Overcoming Obstacles

Few things are as important as the ability to hear God’s voice.
Hearing God clearly enables you to…

• Have CONFIDENCE that your faith is real and has substance!
• Experience CLARITY in what your life is all about!
• Enjoy CONNECTION with God that results in an unshakeable joy!

This Summer we’ve spent a great deal of time and energy examining four keys to moving into authentic two-way dialogue with God.

1. SPONTANEITY - God’s voice in our hearts sounds like the flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, when I tune into God, I tune into spontaneity! (John 10:27)
2. STILLNESS – In order to sense God’s voice, I must learn to still my own thoughts and emotions. (Psalms 46:10)
3. VISION – As I pray, I fix the eyes of my heart upon Jesus, seeing in the Spirit the dreams and visions of God. (Habakkuk 2:1, Ephesians 1:17-18, Acts 2:17)
4. JOURNALING – The writing out of our prayers and God’s answers, provides a great new freedom in hearing God’s voice.

Yet, even though we desire to experience this new-found level of communication with God, we will – from time to time – experience OBSTACLES to hearing Him clearly.

Today I want to talk with you about how to remove – and to overcome – the obstacles that come in the way of your walk with Christ.

BEFORE we get into the details – I want to focus on one overriding truth: When I am faced with an obstacle, I have a choice to make: GIVE UP or GET THROUGH IT!

Today’s message is for those who desire to GET THROUGH to the other-side of obstacles.

Let’s read Hebrews 10:19ff:
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22, NIV.

Let’s settle some issues right from the get go:
• Are you a believer in Christ?
• Do you believe that His death on the cross paid the price for your sin?
• Do you believe that He has forgiven you of your sin?

If the answer to those questions is YES – than you can have CONFIDENCE in your relationship with God!

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God…”

It’s time to stop all of this nonsense about God not accepting you, not loving you, not allowing you to be with Him! It’s time to put that away as a lie from the pit of hell and instead to begin TODAY TO EMBRACE THE TRUTH: You – by faith in Christ – have direct access to the HOLY PLACE of God! And this access is not based upon your personal goodness, perfection or how well you keep the rules – it is totally based upon the COMPLETED WORK OF Christ on the Cross!

It’s time to be CONFIDENT with God!

NOW – having settled that – let’s look at the rest of this text:

The author of Hebrews writes: “Let us draw near to God…”

This is the will of God! You and I – near to the heart of GOD! He invites us into the Holy – into the place of intimacy and joyful experience with Him!

Oh – church family – let us draw near to God! Let us draw near to Him! Cast off fear – rid yourself of regrets – move in close, sit with Him – He is here!

Now – the author of Hebrews gives us some clues about overcoming obstacles:

1. Draw near through FAITH.
“…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…”

I believe that the number one reason we don’t draw near and we don’t hear is because of lack of faith!

How can I hear God’s voice if – I don’t really believe He is speaking?
How can I hear God’s voice if – I don’t really believe He’s speaking to me?

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6, NIV.

I cannot please God without faith. But – if I come to Him in faith, I will be rewarded for it! Do you get that – everytime we move in faith, God rewards! God blesses! God reveals!

So, let me give you some quick faithbuilding exercises:

FAITHBUILDERS:
1. WORSHIP in the Spirit – Make a choice to worship the Lord no matter how you feel! Because you are worthy – oh Lord, - I will worship!
2. FOCUS on Bible Promises – Get into the Word – read it with an eye for promises! What does it do in your spirit when you hear…

I will never leave you nor forsake you… I will pour out my Spirit on all who believe… I have loved you with an everlasting love… I have removed your sins as far as the east is from the west… All who call on my name will be saved…

The Bible is filled with promises. Focus on them and your faith will be built!

3. REREAD your journal – As you reread your story with God, you’ll see how He has come through for you, over and over and over again!
4. TAKE STEPS of faith – Do what God has already told you to do. Move in the opposite spirit of what the devil, the flesh and world tell you to do! Take action steps of faith that require God to come through for you.
5. LIVE IN Christian Community – As you invest your life in others, and they in you, you’ll hear and see Him at work – The testimony of others will build your faith!

Do you want to draw near to God – in full assurance of faith – then do what it takes to build your faith!

2. Draw near with a CLEAN HEART.
Again the author of Hebrews writes…
“Let us draw near to God… having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience…”

Unconfession and a lack of repentance is a major obstacle to hearing God’s voice. When you are walking in sin and in disobedience to the Lord, your spirit will be feeling so guilty that you won’t be able to hear Him!

1 John 3:21 says:
“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God” 1 John 3:21

And if your heart DOES condemn you the only way out is to CONFESS and REPENT of your sin! The great news is that when you CONFESS and REPENT – God cleanses! God purifies! God does do-overs!

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

If I am going through a period of not hearing the voice of God, I will frequently ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any unconfessed sin so that I may become clean. And it is amazing how quickly He’ll do that – and even more quickly He’ll restore me to wholeness!

