Hannah prayed to God for a son. She could not have kids, but she believed if nswered. She promised to dedicate her son to God if He would answer her prayer. Samuel was born.
It is good to be here at New Hope UMC.
How many times have we heard God calling us and not notice? Do we recognize his voice? Do we recognize the many ways in which God talks to us? God talks to us directly, through scripture, through praise songs and music, through nature, through friends and family, through our church, and through the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
The Bible gives us a story about a young man named Samuel who did not realize that God was calling him until he was told that if God calls you to say “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” It was easier for Samuel to believe that someone he knew was calling him instead of God. 1 Samuel 3:19 said “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and Samuel let none of God’s words fall to the ground.”
We all grow in our faith at a different pace. Samuel learned to listen and to answer God.
In 1999, I read the scripture from Luke 12:48b which said “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” I thanked God for my wife, Susan, and our four kids. I asked God what he expected in return, but God took four years to answer my question.
I noticed that Mom’s brother, Uncle B ill Barker, had become a much stronger pastor after he had gone to West Africa on a mission trip. I asked him if I could go. He asked me if I was serious and I said yes. Uncle Bill took me on my first mission trip to Africa in 2003. It was on that first trip that I learned that if I prayed the way Hannah prayed that God would answer my prayers. It was the children who taught me how to pray because they kept coming back for prayers. The kids kept coming back to be blessed. It was during that first trip that we baptized eighty-one at the riverside from two villages. It was during that first trip that I prayed and felt God’s presence.
We preached in a village where they had never heard about God. Imagine giving out Bibles that had just been translated into the local Mampruli language for the first time. We gave to the chief, elders, and the parents. The first thing they did was to give the Bibles to the children. I asked them why. They said the greatest gift that you could ever give your child was a Bible. Wow!
I went to Africa to tell people there about God. Instead, they taught me about walking in faith. We grew an elementary school, middle, and high school from 200 to 700 children. I fell in love with the children of the school. I really respected the school cook who cooked food for all of those children. She is called Sister Dora. We worked with an independent church in the slums of Kumasi called Come Preach Christ Church.
Imagine being able to teach about God’s love, faith, peace, salvation, and power of prayer around the world. Imagine seeing God’s love. Imagine praying for a mother and grandmother. Man sees the Love of Jesus Christ. Imagine taking food to 35 villages last year. Imagine seeing the village of Nabari celebrate three new wells on Thursday and a new church on Saturday. I feel God’s call to serve the least and the lost around the world. I also feel God’s call to preach God’s word here at home.
What can you imagine?
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