The Sacred Power of a Heart

Now we are going to talk about the sacred, about a heart willing to listen to God. And the passage is in First Samuel chapter 3, a famous Sunday school story. Every child who has spent a few years in Bible school knows this passage. And one of the things that strikes me in this passage is that the social situation in which the people of Israel were then is very similar to today.

God had called Eli as high priest and under his ministry he had the responsibility of educating, preparing, and training that legacy of priests who would be working with the people every day. That was his responsibility. But one of the problems that we have always had as human beings is that we don't know how to listen. We hear, but we do not listen.

Chuck Swindoll, a famous preacher and book writer tells, his life got so, so busy, his schedule at work, which is his ministry, writing books, answering calls, going to conferences, he was at home one night with his family eating and he is eating like Christ is coming in an hour. His daughter says, "Daddy, daddy, daddy, I want to talk to you and I'm going to talk to you real quick." He understood, "No, girl, no daughter, no, talk to me calmly, you don't have to go fast." And the girl said to him, "Daddy, if you want me to talk fast listen to me, not fast, slow so I can talk slow."

We have been programmed that everything has to be fast. That is our programming. If you are playing baseball they tell you, you have to score first so that the pitcher gets nervous. They make statistics who scores a goal first has a chance to win a game.

Samuel, as the passage says, ministered to Jehovah in the presence of Eli and the word of Jehovah was scarce in those days, there was no vision frequently. So Samuel is being instructed on how to work as a priest, how to lead a ceremony, where and when to light the candlesticks, how much oil to put in the lamp, he hopes that at some point it will be his turn to be the priest. And the passage says later that he was sleeping near the ark of the covenant and the lamp that was still burning, and Eli was sleeping in his usual place.

Samuel hears his name and runs to Eli. Eli is sleeping. Hasn't that happened to you, that you're sleeping and a boy wakes you up and you don't know what they're talking about? Or as has sometimes happened to me. I get up at 1:30 in the morning every day to go to work, if I have left my key in the car, in the wrong place, and Vivian has picked it up and put it in another place, at 2 in the morning I can't get my key, so what do I have to do? Vivian, where is my car key? She between one closed eye and one open, “oh, I put it…” I have to [inaudible] for me to reveal to her where that key is.

So, Eli, who is the high priest, is the man who is in charge of all the spirituality of Israel, is the expert that everyone looks at as the religious leader of that moment, is a judge. He did not understand either why for Eli it had been so long since God had communicated that he could not think that this was God. and he is the ultimate leader, teaching Samuel everything practical but not intimacy because he didn't have it.

Samuel returns to his room. Samuel, the call arises again, and he runs to Eli. And Eli tells him, "I have not called you, go back to your room and rest." It comes up a third time and there Samuel understands when Eli explains that the one who is calling is Jehovah. And the writer makes a clarification and we are going to stop there for a while.

Samuel did not know the voice of God. Church or León de Judá congregation, tomorrow we begin a week of prayer and fasting. The idea is not that you add to your agenda what is going to happen this week, it is that this week is your agenda so that you can meet the voice of God.

How many of us like Samuel have been introduced to the Lord or dedicated as children? How many of us have asked the Lord when we were already in the age of youth or in our mature age? And we spend time in church, we come on Sunday, we come on Wednesday, we come on Monday, we come on Tuesday, we come on Saturday, we dedicate our time completely to church but we have never heard the voice of God speak to us.

To hear the voice of God, the first thing to do is to do what Samuel did. When Samuel answered he returned to his room. It says in English, I lay down. He went to bed Which implies you have to stop running. We have to stop but in this stop it is to wait for what God has for your life. So that I can stop myself, if you are a leader in the women's ministry, take off your leadership jacket and go to your room.

If you are a leader in men's ministries, take off those leader clothes and walk to rest in the room that God has. If you are a pastor, take off that pastor role and go back to bed to rest and wait for God to call you by name. If you are an usher leader, a worship leader, a musician or a leader, it is a time to stop, get out of what I am doing during the day, that [inaudible] that consumes my mind, consumes my heart, stop. You have to be silent, you have to be patient, because God has risen from his throne to call you by name.

