To Follow Jesus, We Need To Learn To Listen To His Voice Series

Introduction:

If I were to ask you ladies if you husbands are good listeners, most of you would probably respond with a resounding: "no." If I were to ask you parents if your children are good listeners, I believe I would get a lot of "no's." If I turned it around and asked you teenagers if your parents listen to you, I am sure that I would get an "no." If I were to ask each Christian man or Christian woman if you were a good listener to the voice of the Lord, I believe the answer is "no" once again even though the Bible says in John 10:27 that my sheep hear my voice. In the days that we are living in, we must be good listeners if we are going to follow Jesus.

Do you know who the best listener is? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Book of Exodus, the Lord tells us in Exodus 3:7 that the Lord heard the cries of the Israelites under the cruel hand of the Egyptian taskmasters. In Psalm 5:3, the psalmist confirms that the Lord hears my prayers. In Psalm 20, the Lord confirms that He hears my cries in times of trouble. Make no mistake about it: The Lord listens well to His people.

The problem when it comes to listening is not God hearing us, it is us hearing God. In the Book of Revelation in the Lord's messages to the seven churches John writes under inspiration of God these words, "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches." And then in the Gospels Jesus used that same expression. Look at Mark 4:23 (NKJV) 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." Those were Jesus' own words and He recognized that many do not hear him.

So, I have to ask myself the question: "What is the problem that I don't hear God?" And that is what we are going to look at today. What hinders us from hearing the Lord? To do that I want to look at the encounter at the burning bush when God spoke to Moses, and he heard clearly what God had to say.

Scripture:

Exodus 3:1-5(NKJV) 1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." 4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

Point #1

Hearing God 's voice will require effort on my part. Moses took his sheep to a place where He knew that He could talk with God. Do I make the effort to go to a place where I can talk with God?

1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Moses lives in the land of Midian on the backside of the desert tending the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law. So, as we come to Exodus 3, Moses is going to take his sheep out to pasture. But he is not taking the sheep in the back pasture an acre or two from Jethro's house. Moses set out to take them about twenty-five miles (25) miles to the pastureland around Mt. Horeb. There were many mountain ranges near Midian, but Moses headed to a specific mountain range- Horeb. Horeb has two meanings: Mountain of YHWH and it is also called the Mount of God. You might have heard this Mountain also referred to a Mt. Sinai in some places. It would be the place later where God would give Moses the Ten Commandments.

The fact that Moses would take those sheep that far tells me how badly Moses wanted to hear from God. What kind of effort do you make to hear from God? Are you willing to get up early to seek the Lord since He gives us a promise in Scripture? Proverbs 8:17 (KJV) I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Isaiah went to the house of the Lord to hear from God, and there He meet the Lord High and lighted up. And it was there that Isaiah carried on a conversation with God. And Jesus would always go to a secluded place to listen to the Words of His Father. In all three cases, there was an effort- to get up early, to go to the church house, and to find a secluded place to talk to God.