Looking at your faces I can see the glory of God shining. Many people today are trying to put their names down on the plastic surgery list believing they need a new nose and want to repair their face because they want to look attractive. But to whom do they want to look attractive to whom? To God? I doubt it. We want to look so attractive to human being so people can say wow and comment on how beautiful we look and that makes us feel so good.
We
just sang a song and the words said, “Let the weak I am strong”. How often do you feel weak in your life? Have you crossed a situation in your life
where you feel weak? If yes, then this message is for you today. The words of the song said, “Let the poor say
I am rich”. Do you sometimes feel poor
in life, and you feel everybody possesses what they need except for you and you
ask, “why only me God?”
In
I Samuel 3:11, the Bible says, “then the lord said to Samuel, behold I will do
something in Israel which will make both ears of everyone who hears about it
tingle”. God is saying, behold I will do
something in Israel. Wait a little bit,
look, I will do something. What is this something? We don’t know what it is, it’s just
something, something we don’t know or define but God knows what it is and God
is going to do it, just wait and behold; look at it.
How
did this story start? Hannah was so
beautiful and attractive that she didn’t need plastic surgery and was married
to Elkanah who also didn’t need plastic surgery. Hannah was working hard to please her husband,
family and community. People would say, “wow
that man got the right woman”. I believe
Hannah fits in the Proverbs 31 description of a perfect wife as she had
everything that we could say is perfect BUT she had an issue – she couldn’t
give birth.
Her
husband knew she was so beautiful and worked so hard but because she couldn’t
give him any children, he decided he would have to marry a second wife in order
to have offspring of his own. Imagine
you offer everything you can but the person turns you down because you can’t
offer exactly what they are looking for.
Imagine if someone tells you that you can have this job because you are
perfect but you can’t have it because you are not capable of doing something so
they turn you down. Imagine if the
reason for turning you down is because they require you work on Sundays but you
can’t because you need to go to church.
So
the husband picked up a second wife who gave birth to many children in a short
period of time and while she was pregnant she would come next to Hannah talking
about the pregnancy and Hannah will feel this it was so hard and say, “Lord why
this?” and start to cry. The second wife
would mock her, “you believe you are someone but you are no one”.
Have
you crossed that situation where you have loved someone but that person goes
for someone else or something else? For
example, for some men money comes first before the wife. Have you crossed a situation where you have
been offering what you should offer but you are turned down because what they
got from you wasn’t what they were expecting to get? How will you feel to share what you believe
belongs to you with someone else?
Hannah
was in pain every day. Each time the
second wife gave birth, Hannah would feel in her heart that she wished the baby
was hers.
In
your life satan has told you, “you can’t make it, you can’t change the
situation, look this has been the Samuel way for the past ten years, how can
you change it”. You feel satan pressing
you down and you are asking, “where are you God?” and God is just looking at
you and you feel depressed for one situation in your life and you know what
that situation is that kills you and you look around and no one else has that
hard situation. Sometimes your marriage,
life, problems, job will mock you. You
complain to God but God says, yes that is the way I created you.
Hannah
prayed while she was crying and telling God about her situation and the priest Eli
saw her talking and believed she must be drunk.
Have you come across a situation where you are really crying and you
need comforting and people say, “oh we know Odon, he cries over nothing, that
is just him.” While that person is
crossing a serious situation which is killing their mind and heart and others
are just mocking them…”oh she loves crying.”
Hannah
knew she could never give birth but God answered her request and she found
herself pregnant. How did the second
wife feel now? How will people feel when
they were mocking you yesterday and they see the answer to your problem on its
way. Hannah gave birth to Samuel and she
said, God this child is yours and she took the child to the temple and gave him
to the Samuel priest who believed that she was drunk: “When I was praying that time
and you thought I was drunk, this is what I was after and this is what God gave
me”.
The
child (Samuel) was in the temple learning to be a servant of God and one night God
came down and called him but he didn’t recognize the voice because he didn’t
know God. Even though he had been
working in the church for years doing the rituals, he didn’t know God. Many people around the world wear a cross and
kiss it when they want to do something but they don’t know God. Many people put verses on the walls of their
houses and they take their Bibles in their bags when they have a job interview
and people try to come on Sunday and work in the church like a routine but
after the service they go home and they don’t know God.
90%
of people don’t enjoy the job they do.
