"Have You Heard The Call"

Have any of you ever experienced an urge or a feeling that you needed to do something or that you needed go to someplace, or just the opposite you had a nudge or feeling that you shouldn’t?  Has that ever happened to you?    Some would call that listening to “The Still Small Voice” from within!!

Sunday Jan 14 2018 

Readings:   1 Samuel 3: 1-20 Psalm 139 John 1: 43-51

A man distraught by all the pain and suffering going on all around him broke down banging his fists into the dirt.   His head turns upward as he yells at his God. "Look at this mess God.  Look at all the pain and suffering around us.  WHY DON'T YOU DO SOMETHING!!  "Suddenly the havens opened, a light shown down illuminating the man and voice from the heavens spoke.   "I did do something. I sent you."    Did you hear that, God has sent YOU!   It’s that simple but often not heard, felt or payed attention to.  It’s not about somebody else, it is about you, Gods is calling upon you, and it’s you who must step forth and answer your calling: “It is I Lord, send me” do you know the lyrics for “I The Lord Of Sea and Sky” ----- listen to the song at the end of the blog today. 

Did any you hear that still small voice from within this week; directing you to a particular book, nudging you to look up a scripture or maybe offered yourself to be a volunteer somewhere?  Maybe you were prompted to make a visit to the hospital, make a phone call, or send an email to someone whose name was placed upon your heart.  How many of us here today have felt the nudge or heard that still small voice and responded in some way? 

Have you ever pondered this question for yourself!  Why do I exist, why was I sent here?  What’s my purpose?    Are you aware that in order for you to be here, in order for your conception to have taken place, everything had to be just the way God intended it to be?  You might even say it required a moment of perfection otherwise you really would be here.  We might not see ourselves as being perfect, but in the eyes of God, we are all unique, perfectly created and have been blessed with the God given gift of great potential.   Did you hear that, we are all unique, born with great potential!  Now I will admit that we had no control over where we were born or who our parents were going to be; nor did we have any control over our conception, or how it happened, and for some of us, that might not have been under the best of circumstances; but, we are all born full of potential, and our potential is the essence of life itself.  Essence meaning our intrinsic {inborn} human  nature, that indispensable quality that determines our character.   We can choose to grow it or allow it go stagnant.  Now think about that for moment folks because without life there is no potential, nothing can happen.    We can see this as a common thread among all the biblical characters both in the Old and New Testaments.  Let us look at the man named Noah.  Noah was a common man, a boat builder who loved God, but he also liked his liquor, Oh Yes. Scripture tells us that Noah had a bit of a drinking problem and that often embarrassed his family, yet this didn’t stop him from hearing God’s call nor did it stop him from fulfilling his God given potential.  You see God is not distracted by our frailties of our weakness.  In fact this is where God really shines in our world.   What does Paul have to say about our weakness: 2 Corinthians 12:9  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 

 In fact Noah is one of the most important figures found in the bible stories.   God doesn’t reject us because of our human struggle, if that were so I personally would not be standing here in the pulpit speaking to you today,  God uses us for good in all situations and under all kinds of  circumstances.  Nothing is lost everybody and everything was meant for good.  Genesis 1:  Are you listening, for God is speaking to you!   Are you willing to fulfill your God given potential? 

God Loves and calls children, adults, seniors and He gives us great examples of His love for us throughout the bible.  God calls to a stuttering murderous Moses, to Abraham, Sara and Elizabeth in their so called over the hill golden years.  He calls to John the Baptizer, Ruth, and Naomi Martha, Mary, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the notorious Apostle Paul. He called the child Samuel in the first reading today.  Samuel the boy would become one of Israel’s greatest prophets.  He was a man of prayer, he began the school of the prophets in Israel, and anointed many of Israel’s first kings.   And what about Moses?   He was abandoned by his natural mother.  She placed in basket and set a float in the Nile River.  He should have ended up as a street kid.  With great reluctance Moses finally listens to God’s call and would become the great and most recognized Prophet within the Jewish Religion.    

Throughout the bible we are given examples covering every situation and every set of circumstances imaginable.  Women, men and children of every race, both religious and non-religion, have been able to transcend family circumstances, bad teachings, illness, disabilities, poverty, sinfulness even wealth by listening and responding to their call.      None of us can fulfill our God given potential without realizing our need for God in our lives.  Jesus makes it clear, that if we are left to our own, as we see in the biblical stories, we are doomed.   By being obedient to the Gods nudging, and listing to that still small voice within, you will discover your full potential.  In all the biblical examples, they were able to move out beyond themselves and their circumstances by trusting in God which is to be found in Christ.   God loves you right where you are, but, He doesn't want to leave you there.   Wherever you are is and always will be, just a beginning point.   Like the biblical characters, you too must be able to reach beyond your circumstances.  Think about it folks, it was a young pregnant unwed girl who birth our Lord Jesus.   It was a prostitute who proclaimed him Messiah.  The blind followed him, the poor loved him, the common man turn to him, the tax collectors, beggars, fisherman, and even some notorious killers.  Ironic as it may sound, these were the people who forged the faith we follow today.  A key note here is that each and every one heard that still small voice that began a new chapter in their lives as they began to forge their potential, each unique in their own way.  I am assured that God is speaking to someone listening here today. 

Every human being on this planet is unique and special and there is only 

one of you.   You were created by God to love one another and to grow

the potential that God placed in you on the day of your conception.  God

is calling, are you listening.