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Good morning everyone. 
Sure you guys are feeling a 

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little tired perhaps from 
sleeping one hour less. 

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Certainly the results, the 
effects of it was felt the first

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service. 
We had one person who came to 

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the first service. 
It was a very interesting 

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sermon. 
I tried very hard not to look at

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that one person. 
So I, I don't know I, I, I 

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looked at the wall. 
I'm glad there's enough places 

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where I can look. 
Hope you guys could stay awake 

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today. 
So I just today's, that's just 

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the second sermon in our series 
on King David and the first 3 

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sermons are actually not on King
David, but it will be a good 

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introductory giving us a good 
background once we actually 

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start talking about David. 
So I follow this Christian 

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counselor on Instagram and she 
says in one of her posts that 

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parenting changes at age 13. 
Early parenting is mostly the 

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parent talking, right 
instruction, teaching values and

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world views and whatnot. 
And then later on, as the child 

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gets older, parenting becomes 
more of listening, encouraging, 

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and really a process of letting 
go. 

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But one thing remains constant 
in every stage of parenting. 

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It's communication. 
Without communication, there is 

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no relationship. 
And that's exactly the situation

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we find ourselves in First 
Samuel 3. 

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God's people were supposed to 
have a relationship with God, 

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but it says here that 
communication has stopped. 

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No communication, no 
relationship. 

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In First Samuel 3, it says the 
word of the Lord was rare. 

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The word of the Lord was rare in
those days and at this time when

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the word of the word of the Lord
was rare and at this time is 

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when Samuel is raised and God 
chooses Samuel so the 

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relationship could be restored. 
And perhaps this is where you 

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find yourselves at with your 
relationship with God. 

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Perhaps the relationship is not 
there, perhaps the communication

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is not quite there. 
And to be clear, the way God 

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speaks to us is through the 
Bible and the way we speak to 

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God is primarily through prayer,
no communication, no 

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relationship. 
And God uses Samuel to restore 

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that relationship. 
So we will learn through Samuel 

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how we can start hearing the 
word the the word of God. 

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So that's the question we want 
to answer today. 

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How can we hear the Word of God?
Number one, we must recognize 

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why the Word of God becomes 
rare. 

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We have to recognize why it 
becomes rare in our lives. 

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Let's turn. 
I'm just going to read one verse

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in chapter 3 to start off, and 
then we'll read a little bit of 

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chapter 2 to give us a 
background in what's going on. 

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So first Samuel 3 verse one, the
boy Samuel served the Lord in 

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Eli's presence. 
In those days the word of the 

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Lord was rare and prophetic 
visions were not widespread. 

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If you guys remember from last 
week S sermon, Hannah gets 

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pregnant after her prayer of 
surrender and some years have 

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passed and she does really give 
up her child, her son to become 

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a priest and and Samuel is 
raised by Eli in the temple of 

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God. 
So in chapter 3 already several 

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years have passed. 
God speaking to his people, 

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having a relationship with his 
people was rare. 

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And really, that's a true sad, 
truly a sad statement. 

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It's like saying, oh, Pastor Tim
and his two sons hung out. 

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Oh, that was really rare. 
That's a sad state of affairs. 

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It's his people, God and his 
people have no relationship. 

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But why was it rare? 
What's going on in the 

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Israelites life where that was 
rare? 

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We get a little glimpse of what 
was going on in chapter 2. 

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I'm going to be reading chapter 
2, verse 12 to 17 and we're 

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going to be reading, oh, go 
back, go back, go back. 

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Yes, yes, part of 12 is 
underneath and we'll be reading 

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about Eli the priest and his 
sons were also priests. 

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And you could see kind of what 
what was going on that made God 

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not give His word to His people.
Verse 12 to 17 Eli S sons were 

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wicked men. 
They did not respect the Lord or

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the priest S share of the 
sacrifices from the people. 

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When anyone offered a sacrifice,
the priest S servant would come 

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with a three pronged meat fork 
while the meat was boiling and 

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plunge it into the container, 
kettle, cauldron, or cooking 

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pot. 
The priest would claim for 

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himself whatever the meat fork 
brought up. 