If they were given another chance they would prefer to stay home but
they are forced to go to work. They have
a routine which they now find hard to do but when they first got the job they
praise God and were excited but after two weeks they feel it’s hard. This is the Samuel with salvation, the day
you were saved you jumped for joy and wanted to pray and read Bible and be with
God every time but six months later you feel lazy to go to church or too busy
and week after week you have excuses. Satan
tries hard to pull people out of church and no one forces them but they make a
decision by saying, “I’m not coming today, I have a lunch” or “I’m meeting my
friend today” and after a few times the person is dying and they lose their
relationship with God completely and then become a Christian of ritual and not
know why they are at church.
Samuel
told Eli, “why did you call me?” but Eli said, “it wasn’t me go back and sleep”. But after the third time Samuel came to Eli
saying, “Why did you call me?”, Eli thought, mmm this person is God and told Samuel
to go back to your place and give this answer, “speak to your servant who is
listening”. Are you at the right place
every time when God calls you? Where is
the right place? Sometimes a song takes
you to the right place with God. Sing
for God and you will come next to him and feel the spirit of God filling you
and that is the right place for you.
Sing that song for God that you know helps you come close to God and
continue to praise Him and feel the tears coming from your eyes and feel the
power coming from God and that is the best time to talk to God – that is the
secret of God’s presence, the secret to get the power back and to hear from Him.
Some
say when I read a verse from a Bible, that makes me feel God. If you have a verse that makes you feel God’s
presence then go to that verse. You need
to know the right place to meet with God and that is spiritual growth. At first God’s people met Him on a mountain,
then in a tent, then in a temple and now we are the temple, so you need to know
where to go to meet with God.
Samuel
came and told Eli, “the man called me and answered”. Now God told Samuel, “behold, I’m going to do
something”. If God tells you that, how
will you feel? Scared? Maybe you will wonder if God is going to
destroy you or your family or whether God is going to rescue you. God today is telling you that He going to do
something, you have been mocked for so long and people have been making your
life tough. God wants to change things and
He will do something and that result will be what you don’t expect.
Recently
an elderly woman I know had an answer to prayer. She waited for more than 30
years for the answer. How long will you be patient? God promised that woman all those years ago
but many years passed and now something is being done. When you are going through a hard situation
and people might tell you there is no solution, it is impossible: God tells you
that He will do something for you, so call on God and ask for Him to do
something and tell Him, “because I can’t find solution but You are here.” Your solution won’t come from anywhere else.
A
friend of mine worked for many years volunteering for an organization and they
were happy to use that man’s skills and experience and he was capable of
changing situations but when he applied for paid jobs within the organization,
they turned him down. He felt they were
just using him. Maybe in your life you
have also been used. Your boss uses you
and they take all the credit and you are given harsh words to prove you are
useless and you feel pressure and you might even get sick and you ask God, “why
this? Is this really the job you chose
for me, for how long will I live in this situation? They mock me every time and you don’t
intervene”. You have been working for
years but they prove you are nothing.
One
time I had a very proud boss who knew nothing but she was always trying to
prove to me that I was the one who knew nothing. Sometimes your family doesn’t have knowledge
of who you are. You have a husband and
you need support but he goes out with his friends to enjoy soccer practice and
you cry, “oh God, where are you God, how can I look after these children on my
own” while the husband gave promises on the day of marriage to be there for
you. Where are those commitments
today?
Finally,
Hannah gave the child away to do the work of God and God started to use Samuel
to transform the temple. Every day you
come to church and you pray and put chairs around and God says, “I’m sick of
your rituals it’s now time for me to use you” in the same way that Samuel used
to work for God in the temple, doing rituals but a time came when He decided to
use Samuel to transform lives.
God
wants to use you…He may fix all your problems, give you joy etc but are you
ready to receive from him? How many
times last week did you quarrel with those you love? You need the man to help you and he says,
that is your job. He comes home for food
and you have to find him food. Or you
tell someone about your situation and they don’t care and you feel they are
annoyed by you. Have you crossed that,
you need help but others tell you that you are the wrong one.
For
example, you go to your friend, and she says you that you are wrong. People tell you that not because you are
wrong but because they are more attached to that person than you and they make
you feel very terrible and satan makes you kneel down and you have to go back
and confess you are wrong and you put yourself in the net of satan and let
people use you. Many people believe they
have wisdom from God but that wisdom is from satan in order to destroy the
peace and joy in the lives of others.
