WEBVTT - I'm Confused About My Calling 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.120 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.480 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.520 it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:17.320 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:22.239 There is a passage of scripture that has always fascinated me, 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.480 and I knew it was the one to start this 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.680 series with because most of my sermon ideas come from 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.800 a text, usually a text in the Bible. But this 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:34.720 whole series came to me through a text on my 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.199 phone and somebody texted me, but I didn't have their 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:40.760 number in my contacts, but they had texted me before 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.239 and their name was in the text. So you know, 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.080 Steve Jobs is so smart, even from beyond the grave. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.000 He made a suggestion on my iPhone and he said maybe, 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.520 and then it said it could be this person. And 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.240 when I saw it on my phone, I realized that 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.200 that would make an amazing way to spend several weeks 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.880 in the Word of God talking about those times where 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.200 we don't know if it's God or not, and so 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.720 we're trying to lead our families some of us, or 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:10.959 we're trying to get our education, or we're trying to 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:16.000 decide about jobs or dates, or trying to decide about 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.120 moving to a new house or new apartment, or just 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.720 trying to figure out what it is that we were 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.480 put here on earth for. But the series is called 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:29.920 Maybe God, Maybe God. We worship a God who can 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.280 be best explained as mystery, and yet we live in 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.959 a culture that worships certainty. And so I want to 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:38.920 talk about that for several weeks with you. And I'm 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.440 so glad you're here. Touch somebody and say he's so 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:45.880 happy you're here. That preacher, That preacher is happy you're here. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.280 That's true. I'm so glad you're here. And what I 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:51.920 need you to do right now is give your attention 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.800 just to this text in First Samuel, chapter three, where 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:01.080 we will encounter a young man who's encountering God. And 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.480 I pray that we will encounter God in the process today. 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.440 First Samuel three, verse one. The boy Samuel ministered before 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.320 the Lord under Eli. In those days, the word of 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:16.120 the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. One night, Eli, 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.320 whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:24.919 see was lying down in his usual place. The lamp 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.040 of God had not yet gone out. Touch somebody say, 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.359 there's still time, There's still time. I know you might 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.520 have got off track in your life, but there's still time. 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:35.799 I know there might be some things out of order 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.519 in your house, but there's still time. I know you 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.040 might have wasted some years chasing your own ways, but 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.760 God brought you here because there's still time. God left 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.400 you here because there's still time. If you're still breathing, 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:51.480 there's still time. I got a friend named Perry Noble. 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.079 His favorite quote is, if you're not dead, God's not done. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.919 And I just believe that. I believe it. So the 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.400 light had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.160 down in the house of the Lord, where the ark 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.360 of God, which symbolized the presence of God was, And 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:11.679 then the Lord called Samuel, and Samuel answered, here I am. 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.720 And he ran to Eli and said, here I am. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:21.360 You called me, but Eli said, I didn't call go 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.080 back to sleep, man, wake me up in the middle 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:30.400 of the night. I didn't call you. Go back and 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.240 lie down. So he went and lay down again. The 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:39.600 Lord called Samuel, and Samuel got up and went to 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:44.760 Eli and said, here, I am. This is really strange, 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.840 right like, because you expect when God calls it'll sound 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:58.080 so deep. So baritone Samuel apparently it sounded. It sounded 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.560 so much like what he was used to be around 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.640 that he ran to the place where he normally went 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.320 and he was like, here, I am, you called me, 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:16.040 my son, Eli said, I did not call, go back 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.320 and lie down, but you need an ambient, a weighted blanket, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.839 some milk, a cookie. Now, Samuel did not yet know 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:27.960 the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:34.120 been revealed to him. A third time, the Lord called Samuel, 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.080 and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, here, 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:40.440 I am, you call me. I know you're messing with me. 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.920 Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:48.640 So Eli told Samuel go and lie down. If he calls, 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:53.680 you say speak Lord, for your servant is listening. The 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.080 title of this message is something that I have heard 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.520 people say to me of all ages, of all ethnicities, 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.280 of all economic status positions. And I want you to 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:05.279 look at the screen for the title of my message. 