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This is the way they treated all
the Israelites who came there to

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Shiloh next. 
Even before the fat was burned, 

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the priest's servant would come 
and say to the one who was 

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sacrificing, give the priest 
some meat to roast, because he 

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won't accept any boiled meat 
from you, only raw. 

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If that person said to him, the 
fast, the fat must be burned 

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first, then you could take 
whatever you want for yourself. 

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The servant will reply, no, I 
insist that you hand it over 

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right now. 
If you don't, I'll take it by 

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force. 
So the servant's sin was very 

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severe in the presence of the 
Lord because the man treated the

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Lord's offering with contempt. 
Now, even if you don't know 

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anything about the the 
sacrificial system of the Old 

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Testament, some of this stuff 
just sounds off. 

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OK, Now, if you knew a little 
bit about the sacrificial 

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system, you would know that OK, 
the, the meat has to be burnt 

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first. 
The sacrifice has to be done. 

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And then from whatever is after 
the sacrifice, the priest gets a

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small portion. 
But seems like Eli sons like 

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their meat raw. 
It does taste better, right? 

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It tastes better than boiled 
meat, right? 

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Who wants boiled meat? 
Yuck. 

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He's like, no, no, give it to me
before you sacrifice so I I can 

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make a little nice steak. 
And then and then they say the 

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servant says, if you don't hand 
it over right now, I'll take it 

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by 4. 
OK, that just sounds wrong. 

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What's going on here? 
In essence, Eli's sons did not 

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take the Word of God seriously. 
There are very specific rules 

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and laws in the in scriptures of
how the sacrifice should be done

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and then which portion the 
priest takes. 

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It's very clear. 
But Eli sons disregarded the 

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laws. 
And so you know what? 

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I want to take whatever I want 
to take. 

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They made their own rules. 
They took as much as they 

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wanted. 
So what caused the word of the 

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Lord to be rare? 
Not taking the word of God 

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seriously. 
That's how it becomes rare in 

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our lives as well. 
If you don't take the Bible, the

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Word of God, seriously in your 
life, the communication would be

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rare. 
And you might be asking, OK, 

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Pastor Tim, how can you compare 
us to Eli's sons? 

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Clearly. 
They are literally like robbing 

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people who are just trying to 
worship God. 

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How can you compare us through 
these guys? 

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Well, maybe not exactly to this 
extent, but perhaps our 

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attitudes may be more similar 
than you think. 

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Perhaps what their attitude is 
is similar to our attitude. 

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Maybe our attitudes toward 
worship is too casual. 

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Maybe, like Eli sons, we do not 
emphasize the Word of God in our

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lives. 
So let's take a moment to 

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examine if prep were too casual 
or we don't emphasize God's 

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words in our lives enough. 
Let's start with the preparation

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of worship. 
Now, thankfully, in many ways, 

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we no longer need to bring 
animal sacrifices to worship. 

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Why? 
Because all that did, all the 

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animal sacrifices did, was to 
point to the ultimate sacrifice 

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that was coming, Jesus Christ. 
Now that Jesus Christ died on 

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the cross, no more sacrifice is 
needed. 

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He's the ultimate and the 
forever sacrifice. 

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But so while you are no longer 
required to bring an animal, you

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are still required to bring a 
prepared heart. 

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That part never changed. 
Paul teaches us that we are to 

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offer our lives as a living 
sacrifice. 

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Paul teaches us that that is the
proper and true worship. 

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Now our hearts, our lives is a 
living sacrifice. 

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So before during the Bible time,
people had to they were forced 

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to prepare. 
You have to pick out an animal, 

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you have to pick out 
unblemished. 

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You have to pick up the right 
part. 

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But because those those demands 
are no longer here with us, 

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perhaps we just kind of show up.
Modern day worship. 

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A lot of us just show up. 
And I, I want to compare our 

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attitudes to how my son Maddie 
prepares for his basketball 

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games. 
My son, his main sport is 

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baseball. 
And before a baseball game, I 

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don't want to go in through it, 
but it's an entire day process. 

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Actually, it starts from the day
before, right? 

