Student Sunday
Welcome to Grace River Church online at home!
I am so glad that you are here today! My name is Jacob and I am the Next Gen Pastor here at Grace
River! I’m honored to be here talking to you today about all that God did in
the lives of our students at camp a few weeks ago!
We were able to take 50 people to camp! And man let me tell you, it was
the best week of the year! We started off a little rough. We got to camp at
3:30 on Monday afternoon and by 5:30 the power went out on our camp and
3,000 surrounding homes and we didn’t get electricity back until 5:30
Tuesday afternoon. Mind you, Tuesday afternoon was HOT! Temps right at 100
degrees! You never realize how important electricity is until it’s gone!
Even through 24 rough hours of having no power our leaders and
students had the best attitudes.
But I say all that to say, if we had to go through record breaking temps with
no electricity to see what God did this week at camp, I’d say it was totally
worth it and I’d do it all over again!
Camp was great for so many of our students because they were able to create
new friendships, develop the ones they already had, and grow in their
relationship with God!
Many of which took the first step of following Jesus! We had 7 of our
students give their life to Jesus through salvation, 2 recommit their lives
back to God and 2 even decided that God was calling them into full time
ministry!
As I reflect on camp, that’s what makes all the sweat, tears, and hard work
worth it! Yes, we had fun at camp, but even more importantly, our students
got to experience a spiritual breakthrough unlike ever before!
Man, I am so proud of these students! This is why we exist. To help people
meet, know, and follow Jesus.
Maybe you have never been to Grace River. I want to personally invite you
to one of our 3 in-person services at 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00.
Today I want to share a similar message to the one that was given on Tuesday
night of camp that was huge for our students!
The topic was HEARING GOD’S VOICE.
Don’t you wish that you could verbally hear the voice of God sometimes?
I’m sure this is something we have all wished for at some point in time!
Illustration: Wouldn’t it be nice to communicate to God through texting? Or
to have God send you a text to tell you what to do sometimes? Maybe an alert
pop up on your phone when you’re about to make a dumb decision. Maybe
even a text assuring you that he is still there in your life.
Maybe you’re watching today and if you’re honest with yourself, you feel
distant from God and you want Him to reach out to reassure you He’s still
there. Maybe you’ve never heard from God, and you want that!
The 3 questions I want to answer in this message today are:
1. Does God really speak to people?
2. If so, how do we know that it is God who is talking?
3. How do we position ourselves to better hear the voice of God?
In order to answer these questions, we are going to the Old Testament and
and look at Samuel and Eli’s experience.
To preface this story, it’s important to know that Samuel was about 12 or 13
years old. He was a servant of the priest Eli, who was very old. In this story,
both of them had gone to bed for the night. Young Samuel was asleep in the
Temple, close to where the ark of God was kept.
1 Samuel 3:4-8 4 Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel
replied. “What is it?” 5 He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I
didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did. 6 Then the Lord called
out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you
call me?” “I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.” 7 Samuel did
not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord
before. 8 So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and
went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who
was calling the boy. 9 So he said to Samuel, ‘Go and lie down again, and if
someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.” So Samuel
went back to bed.
Why did it take Eli and Samuel 3 times to finally figure out that it was God
who was calling out to Samuel?
For Samuel, he had never been instructed on how to recognize God’s voice. It
says he did not yet know the Lord! He was a young boy who was an
apprentice, still learning the ropes.
But for Eli, it was a different story. Eli had 2 sons who were also priests, but
treated the ministry that God called them to horribly!
Back in 1 Samuel 2, it says that Eli’s sons were wicked and had no respect
for the Lord. In short, they were arrogant, self-important bullies.
You see, God wasn’t talking to Eli and his sons anymore. God’s voice became
scarce because they were living lives separate from God!
Sometimes we do to ourselves what Eli did. We put ourselves in a position
to miss God when He is speaking to us, because we are too busy living for
ourselves.
It’s not like God is playing a game of hide and seek with us! God is there,
and he is talking to us through different things. The question is, are we
dialed into the voice of God or are we too busy living for ourselves?
I pray that you would have that attitude of Samuel in verse 10, where it says
“Speak Lord your servant is listening.”
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT IT IS GOD WHO IS TALKING?
We hear a bunch of voices in our head throughout the day.
● The voice saying you need the newest nicest car.
● The voice saying you’ll never be successful
● The voice saying you don’t have enough money.
● And the voice saying you are loved and forgiven.
How can you know that it’s God who is speaking?
Here’s the first test: What does the voice that we hear tell us about Jesus?
Because God will never point us to a false hope. He will always point us to his
cross, to his resurrection, to his forgiveness, and to his promises.
The second test: Does the voice that we hear go against his Word? God will
never ask us to do something that goes against his Word. If the voice that you
hear tells you to do wrong, it cannot be from God. God won’t entice you to sin.
His voice is always consistent with God’s Word.
It’s important that we ask ourselves these questions as we decipher whether
or not the voice in our head is from God or not!
The final question is, “How do we position ourselves to better hear the
voice of God?”
We better position ourselves by putting aside the distractions in our life to
intentionally spend time with God.
What if the distractions (the things that take precedence over God) are the
very thing drowning out the voice of God?
The more you approach God through time in prayer and in His Word, the
more you will get to know Him, trust Him and recognize His voice.
Let me tell you, God is talking, are you listening?
Are you in a position to hear the call of God in your life?
I pray that you would take the position of Samuel where you say, “Speak
Lord, your SERVANT is listening.”
When Samuel did this, it created access for not only God’s Word to come
to him, but also for God’s word to come through him!
So as we close out today, ask yourself these questions.
1. Will you make yourself available to God?
2. Will you set aside the distractions in your life that are drowning out
the voice of God?
3. Will you answer the call of God in your life?
These students are living proof of God’s special calling when you make
yourself available and set aside the distractions that are drowning out the
voice of God.
I pray you would have the courage to take that next step this week and see
what God can do in your life!