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:11.160 It goes like this, I'm confused about my calling. I'm 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:16.720 confused about my calling. I love God and I love 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.400 my family and I want to make a difference. But 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.520 look at somebody next to you and say you look confused. 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:30.000 Tell them I am, I'm confused about my call. Lord 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.839 have your way, speak your word. We're listening in Jesus' name. Amen, 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:44.280 Now be seated. You are forgiven. If when I say 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.440 calling you roll your eyes a little bit. It is 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:53.120 one of these terms that is so popular in culture 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.840 that it almost means nothing anymore, and it can be 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:01.120 frustrating the older you get when people talk about lofty 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:06.560 ideals like finding your calling. You need to find your calling, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:11.960 and you know, well, for most of us, that's way 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:15.800 outside of the realm of our everyday life where we're 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.480 trying to pay bills. It's like, you know, you need 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:20.880 to find your calling, and you're like, well, I'm doing 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.240 good to find my keys in the morning, and you 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.720 want to talk about finding your calling. And as much 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.240 as I understand that, I also understand that there's a 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.760 reason that the majority of questions that I have been 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:38.120 asked as a pastor in these thirteen years going on 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:42.360 fourteen years, the reason for it is that there is 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.200 something inside of you that wants to find the thing 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.680 that you were made to do, and you will never 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.039 be satisfied with anything else. And no matter how much 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.840 sex you have, money you make, friends you meet, no 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.840 matter how big the house is that you build, no 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.280 matter how many cars you part in the driveway, there 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.359 will always be something unsatisfied in you until you find 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.800 that thing that we call a calling. And yet, and yet, 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.680 so much damage has been done in popular culture by 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.720 the concept of calling that it actually makes us discontent 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.760 with our lives because rather than understand the real nature 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.679 of a calling, we have a concept of a calling, 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.760 and often we spend our lives wishing that we were 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.440 doing something that God did not tell us to do. 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.000 So to break this first sermon down today, and there 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.000 will be several in this series, I'm praying that you 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.000 come to all of them. And I'm praying if you 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:42.720 can't come to all of them, you'll watch them all 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.880 because they're all online for free. And I can't figure 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:47.760 out a reason in the world why you couldn't spend 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.600 forty minutes with me on YouTube each week, even if 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:52.280 you have to do it while you're walking the dog, 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.560 even if you have to do it while you're falling asleep, 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.440 I'll put you to sleep. I don't mind. Whatever I 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.280 can get. I'll help you run on the treadmill. Just 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.840 whatever you have to do to get these messages. The 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:07.240 Bible says in verse one that in those days, while Samuell, 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.160 the twelve year old who was apprenticing in the tabernacle 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.160 because his mother Hannah, prayed that she could have a son, 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.120 and she had trouble conceiving. And when she finally had 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.840 the son, she dedicated him to the Lord. And she 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.400 dropped him off at age four and only saw him 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.000 once a year, and she put him under Eli, who 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.600 wasn't doing a very good job. He was letting his 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.880 sons run around in the tabernacle and have sex with 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.760 women at the entrance to the tabernacle, and he knew 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.600 about it, but he wouldn't do anything about it. And 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.240 he was letting his sons beat people up who had 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.079 brought their sacrifice to the temple, and they brought their 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.760 sacrifice to God, but the priests took it for themselves. 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.480 Hofney and Phineas Eli's sons, would send their messenger out 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.000 to the tent and say, hey, Hoffney said, you got 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.040 to give him the fat portion, And the people who 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.040 came would be like, well, that's for the Lord. They 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:57.960 can get the portion after it burns off. That's the 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.120 priest portion. But they had gotten confused about what it 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.319 meant to honor God, and they had started honoring themselves 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:08.000 and their opinions and their desires, and they started treating 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.480 God as common. And so the Bible says something interesting 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.040 in verse one. It says, in those days, with all 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.200 of that going on, the word of the Lord was 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:24.520 rare because they treated the Lord as common. The word 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.079 of the Lord was rare. Because we live in a 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:34.480 day where it is so easy to get information but 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.120 so difficult to get truth. I figured this verse would 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:42.760 apply to us. Would you agree with me that we 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:48.680 are drowning in information, drowning in opinion, drowning in agenda, 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:54.319 drowning in projections, but starving for truth. You know I'm 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:56.959 right about it. It's such a crazy time. You don't 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:59.880 know who to trust anymore. You don't know if it's real, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:01.440 you don't know if it's fake, you don't know if 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.040 it's inflated. You don't know if it's a statistic. And 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.440 let me give you a statistic. Eighty three percent of 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.920 statistics are made up that's a statistic. I made it up. 