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He goes to sleep at like 9:00 PM
if if he has a game next day 

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early. 
But when it comes to basketball,

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he's very casual, Too casual. 
I think last week Tuesday, he 

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had a playoff game. 
OK, sure it was just a city 

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league, you know, but he had a 
playoff Game 2 hours before the 

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playoff game. 
He goes to baseball practice, 

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practice for an hour and a half.
He he gets out of practice a 

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little early. 
He gets in my car, he's 

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changing, he's eating and we get
to the Game 5 minutes before the

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game starts. 
Now we're playing a team that 

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we've played before and the last
time we played them we lost by 

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17. 
So you would think Matt would be

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like, oh, it's going to be a 
tough team, you know, But no, 5 

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minutes before he shows up, he's
he's the jersey is like, you 

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know, you got a one side is 
white, one side is dark. 

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He has the wrong side on. 
He's like eating and he's no 

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warm up, no warm up shots, no 
stretching. 

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He gets there and then he's 
playing. 

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I was like, after the game, I 
said, Manny, like, didn't you 

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want to like, do good? 
Like, why? 

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Why? 
Like, you just want to show up 

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and play. 
And he says, dad, I don't care 

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about basketball. 
I'm just here for my friends, 

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which is completely OK. 
Steady basketball. 

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Who cares? 
Yeah, I wish you the little 

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better, but who cares, right? 
But how do we prepare for 

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worship? 
We're not showing up here for 

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Parks and Rec. 
City of Torrance, Parks and Rec 

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here. 
We're showing up to worship the 

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one true God, the Almighty God, 
Creator of the universe. 

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And how do we prepare for 
worship? 

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A lot of us, we just show up. 
A lot of us, we come here 

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because our friends are here. 
We come here for the kids 

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program. 
We come here because that's what

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Christians do. 
That's what good people do on a 

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Sunday morning. 
I wonder how many of us are here

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because you want to listen to 
the word of God. 

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I want to know what God is 
speaking to me today. 

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I want to know how I could be 
changed by God's words today. 

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Sure, I could make this terminal
vow. 

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You know what? 
Night before, sleep early. 

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You guys know that you're going 
to get one hour less sleep, so 

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you should have slept early and 
pray before worship and all of 

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that. 
Those are great things. 

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But the most important thing is,
OK, prepare your heart for God's

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Word. 
Prepare your heart. 

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All right #2 how can we listen 
to God's Word when God speaks? 

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We must listen and respond. 
We must listen and respond. 

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Now this is, we're getting 
finally to the the story. 

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This, it is a narrative and this
is the story of chapter 3. 

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I want to summarize the first 
few verses and then I'll read 

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verses 8 through 10 and then 
yeah, eight through 10 for now. 

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So let me just summarize 2 to 7 
because it's the same thing that

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repeats 3 times after verse one,
the word of the Lord was rare. 

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Verse two goes into the story 
and it starts off by God 

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calling, audibly calling Samuel 
boy. 

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The boy Samuel is sleeping in 
the temple and God calls him 

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Samuel. 
Samuel and Samuel wakes up. 

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He assumes that this had never 
happened before, so he assumes 

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his boss is calling him. 
So he goes to Eli. 

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Here I am, Eli says I did not 
call you, go back to sleep. 

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Samuel goes back to sleep and 
God calls him again, Samuel, 

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Samuel and same thing. 
Samuel wakes up, goes to Eli. 

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Here I am and Eli says, I didn't
call, you go back to sleep. 

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And now let's pick up the story 
from verse 8. 

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Once again, for the third time, 
the Lord called Samuel. 

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He got up, went to Eli and said,
here I am, you call me third 

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time this happens. 
Then Eli finally understood that

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the Lord was calling the boy. 
He told Samuel, go and lie down.

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If he calls you say speak Lord, 
for your servant is listening. 

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So Samuel went and lay down in 
his place. 

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The Lord came, stood there and 
called as before. 

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Samuel, Samuel, Samuel 
responded, speak for your 

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servant is listening. 
Let's stop there. 

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Eli finally realizes what's 
happening. 

