Will you please turn to 1 Samuel 3?
We start with verse 1:
And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli.
And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision.
And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place—now his eyes had begun to wax dim, that he could not see—
And the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was;
That the Lord called Samuel: and he said, Here am I.
And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if He call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak; for Thy servant heareth.
And then verse 19:
And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.
And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh; for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we do expect Thee to speak to us. Speak, Lord; Thy servants hear.
We commit this time into Thy hand. Trust that Thou wilt speak to our hearts, reveal Thy mind to us, and bring us to where Thou wouldst have us to be. To Thee be the glory. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Last Lord’s Day, we spoke of Hannah. It is because whenever God is going to make a move, to make a change, He always gives some who are close to Him His burden.
He will burden them with prayer, and they will respond in prevailing prayer. They travail in prayer, and out of that prevailing prayer God will raise up His vessel—His vessel to change the time.
So, brothers and sisters, even though we do know that it is God who does the work—man cannot do it; only God can do His work—even so, God is so gracious to man that He wants man to join with Him in His burden.
So it is of tremendous importance, brothers and sisters. We cannot expect God to act alone, because it is His will that we will act with Him. This is mercy. This is grace.
So first of all, we need to remember: prevailing prayer is the beginning of God’s working.
Now this morning, we would like to continue on with Samuel, the epoch-making vessel.
After Samuel was weaned, he was brought to Eli, because his mother had promised God, “If God should give me a son, I will lend him to God. Throughout his life, he will be a Nazarite unto God.”
So Samuel was brought as a boy to Eli, to minister unto the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, we often think, “What can a young boy do?” But here you find a boy. Young as he was, he ministered in the temple before God.
Now, as a boy, of course he could not do great works, many works. So he was in charge of opening the doors and closing the doors of the temple.
Now, outwardly it may seem to be a very small work, but actually it is a very important work. Because if the boy did not open the door, then people could not come in and worship.
But here you find that this boy was diligent. He opened the door in the morning and closed it in the evening. He was not only diligent, but he was obedient.
He ministered unto the Lord before Eli. Even if his ministry was simple, yet he was faithful.
So, brothers and sisters, oftentimes we think that boys or girls can do nothing. But the Bible tells us that they can minister unto the Lord in their small way, in their little way.
So spiritually speaking, we may think that people who are just saved, or newly saved, cannot do anything. But, dear brothers and sisters, it is the desire of the Lord that every member in the body of Christ should serve. Each has a part in the house of God.
Even those people who are newly saved may not know much, and yet, brothers and sisters, there is some work that they can do, such as putting up the chairs, folding the chairs, and doing such manual work.
And I believe it is the desire of the Lord that even the youngest in our midst, the newest saved in our midst, should begin to minister unto the Lord by doing these small and little works.
Because the Bible tells us, if we are faithful in little things, God will entrust us with big things. In other words, if we are not faithful in small things, God will not trust us with big things.
And this boy Samuel—how he was faithful in small things. Not only that, he was obedient.
Here you find how he was obedient to Eli. Even when Eli was old, unable to see, and weak, yet you find Samuel was so obedient to him.
For a boy to sleep, usually he is sound asleep, and he will not hear anything or care for anything. But here you find, when God began to call Samuel, he did not yet have an experience of spiritual things. His service was merely traditional, but obedient and faithful.
Yet you find, when God called, he ran to Eli and said, “You called me; here am I”—three times. Now think of that. He must have been a very obedient boy.
Even though Eli told him, “No, I have not called. Lie down,” he went; and the second time, the third time, until Eli began to realize that God was calling Samuel.
So, brothers and sisters, we would like to do great things. Some people may think, “Well, I will not open my mouth, but if I should open my mouth, three thousand will be saved.” Brothers and sisters, you will never open your mouth.
We have to begin with small things. And if we are faithful, God will entrust us with big things. And you find how Samuel was faithful and obedient.
Not only that, we may think that Samuel ministered in the house of God and had the best environment. But no. We find that Eli’s two sons did not respect the Lord. How they rebelled against the Lord in spiritual things, and even in their physical lives.