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.320 It's a time where truth is hard to find. And 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.840 it doesn't mean that there wasn't access to the Bible. 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.880 God knows we have access to the Word of God. 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.920 You could pull out your phone right now and a 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.120 British person will read you the Bible on the Bible 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:29.920 app That made me think of something real funny. One 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:37.440 time Graham asked me do British people find American accents soothing? 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.560 Probably not. But here's the thing about it. It's not 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:46.160 access to the Word of God. It's our attitude to 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:50.440 the Word of God. It's our attitude. It's why some 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.880 people can come into church and look narcoleptic in church. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.560 That's why some people can come into church and leave 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.680 during the invitation, because God forbid it takes you seven 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:05.559 minutes to get the cracker barrel. It's why some people 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.280 can click around to different sermons and be like, Ah, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.280 I don't know Fredi's not on today. I'm gonna go 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:11.840 over here to this one and that one. And that's 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.640 what seeing. When the Word of God becomes common to us, 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.360 we will have access to the Word of God, but 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:22.720 it will not have impact on our life and So 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.800 the first thing I wanted to mention is the culture. 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:32.439 The culture in Eli's time was a culture of neglect, 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:36.200 a culture where the value of who God was and 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.920 what he said was negotiable. Therefore there was an absence 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.640 of that special presence of God. The word of the 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.920 Lord was rare because the Lord of the Word had 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:53.520 become common. And I just want to say to you 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:59.480 today that many of our cultural concepts of calling are 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:07.560 really just self help, individualistic, ambition oriented delusions dressed up 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:18.400 in Christian cliches. And because you got a trophy when 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:22.000 you were seven does not mean you get to play 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:27.200 Major League Baseball. And the culture of our day is 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.959 kind of like, instead of worshiping God, we worship our 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:37.200 idea of God's will, And rather than being in relationship 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:42.440 with God, we want God to be a resource who 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.960 is more like Siri than he is like a savior. 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:51.360 I don't know if you come back next week the 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.680 way I'm starting to discern him, but we need to 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.840 get something straight right off the bat that until I 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.760 treasure the voice of God, value the voice of God, 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.040 hearken to the voice of God, make time for the 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:09.680 voice of God, consecrate myself I can't get it by skimming. 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.160 I can't get it by just you know, running around 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:20.160 to this person and that person. It is the revealed 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:24.520 will of God that we're after. It is the revealed 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.240 will of God. Now, when I was in my twenties, 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.000 I did all this teaching and preaching. And now you know, 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:37.240 now that I'm wiser, I turned forty next year, you'll 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:38.960 better start working on my gift now, because it's a 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:45.360 big one. It's kind of cringey for me to look 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:50.720 back on the way I spoke about calling in my 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:57.160 twenties that probably left people feeling at the very least 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:02.400 confused at word, frustrated, and maybe even full of resentment 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.480 because the way it happened in my life is different 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:10.000 for all of us. Here's Samuel, who is receiving a 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.520 revelation of God. And in my life, I never heard 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.480 anything audible that God said to me. I never, you know, 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.800 the Lord never said, Ardich Steve, what God called you 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.320 by your last nammey for someone I don't know, but 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:26.760 he said. He never said, you know, preach to me 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:32.280 out loud. There were desires, there were opportunities. I noticed 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.800 some effectiveness. It's the weirdest thing. When I first got 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.880 up to pray for Pastor Mickey, who asked me to 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.920 pray at a Lions Club meeting. I noticed that people 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:45.600 seem to be blessed as I prayed, and they connected him. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.800 And it took Pastor Mickey to explain to me that 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.640 that was the hand of God on my life. I 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.520 didn't know that. If he hadn't been there to guide me, 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.360 I would have maybe thought I was just a charismatic speaker. 