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He says, oh, God is speaking to 
him and he he instructs Samuel 

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how what to say. 
And Samuel responds, speak for 

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your servant is listening. 
This response is one of the most

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important verses, not just in 
this chapter and not just in 

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this book, but in the entire 
Bible. 

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Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. 

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There's no debate, there's no 
resistance, there's no 

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negotiation. 
Samuel says speak. 

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I'm willing to listen. 
I'm willing to take it in. 

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It is humble listening. 
I'm not saying when you read 

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God's word you shouldn't 
question things. 

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You shouldn't try to look it up 
and study more. 

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Sometimes we don't understand 
it. 

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Sometimes you do understand it, 
but you don't understand why God

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is commanding you do such things
and it's OK to to pursue those 

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things. 
I'm not saying that, but I'm 

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saying listen to God's words 
with the humility saying Lord, 

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you are God, you are the 
Creator, I am your creation, 

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You're there, I'm here, so I'm 
listening because you are God 

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and I am not. 
That's humility. 

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And this is a stark contrast to 
Eli's sons. 

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I want to quickly read 2 verses 
from the previous chapter 

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because we didn't. 
We skipped chapter 2 and this 

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shows really the heart of what's
going on in among the people. 

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If you could find back there 
chapter 2 verses 22 and 20. 

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Three, there we go. 
Now Eli was very old. 

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He heard about everything his 
sons were doing to all Israel 

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and how they were sleeping with 
the woman who served at the 

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entrance of to the 10th of 
meeting. 

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He said to them, why are you 
doing these things? 

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I have heard about your evil 
actions from all of his people. 

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It's not that Samuel is doing 
good things and Eli's sons were 

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doing bad things. 
It's not just that it is really 

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has to do with everything has to
do with their heart of how they 

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are accepting God's words. 
What Eli's sons are doing here. 

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They were sleeping with the 
woman who served at the entrance

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to the 10th of meeting. 
It is actually. 

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They have adopted a certain, a 
very specific Canaanite Pagan 

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ritual. 
It's the fertility ritual. 

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Women who want to have a baby, 
they go to the temple and they 

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sleep with the priest. 
And Eli's son somehow adapted 

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that into their worship of God. 
For a lot of people in this 

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time, their faith is just a 
buffet of beliefs and values. 

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It's like they got a big plate 
and they're going through a 

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buffet and they're like, OK, I 
like this about this religion. 

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Oh, Canaanite Pagan religion. 
I like that. 

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00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,480
It seems like Eli's sons are 
like, I like, I like the free 

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meat. 
I like, oh, but I want more of 

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that than what's allowed. 
Oh, I like that. 

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00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,320
Looks like they're picking and 
choosing what they like from 

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other religions and their own. 
It's a buffet to them. 

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There is no you are creator, I'm
creation. 

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I bowed out to our one true God 
and I accept what you taught. 

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No, it's like God is below him 
and oh, I like this. 

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Nah, I don't like that. 
It's the posture. 

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And I think many Christians 
approach God's words. 

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Maybe not several religions. 
I think that's, I don't think 

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00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:11,800
that happens, but we do approach
God's words like a buffet. 

288
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,920
We take what we like and we 
leave what we don't. 

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00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,040
Forgiveness. 
Yes, I'll take that. 

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00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,160
Like that. 
Oh, loving one another. 

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God loves me and God accepts me.
I like that. 

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00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,200
I like that. 
Those are all good. 

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Anything to do with sex? 
No thanks. 

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00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:32,560
It's outdated. 
Anything with money, usually 

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00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:39,320
it's like, Nah, no thank you. 
We take what we like and we say 

296
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,960
no thank you to the things that 
it seems for us, outdated. 

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00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,120
It seems like we want God to 
comfort us and love us and 

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accept us, but we cannot let God
contradict us. 

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00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:01,040
We only let God be God in the 
areas that we let him. 

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00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,000
We want God to agree with us. 
You can't imagine a God. 

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00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,440
Many of us can't imagine a God 
that disagrees with you. 

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00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,320
And I want to say our attitude, 
it should not be of a buffet, 

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00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,120
but perhaps a omakase. 
You know what that is? 