So, in other words, Samuel was growing up not in a perfect environment. Right? He was growing up in a very bad environment, because the two boys of Eli, who were ministers, were actually examples, as it were, to Samuel—bad examples. What bad examples they gave.
And yet you find Samuel was not affected by them. Now why so? I believe it was because of the prayer of his mother.
Hannah must have been praying for him, and the prayer of the mother was answered by God. It was through the mother’s prayer that he was kept from the bad examples of Eli’s sons.
So, brothers and sisters, how important it is for parents to bring up their children according to the admonition of the Lord.
Even if your children are placed in a bad environment, if the parents instill into the children’s hearts the fear of the Lord and the love of God, that will keep them from bad examples.
So I do feel how important it is for parents. We have to bring up our children in the admonition and discipline of the Lord.
In modern times, it is as if parents are supposed to let the children grow as they will. They are not trained to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord, and that is what is happening in this country today.
It is because there is no discipline at home.
So, brothers and sisters, I think as we read the life of Samuel, it gives us a very clear lesson. We as parents have a responsibility to raise up our children in the fear and love of God.
You do not know what bad environment they will encounter as they grow up. But, however, it is not the environment that makes a man; it is the man who should make the environment.
So hopefully, brothers and sisters, here we as parents should really pray before the Lord and ask the Lord to give us a burden to pray for our children: that our children will grow up fearing God, loving God.
And in spite of later on, in school or in society, when they do not have a perfect example or perfect environment, they will be able to serve the Lord according to God’s will.
But as we know, spiritual service needs revelation.
You can serve in a traditional way, but if you want to really serve God in a spiritual way, revelation is a must.
For instance, Saul of Tarsus. He grew up in Judaism. He received the best tradition of Judaism, and yet because he was serving in tradition, he persecuted the church.
Not until he received revelation from above did you find his ministry completely changed. Instead of working against God, now he was working for God.
And the same way is true, brothers and sisters. We all begin our ministry in a traditional way. But thank God, He wants to bring us into a spiritual way, and the spiritual way is that you need revelation.
So here you find Samuel. Because he was faithful in small things—or, to put it another way, he was faithful in the traditional way—therefore the Lord appeared to him, and the Lord called him.
And after Samuel received that revelation from God, you find the Bible says, “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground,” until all Israel knew that God had raised a prophet among them.
And then God began to reveal Himself and to reveal His word. So how important it is for a person to really have revelation and serve under revelation.
And by that, you find God raised up an epoch-making vessel.
Now actually, going into Samuel’s ministry, Samuel had a long ministry, and he served very faithfully. Through prayer, how God worked wonders and delivered the children of Israel.
But Samuel’s greatest ministry was to make the change of time. He was the last judge, and as the last judge, he was the epoch-making vessel. Why? Because he was to end judgeship and bring the nation into kingship.
You know, it is very strange. Samuel had such a spiritual ministry, and he was faithful. But here you find he worked himself faithfully until he lost his ministry.
In other words, he was the last judge. He was used by God to bring in kingship, but as soon as the kingship began, Samuel had lost his ministry.
And that is what real ministry is. Ministry is not to promote oneself. If it is real ministry, you work yourself until you lose it.
Brother Nee used to use an example. He said ministry is like building the scaffold. When you are building a house, you need a scaffold; otherwise, you are not able to build a tall building.
But after the building is finished, the scaffold will be all taken down. There is no need of it anymore. Now, have you seen a house that has been built and the scaffold continues on? That would be ridiculous.
Because the scaffold is for the building, and when the building is finished, the scaffold is taken down. It is of no use, except perhaps to be used for other buildings.
So ministry is to work itself until it is no longer needed, as it were, and it has to be used in other places. That is ministry. Ministry is not bringing people to oneself.
It is to bring in God’s will to be done. And if it is done, then the ministry is finished.
Samuel was faithful to God. But when he was old, because his sons were not faithful, that was the excuse for the children of Israel to ask for a king like the nations.
Now, brothers and sisters, it is God’s will to change from judgeship to kingship. But God’s will must come in God’s time.
