This morning’s readings are all about being called by God.

Very often when I am talking to Christians they will say things like "I am waiting for the Lord to tell me what to do. The Lord has asked me to do this or that."

I often wonder what they mean by this.

Do they really hear a voice the way Samuel did?

Do they have long conversations with God?

Sometimes I find myself saying things like, "I believe the Lord is calling me to do this or I believe this is a clear directive from God that I should say the following".

When I say these things, I do not mean that I have physically heard God’s voice.

So, You might ask me the same thing then: What do you mean by "God calling you"?

This morning I would like to look at three questions: Slide 1.

• How can we hear from God?
• How do we know that we have definitely heard from God?
• What can we expect to happen when we start listening and responding to God’s Call?

The answers to these questions are not simple, but I believe that God does communicate with His children and that he is imaginative in the way he communicates and He dialogues with each of us in a variety of ways .Some people may well hear His voice, but for others of us He uses our prayer time, the scriptures, dreams and visions, friends or circumstances, through which to speak to us.

He does not necessarily speak to you in the same way he speaks to me, but I believe he speaks to all of us and whether we listen or hear or respond is up to us.

Now I don’t know what method God will choose to speak to you, but I do know that he does. You merely have to listen to him.

Tell the story of BBC at night. Sound is there regardless. But it is only when I decide to listen that I can hear what is being said.

So how can we hear from God?
The two passages from Scripture give us direction on how we can hear the word of God in our lives.

1. Firstly, we need to take a step in faith and believe that God can and will call us. That he will and does communicate with us every day. There are countless passages in His word that reassure us of this, "I will be with you always." Also Psalm 32:8.

People say ‘seeing is believing’, I say ‘believing enables seeing’. What happens when you are looking for something? You are much more likely to find it if you believe you will find it.

2. Give God opportunities to speak to you.

Take time out of your busy life to stop and be still, so that he can have a chance to get a word in. He doesn’t need long, but he does need a space to speak.

In the passage today we see that Samuel was reclining in the sanctuary, attending to the burning lamp, when he heard the voice of the Lord and Nathaneal was meditating on the scriptures under a fig tree when he was called. We know this because Jesus makes reference to the scriptural passage about Jacob and his ladder which Nathaneal had obviously just been studying. It is Significant, that both Samuel and Nathaneal were taking time to study the Scriptures regularly. The Scriptures are God’s inspired word to us, by reading them we create opportunities for God to communicate with us.

3. Expect to hear from God.

Do we come to church with an expectation that we will meet with God? Do we pray expecting God to answer? Do we read the Scriptures expecting God to reveal something of Himself and His will to us? If you expect to hear from God you will, but if not, then you will find it difficult to discern His word to you.

4. Learn to recognize God’s voice in your life.

Jesus said: "Those that have eyes to see let them see and those that have ears to hear let them hear".

Actively look for the signs of God at work in your life and learn to recognize them,

• by journaling your own experience of God,
• learning from the men and women of scripture
• and drawing on the experiences of others.
  
  Refer to the Sunday Live Barnabas time

We have to be intentional about it. At first it may seem hard to notice, but like all things the more we do it the easier it gets.

Samuel had to learn to recognize God’s voice,

It took time for Nathaneal to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

5.Want to hear from God.
Joke: I just don’t know what to get my wife for our anniversary.
Why don’t you ask her what she wants?

Oh no! that would cost too much.

Sometimes we’re like that with God. It’s almost like we don’t want to hear His direction to us even though we know in our heart of hearts that His way is always best.

Be serious about wanting to hear his voice.

Samuel said "Speak Lord your servant is listening".

6.Respond to God when He speaks to you.

One response leads to another instruction or communication.

Cf a child growing in maturity, as one instruction from the parent is understood so another is given.

Eli advised Samuel to submit himself to whatever he believed the Lord would have him do.

We read that the word of the Lord had been rare in those days because there was no one in whom God could entrust it. When Samuel submitted, hearing the word of God became a common occurrence again. This is true of you and me of our lives and our church life also. God will honour your faith and obedience.

7.Return to the presence of God.

Each time you have responded, return to the presence of God.

Samuel remained in Shiloh and Nathaneal remained close to Jesus. Jesus said to Philip "Come with me" and the invitation is for us also. Jesus says: "Abide in me".

This is all very well you might say, but how do you know that what you are hearing is truly from God? How do you know that we are not just putting words into God’s mouth? Good question!

There is obviously a danger that we can misconstrue what we think God is telling us or become simplistic in the way we interpret what God is saying to us or put words into God’s mouth so to speak. Slide 3.

Listening to God does not mean living in a way that short-circuits your brain. God has given us a brain to use.

God called Samuel three times before Eli was sure that it was the voice of the Lord.

Nathaneal asked several questions before he acknowledged Jesus to be the Messiah. Neither of them was reprimanded for questioning or for taking a little time to reach certainty.

When God communicates with us, he does so very clearly and His message comes through to us repeatedly and in a variety of ways. When I sense that God is speaking to me, I experience a ‘knowing’ a Deep resonance within me, that leaves me in no doubt of what God is saying to me, and what he says is always consistent with His essential character and His nature, of love and truth. Sometimes we have to be patient and wait for the deep resonance, the certainty to come before we can act and sometimes we have to act in faith. Either way the certainty will come.

• expect to be surprised….

Samuel is surprised, as Eli points out that it was not he who was calling him

and Nathaneal is surprised as we see him say,

"Can anything Good come out of Nazareth?"

God often sends us help from people and places we least expect and he sends us to people and places we least expect.

But as Philip says to Nathanel, "Come and see".

Our questions, dilemmas, problems are resolved in wonderful ways when we meet Jesus.

• Expect to leave your comfort zone.

Nathanel is sitting under a fig tree when Philip calls him . Under a fig tree is a proverb meaning to be in a place of safety or leisure. Jesus took him from that place into active ministry with him and he will do the same with you and me according to the gifts and talents he has given us.

• Expect to have your faith enhanced. Once Nathaneal recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus promises Nathaneal an even greater basis for belief.

So in summary to hear from God we must : Slide 4.

• Believe that He can and will call you
• Give him opportunities to speak to you
• Expect to hear from him.
• Learn to recognize his voice.
• Want to hear from him
• Respond to his voice
• Return to His presence where we hear Him.

• Expect to be surprised
• Expect to leave your comfort zone.
• Expect to have your faith deepened and greatly enhanced.

I leave you with this final thought:

John’s Gospel presents Jesus as the word of God who became a human being and lived among us. If we want to hear the word of God or hear from God, we must look at the person of Jesus and follow in His footsteps.

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