3. Draw near with PURE BODIES.
“Let us draw near to God… having our bodies washed with pure water.”
While our bodies are temporary, they are still important! And they need to become beautiful and pure in the sight of the Lord – We are the temple of the Holy Spirit – and they need to be pure! Fortunately, God will speak to you about this…

In Paul’s conversation with the Ephesian church about marriages – He spoke about the church and said:
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27

Christ cleanses us with His living water flowing into our lives! Christ is preparing us to meet Him as a bride meets her groom!

When God speaks to us – through the written word and through the spoken word – we must allow that word to impact our lives! We must do what He says.

If you are struggling with hearing the voice of God, one possible reason is that you’ve yet to obey the last thing He told you to do. Why would He continue to make revelation to us when we’ve refused to do what He has already spoken?

The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 15:22 that ‘to obey is better than sacrifice’ – and God is serious about helping us obey Him and be cleansed by so doing!

Perhaps you need to take serious stock of your life – have you done the last thing God told you to do? If not, today is the day for action.

4. Draw near with a SINCERE HEART.
Going back to the part of the verse that says…
“…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart…”

ONE of the major obstacles that we can face is trying to live with one foot in Christ and one foot in the world. A divided heart: Part of me loves and desires to serve Christ and the other part of me wants to do what I want.

The Greek word for ‘sincere’ is better translated ‘true or genuine’. When I think of my heart – I earnestly, hungrily desire for it to be totally for Christ and for Christ alone!

David cried out to the Lord:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10, KJV.

Is that your cry? Your desire? Your hunger?

Thank God that He hears our cry – and that He gives us our very heart’s desire:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26, 27
And that is exactly what He has done through Christ!

You aren’t who you used to be – because of what Christ has done!

Praise His name!

There are no obstacles too big for God.
Whatever your particular obstacle, bring it to Him and He will overcome it!
Draw near.
Move in close.
Hear the voice of God.

God is doing a new thing in the world today. The old ways, the old rules, the old barriers – all erected by men – are being torn down by God! And we get to join Him in it!

The Value of Writing What God Speaks

Babies are wonderful. They are cute. They are funny. Everyday is a new day of exploration and discovery. But babies are also a great deal of work. They need constant attention. They need to be fed – six, seven times a day. They need to be changed – 10 or 12 times a day. They need to be held. No parent of a baby is ever rested. No parent of a baby has unstained clothes. Babies are high maintenance, and quite seriously, cannot survive without intensive care from loving parents. Let’s face it – as wonderful as babies are, they are also a great deal of responsibility and work. And we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Have you ever watched someone feed a 6 month old baby? It’s quite comical.
• Little bit of apple sauce on the spoon.
• “Open your mouth, little snookems”
• Mouth opens – until the spoon approaches and then it closes – leaving the food all over the babies face and new clothes – ‘oops, forget the bib – again!’
• Wipe cloth, clean up.
• Try again
• Mouth opens, zoom in for the close up: Will the spoon make it in the mouth in time – or will we have a repeat spill?
• Mouth stays open – yeah! We did it! Food is in the mouth!! Success!! – No, wait, there’s a late breaking development, what? Oh no – baby is spitting the food out of his mouth!
• Wipe cloth, clean up.
• Try again
• And on and on it goes… it’s amazing babies survive! But somehow they do!

And that is an illustration of what parenting is all about: Caring, feeding, cleaning up and trying again. Ultimately, the goal of parenting is to help the baby grow until such time they are able to fully care for themselves. And that takes somewhere around 20 years.

The same thing is true in the realm of the Spirit of God. When you become a Christian, you begin as a baby – makes sense, after all, you were spiritually dead prior to receiving Christ, and then He gives you new Life in Him, but you are NEW AT IT – you are a baby. But, just as human babies are designed to grow up, so, you and I are designed to grow up and become mature.

God created a process by which this spiritual maturity takes place – look at Ephesians 4:11

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-15

Do you see the process?
- PREPARATION for ministry: Five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers – who all have the same objective: Prepare God’s people for ministry! – Greek: “Complete equipping for service” – which then is followed by:
- MATURITY in Christ: We will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. – It is God’s will that you be absolutely mature in Him, that you become just like Him, that you become Christ to this world!

Why is this important? Because it is time for you to become self-feeding! You do not need me – or – any other pastor/teacher – to spoon-feed you! You need to become mature – you need to become like Christ – you need to allow His Spirit to utterly and forever transform you – so that you indeed will ‘grow up into Him’!

I don’t say this critically – I say this to exhort you to become the person you were created to be! In fact, many of you are becoming exactly what I’m talking about! I see you – ministering to one another, praying believing, fighting for others. Rising up! I see guys like Brad – who is rarely without his Bible in hand! Praise God!