But here you find, because of the unfaithfulness of Samuel’s sons, the people asked for a king—but a king according to the nations, not according to God.
And Samuel, at first, was against it. But God said, “They are not against you; they are against Me. They do not want Me to be their King. They want to have man to be their king. So tell them what the king will be, and then give them the king.”
So, brothers and sisters, here you find Samuel, how he was obedient to God. Listen: he would not allow his own feelings to stand in the way. Even if he was rejected, as it were, yet he was faithful to God.
So he faithfully told the people what the king would be. But the people said, “We want the king.” So finally, God did give them the king, and the king was Saul.
Now Saul, when we read in 1 Samuel, was not a bad person. Why? He was obedient to his father. When his father lost the asses and asked him to go and search for them, he went.
And he was not only obedient, but he was faithful, because he searched everywhere. He wanted to finish the job that his father had sent him to do.
And even though God revealed to him that he would be king, he was humble. Because when he was chosen, they could not find him; he hid himself.
So Saul was not a bad person. You find he had many good things in his life. And yet, he was a natural man.
And, brothers and sisters, the natural man does not understand the things of God, and he cannot obey God. Why? Because he does not understand. He thinks it is not wise, and he thinks he is wiser than God.
The natural man does not know the law of God and is not able to follow God. So in spite of all the good things in his life, yet we find that when it came to God’s will, he just could not understand, and he could not wait, and he could not obey.
He did things according to what he thought was good.
So eventually, you find in 1 Samuel 15 that God had to reveal to him, in verse 22:
And Samuel said,
Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to hearken than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
So, brothers and sisters, you find that eventually, because Saul the king wanted to do things in his way, he could not obey God, and he was rejected.
But thank God, God used Samuel to raise up David to be the right king. And we find in Acts that David, the Bible says, was a man after God’s own heart, who would do all His will.
Now, even though, as we look at the life of David, he was not perfect. As a matter of fact, we find he committed serious sins. And yet, how he repented before God and allowed God to work out His will in his life.
So eventually, you find Samuel was used by God to raise up David as king. So here you find in the life of Samuel how he was the epoch-making vessel.
Because he changed the age of judgeship into the age of kingship.
So, brothers and sisters, at our past conference we were talking about the epoch-making vessel. I think it is important for us to know how the epoch-making vessel comes about.
As a matter of fact, in the past, it seems as if God used individuals as epoch-making vessels. But we believe that now it is not individual; it is corporate.
Because as we come to the final, perfect will of God, you will find God is looking for a corporate vessel, not just an individual vessel.
So probably there is no wonder why today we do not find such individual giants as we had in past history. Because God is changing His way. He is using the corporate, not the individual, to be His epoch-making vessels.
And that is the reason why you find in the book of Revelation, in chapters 2 and 3, the calling of God is for overcomers. God is calling overcomers to every church.
In every place, God is calling for overcomers: people who will respond to Him, people who will take up His burden and pray, people who will offer themselves to God.
People who receive revelation from God, who serve not by tradition but by revelation, and people who are not trying to bring attention to themselves, but instead will work themselves until they lose, as it were, their work.
And that is the epoch-making vessel that God is looking for.
So, brothers and sisters, my burden is very simple. Even though we are nobodies, God is able to raise up nobodies to be epoch-making vessels.
If we think we are somebody, God will not use us. But if we realize that we are nothing, nobody, you are the person that God is looking for, and He is able to make you an epoch-making vessel.
So thank God, brothers and sisters, we are encouraged to give ourselves to the Lord and see what God can do with simple people such as we are.
So may the Lord have mercy on us. Let us pray.
Dear Lord, as we wait before Thee, we praise and thank Thee that Thou art looking for epoch-making vessels.
We thank Thee that Thou art not looking for such vessels in great men, but art looking for simple persons.
So we just want to come to Thee and say, “Lord, we want to offer ourselves, each and every one of us, to Thee, Lord.”
We cannot, but Thou canst. So deliver us from ourselves and enable us to just look off unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Lord, use us, if it please Thee, to change the time and bring it back to Thy will. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.