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00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,440
You go to Japanese restaurant 
and you just pay him a lot of 

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00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,360
money and you don't get to 
order. 

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You eat what the chef gives you.
Someone told me that it is 

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00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,520
literally translated. 
I leave it up to you. 

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00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,440
You give them money and you eat 
whatever the chef gives you. 

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00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:39,040
I've been to Omaha a couple of 
times. 

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They don't ask for allergy. 
They don't, they don't ask for 

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anything. 
Well, that dude didn't even 

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00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:45,720
speak English. 
He just just gave me money and 

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00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,640
and I ate it and it was good. 
But it's that, it's that you 

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00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,240
have this empty plate before God
and you say, Lord, I eagerly 

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00:21:54,240 --> 00:22:01,120
await what the next meal is. 
Lord, I want to enjoy the next 

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00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,840
bite you give me of spiritual 
food. 

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00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,640
Lord you are, Lord, I am. 
I am just a sinful human being. 

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You give me the word and I want 
to be fed. 

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00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:18,720
Can we go back to three? 
One. 

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00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,160
I'm sorry, not 31 the previous 
verses. 

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00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:31,640
One more sorry. 
One more, one more sorry. 

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There you go. 
Speak shows that he is 

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00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:44,280
available. 
Your servant shows that he has 

324
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,600
humility and he says I am 
listening. 

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00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:54,240
He's ready, he's available, he 
has humility, He's ready to 

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00:22:54,240 --> 00:23:01,080
listen and act on God's words. 
You know what the crazy thing 

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00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:05,400
is? 
It says the word of the Lord is 

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00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:07,680
rare. 
It means that God didn't show up

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00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,080
much because no one's listening 
anyway. 

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00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,440
But when Samuel, and God knows 
Samuel's heart, even before he 

331
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:20,600
says anything out loud, when God
sees Samuel, he sees his heart. 

332
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,760
And you know what he does? 
It says the Lord came. 

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00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:31,120
The Lord stood there and spoke 
to Samuel. 

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00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,760
The Lord showed up. 
Samuel knew his presence. 

335
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:43,760
I am listening. 
When you have the right heart 

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00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,400
before God, when you have 
humility, you, you're available.

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00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:52,440
You're ready. 
Then when God speaks, it will 

338
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:57,200
come to your heart. 
Spending time with God will be 

339
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:02,320
delightful and listening to his 
words on a Sunday or a sermon 

340
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,400
that you're listening throughout
the week or when you do your 

341
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:10,560
quiet times, when you hear or 
listen or read God's words, it 

342
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:20,880
will be a treat. 
And what does God actually say 

343
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,960
to Samuel? 
Right? 

344
00:24:25,360 --> 00:24:28,080
Your servant is listening and 
then God says things to him, 

345
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,840
right? 
What does he say, Samuel, 

346
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:36,280
Samuel, I love you Samuel, 
Samuel, you were raised without 

347
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,680
a mom and I am your heavenly 
Father. 

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00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:40,760
It was something like nice and 
kind. 

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00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,360
Well, all this time God was 
silent, and he shows up to say 

350
00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:55,320
this verse 11 to 14. 
The Lord said to Samuel, I am 

351
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,160
about to do something in Israel 
that will cause everyone who 

352
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,840
hears about it to shudder. 
On that day, I will carry out 

353
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,360
against Eli everything I said 
about his family from beginning 

354
00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:08,480
to end. 
I told him that I'm going to 

355
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,480
judge his family forever because
of the iniquity he knows about. 

356
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,720
His sons are cursing God, and he
has not stopped them. 

357
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,480
Therefore, I have sworn to Eli's
family. 

358
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,640
The iniquity of Eli's family 
will never be wiped out by 

359
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,640
either sacrifice or offering. 
You know what God's saying? 

360
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,760
I will destroy Eli and his two 
sons. 

361
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,400
And if you read on, that's 
exactly what happens. 

362
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:36,600
They all die. 
Wow. 

363
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,920
Like, really, God, you, you 
waited this long to say that 

364
00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:45,560
this is a boy Samuel. 
He's like, here I am, Lauren, 

365
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:49,160
speak to me, and then I will 
destroy your boss and his two 

366
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:53,800
sons. 
But that's the thing though. 

