing and now is the time to call. Verses 2 and 3, you have the setting for such calling. 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." Stop there. The details are rich in symbolism. You have Eli whose eyes are weak, which reminds us of weak spiritual vision. We've seen it here. This is not the first time. We got the high priest to say it, Lehi, who can't differentiate a woman who's broken. In her spirit, praying to the Lord, moving her lips and not saying anything, and he confuses her with what? Yeah, she's drunk as skunk. Lacking. Lacking spiritual vision. He lacked it. He did nothing when his sons made a mockery of the priesthood. His fading eyesight, his fading vision is symbolic of the time in Israel when it looked like the lights were going to go out. But you see it there in verse 3, the lamp of God had not yet gone out. What it's saying in the physical realm, the priests were still doing some of the priestly duties. Part of that was keeping that lamp of God to go before them from every night to morning, Exodus chapter 27. So in spite of all that was going on, and even though there was weak spiritual vision, even though it was dark, the lamp had not gone out. We have a ray of hope. Eli is laying down in his usual place, Samuel is laying down in the temple close to the room where the Ark is there. And by the way, this is the first time the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned in Samuel, and it's just right. Again, it's a literary gem because after this point, chapters 4, 5, and 6 are all about the Ark narrative as we get there next year. Well, you'll see that in chapters 4, 5, and 6, it all has to do with the ark. Starts with chapter 4, it gets captured. In chapter 5, things happen. Chapter 6 is returned. Samuel leaves the stage. It's all ark-centered. So it's good that we get a taste of he's there and he's laying down where the ark of God was. And then from verses 4 through 10, you have the calling itself. The nation of Israel is in a time of spiritual darkness. The priesthood is corrupt. And it's in this context that you hear when we read verses four and five. 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, Eli, said, I did not call. Lie down. So he went and lay down. Now, you've got to appreciate the situation. Samuel is alert. He hears a voice. Eli, sluggish as always. doesn't recognize what's going on. Now, you and I, we're privileged. We read and we know what's going on because, I mean, we're reading the script. We know that it's the Lord calling. But in the actual, in real time, they don't know. Eli doesn't know. Samuel's thinking it's Eli. Don't know why. Don't know if the voice sounded the same way or if it was in his mind. We're not given a lot of these details. He did hear. He responds. He goes back, verse 6, and the Lord called again, Samuel. And Samuel rose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. But he said, I did not call, my son. Lie down again. Now Samuel, verse 7, did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The reality is that there's this give and take. There's a voice, he goes, he goes to his mentor, he goes to his supervisor, he goes to his pastor, he goes, hey, you called. Nope, go back and lay down. Okay, I'll go back and lay down. Now, verse 7, please wrestle with it a little bit. Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Didn't also the sons of Eli, the sons of Belial when we looked at it, right? The sons of Eli, those worthless men, didn't they also not know the Lord? What do we do here? We got Eli's sons did not know the Lord, and we got here, Samuel did not know the Lord. In this case, we know what that meant. They didn't know the Lord, didn't want to know the Lord. What does it mean here? There's a key word in our English translation that says, now Samuel did not yet know the Lord. See, the Lord had not revealed Himself in the way that He had revealed Himself to the priesthood. to those corrupt priests. After he reveals himself to Samuel, we know that the rest of the story, as we read it, he does know the Lord. But wrestle with the fact that Samuel is dealing with something unknown. He's like, I hear this, but I don't know it. I haven't learned to recognize the voice of the Lord. Verse 8, and the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he rose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. Then Eli perceived. Thank you, Eli, that the Lord was calling the boy. 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 finally, remember, Eli's not all bad. He gets it eventually. He may be slow. He may be sluggish, but he gets it. And in fact, it gives him great advice. When he realizes, hey, it's the Lord calling, the best thing you can say, speak, speak. Speak, Lord, for I am hearing. Your servant is listening. That's great advice. So verse 10 comes around and said, and the Lord came and stood. Stop there. It's not that the Lord said. The Lord came and stood. How did it look? We don't know. And that's OK. But I want you not to miss that. We know that's something different. The Lord came and He stood calling us at other times. So the text goes out of its way to say this is different now, this time. The Lord stands, we don't know, so we're not gonna get into that. We're not