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.400 But he helped me to see that there was something 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:08.680 supernatural involved. And I was sixteen years old, and I 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:12.320 had someone who had been around long enough to see 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.320 some things to tell me it was special. Otherwise I 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:17.720 wouldn't have known him. Now here's what I did with 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.480 that knowledge. I preached in my twenties that just like 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.280 God called me to preach, God has called each Christian 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:31.920 to do something. You agree with that. But here's the 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.360 part that I think was incomplete. While I'd be up 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.400 there saying to people, you need to find your calling. 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:38.800 You need to find your calling. You need to find 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:40.200 your calling. You need to find your calling. You need 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.200 to find your calling. You find your calling. You need 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:43.880 to find your calling. You need to find your calling. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:45.880 You need to find your calling. You need to find 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:47.400 your calling. You need to find a calling, because he 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.120 gets annoying after a while. Right, It's like I'm just 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.560 trying to like I need a job. Man, I don't 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:57.120 know about a calling. I've seen a raise right now? 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.120 Is that it makes it sound as if it's something 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:05.520 that you can just get and just know. And yet 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:10.080 did you notice in the passage that even Samuel, who 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.400 was the link between the period of the Judges and 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.800 the monarchy of Israel a thousand years before Jesus, that 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.520 even Samuel, who none of his words fell to the ground, 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:26.440 even Samuel didn't get it right the first time. I 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.120 don't know why, but that encourages me just reading this 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.640 little story, to know that there's someone that God used 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.200 to do something great, and he called him and he 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:42.520 chose him. But even this great prophet didn't get it 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:46.960 right the first time. I want to set you free 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.280 today from the feeling that you have to find your calling. 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.400 That's a cultural concept, it's not a biblical one. You 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:59.800 don't have to find your calling. In fact, if the 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:05.760 is correct, if Samuel is an illustration, then I don't 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.679 have to find my calling because if I will serve 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.520 the purpose of the season that I'm in in my 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:18.439 life right now, watch this, get ready to shout. My 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:25.560 calling will find me in that good news, Christian soldiers, 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.880 aren't you too glad to know that? When Samuel heard 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:32.720 a voice and he didn't even know whose voice it was. 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:34.440 And here's the thing about it, I want to talk 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:36.959 about the culture, and then I want to talk about 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:42.160 the contact, the contact, because when he first heard the voice, 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.359 it sounded like something he had heard before. Have you 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.480 ever noticed is hard to know the difference between when 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.960 you're speaking to you and when God is speaking to you. 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.159 And watch out for the Christians who are running around 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.680 so sure that it's God speaking to them. Those are 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.879 the weird ones. Those are the crazy ones. I mean, 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:03.920 I'm serious. You gotta watch out for him. And they're 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.080 here at Elevation, just like they're at every church, and 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.199 they'll find you in the bathroom and they'll have a 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.080 word from the Lord for you, and they don't even 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.159 know you. And it's weird because it's the bathroom. Can 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.640 I wash my hands? If God spoke to you, he'll 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:16.720 do it in the lobby. Now, let me finish using 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:19.120 the bathroom. I'm serious because I'm a preacher and people 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:20.879 always think I want to be spiritual, and people will 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.080 stop me in the bathroom sometimes at a restaurant and 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:24.480 give me a word from the Lord. But if it 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:25.760 was really the Lord, he would have told you it's 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:27.399 weird to talk to people in the bathroom and wait 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:29.600 till a man gets outside, because there is such a 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:31.600 thing as germs, and God doesn't cancel out germs. I 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.520 don't want your prophetic word. Well, I'm trying to so, 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.840 but because he gets weird, because he gets weird, we 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:47.359 still have to realize that the only way that the 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:52.000 will of God, or the word of God or the 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:56.480 voice of God can be recognized. That's what the Bible 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:00.480 said that Eli who was old, who couldn't see physically. 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.240 I've been on this thing lightly that we really need 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:06.040 people in our life who are older than us, who 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:08.640 have been along the journey, and to respect the price 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.440 that they paid, and to not just think that because 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:13.680 they don't go on SoundCloud or because they don't have 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.080 a lot of Instagram followers, that they have nothing to 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.560 teach us. I'm really seeing the value and people who 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:22.440 they may not have the physical vision that they used 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.000 to have, but they can discern spiritual things. And Eli 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.439 wasn't even a perfect priest. In fact, God was in 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:31.240 the process of moving him out of the way. And 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.520 even in that transition, because the whole passage is about transition. 