There is a commercial on television by the Verizon phone company, where a man walks around with a cell phone in a large city, and he repeatedly says, “Can you hear me now?”
The purpose of the commercial is to show us that if you have this particular cell phone you can hear from anywhere.
One of the great needs of our life is for us to hear from the Lord in the various places we find ourselves. Many go to church each Sunday and hear the preaching of God’s Word. They hear it with their ears, but they do not really hear it.
This is a common problem for school teachers. They are teaching and the students are sitting there listening, but they aren’t really listening.
Illus: One day a math teacher saw one of her students “Day Dreaming” and said, “Billy, If you have five haystacks in one corner, five in another and two in another, how many would you have?” Little Billy said, “One big haystack!”
Illus: A history teacher saw little Susie “Day Dreaming” and said, “Susie, do you file your nails?” She said, “No, I just throw them away!”
Illus: Another teacher saw Joey “Day Dreaming” in her class and asked him, “What can we do to stop polluting our waters?” Joey said, “We can stop taking baths!”
Illus: Another teacher said to a child “Day Dreaming” in her class, “Mickey, stop your day dreaming.” Mickey said, “I wasn't day dreaming, I was taking a nap!”
But in all fairness, some children do learn in school.
One of the problems among people is that we hear but we do not really hear. Franklin Roosevelt was very much aware of this problem.
Illus: The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment.
To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning."
The guests responded with phrases like,
• "Marvelous! Keep up the good work.”
• “We are proud of you!
• “God bless you, sir."
It was not until the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. The ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I’m sure she had it coming."
Now some folks do hear, but they have “Selective hearing.”
Illus: In a jury pool, Ann Ripp watched people trying to persuade the judge to exempt them from serving.
One man explained that he had a severe hearing problem and wouldn’t be able to follow the proceedings. “You’re excused,” the judge informed him. “What did you say?” the man asked. The judge repeated himself and motioned to the exit.
As the man reached the door, the judge told the clerk, “Juror No. 9 is excused, but he will still be paid for his time.” The man who was hard of hearing said, “Thank you, Your Honor!”
Some hear but they do not really hear, while others seem to have selective hearing.
God is trying to communicate with His people. The Word of God makes that clear. Look at:
• Rev. 2:29, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
• Heb. 1:1-2, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;.”
I must tell you that I have never had the Lord to speak to me in an audible voice. And it probably is best, because I am sure it would scare me to death if He actually did!
But God does speak! HOW DOES GOD SPEAK TO US?
I. HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH PRAYER
This is difficult for some folks to understand because their prayer life consists of calling upon God when they have a need. They have a laundry list of things they want God to do for them, and when they get through, they jump up and more or less say, “I will talk to you later when I need something else!”
But notice, their prayer life consists of them doing all the talking and God doing all the listening.
Illus: Have you ever talked with someone and you could not get a word in edgewise? Isn’t that frustrating? They use ten thousand words for what could be said in 150 words. They start to talk and do not know when to stop!
That is exactly what many do with the Lord Jesus. The only kind of praying they know anything about is where they do all the talking and the Lord does all the listening.
Good relationships are based on TALKING and LISTENING!
Illus: Good relationships can not survive with only one doing all the talking. For example:
• The best marriages are where both people sit down and talk to each other
• The best parents are parents that sit down and talk with and listen to their children
• The best friends are the ones that sit down and talk with and listen to each other
• The best Christians are Christians who have locked themselves in a room, sat down and talked with the Lord about their problems, but they sit at His feet and give Him a chance to talk to them
Those who’s prayer life consists of TALKING but not LISTENING, do not know a thing about God SPEAKING TO THEM because they never give Him a chance to talk to them.
Illus: The story is told of a company that wanted to hire someone that could communicate through Morse code.
A half dozen people showed up for the job, but as they sat in the waiting room talking and laughing with each other waiting to be interviewed, you could hear someone typing Morse code in the background. It was a noisy place, but you could hear it if you listened.
After they sat there for about a half hour, another man came into the waiting room to apply for the job. He sat down in this noisy room and in a few minutes got up and went into the personnel manager’s office. In a few minutes the personnel manager thanked everyone for coming, but announced that the last man that came to apply for the job had been hired, and they could leave and go home.
This caused a lot of ruckus among the other six that came to apply for the job, since they never had a chance to be interviewed. The personnel manager said, “I am sorry if you think this was unfair, but the whole time you were waiting in the outer office we have been sending a message using Morse code that said, ‘If anyone can hear this message, come into the office, the job is yours.’ He heard the message and he got the job.”