For
example, the wife comes home and she starts with the cat, ‘Husband, did you
feed the cat?’ and he answers, ‘on no’.
The wife becomes annoyed, ‘but you should feed him’ and the husband says,
“you haven’t asked if I’ve been fed” and a big quarrel starts from nowhere.
God
can fix your problems. You don’t need plastic
surgery to fix the problem, you don’t need to find a solution on your own. For example, you might not be able to give
birth so you think to yourself, “I’ll a adopt a child to please myself” but we
should start by asking God to do something.
Ask
God to do something in your life this morning.
The something that has been troubling you, tell God you want Him to do
something. Tell God to help you so those
that mock you will see an answer.
Our
problems will only be fixed when we discover who we are. Ask God, “who am I? What was your purpose God to create me? Tell me God, why did you create me? Is it to come through this mess or to live
this type of life, is it to be mocked by the world or was it so that your name
can be glorified as with the blind man?”
Samuel
discovered who he was because Hannah was praying for him. Maybe you have been praying for your people
and your prayers will change the world and have an answer. I’m so happy to have women among us this
morning. God loves women so much. When He created Adam He used mud but for
women it was different. He didn’t use
mud to make something precious...he used a bone. I’m sure the woman (Eve) looked so attractive
because Adam said, “flesh of my flesh come here baby”. He never said that to God although God
created him in his image.
Women
are special to God and that is evidenced by the fact that it is a woman who is
able to become pregnant. God puts the
precious life of a human being and allows the women to protect it because He
knew if He trusted man with that job, the man might not be careful enough. When women pray according to Jeremiah, the
prayer is every time responded and
something has to be done. In general, when
men pray, the prayers are not the same as women who kneel down and pray with
power and satan feels, oh leave me alone.
Men in general worship with less fervor than women and are generally lazy
to worship. Men who really want to
worship, they should look at women and discover how they are ready to worship
without fear or pride.
The
church is the wife of Jesus Christ because if you understand the role of the
women you will understand the role of the church. Learn from women and your body (temple of Holy
Spirit) because women know how to work hard while the man is resting and eats
the most and after eating the women has to clean the house. If I learn how to become a servant of my own
life and soul, God will do something with me but we don’t do it, if we don’t
cook for our souls how will we be able to cook for those souls that surround
us. Are you really a temple of God? What is a church? I’m the church. So are you really the wife of JESUS? What is the role of a wife and women? The biggest shame is that most women don’t
use what God has given them, they don’t like to pray, they don’t go to the
meetings. Satan brings small traps like
being invited to lunch but don’t fall into that trap.
When
God called Samuel and he didn’t have the right answer, God didn’t speak but
when he gave the right answer, that is when God spoke. God is the only solution. People can discourage you in life but those
people have arthritis in their brain because their brains can’t work
properly…their job is to discourage. For
example, “Molly, I need your help, can you please talk to Heidi” and she
refuses and says that is your fault without even knowing what is going on. You ask someone to pray for you and they
answer, you always have the same problems it’s your fault. It wasn’t Samuel’s fault that he had to do all
the rituals in the temple because he put his trust in Eli.
Put your trust in God not the prophets or pastors. Eli could not hear the voice of God while
Samuel could hear but couldn’t understand it but praise God that Eli could give
the right advice to Samuel.
What
do you do when you hear the voice of God?
My
dream last night: I was walking along the river and following a small ball and
I was walking on water and then I saw a brief case in the water and it had Bible
verses so I threw them in the river and when I picked them up they were
transformed into bank notes and those that were sitting on the edge of the
river started to collect money by swimming into the water. Very often we think about the Word of God when
we need money or support from God to fulfill our needs and we can pray and fast
for something material to be given.
As
I was throwing money, many people came and they were happy and I was surrounded
by a big crowd. When do I use Gods’ word? Is it only when I need something physical but
never spiritual. God is waiting to do
something for you. Are you ready to get
it? If yes, let’s pray and ask God to do
something in my life, my family, my job, my studies, my neighbors, my problems,
my weaknesses. You have been waiting for
years and crying everyday but tell God this morning that you want to see a
change. My mum says the mercy of God is
enough. Tell God that His mercy is
enough for whatever your issue is and tell God to do something today.
