“Can You Hear Him Now……….Good”
Revelation 3:6 “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”
I know you have seen the commercial with the man that is in some secluded location, talking on a cell phone. He ask the question “Can you hear me now?’ Evidently the person on the other end says yes cause the man replies Good. He takes a couple of steps and ask the same question again “Can you hear me now?’ there is a slight pause and then he says Good. He takes a few more steps and asks the question again. That phrase as become a well know phrase that when ever you see someone talking on the cell phone you think about that commercial so I would like to take from that commercial and this scripture and use for the a subject “Can You Hear Him Now……….Good”
The Bible says, “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” I must establish this first; God is trying to get the attention of the church. Understand that Original Glorious is not the church, Zion Baptist is not the church, First Baptist is not the church, The Potter’s House, World Harvest, or the Vatican is not the church. Denominations such as Apostolic, Pentecostal, Baptist, Full Gospel, Church of God, C.O.G.I.C., Methodist, or Catholic are not the church. The church is comprised of those that believe in the Lord, who are called by His name and according to His purpose, that is the church. God is speaking to the church, He is not talking to the world, He is not talking to the sinner, He is not talking to a denomination, but He is talking to those that are called by His name according to His purpose, the Church. I know what someone may be thinking, “Are you trying to say God does not talk to the sinner? No that is not what I am saying. God has a purpose for the church and he is trying to get the attention of the church so they can carry out the purpose God has for them. It has nothing to do with the world or with the sinner man, but those that believe on the name of the Lord, who are called by His name and according to His purpose. That is the reason why the Catholic religion is experiencing what they are experiencing now, He is trying to get the attention of the church. The reason why terrorist have attacked America is He is trying to get the attention of the church. The reason why little children are being taken out of their beds in the middle of the night is because He is trying to get the attention of the church. The reason why one man can say he is offended by the pledge of allegiance and nearly change an entire nation overnight is because God is trying to get the attention of the church. He said “If my people (the church) who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, seek my face and turn from the wicked ways, then shall I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and heal their land”. Understand that at this time God is not talking to the world, He is not talking to the sinner man. The reason why is because the god of this world hath blinded the mind of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Since their minds are blinded they are unable to understand what it means when we say as you see the signs of the time fail not to assemble yourselves together and they can’t believe that God is soon to come again. Therefore He is talking to the church, those that believe and are called by His name to do His will saying “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
Before I can go to the mountaintop let us have a little Bible class if that’s all right.
The Ear: is a very vital and important part of our lives. It’s the organ of hearing and balance, consisting of 3 parts the outer, middle, and inner ear, it is one of the ways that we are connected to the world around us. Our ears afford us the ability to be able to hear the birds’ sing, the children laugh, and the thunder roar. They alert us to potential danger that we are unable to see; for example when we are in our cars traveling in one direction and we are unable to see the ambulance or police coming from the side or from behind us, but our ears distinguish the sound of the sirens from all the other sounds around us and lets us know that danger is coming. The ear is able to distinguish efficiently, sound as low as a light whisper to a thunderous roar. Doctors and Scientist have said that the ear is a miraculous perfection of engineering that even with the most sophisticated computers and electronic digital equipment that it is impossible to duplicate the function of the ear in a machine the size of a refrigerator; however, the ear is capable of doing it in an area the size of a pea. WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE. The ear is responsible for hearing (TRUE), but it also has another function in that it provides us with what is called “Equilibrium”.
ªEquilibrium is the state of intellectual or emotional balance, it is adjustment between opposing, divergent influences, elements or actions, it produces stability as well as mental and emotional steadiness.
ªIn the spiritual the ear is responsible for hearing what the Lord is saying as well as providing us with spiritual intellect and spiritual emotional balance. So we are able when the devil is reacking havoc in our lives, when it seems that he has just about caused us to loose our minds, we have spiritual equilibrium and don’t waiver or fall off the side, but have stability in the midst of our trails and spiritual emotional balance that we are able to declare when all hell is breaking loose in our lives that I still have joy, I’m steadfast, unmovable, because I have spiritual equilibrium. “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
¨: The word “let” = to allow, to permit, to afford the opportunity to
“He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
Hear: - means to perceive or apprehended by the ear, to gain knowledge by hearing, to dedicated attention to, to entertain the idea, to heed. The ability to hear is the auditory function by which the stimulation of receptors (the auditory nerve) in the inner ear transform this stimulation into neural energy, than transmits this neural energy to the brain which produces the sensation of hearing.
¨: In the spiritual what happens is we hear with our spiritual hear the words of the Lord, the stimulation of these words in the inner ear are transformed into spiritual energy and when it reaches the inner man it produces a sensation of joy. That’s why sometimes when we are driving down the road or at work all of the sudden you just have to through up your hands and say THANK YOU JESUS or a tear of joy may begin to run down your face, people may not understand it, they may ask is everything alright and you can’t even find the words to explain it yourself, but what has just happened was your spiritual ear had just received stimulation from the word of the Lord and transformed that stimulation into spiritual energy and when it reached the inner man (the spirit of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in you) it produced joy. That’s why we sing the song sometimes “This joy I have the world didn’t give it to me, the world didn’t give it and the world can’t take it away.”
