Speak Lord, Your Servant Is Listening

In one paragraph

This message came from First Samuel 3, the account of God calling Samuel as a boy in the temple. Pastor Casey used it to set the foundation for the church's coming forty days of love series, arguing that any spiritual practice is hollow if people have not first learned to recognize and listen for God's voice. Pastor Casey opened by sharing what he had just come back from: a gathering of College of...

Read together

1. 1 Samuel 3 Main passage read in unison and expounded throughout the sermon
2. 2 Timothy 1:7 Cited to show God does not give a spirit of fear or timidity but of power, love and a sound mind

Talk about it

1. The pastor described Samuel as someone who knew about God but had not yet entered into a personal relationship with Him, saying the knowledge had not moved the twelve inches from head to heart. Where would you honestly place yourself on that spectrum right now, and what do you think is keeping you there?
2. When Fred and the bishop in Uganda were asked to pray for the deformed four-year-old child, the pastor said the temptation was to worry about what would happen if nothing changed, because prayer had become about their own reputation rather than about God. When have you held back in prayer for that same reason, and what would it look like to genuinely leave the outcome in God's hands?
3. The pastor listed seven tests for discerning whether a voice or impression is from God, including whether it lines up with scripture, whether it exalts Christ or yourself, and whether it produces faith or fear. Think of a time you felt strongly led to do or not do something. How would those tests have applied to that situation?
4. The pastor said that anything we do before we have heard from God will fall and fail, no matter how busy we are doing what looks like His work. Where in your life are you most tempted to act first and listen later, and what would it practically cost you to reverse that order?
5. The sermon closed with the challenge to clear our calendars and give God time to speak, promising to say like Samuel, 'Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.' What is the one thing most likely to crowd that out for you this week, and what would one concrete step toward removing it look like?