Simon Says
Pastor Carolyn J. Blue
1 Samuel 3: 1-10 KJV
1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
4 That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
6 And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
11 And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.
16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.
17 And he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.
18 And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.
19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.
21 And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
NLT
2 One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed.
4 Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?”
5 He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.
6 Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.”
7 8 So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” 10
11 “I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel.
19 As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable.
20 the last time we spoke And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.
21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the Tabernacle.
Simon Says is a children’s game for three or more players. One player takes the role of “Simon” and issues instructions (usually physical actions such as “jump in the air” or “stick out your tongue”) to the other players, which should be followed only when succeeding the phrase “Simon says”.
Players are eliminated from the game by either following instructions that are not immediately preceded by the phrase, or by failing to follow an instruction which does include the phrase “Simon says”. It is the ability to distinguish between genuine and fake commands, rather than physical ability, that usually matters in the game; in most cases, the action just needs to be attempted.
The object for the player acting as Simon is to get all the other players out as quickly as possible; the winner of the game is usually the last player who has successfully followed all of the given commands.
Occasionally, however, two or more of the last players may all be eliminated at the same time, thus resulting in Simon winning the game. But keep playing until there is one remaining listener left. The remaining listener is the winner for the round and can become the new Simon.
Bonus Tip: is that you can create a theme around Simon – depending on the time of year, Simon can change their name from Simon. For example, if you’re playing at a birthday party, Simon can become “Birthday Girl says”. Simon can be “QB1 says” during football season. “Santa says” can lead the game around the holidays.
This is a season of prayer therefore for all purposes and intentions we will say the Lord says!
And just like we are expected to follow Simon’s commands, we are expected to hear and follow the commands of God. So tonight we are learning how to hear the voice of God. What does it mean to hear the voice of God?
My daddy taught us years ago that to hear means to do, therefore, if we hear what the Lord says, then we will do what he says to do!
There are some of you here tonight who are experienced in hearing the voice of God and that’s a beautiful thing! There are some of you here tonight who have heard his voice once or twice in your lifetime. That’s a beautiful thing as well!
But there’s some of us here tonight who’s not sure if you’ve ever heard the voice of God, but would like to hear the voice of God and recognize his voice and be able to act on that which you hear him say!
There are 8 steps that we would like to focus on in order to help each of you learn to clearly hear the voice of God over and over and over again!
- Choose to serve God
The Bible says in verse one that Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Samuel was given back to God at an early age to serve God in the temple by his mother Hannah. He chose to serve God. The scripture says that in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. The messages may have been few and far in between during that time, but He was yet speaking. His messages are still rare and quite rare and uncommon to some Christian’s today, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You too can hear what the Lord says!
- Position yourself close to God
Samuel set his bed up in the temple, “where the ark of God was” (v.3 ESV). Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle[a] near the Ark of God.
Samuel had never heard God speak before, he did not know what to expect, but what he did know was that if he hung around the temple, God would eventually show up. Through personal devotions, prayer, and regular church attendance, are you putting yourself in a place where God is? The Bible says that the word either drive you or draw you? What is happening in and to and through you?
- Find a place of regular service to God
In v.1 it says, “Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli” (ESV). If you want to hear the voice of God, you have to be doing the things of God. If you’re not serving, don’t wonder why you’re not hearing the voice of God.
- Listen for God’s voice
Eli was “lying down in his usual place” (v.2 NIV), too preoccupied with his own interests to hear God. When God began speaking, he was not listening. He had a lot going on! Many times to hear what God is saying we have to slow down and take time to get close to God. We have to put aside our interests and lean in to hear what God is saying. The scripture says that Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. But that didn’t stop him.
- When God calls, respond eagerly
When Samuel heard the voice of the Lord he was immediately up and moving (v.4). If you want to hear the voice of God, you need to be ready to put into action what He tells you! Although he didn’t know God’s voice he heard a voice and he responded. Notice the voice he heard must have sounded like Eli’s voice because he went to him thinking it was him. Not once but three times he thought he heard Eli. Watch this, the Bible says he was serving with Eli, which means he heard his voice a lot and knew what his voice sounded like. So don’t get caught up on how God’s voice sounds, but the fact The Lord is speaking!
- Trust the counsel of your Leader
Although Eli was dealing with his own issues, he eventually realized what was going on. The Bible says, Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’”
Samuel didn’t question his leader or tell his leader that he needed to pray about what he was saying. The Bible says, So Samuel went back to bed. He kept his position and trusted what Eli said.
When Samuel did what Eli told him to do, we see in the scripture that the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”
Once Samuel answered the Lord, something awesome happened! The Bible says that the Then the Lord says…. When we answer the Lord says!
Notice the Lord called 4 times before Samuel answered! And He didn’t give up on him. The Lord spoke, He waited, and when Samuel accepted His call, heard His voice, and acknowledged that he knew that it was God, things shifted!
He heard!
- When God speaks, obey Him
Starting in this passage and throughout the rest of his life, Samuel consistently obeyed the Lord. No matter what God told him, Samuel did it. From that point on, “the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19 ESV). For us, the quickest way to turn off God’s voice is to disobey him.
- Read and study the Word of God
After God spoke to him in this passage, the Bible tells us, “The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word” (1 Samuel 3:21 NIV). If you want to hear from God, you have to know what the Bible says.
God is speaking. He wants to give you wisdom to lead your family, at your job, in your church, and in every area of life. The question we have to ask ourselves is not is God speaking, but are we listening?
When The Lord says [anything], we should do [that very thing]! The Lord says to be still and know that He is God!
The Lord says to study to show yourself approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. Which brings us to our last step in learning to hear the Lord’s voice.
The Lord says that we are His sheep and His sheep know His voice.
The Lord says I am the way, the truth and the life.
The Lord says I am the Lord the heals thee.
The Lord says I am your bridge over troubled waters.
The Lord says I am your way maker and miracle worker.
The Lord says I am your peace in the time of trouble.
THE LORD SAYS!