“Speak Lord, for Your Servant is Listening”
I was driving towards the coast for a job I had to do and on the way, I saw two billboards inparticular that caught my attention. To this day, I don’t know what group or organization sponsored them but they both implied a major sponsor to say the least. One said; “Why don’t you ever call?...........God” The other one I really liked; it said; “Don’t make me come down there!......God”
I hope that these comical billboards make us think a little more seriously about our communication skills with God. Because sadly, for many people, glancing inspirational words by the side of the road is the extent of their relationship with the Lord. Not so with the world’s first two human beings. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had the wonderful privilege of not only walking with the Lord, but they could also literally converse with Him. In fact, He spoke to them in much the same way as I am speaking with you now--face to face. There, in this undefiled garden paradise, existed a very “direct” form of communication between the Creator and the creature. And even after the fall of man--even after sin had driven it’s wedge of separation between us and God, we find in the scriptures that the Lord still literally spoke to certain prophets and even ordinarily people. Through His own spoken, audible word, God warned, directed, comforted and chastened His children in biblical times. Today, if someone says; “the Lord spoke to me and told me to do so and so..” that person is more than likely going to receive some very strange looks and probably slip a notch or two on the scale of how highly we respect them.
My question for you this morning is; does God still speak to His children even today? and if so, how? .....and, just as importantly, how can we be sure that it is really God that we are “hearing”?
In March of 1991 the “Los Angeles Times” contained a story about a man by the name of Bob Haifley. It was estimated that he spent a total of 2,500 hours over a period of five years hard at work on a very strange project. You see, Bob spent all that time gluing together 65,000 toothpicks. He meticulously arranged them until they gradually took the form of a life-sized Jesus. This toothpick replica of the Lord hung from a wire in his garage against a black backdrop , illuminated by a spotlight.
Now, why do you suppose Bob Haifley, a humble water-department supervisor and non-artist, started collecting toothpicks and invited the ridicule of his neighbors by building California’s answer to Noah’s Ark? “God told me to do it,” he said.
According to Bob, God spoke to him one day while he was driving to the plant and personally commissioned him to do the work, not only that, apparently the Lord also showed him, in detail, exactly how to arrange the toothpicks in order get the hair just right after years of indecision.
Did God really tell Bob Haifley to construct a life-sized image of the Savior out of toothpicks in his garage? Just between you and me.....I don’t think so.
You see, there seems to be a lot of confusion these days about what God tells us to do.
For instance, let me give you some examples of things that God did not tell people to do: God did not tell David Caresh to deceive and organize a group of believers, barricade themselves in an armed compound, have sex with most of the women and even some of the children, and claim to be Christ. God did not tell an un-named television evangelist that he had to raise a million dollars from the believing public within a certain time period or else the Lord was going to take his life. God does not tell us parents to withhold treatment from our dying children when they could easily be saved by a simple medical procedure.
Our Father in heaven doesn’t tell us to do any of these things.....yet people are doing even stranger things than these every day under the impression that what they are doing is God ordained.
For instance, did you know that the Ku Klux Klan has very close religious connections and convictions? In effect, they claim that the prejudice that they harbor and represent, the hate crimes against blacks, Jews and homosexuals are all, in a sense, carried out “for the glory of God.”
And believe you me, that countless individuals are being led astray by such people as these who claim to have received some sort of commission and authority from God and may even really believe it themselves. Are we talking only about religious fanatics and mentally disturbed people? I wish. Because you see, if it were only those types of people, they wouldn’t be able to deceive so many so easily.
Even and sometimes especially in mainstream Christian circles, God’s word is being misrepresented---ministers are standing behind pulpits every week telling lies and “prophesying illusions.” What’s worse is that it doesn’t stop there; books, television series, and movies on the big screen are portraying these illusions and people are eagerly accepting them for truth.
Listen to the words of God as received by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 14; “Then the LORD said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. Therefore, this is what the LORD says about these prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them..’”
You see, God through His own word warns us that people are apt to either take His word and totally misrepresent it or tell outright lies and ascribe them to Him. Listen to what He tells us in Jeremiah 23:30-32; “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’ Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD.”
Now in light of the fact that prophets of old and ministers today have been known to frequently misrepresent the Lord and His word, does God dare continue to speak to us through these same channels? Sure He does--in fact, I am convinced that He’s speaking to us right now through this message. But how do you know that what I’m telling you today is actually inspired by God? How do you know that I’m not “prophesying illusions” right now? You see, this is the question that you have to ask yourself every time you listen to someone who is supposedly speaking on God’s behalf. We’ll attempt to answer that question through the rest of this sermon.