conspiracy theories. We're not gonna start thinking and that and here and there and try to eat pizza late at night to figure it all out. No, we're just gonna let the text stay and say what it says. The Lord stood and called. And he said, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, speak. He didn't say everything verbatim as his mentor had told him. His mentor had said, speak, Lord. But he just said, speak, for your servant hears. Don't miss something here. Samuel's name is called twice. Do you understand that's significant? In your Bible, you can go ahead and write. You don't want to write in your Bible, write in your neighbor's Bible, whatever, okay? Genesis 22-11 and Exodus 3-4. Genesis 22-11, Exodus 3-4. Why? Because in Genesis 22-11, Abraham is about to sacrifice his son. The Lord God comes onto the scene and says, Abraham, Abraham, don't do it. Pivotal moment. in the life of the Father of the faith. Fast forward to Exodus chapter 3. Moses is somewhere in the desert. He's fled because it's not going well for him. He's looking around and he sees a bush that's burning but doesn't burn up. And he gets close and in Exodus 3, 4, the Lord God says, Moses, Moses. Take off your shoes for the place you're at is holy." Twice. He doesn't just say Moses. And it's significant because all three men are key people in Israel's history. Abraham is the father of the faith. Moses is the deliverer and the lawgiver. And Samuel is that first prophet of many, of many that will bring faithfully God's word to the people. These are key people in the history of Israel, and this is a key turning point in Samuel's life. That's why at the end when Samuel said, speak for your servant hears. What a great answer, what a great reminder for you and me, child of God. See, when we're about to engage with God's Word, we should in our hearts say, speak, for the servant is willing. Your servant is ready to hear. Speak for your servant hears. When you and I study God's Word together, we should be with the anticipation of saying, speak Lord, speak. This is not a TED Talk. The best I can give you is a TED Talk. Please do not return next Sunday. We're not here to give a TED Talk. We're here to proclaim faithfully as we can, as much as we can, the Word of the Lord. My authority starts and ends right here. I don't have any authority outside of this. When I come into your life and I have to speak as the Lord would ask me, I can either encourage you or rebuke you. I can admonish you or build you up. It's all within the bounds of the Scriptures. And that's what we're after here. Your servant is hearing or listening. So Samuel asked God to speak. And God speaks, and it's not the best thing, right? Third heading is the Lord speaks again. And we're reminded of receiving the word of the Lord. And look at verses 11 through 14. Then the Lord said to Samuel, behold. Anytime you start with behold, be careful, you know? You know that word in the ancient Hebrew means behold. That's all I can tell you, all right? I'm about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. That's like, watch out. This is not going to be easy. On that day, I will fulfill against Eli all that has 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 together. Listen, basically God is just confirming. Remember last time we saw that in the midst of what's going on, an unknown man brings the Word of the Lord. Please don't lose sight of the centrality of the revelation of God, the centrality of the Word of the Lord. In both times, the Word of the Lord is the focus. And here, through Samuel, he says, remember what I said? It's going to happen. And the problem is you can't atone for the sins. You can't get out of it. Eli and his household. Why? Because the very system that I created for them to receive those sacrifices and to make sacrifices, to create atonement for forgiveness, they've corrupted. So there is no atonement because they have with such contempt treated the sacrifice. There's no other means. Let me just, by way of application, remind you of some things on the screen there. There is no forgiveness for sin that is not repented of. You can say it all you like, but if you don't repent, it's not happening. You have not truly repented and received forgiveness for the sin, for a sin that you will not stop committing. You got to get there. You got to get there. Stay before the Lord. Stay before the Lord. There must come a time when you renounce the sin and abandon it as a fruit of repentance that results in forgiveness. Take that. That's what we're reminded of. You can say I'm sorry all you want, but if you just repeat it again, listen, at least if you've been married any longer than your honeymoon, you know, where's my man Joaquin? Right there, I got you bro, I got, you can tell Milena, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but after a while, I don't know about you, but my wife, if she's not here, she's in preschool, so I can't pick on her, all right? But after a while, my wife's like, talk is cheap, baby. Talk is cheap. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but you still treat me the same way. There's no fruit of repentance. You and I can say to the Lord, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And all we really are is just sorry we got caught, or sorry it didn't work out, or sorry that I don't feel well, or I'm sorry that I didn't live up to expectations. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But he's going to look at you sooner or later and go, child, I'm not feeling you anymore. You still treat me with contempt. You still treat me as an afterthought. You still treat me as if I'm not your daddy. We've got to get some things right. And that's what we have here. And that's what he's saying. There's no atonement. Why? Because there's no repentance. Why? Because the very means of that repentance, the very means to show that you can be forgiven, you have taken and you have corrupted it. Samuel's call to preach came before he reached manhood. But the message is anything but child stuff. Don't miss it. Listen, here we see the burden of bearing the Word from the Lord. It is not always easy. It is not always easy. So the Lord speaks again and Samuel receives it. But what will Samuel do with this Word? Right? I mean, you and I, we're studying God's Word together. We come to a point and the God speaks. It's clear. I've told you this before. When the Lord speaks and the ministry of His Spirit comes upon you and He enlightens and you see something and it challenges you, right there you're at the crossroad. Either you're going to make adjustments toward holiness or you're going to make excuses to continue to sin. You're at the crossroad. You're either, by God's grace and with His help, you're going to make adjustments to pursue righteousness and holiness because God is telling you, this is what I expect of you. You belong to Me. This is how you behave. Or, We're just going to continue to make excuses. So we can then, you know, continue to sin. That's the reality. So what is he going to do? He receives this. Here's a young man, young boy. He receives this. What's he going to do? Well, the last section here, the Lord has spoken, delivering and reacting to the word of the Lord. He has a heavy message. Verse 15. Verse 15, Samuel lay until morning. Yeah, I bet you he didn't want to wake up. He's like, do I got some PTO? If I can get some PTO, I'm out. I'm out. lay until morning, then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. Yeah, you think? 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 to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you. 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. This is rough. This is rough right here, listen. Here's the perfect model for giving and receiving God's Word. Eli asks, Eli threatens, hey listen, if you don't tell me, may what he told you happen to you, and much more. So the young Samuel says, okay, here it is. But listen, again, the end of verse 18, and he, Eli, said, it is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him. Judgment. I've come to peace with it. I've earned it. May the Lord have His way." Again, you and I read this and it's like black ink on white paper, but can you imagine being Eli, receiving from the man of God, a young boy, a young boy. See, this is the way we should always approach God's Word. On the screen there, the person delivering God's Word should faithfully proclaim the whole counsel of God, leaving nothing out, and the one receiving it should receive it as a word from God Himself. The message of judgment was a heavy one. Eli could handle it. He knew it. Listen, this was not going to be surprising. Eli knew it. He had heard it already from an unknown prophet. He says, okay, but can you imagine the pain of Samuel who has to confront his mentor, who has to confront the most powerful man in the nation, Eli. And he has to tell him, thus saith the Lord. See, he shouldered the burden of the office. when he was just a boy, showing us that even the weakest amongst us, with the help of the Spirit, we can bear the heaviest of loads. That's the reality. See, you and I are called to deliver. I am called to deliver the whole Council of God. Sadly, there's too many in my vocation, in my situation, that they use the pulpit to deliver sermonettes for Christianettes. They deliver something that's not, just the positive parts. I haven't been called to preach repentance. Well, then you haven't been called, bro. Take it up with the prophets. Take it up with John the Baptist, whose first message was, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Take it up with the Lord Jesus himself. First words, repent. So if you haven't been called to repentance, maybe you just haven't been called. You just can't be a Tony Robbins on, you know, Christian-like. Tony Robbins with Christian lyrics. You know what I mean? It's like putting Stairway to Heaven with some Christian lyrics. You just can't do that. That's not what we're called for. We're called to follow, follow Acts chapter 20. Here's Paul meeting with the Ephesian elders. Last time he's going to see them, they're all crying. They're at the shore. He can't even go into the place and they're crying at the shore and he says, I am innocent of the blood of all men for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. It was Charles Spurgeon, the old Baptist preacher who said, a time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats. And that's what we get