In Jesus Holy Name February 28, 2010
Lent II Genesis 15:1,4-5 Redeemer
“God Still Speaks to His People”
The book of Hebrews begins with these words: “In the past God spoke to our fore fathers through the prophets, at many times and in various ways. But in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son…” “Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Today’s message is not about the way to God… but about our walk with God.
Today we travel through the pages of the Old Testament and the life of Abraham. It should not surprise us nor be considered unusual that God spoke to Abraham. There was no written “bible”. Abraham was 75 years old and living in the Euphrates Valley, when the Lord God, spoke to Abraham and told him to travel to the land of Canaan. God promised to bless Abraham and make him into a great nation. (Chapter 12) In Chapter 15 when he was 85 years old, we read “The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.” Later when God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham was in a discussion with God on the way do Sodom & Gomorrah and was answered by God. (18:16) When Abraham was 99 years old God appears and speaks with Abraham regarding the promise of Isaac.
Does God still speak to people today? If so, how can you recognize His voice? What do you think? Does God still speak to you and me, today? If so, how?
David Holwick tells a story that appeared in the Los Angeles times. It was about a man named Bob Haifly. It seems that Haifley spent 2,500 work hours over five years gluing together 65,000 toothpicks to build a life sized likeness of Jesus. It hangs from a wire in his garage against a black backdrop, illuminated by a spotlight.
What made Haifly, a humble water department supervisor and nonartist, start collecting toothpicks to build this life sized Jesus?
“God told me to do it,” he said. According to Haifly, God spoke to him one day while he was driving his pickup. Here is what God wanted him to do build a life sized statue of Jesus with toothpicks. God even showed him how to do the spiky hair on his toothpick masterpiece.
That was his testimony. He may be right, but I have to confess I worry when people say, “God told me to do such and such.” There have been people who have committed murder because allegedly, God told them to. Still the question remains, does God speak to people? If so, if yes, in what way? How can you know his voice?
God once spoke to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King said that he didn’t set out to be a leader in the civil rights movement. The truth was that he had gone into ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what his father wanted him to do. Dr. King wanted a quiet life as a college professor. He dreamed of possibly being president of Morehouse College some day. Through an odd turn of events, however as a young pastor he was thrust into the forefront of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott.
One night in the midst of that boycott he came home late. He was tired and frightened because of the conflict between those boycotting and the police. The phone rang. An angry voice on the other end said… “We’re going to get you….” (along with a few other choice words.)
Young Martin Luther King stood in his kitchen, frozen by fear. He wanted to call his father for reassurance and advice. But his father wasn’t available. Then he heard what seemed to be a voice but no one else was in the room. And this is what the voice said: “Martin, you do what is right. You stand up for justice. You be my drum major for righteousness. I’ll be with you.” And from then on, Martin Luther King Jr. knew what God wanted him to do. Does God speak to people today… Yes, sometimes.
Author Charlie Shedd, told about a time when God spoke to him. Or perhaps it was an angel, he’s not sure. One evening Shedd drove into his garage at suppertime. He turned off the automobile ignition but found that his fingers just wouldn’t let go of the keys. It was like they were frozen. “What’s going on here?” He asked out loud.
An inner voice seemed to say to him, “Go see Roy.” Charlie Shedd believed it was the voice of God or, at least the voice of an angel in God’s behalf.
“But it’s suppertime,” Shedd protested. And the mysterious inner voice seemed to say, “Supper can wait, Charlie, Roy can’t; Go.”
Shedd’s thoughts ran rampant, but he switched on the ignition and went.
“But why?” He questioned in his heart. “Why see Roy?” He’d just seen Roy in church the day before, and he seemed fine.
Shedd drove to Roy’s house less than a mile away, where he found Roy on the floor, calling for help. Roy had tripped over a stump breaking his glasses and cutting his face. Shedd wondered how the elderly man had even made it home from where he had injured himself six miles away.
Later, Roy thanked him for coming. Then Roy asked, “How did you know I needed you?” Charlie answered: “I think it was an angel.” To which Roy promptly responded, “Makes sense. I was lying there on the floor, praying you’d come.” Does God speak to people today? Sometimes.
God spoke to a man named Abraham because through him and his descendants God had a plan to redeem humanity from the virus of sin. According to the account in Genesis 15, God took Abraham outside and said to him, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars if indeed you can count them.” Then God said to him, “so shall your off spring be.” Abraham was 85 years old and he believed the Lord.
Have you heard the voice of God? Have you had a vision or dream from God? 99% of the time God simply asks each and every Christian to worship him, live a righteous life, keep the commandments and serve others.
Abraham woke up each day and took care of his traveling ranch. We know that he had 318 men who could bear arms, quite a fighting force. If even half of these men had wives and children, Abraham is responsible for the care of more than 1000 people. The Bible tells us he was a wealthy man. He had great amounts of gold and silver (Gen.12) there were no banks… someone had to protect his gold and silver. There were shepherds for his flocks of goats & sheep, cattle, camels, donkeys. There had to be cooks to feed all the families every day. People to gather wood for fires, tent makers. My point, this was not a poor wandering nomad with one tent and 50 head of sheep. He had a business to run.