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:41.480 It's Samuel transitioning from a boy to a man, from 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.240 boys to men. I was just thinking, you know, it's 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:52.480 hard to say goodbye. But when Eli is transitioning out, 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:56.679 and when Samuel is transitioning up, and he's ultimately stepping 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:01.399 into the thing God created him for. God deals with Samuel, 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.639 but he does it through Eli. And whatever God is 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:09.120 going to speak in your life is going to come 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:13.240 in the context of relationships. And I chose the word 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:19.240 contact to describe it because whoever you put around you 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:24.399 the most will start to affect the voice inside of 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.960 you that speaks to you. And have you ever noticed 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:33.520 that God's voice sometimes in your life sounds like your wife. 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:38.320 Sometimes for me, it sounds like my kids. Sometimes in 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:42.400 my life I've noticed that if I am not selective 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:47.440 about my contacts, I will start hearing I don't mean 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:49.440 like out loud voices. I don't want you to send 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:51.440 me off after I've preached today or anything like that. 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.240 I mean the voice in my mind. A lot of 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:58.000 times when I was going through a counseling session to 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:01.800 try to understand myself better, the one thing that the 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:06.480 therapist would keep saying, is whose voice is that? You 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:08.920 know these things you say to yourself, You go like, uh, 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.440 you know, I'm so stupid and you never get anything right, 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:13.000 and well, of course you screwed it up, you screw 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.000 everything up, you know all that. And she keeps saying, 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.720 whose voice is that? Whose voice is that? And I 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:19.240 didn't know if she was just trying to get me 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.240 to say, you know, it was my dad, you know, oh, 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:25.280 like the point of all therapy, my diapers were too tight. 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:31.760 I got it. But what I realized is that most 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:36.240 of us who are not clinically insane don't actually hear voices. 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:40.440 We process thoughts, right, so we say the voice of God? 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.480 How does the voice of God come into your life? 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:46.960 Through thoughts? Through thoughts? And that's why Samuel was confused, 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:50.919 right because he heard something, so he went where he 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:53.040 knew to go. And I want to point out something 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:58.000 about this. He did the right thing, He did the 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:01.480 right thing. He ran noticed the Bible said that when 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:05.880 he heard his name called Samuel. First of all, it 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:09.359 didn't sound it didn't sound strange to him. It sounded 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.320 like what he was used to. So he ran because 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.680 that's what he did, because he had the right passion. 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:22.679 But he ran to the wrong person. Some of you 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:26.960 right now, you had the right passion, but you're running 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:31.280 to the wrong person or the wrong place. Now, this 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:33.800 is not only true in the case of Samuel. It 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:37.280 was true of Moses. God called him to deliver his 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:41.560 people from the Egyptians. Moses had the right passion, but 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.080 where he messed up. Listen to this, U see when 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:47.600 he killed the Egyptian it was the right passion, but 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.840 it was misplaced. He tried to do it his way. 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:54.000 He didn't get it right the first time. And some 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.359 of the things that you've gotten wrong in your life, 0:22:56.800 --> 0:23:00.720 some of the mistakes that you've made, it was God's up. 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:04.600 But it was eli that you ran to. You ran 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:06.920 to the thing that God was trying to remove out 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.480 of your life because that's what you were used to. 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:12.160 You ran to the thing that you were familiar with 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:15.440 because it's all your mind could understand. And so God 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:17.960 gave you a gift, but you used that gift for 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.240 you for a little while until you found out. Unless 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:23.800 I offer the gift back to the giver, it's going 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.920 to come back empty. But God brought you here today 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:30.119 to let you know. That was my voice calling you. 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:33.679 That was me that gave you that talent. That was 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:36.159 me that made you good at that. That was me 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:38.800 that opened the door for you. That was me that 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:42.160 gave you that responsibility. That was me that gave you health. 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:44.560 That was me that gave you strength. That was Me 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:50.359 that gave you that connection. It was him the whole time. 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:55.879 It was It was the Lord that called Samuel, but 0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:59.280 it was Eli that Samuel ran to. What are you 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:03.479 running to? If you run, if you're running to something 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:07.720 that is not your purpose, you feel it. You feel 0:24:07.720 --> 0:24:09.359 it in several ways. But one of the things I 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:12.680 want to mention is I'm trying to surround myself in 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:15.680 this stage of my life with people who bring out 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.159 the God in me. And that's just me. Now. I 0:24:19.160 --> 0:24:21.000 don't mean I'm going to be mean to people who 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:23.040