Hear and Obey God's Call

God calls each one of you. He asks you to give your life to him. He has a special work for you to do. You have heard of Wendell Phillips who did so much to make slavery unlawful in America! When He was still a 14-year old boy, he heard Lyman Beecher preach. In one of his sermons, the preacher said, "You belong to God." The boy Wendell thought that the preacher looked straight at him when he said that. He went to his home at the close of the service, climbed the stairs to his room, shut the door, and knelt in prayer, saying, "O God, I belong to You, take what is Your own." He heard and answered God's call.

Many, many years before Wendell Phillips lived, there was another boy. His name was Samuel.  He worked in the temple. He was a young assistant to the High Priest Eli. I suppose he ran errands for him, and performed any and every service about the temple that Eli desired.

One night, as usual, the boy went to bed and fell asleep. As he slept, he heard a voice calling him. Now he was an obedient boy, and though it was hard for him to get himself up from a sound sleep and leave his comfortable bed, he did so.

He ran to Eli saying, "Here I am, you called me, what do you want?" Eli said, "No, my boy, I did not call you, go back to bed." The boy returned to his bed and again went to sleep. A second time, and even a third time he was called. Each time the faithful, obedient Samuel leaped from his bed and ran to the minister.

On the third time, Eli realized that the voice the lad heard was the voice of God, calling him to himself and to his special service. Being a wise and loving man he said to the boy, "Return to your bed, and if you hear the call again, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening'" The boy did as instructed and that night was forever memorable in his life, for that was the night God called Samuel and Samuel answered.


MEMORY VERSE: 1 Samuel 3: 10
The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"  Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

KIDS ACTIVITY:  

• Play the telephone game. Form 2 groups with about 4-5 kids each.  Whisper the verse or a sentence like "I will listen to my parents and obey" to the first person and they must whisper it to the next person. Then, that person whisper it to the next person etc. until it gets to the last person who must share out loud what the verse or sentence is. Hopefully, it will be correct.
• Play Jesus says.  You will give instructions to the kids starting with the phrase "Jesus says" like Jesus says clap your hands or jump 3 times and the kids should do it.  If you say an instruction without "Jesus says", they should not do it.  If they do it, they will be disqualified.  See how attentive the kids are and obedient to what you are saying.  Then talk about how we should listen to God and obey Him.
• Coloring Page of Samuel listening to God.
• Take home Activity - Samuel Listens to God