Wilderness Voices/Wilderness Experiences
Sermon notes 2022.08.14
William Akehurst, HSWC
The Wilderness Experience can make us feel all alone, under pressure, lost, and even wondering if GOD has abandoned us. But that's not the case. HE leads us in the wilderness, if we would only quiet ourselves amid the distractions and tune in to hear HIS voice.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led* you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. (Obey or Abandon)
3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
Why would GOD lead us into the Wilderness? Deut 8:2-3
1. To Humble
2. Test
3. And know what is in your heart
4. And whether or not you will obey or abandon HIM
Remember the Disciples Prayer?
*Matthew 6:13a And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
Do you want to be tested? Of course not. Testing is painful. Think about it…JESUS was ‘tested’ as far as the CROSS! Yet HE went there with JOY amidst the pain and suffering for YOU and ME.
Jesus also was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights…
(Tempted=Tested)
Jesus was also tempted* by the devil, and combatted these temptations by releasing GOD’s WORD into the atmosphere…“IT IS WRITTEN” Matthew 4:4,7,10
Sidenote: *1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Personally, I believe that the LORD will take us “to the edge AND OVER!” if that’s what it takes for us to come back to HIM. To come to that place, when there is no other way to go except to run to JESUS. In John 14:6, Jesus said…”I AM the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one comes to the FATHER except through me.”
“IT IS WRITTEN”: There is significance to using, declaring, decreeing, speaking GOD’s WORD into the situations we find ourselves in. JESUS knew this, and we should too. Why?
GOD’s WORD is ALIVE and COMPLETES AND ACCOMPLISHES ITS PURPOSE.
Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
So, in the wilderness, we that we can’t do it on our own, we need the LORD.
James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Satan’s voice came at JESUS, but JESUS returned it back with Scripture.
Doesn’t it amaze you in how many voices come pounding at you when you’re all alone “in the wilderness”?
Everything hits from all sides, and we can get really worked up over it. But what we really need, is to settle down and…
Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I AM GOD; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
And that while everything seems in turmoil with so much noise and distractions…be still…and listen…
1 Kings 19:11-12
11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
So we need to settle down and listen for HIS voice…that still small voice…
Psalms 46:1-3
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
Again remember…46:10 “Be still, and know that I AM GOD; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
JESUS is calling us out of the wilderness to a place of eternal life, where we shall never perish.
And while we are tested to see if we will follow and obey, or abandon…
No One can take that away from you…
John 10:27-29
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
GOD’s VOICE brings the shaking. Shaking, Sifting, Pressure Cooked. It’s what sets us apart, makes us to be holy. Like gold in the smelting pot. As the heat intensifies, the dirt comes to the surface where the dross is removed, to bring purity.
Psalms 29:8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
Hebrew Word Study: Kadesh
“Wilderness of Kadesh”or Kadesh Barnea means: Holy, Sacred Desert of the fugitive.
“Kadesh” is to be “Set Apart, Consecrated, Sanctified, made Holy”
So, the LORD shakes us when HE leads us into the wilderness…to purify us.
A good father will discipline his children, so that they will learn what is good.
Here’s a little Gem of a verse that I had put in my message on Sunday, and when I read it to the congregation, the Holy Spirit opened my understanding in a different way.
When we find ourselves in “the wilderness experience”, and under intense pressure, the LORD speaks to us…
Isaiah 51:1 “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
Isaiah 51:1 (NLT)
1 “Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—all who seek the LORD!
Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined.
A diamond is one of the strongest, if not the strongest stone in existence. It’s a stone that has gone through some extremely intense heat and pressure…It’s own wilderness experience.
And out of that pit…could be a mud pit, a place defiled, a lost place…it is found and raised up, cleaned off, and examined.
Then the jeweler cuts at the diamond in the rough, until it is made complete with many facets, brightly beaming.
Consider the ROCK from which you were cut. That ROCK is JESUS.
YOU are a brightly beaming cut from THE ROCK.
And we can look back at where we came from, that quarry, that hole of a pit from which we came.
GOD’s WORD is intense. It’s beautiful. And HOLY SPIRIT is at work in YOUR LIFE.
Remember the 40 years and 40 days in the wilderness.
The gestation period for a baby is about 40 weeks until the new life arrive.
Do you see some relevance in the number 40?
40 years left some dead in the wilderness as a new generation was taught to be a nation.
40 days and nights, JESUS fasted and was tempted, tested by the devil, and by using GOD’s WORD, satan had to flee.
40 weeks we were in our mother’s womb, as we are being marvellously and wonderfully made…to spring out in new life!
Psalm 40 is my life’s song and it says these words which are of a new life after going through…the “Wilderness Experience”.
Psalms 40:1-11
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
This is the day the LORD has made; I WILL REJOICE and BE GLAD IN IT!
I trust that HOLY SPIRIT will speak to you through this message.
BE Blessed, and BE a Blessing!
Pastor Bill