So, we’ve established that one way that God “speaks” to us is through prophets, ministers and all sorts of Christian witnesses. But as we’ve just talked about, this is not a fool-proof way of receiving the complete and “unabridged” word of the Lord-- obviously there is a lot of room for error in this manner of communication between us and God. But thankfully, this is not the only way that we hear the voice of the Lord-- this is not the only way that He “speaks to us.”
You know, I used to be jealous of the way in
which God would speak so directly with his children in biblical times. Have you ever thought; if He would only speak directly to me, or even send His angel to deliver a special message..? That would no doubt be an awesome experience to say the least, but you know if we really think about it, we’ll realize that in those days, they weren’t fortunate enough to have what we have today; you see, even in the New Testament times, no one had a completed account of the gospel message. They didn’t have the entire written word of God as we now have it. This is the most valuable possession that a person can have because it is the very “portal” through which we can see and hear God.
Not only is the bible the all time best seller and most translated piece of literature ever compiled, but today, it is also the easiest book on earth to obtain. Bibles are given as gifts more than any other book in history. Why is the bible such a well-circulated book? Because our God is a very personal God and He wants everyone to be able to examine for themselves His autobiography and He wants us have access to His promises and instructions without having to be totally at the mercy of someone who may distort or misinterpret His word.
I don’t know about you, but I used to be the world’s worst for not taking full advantage of instructions even though they were right in front of my face. You know how it is, you buy something that requires assembly and you glance at the instructions but, because that instruction booklet is so thick and there seems to be so many steps, you just look at the picture on the front of the box and put it together the way that makes sense to you. And usually, to further confuse the project, a friend will show up to give his expert opinion to help you “get it done faster.” Problem is, when you think you’re finished, you have a handful of “left-over parts” that look kind of important, and inevitably something doesn’t work quite the way it’s supposed to. Only then do we bow in submission to the instruction booklet, take it apart and start over.
Well brothers and sisters, God wants everyone to have an instruction book of our own so that we can all obtain instructions straight from the manufacturer and not have to rely on ourselves or the opinions of other people in order to know how He wants us to put our lives together.
As you know, the bible is not “just a book.” Hebrews 4:12 says;
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
The word of God is divine. 2Timothy 3:16 says that; “..all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
In the bible itself the word of God is described in many ways:
It is called a light to illuminate our path; In the 119th psalm, it says; “your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
It is likened to a seed; in the parable of the sower, Jesus tells us that, given the right condition, the word could “take root” in our hearts and spring up to eternal life.
The word of God is a sanctifying agent; when praying to His father on our behalf, Jesus said; “sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.”
And last but not least, the word of God is compared to rain;
In Isaiah 55 God says; “...like the rain and snow that come down from heaven and will not return until it waters the earth and causes it to bud and flourish, so is My word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to Me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
As you may have already guessed by now, the bible is no doubt the most reliable agent through which we can hear God talking to us. But that’s not to say that preaching, teaching and witnessing are totally unreliable and something we should steer clear of. On the contrary, the bible tells us that the gospel will be “preached” to all the world and, only then will the end come. So listening to the message of ministers and teachers is very valuable, but we have to learn a lesson from the early Christians in Berea. Luke says in the book of Acts that the Bereans received the message of the gospel with great eagerness but yet examined the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was preaching was consistent with what was written. I guess the moral is; in matters of eternal life and death, trust only a “thus saith the Lord.” In Isaiah 8:20 we read; “To the Law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this Word, they have no light in them.”
So far, we’ve talked about the preached word and the written word, does that about cover it? Are these two the only avenues through which God speaks to us? Hardly. Turn with me to Romans 1:18-20.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
You see friends, God not only speaks to us through His word and His human messengers, but He also speaks to us through nature. From the humpback whale to the smallest microorganism, God’s miracles of creation should direct our attention and praise back to the Creator. You know they say that a truly great artist pours a little of himself into his every work, and by studying different pieces, we can, in a sense, get to know the artist without ever meeting him face to face. Isn’t it wonderful that our God, the Author of life and master of creation chooses to reveal Himself to us though each one of His masterpieces. And that’s how we should view the wonders of nature that are so often overlooked and taken for granted. We should take the time to really examine His handi-work because He has encrypted a special message for us in every bird, flower, every star-lit night, every sunset, and yes, in every person.