if we're not careful. When we underestimate, when we misappreciate, underappreciate the Word of the Lord, we should be ready. We should be ready to deliver the good stuff, yeah, but also the heavy stuff. Because in equal ways, thus saith the Lord. Notice one thing in verse 15, verse 15 there. It says, and it's again, the symbolism, Samuel lay until morning, then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Stop there. What's physically happening, I see almost like a spiritual application. He wakes up, he's sleeping, he wakes up, part of his duties as a priest assistant or assistant to the priest, okay, is to open the doors. I think more than that, it's there because why include it? He could have just said he was laid up in the morning, he woke up and he talked to Eli. But why does it have mention, the text mentions that he opens the doors because it was a new day? The people who have not received a word were about to receive a word. the people who were famished because of the famine, and we're now going to start getting word from the Lord. And the same way He opens the door and He's there standing in the doorway, just like Eli was in chapter 2. It's symbolic, I have to believe, that listen, there's a new day upon us. Just like I'm opening the doors to the house of the Lord physically, I'm opening the doors of the house of the Lord spiritually. You will now start receiving a fresh word from God. Look at verse 19. Let's read it. I'm going to read it. You're going to follow along there. It says, And Samuel grew... I have it highlighted in my Bible. There's two verses I highlighted in chapter 3. Verse 10 and verse 19. And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground." That's an attested prophet from God. And nowadays, we have people with self-acclamations, and we say, I'm a prophet. You know what would happen in the Old Testament when a prophet spoke and it didn't happen? You die. Tell some of these clowns, remind them of the word of the Lord. Don't be no prophet, buddy. You give me a prophecy that doesn't happen, you're dead. In today's world, I'm not calling you to kill some people, all right? I'm not telling. Let me go on record here, here, live, you know, on the screen here, Facebook, I'm not saying anything, all right? But what I am saying is, listen, they're not worth following. Don't give them a dime. Stop. Stop the relationship. Cut them off. If you are going to come across and saying, I am a prophet of God, I speak for the Lord and here's a prophecy, especially in the future, because nowadays the prophets like to foretell and that foretelling doesn't happen, they're done, disqualified, goodbye and good luck. But we don't like that because we're soft. We'd rather be liked by men and dishonor God instead. And then we look at Eli and we go, Eli, what was his sin? He dishonored God by tolerating the sin of his kids. You and I better buckle up. Verse 20, And all of Israel, and all Israel from Dan to Beersheba, 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. And the first part of chapter 4, verse 1, And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. At the beginning of chapter 3, there's no word from the Lord. At the end of chapter 3, first part of chapter 4, there's ample word from the Lord. The contrast. God grips a man, calls a man, enables a man, puts his word in his mouth, and lets him loose. That's what we're seeing here. That's what we're seeing here. A prophet attested by God. So what can we take with us? Hey, you see, I made it to verse 21. And I still got an hour. Some practical takeaways. Let me just give you some. Number one, God desires to speak to us, but we don't always listen well. Again, God has gone out of His way. Through creation and conscience, general revelation. He tells us there is a God. And through special revelation, the written word that points us to the living word, there is a God. But here's the problem. We don't listen. we don't listen well. And sometimes it's like Samuel, we need instruction. That's called discipling. We know the Lord, but we're not growing as we should, so we need to be a part of a small group. We need part of a faith family that helps us understand not only the Word of God, but the God of the Word. So we need, like Samuel, some instruction. Other times we're like Eli. We're spiritually sluggish, so we don't. We don't catch on. Sometimes it's because we're like the sons of Eli. We're just disobedient. We're just disobedient. So the reality is God desires to speak. God's out of His way to reveal Himself. We just don't listen well. Number two, listening to the Lord leads to action. You see it there. Once you've had a word from the Lord, once the Spirit of God has taken the written word and challenged you and spoken to you, it's time to stop being just a simple hearer of the word and be a doer of the word. Because listening to the Lord leads to action. Number three, God's word is not always easy to speak or to hear. Can I get an amen? Yeah, yeah. There are times, child of God, when following God will put us in weighty situations. Yeah, it'll put us in weighty situations. See, the world around us will whisper, hey, just do it the easy way. Easy is not best. Seldom do they walk hand by hand, one hand in