I think back on the movie “A Color Purple” and there is a scene in that movie when the lady “Sug” was singing in a club and she could hear something in the distance, she left the club and began to go to the sound. As she got closer she could hear the song coming from her father’s church, they were singing the song “God is trying to tell you something”. God is trying to tell the church something. That’s why the scripture says
“He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
What are we suppose to hear exactly? I’m glad you asked that question. O.K. here is the answer. We are to hear what the spirit saith to the churches. WATCH THIS: The Bible says in Luke 24:39 “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” And then St. John 4:23-KJV “God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth.” So when the scripture says “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches”, we must understand that the Bishop is not the spirit, the ministers are not the spirit, any woman or man that stands up here and gives the word is not the spirit; however, they are the vessel that God the spirit has chosen to manifest himself through and give a word to His people; therefore if they say something to us they have been given the authority by God himself, the spirit, to give this word to His people at this time and we must hear what is being said. The problem we have is we think because I’m 21 with tags and title, I’m grown, I can do what I want to do, he can’t tell me what I can’t wear, he can’t tell me where I can’t go or what I can’t do, he can’t tell me I need to be more faithful to my own services, WHO IN GODS’ NAME DOES HE THINK HE IS, but that’s just it they are the ones standing in God’s name. “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
**Now we get to the meat of this message, we have established the fact that God, which is the spirit, is speaking to the church. We understand that the church is comprised of the believers in the Lord that are called by His name according to His purpose. “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The word “Saith” means = to state or declare, to utter, pronounce, indicate, to give expression to, to communicate, to express oneself through words. “Words” are how we communicate with each other. Understand that there are many different types of words. There are helpful words, hurtful words, loving words, kind words, gentile words, abusive words, inspirational words, motivating words, words that cut down, curse words and there is what is called Rheama Words or Logos if you will. Rheama words or Logos are words of divine wisdom that manifest itself in creation, government, and redemption, they are the controlling principle in the universe. When we look at the term “Theology” we realize that:
· Theos = God
· Logos = Divine word
· Ology = the study of
· = Theology
Rheama words or Logos are words of divine impartation, that is they give, convey, and present knowledge, experience, guidance, and direction that will cause a positive effect in, on, around, over and through your life. They are the words that flow from the mouth of God to the ears of those that hath an ear and are willing to hear what He is saying.
“He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
I know you are asking yourself “What is He saying and I’m glad you asked that question. God simply is saying get right church, get right church, get right, get right, and get right. The Bible says in Eph. 5:27 “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
God has to present to himself a glorious church. That is the purpose, that is why He is trying to get our attention The word “Glorious” means = possessing or deserving glory: ILLUSTRIOUS marked by great beauty or splendor: MAGNIFICENT: DELIGHTFUL, WONDERFUL SPLENDID
**SPOT = impurity. A spot is something that is unclean, not pure. A spot doesn’t mean everything is impure but impurity is in it. If you pull a shirt or dress out of the closet that just came from the cleaners and there is a spot on it, it doesn’t mean the whole garment is dirty, but some impurity is in it.
**Wrinkle = is a disruption in the flow, CREASE; IMPERFECTION, IRREGULARITY
¨The reason why the churches can’t get united, can’t have unity with one another is because of the impurity in the churches, they have allowed every diabolical thing the world has to offer in them just so they can say see how many members we have, but this is impurity which made a spot and caused wrinkles which in turn interrupt the flow of God’s plan. I know God will pour out His spirit upon all flesh and there will be all kinds of people coming into the church. There will be drug addicts, prostitues, alcoholics, and homosexuals, but once they come in they must be transformed by the renewing of their minds. You can’t come into God’s church and still be doing the same old stuff that you were doing in the world, old things must pass away and behold all things must become new. The problem that we have today is that we have become so congregationally conscious, worrying about how big our membership is. We try to out shine this person or that church. We try so hard to make so-called change that we fail to worry about the soul and have let the world creep into the church. So much that we have weakened the foundation. When you tamper with the foundation of a structure you tamper with the stability of the structure. So many people are fallen because the foundation of the church has been tampered with, and when the storms begin to rage and the winds begin to blow, the structure falls because the foundation that it was built upon is weak. God is tired of the church, the glorious church that he wants to present to himself getting so wrapped up, tied up and tangled up in the world. The church has begun to look like the world, act like the world, talk like the world, live like the world. And God is saying He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches.
“He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed about with so a great cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
If we dissect this scripture we are able to hear what God is saying to the churches.
a.) “lay aside” means to take off, to get rid of, remove, dispose of, take out, and let go of.
