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Hearken

1)

 

And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

 

1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 7

 

Samuel’s life had been totally dedicated to God.  He had not lived to please himself but to obey God.  What a contrast to the self centred and easy going so called Christianity of today.  It cost Samuel everything to be in the place where he heard the voice of God.   The same can be said for example of Abraham, Moses and Paul and everyone who has been mightily used of God.  They were in such a relationship with God that they heard God’s voice and obeyed.  One example is:

 

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.

 

Genesis chapter 12 verse 1

 

There was no questioning from Abraham.  He simply obeyed.    It was because of this obedience that God was able to make His covenant with Abraham for all the nations to be blessed through Abraham. 

 

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

 

Genesis chapter 22 verse 18

 

In this verse the emphasis is again on obedience.  This is what God looks for but does he always find for had He done so there would be in the Church today a separation from all that is unclean.

 

Coming back to Samuel it is recorded that he had made his sons judges over Israel.  However, these sons were not separated from all that is unclean.

 

And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgement.

 

1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 3

 

It  is sad that Samuel’s sons had not followed the godly ways of their father but this had also been the case with Eli’s sons when Samuel had been much younger.  How these examples make clear that our relationship with God is an individual walk.  What heartache there has been and still is for godly parents to see their children not walking in the ways of the Lord.

 

The elders of Israel were concerned that as Samuel was growing old and his sons were not following the ways of the Lord there was no one who could take the place of Samuel.  Although these were the elders of Israel they did not have a spiritual concept.  Their thinking was along natural lines.  They did not bring God into their thinking but looked at the nations around them and wanted to follow the ways of these other nations and have a king to rule over them.  This request displeased Samuel so being the godly man who he was, totally reliant upon the Lord, he brought the matter to God in prayer.  Should this not be the way of the Christian at all times and not just at moments of crisis? 

 

What an answer Samuel received.  God told Samuel to do that which they had requested.  The elders in their request had not rejected Samuel but God states that it was He who they had rejected.  The people had continually turned away from God since God had delivered them from Egypt and gone after other gods.  They had been a disobedient people and this was their ultimate rejection of God.  Although Saul who became their king disobeyed God and had to be replaced by David it is seen in the scriptures that God still worked out His own purposes as it was to be from the line of David that Jesus Christ was born.  O what a God we have in that He is sovereign and will work out all things according to His purposes even when there is an unwillingness to obey.

 

Today there is still that spirit of disobedience even amongst those who call themselves Christian.  How true are the following words which Jesus used in a parable but can be seen to apply to Himself:

 

We will not have this man to reign over us.

 

St Luke chapter 19 verse 14

 

Have you let the Lord Jesus Christ rule over every part of your life so that you are separate from all that is unclean?  This is the only way by which we can walk in the heavenly places.  To get to that place whereby we can dwell with the Father, the Saviour and the Holy Ghost dwell costs all.  Self cannot go there. 

 

It is a continual dying to all that is natural and being crucified with Christ by taking up our cross daily.  Only those who are cleansed vessels in whom the Holy Ghost lives His own life as God and manifests Christ through us can reach these heights.  Once in the heavenly places, though, there is nothing on earth which can compare.  This is the place where the Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father having all power in heaven and on earth. 

 

It is the only place by which we can receive the power so lacking in ministry today.  Would you like to get to this place.  If so it will cost you everything.

2) BRIAN MASON MESSAGE - 08 03 13

 

And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.

 

1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 5

Samuel’s life was wholly dedicated to God. Even before his birth his mother Hannah had promised to give him to God if God would answer her prayer and give her a son. Hannah had not been able to have children and was at the end of herself not able to understand why she was not able to have children. It is when we come to the end of ourselves and humanly speaking whatever we are seeking is humanly impossible that God intervenes. Hannah’s motives were pure in that there was to be no selfish gain from being able to have the son she asked from God.

 

And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.