We live in a noisy world, and if you are not willing to spend some time with the Lord in quietness, you are never going to be able to hear the Lord.
Before television, radio, computers and the telephone, people spent a lot more time waiting at the feet of Jesus. But today, the first thing many people do when they get home each evening is find the remote control and park themselves in a chair until it is time for them to go to bed.
HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH PRAYER and -
II. HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS WORD
The Bible is an amazing book. You can read it all your life and God will continue to speak to you about things you never knew were there.
Illus: A preacher, ending his sermon, announced that he would preach on Noah and the Ark on the following Sunday and gave the scriptural reference for the congregation to read ahead of time. A couple of mean-streaked boys noticed something interesting about the placement of the story of the Flood in the Bible. They slipped into the church and glued two pages of the pulpit Bible together. On the next Sunday, the preacher got up to read his text. "Noah took unto himself a wife." he began, "and she was" – he turned the page to continue -- "three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high." He paused, scratched his head, turned the page back and read it silently. Then he looked up at his congregation and said. "I've been reading this old Bible for nigh onto fifty years, but there are some things it seems like I never read before." (Loyal Jones -The Preacher Joke Book, edited by Loyal Jones, p. 72.)
Many folk’s time spent in the Word of God is like their prayer life. They only spend a short time in studying God’s Word.
Illus: Unfortunately many American homes, yes even so-called Christian homes, are like the one in which the little girl pointed to the Bible on the mantle that was never opened, and said to her mother, "Whose book is that?" Her mother quite startled by her daughter’s question replied, "Why honey, don't you know? That is God's book!" The child, demonstrating that she had a very practical mind, said, "Don't you think that we had better give it back to him? No one around here ever reads it."
Because people today are not spending time in the Word of God and allowing the Word of God to speak to them, we have an ignorance problem when it comes to what this Bible teaches.
Illus: One time in Sunday School I was giving a little quiz, and I said to a fellow,
• "Can you give me the geographical location of Dan and Beersheba?"
• He said, "You mean they are cities?" I said, "They certainly are."
• He replied, "Well, I thought they were husband and wife, like Sodom and Gomorrah."
(Rev. George Goldtrap, Madison, TN - The Preacher Joke Book, edited by Loyal Jones, pp. 54-5.)
Illus: Mrs. Crabtree, the Sunday school teacher, asked her students to draw a picture of their favorite Old Testament story. As she moved around the class, she saw there were many wonderful drawings being done.
Then she came across Little Johnny who had drawn an old man driving what looked like a station wagon. In the back seat were two passengers. A bit shocked, Mrs. Crabtree regained her composure then said, "It's a lovely picture, but which story does it tell?” Little Johnny seemed surprised at the question. He answered, "Doesn't it say in the Bible that God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden?”
Those who will make time to spend IN THE WORD OF GOD, will find that GOD STILL SPEAKS TO THEM THROUGH HIS WORD.
Listen, God's voice is heard only by those shut up with Him in secret prayer. God is very careful to whom He speaks. It is only to those who value His voice so much that they shut the whole world out to get alone and wait for Him.
• God's voice came to Moses when he was shut up alone with Him.
• The word came to John the Baptist alone in the wilderness.
• The voice of God came to Jacob in the desert of Haran.
• God spoke to Joshua when he went out of the camp, alone, before Jericho.
• The voice of God came to Paul, alone in the desert.
• The voice of the Father came to Jesus, alone on the mountain in prayer.
God says to us, "If you want to hear my voice, shut yourself up with the Word of God and Prayer. Pray to me in secret and I will reward you.”
Conclusion:
Why do we need the Lord to speak to us?
We need God to speak to us so we can make the right DECISIONS and for DIRECTION!
For example, consider the life of Moses…
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them?
• They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day.
• Besides, you must remember that they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood daily.
• And Oh yes! They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons!
• And then another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.
• But then, there is another problem... each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long........ think of it! This much space for camping.
Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things and DIRECTED HIM!
God spoke to him and helped him make every decision that had to be made. And God will do the same for us today if we will let Him SPEAK TO US.
Can you hear Him Speaking?
Our God is an Awesome God!! So when the road you're traveling on seems difficult at best, just remember GOD WANTS TO SPEAK TO YOU AND DIRECT YOUR LIFE!
(Part #1)
I. HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH PRAYER
II. HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS WORD
(Part #2)
III. HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH CIRCUMSTANCES
IV. HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH FRIENDS
V. HE SPEAKS TO US THROUGH THE CHURCH