367
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:04,600
God chose somebody who was 
humble enough to receive even 

368
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,480
parts of Scripture. 
That is not so easy to hear. 

369
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,960
Anybody could hear I love you or
you are lonely. 

370
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:14,120
I was there for you the entire 
time. 

371
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:18,040
Anyone could hear that. 
Anyone could accept that. 

372
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:24,440
But not everyone can necessarily
hear about sin and the 

373
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:31,200
consequences of sin. 
So I wanted to ask you, Are you 

374
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:36,800
ready to listen? 
Are you ready to go to God and 

375
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,520
say the words that we actually 
just saying about the last song,

376
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,880
speak, O Lord, that actually is 
from It's based on First Samuel 

377
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:49,120
3 and the lyrics. 
Whether you remember or not, 

378
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:56,000
you, you saying these words you 
said, speak, O Lord, to receive 

379
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:01,960
the food of your holy word. 
Can we go to God and say, teach 

380
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:07,880
us, Lord, full obedience, holy 
reverence, true humility. 

381
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,520
Can you go to God with the heart
of that song and say, speak, O 

382
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:18,960
Lord, and renew our minds? 
Help us grasp the heights of 

383
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:28,880
your plans for us. 
Teach us full obedience, holy 

384
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,560
reverence, true humility. 
Is your heart ready for all of 

385
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,920
those things? 
During the series, this series 

386
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,920
on King David, I will be asking 
more than once, we'll be asking 

387
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:46,080
who are you in the story? 
Who are we in this story in 

388
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:47,120
chapter 3? 
Who are we? 

389
00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:48,560
Are we Samuel? 
Are we Eli? 

390
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:50,360
Are Eli sons? 
Are we God? 

391
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:57,520
We are actually the closest 
match is Eli sons. 

392
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,920
We ignore God's words. 
We treat worship casually. 

393
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,360
We pick and choose the parts of 
Scripture we want to follow. 

394
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,640
At the same time, I want you to 
remember today's sermon is not 

395
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,040
get yourself perfect before you 
come back next week. 

396
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,640
You got to be perfect before you
you could hear God's words. 

397
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:23,000
That's not my sermon. 
Then how could if God did not 

398
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,680
speak to Eli's sons, Eli and his
sons, then why would God speak 

399
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:29,280
to us? 
We're sinners. 

400
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:31,920
I just said we're similar to 
Eli's sons. 

401
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:41,600
See, in this time, God's people 
needed a mediator. 

402
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,600
They couldn't just go to God. 
They needed a human mediator, so

403
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,840
God spoke to through the 
mediator and then the people 

404
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:52,520
spoke back to God through the 
mediator. 

405
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:56,440
And when that mediator was 
sinful, like Eli and the sons, 

406
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:58,280
the communication will be 
stopped. 

407
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,960
But in this story is actually a 
story of grace. 

408
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,240
The communication stopped, but 
God, through a miraculous birth,

409
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:16,800
through Hannah, he chooses A 
righteous, holy mediator so the 

410
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:21,040
relationship could be restored. 
Story of grace, actually. 

411
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,120
And that's exactly what God does
for us permanently. 

412
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:32,240
Samuel didn't live forever. 
Jesus is our high priest. 

413
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:37,320
Jesus is our forever mediator. 
And because Jesus, our high 

414
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,800
priest, is forever holy, he's 
perfect. 

415
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,160
We always have a relationship 
with God and God could speak to 

416
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,640
us whenever. 
All we have to do is open up the

417
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,720
Word and read. 
All we have to do is come here 

418
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:58,320
on Sunday and listen. 
God looks at Jesus perfection, 

419
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:02,280
not our sins. 
Because of Jesus we are 

420
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:07,240
forgiven, our hearts are renewed
and we could approach God again.

421
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:14,840
So you don't have to be perfect.
All you need is a heart that 

422
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,840
says speak. 
O Lord, your servant is 

423
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:22,040
listening. 
Main point. 

424
00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,400
We can hear God's word when we 
approach Him with humble 

425
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,560
obedience. 
Let's take time to pray.