That was 99% of his time. God spoke to Abraham when he was 75. The Lord appeared to Abraham when he was 85. And then the Lord appears to Abraham when he was 99 and renews the covenant… (Gen. 17) to tell him that Sarah would have a son in the next year. Then life went on until Isaac was about 12 when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son.
We get into trouble if we are asking God to tell us if He wants us to be a music director, as teacher, a nurse, a businessman, a lawyer, fireman, mechanic or carpenter. God gives our hearts and brains interest areas, and talents. Our career paths, our vocations usually follow our interest. What God does want is Christians in every vocation to be “salt and light” for his purpose of reaching those who are spiritually lost.
When Abraham or Charlie Shedd heard the voice of God, they obeyed. Charlie Shedd was not given all the answers, he was just told to “go”. Abraham was simply told by God, “Go, leave your father’s country and go to the land I will show you.” Abraham did not plug in his navigation system nor his Yahoo Maps to find out what God’s final destination was going to be. He obeyed.
When Jesus called Peter, James and John… they were given very little information about their assignment. “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” That’s it.
In Ephesians 2:10 Paul writes: “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” What specific good works…? So, you live one day at a time and God will reveal the specific good work He wants you to do. He may use an audible voice: “Call Mom”. “Go see….” Or there may be a little voice inside your brain that says…. “Go see Lois”… “Go to the hospital”….
Whether you hear an audible voice, a suggestion inside your brain, receive a dream or a vision, or you are moved by a bible verse to take a specific action with your feet and hands…. Obey.
OK, Next Question…But how do I know it is God, or the Holy Spirit speaking?
1) He will never direct you to disobey a commandment.
2) His directive will meet the need of another person, using you as the answer to a prayer….which you may not know until you show up… as did Charlie Shedd, as I did for Lois.
3) God is omniscient. He hears everyone’s prayers. He just invites us to be his hands and fingers, to accomplish his work.
4) God will speak to you through the Holy Spirit, The Bible, in prayer, circumstances to reveal His purpose or His ways. His actions never bring harm.
5) When you hear a directive from God or the Holy Spirit you will face a crisis of belief. “Is that really God?” “Why?” Because you don’t have the full assignment. See we always want to know the ending. Abraham did not know God was going to save Isaac at the very last moment when his knife was raised over Isaac’s heart.
6) When you hear God’s directive… you may have to make adjustments in your schedule or life.
7) The more you answer the directive from God and experience the result of His “work” or “assignment” you’ll recognize his voice.
God is at work reconciling a world and individual people to Himself. His Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts and lives of people…. He invites us to be involved in his work connecting people to Jesus.
Reality:
1. God is always at work.
2. God is drawing people’s hearts to Himself so that they might possess assurance of eternal life. Here is an example: Paul writes in Romans “There is no one who is righteous, no, not one; there is no one who seeks God”.
Jesus said, “When I am lifted up on the cross I will draw all people to myself.” In Luther’s Small Catechism in the definition of the Third article of the Apostle’s Creed we confess: “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him unless “called by the Holy Spirit”…. Therefore, in your day to day activity when you see someone seeking God, or asking spiritual questions about God, they you know that God is at work in that person. God invites us to be His salt and light, involved in His work so that we might experience “joy”.
3. God still speaks to His people today, through the Bible, through the Holy Spirit, in prayer, a small still voice in your head, circumstances… to reveal His purposes and His ways. Another example: When Jesus passed through a crowd, He always looked for where His Father was at work. The crowd was not the harvest field; the harvest was within the crowd…. In Jericho, Zacchaeus was in a tree. Jesus may have said to himself, “Nobody can seek after me unless the Holy Spirit is at work in their heart….so Jesus said: “Zacchaeus, come down, for today I must stay at your house.” (Luke 19:5) Salvation came to Zacchaeus.
4. When God gives you a directive to do His work it will lead you to a crisis of faith and action. Adjustments will have to be made. Here’s the cool thing…. When God knows you are listening, then act on his directive… He’ll have more interactions with you.
5. You come to know God’s directives by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.
The key question this morning is: “how do I “recognize” what God is doing.
Does God still speak to people today? Sometimes. Does God still give people dreams and visions? Sometimes. Can God give you a directive with a small voice in your head? Sometimes. I think that sometimes we Christians long to experience God day after day… we might even be longing to hear an audible voice to tell us what to do…. But in reality 99% of the time we must go about our normal life then keep our eyes open to see how God is always at work….
Example: If someone starts asking you a spiritual question, whatever else you have planned, don’t do it. Enter to a conversation with that person…. Ask questions: “What do you believe about God?” “Tell me what you think?”
Rev. Blackaby who was working with young adults tells this story. “One Wednesday evening one of the girls reported: “Oh, pastor, a girl who has been in classes with me for two years came to me after class today. She said, “I think you might be a Christian. I need to talk to you. Eleven of us girls have been reading the bible and none of us are Christians. Do you know somebody who can lead us in a Bible study?”
God is at work… Trust the Holy Spirit to equip you for the assignment.
(some stories from Los Angles Times & Paul Havey the Rest of the Story... both found at Leonard Sweet.com sermon for Lent "Count the Stars")
