The Shepherd & The Sheep 5
A Steward of God’s Voice
1 Peter 4:10
Are you familiar with the concept of stewardship? It means that we manage well somebody else’s property or resources.
As believers our lives are not our own. We belong to Christ. (1Cor. 3:23) that means our Time, Talents and Treasure and our futures our His
So it is important that we live as good stewards of what belongs to God.
10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.1 Peter 4:10 – stand and read
Stewardship relates to hearing the voice of God as well. Think of it this way: god blesses faithful stewards
A faithful man will abound with blessings Prov. 28:20
42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. Lk. 12:42-46
If God gives us Time, talents and treasure and we are faithful with those, then God gives us more. If we are not faithful, then God doesn’t give us more.
The same is true with hearing God’s voice, if God speaks to us and we are faithful with the word He gives us, then he will give us more words.
But if we are not faithful with the word He gives us, then why would He give us more?
Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. Mark 4:24 (NKJV)
Did you catch that? To you who hear, more will be given… that’s the result of good stewardship. We must be good with what we hear…
How can we be faithful stewards of?
We are careful stewards of Gods voice…
1. When we Truly Listen To Him
Have you ever heard a catchy song and sung along only to discover that you were singing the wrong words? Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl
For years I thought it started with “hey there amigo” Hey where did we go, days when the rains came?
We definitely have a listening problem in this generation. We hear so many things, words from songs, tv commercials, the radio, the internet,
… and we hear them so quickly that its difficult to discern whats truly important and to truly listen.
Yet when someone important speaks, its important to listen to Him. God speaks to people who seek to hear Him with Humble Hearts…
And to those who will faithfully act upon His spoken word… the word Shamah is the Hebrew word used for Hear which means to Hear and DO
God speaks to us in many ways. At least 10 ways are covered in the bible:1. through Circumstances (Jonah). 2. through wise Council (Pr)
3. through peace (col. 3:15) 4. through people 5. through dreams and visions (joseph, Solomon, Jacob, Peter)
6. through our thoughts (Amos 4:13) 7. through natural manifestations 8. through supernatural manifestations
9. through the bible 10. through a whisper
The point I am making is that if we are to hear Gods voice than we need to listen to Him. We need to tune in to the frequency of heaven.
While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. Jeremiah 7:13 –
God is saying to the Israelites that they did any number of wicked things, and He was speaking and speaking to them repeatedly about it
… but they did not listen… does that sound familiar?
I love the promise held out for us in Romans 10:17 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJV)
If you have ever met a person with great faith, then you’ve met a person of great hearing who knows how to listen to God.
We are careful stewards of Gods voice…
2. When we respond in Humility
If a person hears from God and responds with pride or dishes out a word with a haughty spirit, then this is not careful stewardship of Gods message to us…
A person can hear Gods voice and respond with closed ears…
Luke 8:4-15 read the parable of the sower… the seed is the word and the soil represents the attitude we have in receiving His word…
18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.” Luke 8:18
The parable of the sower is talking about what we hear. But in verse 18 it says “take heed HOW you hear.” In other words… Jesus is saying…
Watch how you receive His word. We are to make sure our ground is tilled and free from thorns to help ensure bountiful growth.
We are to make sure we are humble when we receive the word of God. We are to ensure we are pliable ground…
The last part of verse 18 contains a powerful clause: “even what he seems to have will be taken from Him.” Many believers fail to produce abundant growth…
The seeds of the words of God might continually be falling on their ground, but unless their soil is watered and weeded then…
Even the spiritual maturity that seems to be evident can be lost.
Story of Joseph… given two dreams and he tells his brothers about the first one as though he is bragging to them
The second is another dream he tells to his father with pride and arrogance,, it certainly wasn’t wise for him to do so,,,
That was the last time that God spoke to Joseph in a dream. He immediately went out and bragged about his dreams…
He did not guard them carefully and cherish them in his heart as he should have… later on in life God worked in him as he grew..
He would grow up to interpret dreams of others and that helped him lead to his destiny…
When we squander opportunities when we are young or even later on in life, God isn’t through with us yet. God is always the God of the comeback.
Yet its very important that when God speaks to us, we don’t use Gods word to make US look better.
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
We are careful stewards of Gods voice…
3. When we heed His words.
Do you remember the story of Jonah? A prophet of God that God wanted to go and prophecy to the people of Niveveh…
It’s a classic story of disobedience, Jonah heard from the Lord but what did Jonah do? He ran the other way. God said go north, Jonah went south instead.
I mentioned that one of the ways God speaks to us is through our circumstances. Jonah’s story provides an example of that. Jonah hears from the Lord but Jonah does not heed the voice of God…
So God set in motion circumstances that would convey the message more strongly to Jonah…
If you feel you are not hearing the voice of GOD in your life right now, then go back and think about the last thing God did say to you and see if you obeyed or not…
If you can’t remember then simply do what Jonah did, REPENT! stop going your way and go God’s way instead.
Listen friend God gives us the power to obey Him to Heed His Words to LISTEN TO HIS VOICE by His Holy Spirit.
Obedience is always mandatory in God’s economy. . Jesus offers these straight forward words to His disciples:
If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14:15
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 1John 5:3
The process of being obedient to God has been compared to a surfer learning to catch a wave. The power of the ocean is the Holy Spirit in our lives…
When the surfer starts to paddle out to sea, the power of the wave actually does the main work in bringing him back to the shore again
Yet the surfer must align himself with the power of the ocean. He must position his board so he can catch the power of the wave.
He must paddle with the power of the ocean, not against it, if he wants to ride successfully to the land.
The Holy Spirit ultimately makes us holy, His work and power ultimately transform our lives. Our job is to continually align ourselves with Him and yield to His work and power.
My friends God is always speaking in many ways. In Mark 4:24 Jesus warns His disciples, “Take heed what you hear.
…With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you, and you who hear, more will be given.
Good stewardship means to manage someone else’s resources well. Those who hear and obey SHAMAH to God-receive His word with
We are to make sure our ground is tilled and free from thorns to help ensure bountiful growth.
We are to make sure we are humble when we receive the word of God. We are to ensure we are pliable ground…
