Hope For The Nations, Lesson 2, Fall 2006

“Go forth, O daughters of Zion,/ And see King Solomon with the crown/ With which his mother crowned him/ On the day of his wedding,/ The day of the gladness of his heart.”  (Song of Songs 3:11)

Matt. 2:11; Acts 14:8-15; 20:25-26; Rev. 19:10; Rev. 22:8 – only bow at Jesus’ feet

  • 1 Cor. 12:3 – exalting Jesus as Lord is evidence of Holy Spirit

How do we treat Jesus as Lord?

  • Luke 4:46-49
  1. HEAR  (Jesus’ words)
  2. DO  (what He says)
  • Luke 17:7-10
    • We must minister to God above ourselves and others (see Matt. 22:37-40)

1 SAMUEL 3

V. 1:  Ministering to the LORD and not man.

V. 2:  Eli had chosen the desire of his children over serving the LORD (see Sam. 2:29)

V. 3:  God looks for anyone to carry His light, lest it goes out (see Ex. 27:20-21)

Vv. 4-5:  God spoke to Samuel, but Samuel went to Eli to hear Eli’s voice

V. 6:  “the LORD called yet again” – God is ever willing to speak to us, but Samuel went to hear the religious leader’s voice, and did not hear God’s voice 

V. 7:  Samuel didn’t know God in a personal way, so he confused Eli’s voice with God’s voice.  Later, the people of Israel would also confuse God’s leadership with people’s leadership because they did not know God (1 Sam. 8).

V. 8:  God is always willing to speak (see Isaiah 65:1-2)

V. 9:  Eli is able to lead him to hear God’s voice (cf. Song of Songs 3:3-4; Heb. 13:7,17)

V. 10:  God spoke to Samuel directly (John 10:2-5; 15:15).  

V. 11:  God spoke to him when he was willing to hear and do what was spoken (see also Matt. 6:22-24; John 7:17).

Vv. 11-14:  The first thing God spoke to Samuel concerned the seriousness of sin (see John 16:8).

V. 15:  Samuel was an earthen vessel holding the treasure of God’s Word (2 Cor. 4:7)

V. 19:  Because Samuel did not let God’s words fall to the ground, Samuel’s own words had a new power. (compare Prov. 5:15-18)

Acts 2:36 – First preaching about Christ focused on his Lordship

Acts 9:1-6 – Paul had to know Jesus as Lord before anything else.

”I have learned that when the Lord tells us to do something there is no time for discussion or rationale, regardless of the situation we face.  When we are sure God has told us to act…blind obedience is called for.  Not to obey God implies that we are wiser than him, and that we know better how to run our lives than he does.” – Brother Yun, The Heavenly Man