So, we hear the voice of the Lord through His human agencies, we definitely hear His voice through the reading of His word, and we hear Him speaking to us through nature--through the things He has created for our benefit and enjoyment.
But there is another way that we hear God’s voice; and it’s perhaps the most controversial and contested way. I call it “direct revelation.” Now don’t go running to your 27 Fundamental Beliefs manual for the definition of this term because it’s not in there. I use direct revelation to describe instances when God speaks to us directly; in our mind. He does this in many different ways; sometimes He speaks to us in dreams...many times He speaks to us through circumstances which help us to make decisions, and sometimes simply through the guiding inner voice of our conscience. Has God ever spoken to you this way? Sure He has, but the problem is that a lot of those times we are like the young prophet Samuel when he was in the temple and heard the voice of the Lord for the first time... in that we don’t recognize the voice of God, and even when we do, we sometimes aren’t confident that we understand exactly what it’s saying.
Would you like to know a rule of thumb about how you can determine if what you are hearing is the voice of God or not? I’ll tell you, but first let me explain something about all the different ways we’ve been talking about in which you can “hear God speaking to you.”
Listening to preaching, reading the bible for yourself, studying the wonders of nature, and direct revelation all have to involve another factor before they can be of any help to us; they all have to include special guidance from the Holy Spirit. Before returning to heaven, Jesus promised to send His Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and comfort us. And by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we also accept this vital gift of the Holy Spirit. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 2:10-16
10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
A major part of giving your life to the Lord is also allowing Him to be the Lord of your mind. But being human, sometimes we are not all that “in tune” with the Holy Spirit and so His voice becomes somewhat muffled and our view of right and wrong becomes a little blurred. But there is a biblical formula that we can use to discern whether a voice that is speaking to us is from God or not; whether the suggestion or message that we are hearing is right or wrong. This formula takes the form of four simple questions that we need to ask ourselves based on three verses of 1 Corinthians
1Corinthians 6:12 “...everything is permissible for me-but not everything is beneficial.” Question #1: Is it helpful physically, spiritually, and mentally?
Again 1 Corinthians 6:12; “everything is permissible for me but I will not be mastered by anything.”
Question #2: Does it bring me under it’s power?
1Corinthians 8:13; “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall” Question #3. Does it hurt others?
1Corinthians 10:31; “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Question #4; Does it glorify God? If this “voice” that you hear is telling you to do something that holds up to these four questions, then chances are good that the God is behind it.
In conclusion; I want to tell you a true story that happened a long time ago. Way back when we didn’t have refrigerators to keep our food cool. In those days people had to put all their perishable food in what was called an icebox. Well, problem is, that the ice for the iceboxes had to be cut out of the frozen lakes in the winter and somehow kept frozen through the summer months so that it could be delivered to people’s houses. This ice, that was about two feet thick, was cut into big blocks and stored in icehouses.
These storage houses had very thick walls for insulation and the ice blocks would be stacked in there and covered with sawdust to keep them from melting too quickly.
Well one day, a worker in one of these icehouses lost a very special watch. This watch was special to him because it was given to him by his father who had died some years earlier. His dad worked many a long hard hour to purchase this watch for his son. When he gave it to him, he told him that whenever he heard it ticking to remember how much he loved him. So he was very upset at himself for losing this watch and he and all the other workers searched long and hard for this precious timepiece---but with no luck. Finally, because of all the sawdust, they realized that it would be almost impossible to find, so they gave it up for lost. But near the end of the day a small boy that had heard of what had happened came up and asked if he could help in the search. The men told him that they had been looking for hours but it was no use. Undaunted, the boy walked by the men into the icehouse and closed the big thick door behind him. Five minutes later, the door opened again and out walked the boy with the watch in his hand!
The men were delighted and amazed, and when the boy gave the watch back to it’s relieved owner, the man asked the boy how in the world did he find it so fast. The boy smiled and said; “I just went in there by myself, closed the door, laid on the floor and got very still..........and then I listened real hard.”
Friends, God speaks to us in many ways. As both Moses and Elijah found out; the Lord isn’t in the earthquake, the strong wind or the fire.. Rather He is in the “gentle breeze” and He speaks to us with a still small voice that we need to really listen for in order to hear. As someone who has heard that “voice” and felt His presence, I urge you to listen with all your heart because what He has to tell you is literally priceless. May God bless you as you listen for those “wonderful words of Life.”