We are not programmed to wait. That's not in our DNA but God wants you to stand up. In the morning I told you to put a zipper in your mouth, how difficult is that. Stop. You know that when you get rid of all those roles then you will assume the role of servant, so that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords speak to his servant or his servant. We have to break with this diabolical generational tradition that pride does not allow us to let go of what we are. We are nothing. We are only servants of the Most High God.

Hallelujah! I challenge you this afternoon as I challenged you in the morning, church, church, we must break with the old molds of pride. We must break with the old molds of arrogance, we must understand that we are servants, that Jesus died for the servants, for the servants, and being nothing we have access to the throne of grace.

When I am a servant, in the morning I had to explain that I get off the altar so they don't get confused. When I am a servant, my brother or my sister, I see him as my brother or my sister, there are no ranks, there are no distinctions, there is no VIP treatment, we are all servants. Jesus needs you.

This week may be a turning point in our church. And the pastorate together with the deacons are challenging you. This is the week to make the changes. This is the week for when I'm lying down and I'm quiet and silent, I can listen to what God has for my life. Not getting to that place resting with my own agenda and adding what I think he wants for my life, or what I want for my life, or what I have been told that he has for my life.

I no longer want to hear what people say that I can do. What does he have for my life? Because like Samuel at the end of time, Samuel anointed Saul, the first king of Israel, Samuel anointed David, the second king of Israel, but nothing started when he went to anoint, it started when he lay down and rested. And when you go to bed you are giving everything, a total commitment.

If you at home with your family process this afternoon what I can do differently as a family this week, it is that as a family we are going to stop talking to start praying and resting. Let's see what God has for my life?

In the class for couples there is a class that teaches the brothers, the use of a napkin or a handkerchief. And the idea is that whoever of the couple has the napkin or handkerchief is going to speak and as long as the person does not let go of the napkin or handkerchief, the other party cannot speak. So, this week God has the napkin.

Some may say, well, do you have to be in the holy place next to the ark of the covenant for God to hear me? No. Pedro was in prison, chained and with a rotation of 4 soldiers but his militia companions were praying and when Pedro was released, he returned to that home that knocked on the door, there is a girl who recognized Pedro by his voice, when she He goes back and says, look, Pedro is outside. You are crazy, Pedro is in prison.

When the church lies down to wait for God to speak, God has only one message. He doesn't have 20 different messages. I told in the morning that when my son came out of the coma induced in the accident, Vivian and I were in bed and when he woke up because of our physical appearance he didn't know us. When we spoke he recognized our voice and said, "Daddy and Mommy." The accident did not erase what he knew.

The accidents of life in the Gospel cannot erase what you know. The voice of God is indisputable, different and unique in the midst of other voices. It's that we have to learn to start turning off everything around us, start turning it off in the name of Jesus, start turning it off in the name of Jesus. Turn off everyone who is talking about what they don't have to talk about. Let's start there. We are going to talk about constructive things, positive things, we are going to build the kingdom. We are not going to destroy it with our way of expressing ourselves. Turn off, disconnect so that then Jesus can hear you, you can hear his call, because Jesus has been calling you but you do not know that he is calling you because you do not know his voice.

Second point, all of us who are in leadership in this church, God has given you a team to prepare, to train, so that the team that is under you, when the voice of God comes, can recognize the Voice of God. We cannot work like Eli, we have to work like Samuel.

You cannot work for tradition or for what I know, nor for what I have obtained. You have to work how the voice of God wants you to work, what is God's plan that comes from heaven, not mine. How many times do we go to a meeting with an agenda and that is my agenda, that is what is going to be discussed, that is what we are going to do. My question is, what space have you as a leader left on the agenda for what God has to do within your ministry? We must return to that old path in which God speaks but it is God who speaks with a specific plan.

And when God gives you the plan, by the way, think for a second that we are in the room with Samuel, let's think that we are Samuel for a second. And we have worked and learned many things about the Jewish religion and after Eli tells us, when he calls you again, answer him, 'here I am, your servant listens and speaks' we are waiting for him to tell us, 'boy, good job. Forward. Keep doing it. We are going to give you more work.’

No, what God says to Samuel according to the passage is a strong message, it is a message of punishment. And he is talking to Samuel about his boss Eli, who is going to destroy the whole house. And keep in mind that Samuel was about 12 years old, scholars say, a boy. Imagine the emotional psychological pressure of that child to receive... for the first time, he hears the voice of God and it is a voice that has a message to punish. How is a child going to process that?