 

1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 11

How rightly it has been said that the end of self is the beginning of God. O that God would bring Christians today to a realisation that their own efforts and human thinking are at the root of why Christianity is at best a pale shadow of the dynamism of the early Church.

God heard Hannah’s prayer because it was a prayer which had been placed on Hannah’s heart. Hannah had been brought to the place where God wanted her to be. It is only when each one of us is brought to the place where God wants us to be that God is able to do what He wants to do. 

Hannah kept her promise as when Samuel was old enough she took him to the house of God in Shiloh. Whilst there Hannah told Eli the priest that she had prayed for a child whilst on her last visit and she had now brought the child to be dedicated to God. Samuel was dedicated to God as evidenced by the following words.

And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest.

 

1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 11

In contrast the sons of Eli were called sons of Belial. Although they were priests their lives were corrupt to the core. They were out for self gain rather than serving God with pure hearts. God knew all about the sons of Eli and as they were not right with God they could not be allowed to carry on the work of God when their father died. Samuel instead was to be trained to carry on the work of God for it was in Samuel that God had found someone who gave his whole life to God without a thought of self gain.

Even whilst still a child God made Himself known to Samuel when He spoke to Samuel three times in the temple when the lamp of God had gone out. When Samuel heard a voice he went to Eli who said he had not called him. This happened a second and then a third time. After the third time Eli told Samuel to go back and say:

Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.

 

1 Samuel chapter 3 verse 9

There had been no open vision, that is, contact from God to His people for many years. God had been waiting until He could find someone He could trust. Samuel was told what God would do in relation to Eli and his sons. There was to be judgement on the sin of the sons who had corrupted the office of the priest instead of being men set apart in holiness to serve a holy God. The old order through the line of Eli was to cease. Instead God had in Samuel someone after His own heart and someone He could trust. When the judgement came it was total. There was first four thousand men killed in battle with the Philistines. The elders of Israel called for the ark of the covenant to be taken to the place of a further battle as they believed that this would save them out of the hand of their enemies. This could not happen as God had deserted his people because of sin. The sons of Eli were killed along with thirty thousand footmen but more significantly the ark of the covenant was captured by the Philistines. 

It was for a period of twenty years that the people of Israel lamented after the Lord. The ark of the covenant had eventually been returned by the Philistines for it had proved to be a curse to them whilst it was in their hands.It was after this time of lamentation that Samuel can be seen as taking on his life’s ministry. He had been fully prepared by God and was now a man of authority. He had that which is so lacking in ministry today. He had power. It was through humility that he received this power. It was not self sufficiency but every part of his life was given over to God. Samuel called the people back to God as they had to put away all other gods and serve God alone. It was when they did this that God would deliver them out of the hand of their enemy the Philistines. The people were willing to obey as they fasted and acknowledged that they had sinned against God. It was only when the people were willing to turn away from their wicked ways by casting aside other gods and serving their own God alone that Samuel was able to pray for them unto the Lord.

How similar this is to present day Britain. The people have for years gone after other gods. Instead of keeping to their God given constitution and honouring the oath sworn by the Queen at her coronation Britain has become apostate. It is the Protestant Reformed Religion which has to kept. Anything outside of this is acting as corruptly as the sons of Eli did in not giving God His rightful place. Great Britain take note as you are no longer great. The glory has departed. Will you continue to act in defiance like the sons of Eli did. If you do then God’s judgement which is already upon you will not just remain but the judgement will become more severe. There will be no improvement through human thinking for only God Himself can bring prosperity. People of Great Britain learn from the judgement of the people of God in the time of Samuel. Your only hope is to turn away from following other gods and do that which is contained in the Queen’s oath. The European Union will continue to destroy you as much as the Philistines destroyed the people of Israel. People of Great Britain your only hope is for there to be a day of fasting and repentance called by the Queen and for a turning to God through His own provided means as contained in the Bible where Jesus Christ said:

I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

St John chapter 14 verse 6

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