The Shepherd & The Sheep 5 Of 6 Series

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…