Your Servant is Listening

DOWNLOAD 'Becoming the People of God' Small Group Resources (PDF)

Fellowship – Snacks or a Meal (10 minutes with snacks; longer, obviously, if there is a meal).

Gathering Time (5-10 minutes). Have participants answer: “Is there anyone in your life who helps you discern when God is calling or speaking to you?”

Group Dialogue (Approximately 30 minutes). Read 1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20) and John 1:43-51.

• Why was Samuel unable to recognize the voice of the Lord the first three times the Lord called him? [“Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him” (1 Samuel 3:7)]
• The Preaching Notes say, “It’s loud in our world with distractions aplenty, voices calling, blaming, warning, vying for our attention. It’s loud in our souls, where we are filled with our own questions and fears, filled with our own failures and inadequacies.” What are noises impede us from listening to the voice of God when God speaks to us?
• What kept Nathaniel from believing Philip when he told him that Jesus from Nazareth was the Son of God? [Nathaniel was not listening. His biases and prejudices hindered him from listening clearly.]
• What does it take to recognize God’s voice and receive God’s message? [We need to listen attentively to the Lord. Samuel answered, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9).]
• Do our biases and prejudices impede us from recognizing God’s voice proclaimed through other humans? What might you do this week to listen to God?

Prayer (10 minutes). Share prayer requests and respond appropriately.

Sending Forth (2 minutes). End with the following prayer, a similar prayer, or the Lord’s Prayer:

God, our guide and comforter, help us recognize your voice amid the many noises that distract us. Please give us the wisdom to listen attentively to your voice and respond to your call. Amen.

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Rev. Dr. Alma Tinoco Ruiz is an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and Evangelism and Director of the Hispanic House of Studies at Duke University Divinity School. She is a practical theologian whose work centers on the intersection of homiletics, pastoral care, and evangelism.