Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church
My grandmother was a praying person. Lives were shaped by how she prayed in her Dublin boarding house & in the First Baptist Church. One of those prayers got a hold of my life.
When Dad was growing up, my grandmother prayed that he would become a minister. When she realized that he was going to be a lawyer, she began to pray that one of his children would become a minister. While I was growing up, Dad told me the first half of her prayer but he did not convey the prayer’s second half until I was in seminary. My response was that “It just took both of us to fulfill all of what Mamosh was praying.”
In light of this, when Dad passed away, he gave me the office furniture he had used in his law office. Which is what I now use in my office at Trinity. I’m grateful that who I am today is directly related to the worshiping influence of my family’s heritage.
Worship is the holy experience of encountering God. Through worship: We pray & praise. We yield & trust. We love & forgive. We sing & commit. We give & share. We baptize & confess. We speak & testify. We lead & serve. We preach & act. We listen & connect. We greet & befriend. We repent & celebrate. We read & respond. We gather & go. These and more are worshiping ways for us to have the holy experience of encountering God.
God wants us to have times when we worship as individuals, as families, and as a congregation…
As we individually worship, we are shaped individually. As we engage in family worship, we are shaped as a family. As we congregationally worship, we are shaped as a church family. How we worship brings all three of these together. Worshipfully connecting our family to God allows us to:
1) Be shaped by God;
2) Know each other in light of how God knows us;
3) Creates the basis of trust among family members.
Pastor Les Hollon
The LORD Calls Samuel
The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.
One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ “So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.
-1 Samuel 3:1-10 (NIV)
Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”
The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
-1 Samuel 3:15-21 (NIV)
This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church. For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.
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