We have been holding on to long to the world and the things of the world. We have developed the philosophy that as long as I go to church on Sunday or as long as I put my name on the roll at the Church of the Holy fire everything is alright, I can hold on to my things of this world and still be saved. But God said you got to lay it aside.
b.) Every “Weight”. A weight is a heavy load, an object used to hold something down, and a burden.
The reason you have not grown in God is you are burden down with the weight of sin and you are to heavy to get off the ground.
c.) The “Sin” is any unrighteousness. Anything that goes against the will of God.
That haulty spirit is sin, that disobedient spirit is sin, that jealousy is sin.
d.) “Run” is to be moving at a fast pace, not standing still.
There used to be a song that we sang years ago that said “On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand.”
The Church of old was built upon a solid foundation, the foundation of the word. The Bible says, 1st John 1:1 “In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God.” The church was built upon a solid foundation the word, but we have allowed the world to enter the church. Now we have homosexuality being allowed in the pulpit, wrong is being called right and right being called wrong, why because the ways of the world are now in the church.
If we look at the words “WORD” and “WORLD” we see that the only difference between them is the letter “L”.
He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. God is telling the church its time to get the L out. What we need to do is get the “L” out and get back into the word.
¨ My father use to have this saying when we were younger, we would be getting ready for church and if we were moving to slow he would yell upstairs “Get the Lead out”. Something was slowing us down, keeping us from being able to move. Something was weighing us down.
When we think about lead, we often think of a heavy yet soft metal used to hold something down or even that stuff in a pencil that gives us the ability to write. We forget to realize that lead is extremely dangerous. Lead use to be used in paint because it seemed to make the paint more durable. The paint wouldn’t chip so easily and when the walls got dirty, you could just wipe them down instead, but suddenly children began to die, people didn’t understand why, but it was because of the poisonous vapors that the lead gave off in the paint. Lead use to be used in gasoline. The government had to pass a law to take the lead out of gas because the vapors were polluting the air and people were dying because the vapors got into their respiratory system and then into the blood (the life source) of the people poisoned their blood.
The Church (this body) is being infected and beginning to die because we have let lead get into the Church. The poisonous vapors are getting into the life source and we are dying because of it. I’m not talking about the lead that is a heavy yet soft metal, I’m talking about L.E.A.D. Lust, Envy, Animosity, and Disobedience.
L – Lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, pride of life (Self Lust). We have people in church sleeping with this one and that one. Young girls ending up pregnant talking about I love him. (No baby you’re 16 that’s lust not love). Young boys making babies all over town, but because they can play the music or sing very well we over look all this so we can say see the size of my church. Lust does not always mean one person desires to have another, but there is the lust of self (Self Lust). People say I’m tired, I worked late, I’m not going to Bible Class, I’m not going to Friday Night service, I need my rest, I’m not going to Sunday school it to early in the morning for me I need to rest. You have become so wrapped up in yourself, you have placed satisfying your flesh before God and that is a spot, its impurity in your life. The middle letter of pride is I, the middle letter of sin is I, the middle letter of die is I, when you get wrapped up in pride you commit sin and then you die. He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches.
E – Envy I don’t know why the gave the solo to them I can sing just as good if not better then them. I don’t know why they get to preach all the time I can preach just as good if not better then them. (Well if you get the L out and stop being so lazy and make it choir rehearsal you might get the solo, get the L out and make it to Bible Class and Sunday School you may get to preach.) We have envy in the church this person envious of that person because God is using them, God is blessing them, God is elevating them at this time and not you, so many times we say this “Its their time”, but I stand here and believe tat God is speaking to the church and those that have an ear to hear him are being used by him NOW. Don’t get jealous of people like Jake, Parsley, Hinn or any body at all, because God doesn’t have respecter of person and if you hear what he is saying he’ll use you too.
A – Animosity – We have saints mad at each other for whatever reason they can think of, they won’t praise the Lord with them and go all around the church just to avoid them. Yet in still they give a testimony that will melt the walls of the church. But the Bible says “How can you say you Love God whom you have never seen and can’t Love your brother whom you see everyday.”
D – Disobedience – The pastor says you can’t do this, you can’t wear that and we get this attitude I’m 3x7 plus. I’m grown, he ain’t my daddy I’ll do what ever I want. Keep on disobeying the one God has made watchman over your soul and your 3x7 behind will bust hell wide open. There is not an earring, tube of make up, pair of pants, or dress to short that will send your soul to hell, but disobedience will. You may not always agree with what the pastor says.
Once you get the L out you are left with W.O.R.D.
Psalms 119:105 says, “The word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
The word will correct you when you start to go astray. The word gives us the directions to get to heaven. The word keeps you from sinning against God. When you get the “L” out you are left with W.O.R.D.
W – We
O – Obey
R – Righteous
D – Directions
God is telling the church it’s time to get the L out of our lives, get deep into our word, get right church and lets go home.
Can you hear Him Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think of a song we use to sing that said “Don’t let it be said to late to late to enter the golden gate” I would like to change it a little and have it say “Don’t let it be heard to late”
Can You Hear Him Now
Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
Boanerge Ministries