And then the next day, Eli asks him, 'What was it that the Lord spoke to you?' And you know that children do not lie or some. Those of us who are parents know that. Sisters, brothers, this afternoon, on this day, God offers you an opportunity, a week to put everything that is mine on hold.

How much would you give if you knew you were going to hear the voice of God? God is not going to speak through a prophet. God wants to talk to you. And when God wants to talk to you it is because there is a specific ministry, something bigger, God thinks that you are important. God believes that you are important. How much does a week cost when I stop everything I do to be able to listen to what God has for my life? How much does that cost?

A message, church, that will change the paradigm of this city, a message that will be the turning point in your life. You have plans, as we have many and it is good to have a plan, but it is good to know if that plan fits into the perfect plan that God has for your life. In English they would say, don't serve for less. Why give in to the easiest if God wants you to anoint kings?

If God wants you as a church to start telling others, I don't know about you, but God is speaking to our church at this moment, at this time, a crucial moment. History has to change because God is still God and he is still talking to his people. The orders are already ready to go. You have to be willing to listen. So, don't complain, don't complain, don't complain, you have to go to the resting place, you have to rest, you have to lower your guard, you have to believe God.

And you know what? We must follow our leaders. We must follow our leaders. Samuel followed Eli. Everything Samuel did, Eli taught him. Many want to receive the call to be Eli, without going to bed. Many want to be Samuel without going to bed. Many want to anoint kings without paying the price of submitting, compromising, or until death or until the Lord comes. This is not part time or temporary, the idea is that wherever you are, enter that holy place, lie down, rest and think that at God's time he will speak with a message for your life, a message to change, a message so that you know, 'I am in charge of what God has given me. And if what God has given me is discipleship, I work with discipleship because God gave it to me.’

And if God has given you to be a church usher, do it with pride because God has given you a job within the kingdom. Hallelujah! In every corner if we think this way, as a church, as God's people, wherever we are, what God gives us is better than what we can achieve because what God gives us is permanent, it is eternal, it is not revocable, it is not they can take it away from us.

Be careful, they don't put me in anything, he said [inaudible] that he was in New York. Did you know? Where you are in your work, you are called. You can change your work environment because your orders do not come from Human Resources, your orders come from a Christ who was nailed to the cross but rose on the third day with authority and he has already defeated the world.

Church, go back to the room and rest and let God be God. You do your job but let God be God. It will never let you down.

In verse 19, with this I am going to finish, from that chapter the writer tells us, "And Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground."

When we listen to the voice of God and act on that commandment of God, what we say will not fall to the ground. What we have preached is not going to fall to the ground. What we have believed for years is not going to fall to the ground. God has a time. God has a moment but God also has his word. And his word will not return void.

I have seen it in my life. When I don't listen to his voice I get into trouble, when I listen to his voice I don't have problems. What better than listening to the voice. So, from now on put a zipper on your mouth and start listening, not hearing, start listening that God is calling you.

Sometimes we say, well, why does God want me on this earth? A zipper in the mouth and start listening. Let him talk to you. He will direct you. The best of all is when I am as a servant, when I am as a servant in that quiet place, I do not have to be a leader because the King of Kings is with me in that place, I am his servant and I serve him and adore him. I don't have to be a leader, I can rest in the hands of the throne of the mighty God.

How many would like to live like that? Resting. No matter what happens outside, I am resting because my God is in charge of the matter. I only work on site. He, who died for me, is the owner of the work. And he will not let us fall to shame. So, leaders, pastors, rejoice this afternoon, rejoice in the rest and wait for God to speak to you. God is going to speak, God is going to speak and he is going to give you new orders.

How many will praise his name? How many want God to speak to them? How many are waiting for the order from heaven? How many of us are waiting for the order from heaven to march, to conquer, to win, to break generational chains, to defeat the enemy, to tell this people, is there hope? Because we don't have to fight, we have to rest and he fights for us. He is in control.

Hallelujah! May our hearts unite and be able to hear the voice of God. May our hearts really open up and say, Lord, behold your servant. I am going to rest so that you are God. I want you to talk to me because I want my new orders. Orders that are huge, it's like a big boom, something is coming. Something is coming for this church, not in the future, soon, but we have to rest so that God is God. God bless you.