hand. Easy is not always best. What you and I should be asking is, what's best in this situation? Now it's easy. Easy is easy. Best is always best. See, here's the catch. Truth-telling is not always pleasant, but it is always loving, OK? It's not pleasant. See, there's words and there's messages, what you read, what you watch, the podcast, everything outside God's Word, they're all vying for you for the same thing, obedience. Listen, this world wants to indoctrinate you. This world wants to indoctrinate our kids. And if you don't pay attention, they will. You'll send them to Caesar and they'll come home Romans. So what? Does that surprise you? That's why you have to be in their lives. If they're part of that education system that wants to make them Romans, then you have to counter that effectively and consistently with God of the Word and the Word of God. The time is coming, child of God. See, truth-telling is not always pleasant, but it's always loving. Now, having said that, please don't be a jerk. I always tell the truth. Again, let me borrow from my Cuban heritage. That's Cubanese for, I can be a jerk and still tell you I love you. You know what I mean? No, no, no. Let me quote the late and great theologian, no one less than Mary Poppins. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Okay? So before you get on your self-righteous horse, Start wagging your Baptist finger at somebody, okay? Think of my girl, Mary Poppins. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, all right? You'll have that for the remainder of your days now. And what's the point there? You need some help, you just don't, boom, okay? It's speaking the truth in love. Next, God speaks to us through his word. This is a reminder, church, you and I need to be busy about studying and learning this. This is why this gathering is essential to the life of the church. We shouldn't be making excuses to miss it. Now, there's reasons to miss it. There's real reasons to miss it. I understand that. But excuses, at least in my life, any time I present an excuse, it's a lie. My life is full of excuses. I can come up with a bunch of them. But reasons are rooted normally in truth. And truth never, never is afraid of scrutiny. Because it'll pass the test each and every time. But if you find yourself just finding, making excuses, listen, this is why the Word of God is so important, not only as individuals, but corporately. This is why you and I should look forward to studying God's Word together. So in the community of faith, that's where the iron is sharpening the iron. That's what you and I need. When you and I come and we sit under the preaching of God's Word, that's important. Again, not because it's a TED Talk. This is not a spiritual TED Talk. This is not something I do so we can podcast it. Who cares about a podcast? What you want, what I want is to study God's Word so we can hear what the Lord has to say to us. And God has gone out of His way to speak to us through His Word and God has spoken, this is the last one, to us through Jesus Christ. You want to know who God is? Look at Jesus. You want to hear God? We've said it here before. You want to hear the Lord? Read your Bible. You want to hear His Word? You want to hear Him out loud? Read the Bible out loud. Don't expect some He has spoken, and ultimately He has spoken through Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 and 2. In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets and many times and in various ways. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. And when God sent Jesus, He stood before a watching world. He stands before you today and He says, hey, can you hear me now? Let's close our eyes and bow our heads for a moment. Before we sing, we respond, we'll sing that song that says, we're prone to wander. Come thou fount. We're prone to wander, prone to leave the God that I love. Where are you today, child of God? Are you tired of making excuses for sluggish spiritual living? Confess it to the Lord. If you're hitting on all cylinders, there's a moment to just say, thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. My friend, if you're here this morning, you haven't trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Your soul is in peril. The day will come where you'll have to face a righteous judge. You'll face the Lord God, not as creator, but as judge. And on that day, what are you going to tell him? What are you going to offer him? But He's made a way to be reconciled through Jesus Christ. His life, His death, His burial, His resurrection. Ascension and return. The life and work of Jesus Christ, you trust in that. And forever, you'll be able to sing it as well with us. So Lord God, we ask that you now would enable the response. And as we stand and we sing, we make it an altar right there before you. that you would draw us near to you, that you would speak to us as only you can. Help us now, and if we're prone to wander, help us to recognize that and hold on even stronger to you. We love you, we need you. We ask this in Jesus' name. And God's people said, let's stand if you're able. Let's sing this song together. And while we sing, make this your prayer. Wrestle with the Lord. Let's take care of some business with the Lord.