And, I say this to explain again why I am teaching you so carefully how to have dialogue with God – how to hear His voice, how to be filled with His Holy Spirit living within – because as this becomes the priority of your life – you will become what God made you to be!

In recent weeks we’ve discovered three vital tools to having honest dialogue with God:

1. SPONTANEITY - God’s voice in our hearts sounds like the flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, when I tune into God, I tune into spontaneity! (John 10:27)
2. STILLNESS – In order to sense God’s voice, I must learn to still my own thoughts and emotions. (Psalms 46:10)
3. VISION – As I pray, I fix the eyes of my heart upon Jesus, seeing in the Spirit the dreams and visions of God. (Habakkuk 2:1, Ephesians 1:17-18, Acts 2:17)

Today, we focus on one last tool of revelation as it relates to having authentic dialogue with God.

4. JOURNALING – The writing out of our prayers and God’s answers, provides a great new freedom in hearing God’s voice.

Journaling is simply writing out my prayers to God and what I believe His response is to me. It is a record of my two-way dialogue with God.

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS:

TURN TO PSALMS 32:6
The entire books of Psalms is really a journal of David’s experience with God. David writes – then God speaks. Notice sometime as you are reading Psalms, the word “selah” – it means musical rest or interlude – and frequently, after the ‘selah’ the depth of the message has increased – why? Because God spoke during the interlude!

“Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding-place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!” Psalms 32:6-11
Prior to the ‘selah’ – it is David talking – he is speaking faith! He is praying believing! He is walking in the power of the Holy Spirit – and then the ‘selah’ comes – And now, it is GOD speaking – “I will instruct, I will counsel and watch...” And the result: We can rejoice in the Lord!


The apostle John is worshipping – and he records – he journals what God reveals and speaks:
“On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”” Revelation 1:10, 11

BENEFITS OF JOURNALING

1. Doubts can be set aside, without throwing away my common sense.
When I first began to journal, I was worried that the stuff I was writing came from me, or from the enemy. I am a skeptic. I need to know for sure that something is truly from the Lord. Journaling has helped that – because as I write whatever comes to me, I am then free to go back and review it later to evaluate it in the light of what I already know from Scripture!

Let me read you a sample from a recent journaling – you tell me if it sounds like something God would say. ILLUSTRATION #1

A second benefit of journaling is…

2. Journaling gives my brain something to do while receiving revelation.
My brain is used to being in control, and frankly, it needs something to do. So, by journaling what you are receiving, your brain is involved in the physical processes of writing. So, as I move in the Spirit, I tell my brain to do what its told and to write. And my brain is happy and my ability to receive from the Lord continues!

Thirdly,
3. Journaling stands as testimony to the faithfulness of God.
In the Old Testament we see that when God did something really special for the people of Israel, they build a pile of rocks – an Ebenezer – to serve as a reminder of the faithfulness of God. When you journal, you are building an Ebenezer of paper and ink that serve you as a reminder of what God has done. Is that important? You bet it is - because we so easily forget!

Fourth,
4. Journaling keeps the message pure.
Sometimes, in our excitement and passion, we can easily get off track from His purposes. And as we do, we will inevitably hit the wall of failure or frustration – why? Because God doesn’t bless what He isn’t building! So, by journaling, we can go back to what He has revealed and He reminds us of what His true intentions were.

Fifth -
5. Journaling helps me wait.
The journey into Christ is long and filled with potholes, diversions, distractions and pain. Many times the Lord will speak something into our lives that are going to come to fullness – but not now – but in the fullness of God’s time! His promises always come true. By journaling, we can review what He has revealed and be assured that ‘he who began the good work, is faithful to complete it!’

Sixth:
6. Journaling helps me see God more accurately.
Most of us have a sneaking suspicion that to encounter God is to encounter judgment, criticism and condemnation. Even though we know that the Bible tells us things like “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” and “God is love” – we doubt that that applies to us.
But when you begin to receive revelation through journaling – you’ll be surprised to hear Him say things that are more gentle than you’d imagine – let me illustrate… ILLUSTRATION #2

Dear family - He is calling us into Himself. He desires that we become fully mature in Him! It is possible! One of the most important things you can do is learn to feed yourself.

BABIES are wonderful – but as any parent will tell you – they don’t stay babies long. Unfortunately, in the modern church many, many Christians stay babies for 20, 30 or 50 years! That cannot happen in this church. You are expected to grow up into Christ! And I’ll help you.

No pastor on earth is able to keep you well fed – you come to Sunday mornings and you expect to be fed – and I promise that I will continually strive to prepare you for works of service. But you must do your part. You cannot expect to grow in the Lord if your only feeding happens on Sunday mornings. Can you imagine if you only ate one meal per week? You’d starve!

And that is what some of you are doing now – you are beginning to look like a holocaust victim spiritually and Satan is thrilled! It’s time to eat! It’s time to feed! It’s time to feast!

And how? By entering into true dialogue with God.

• Open yourself to SPONTANEITY.
• Seek to be STILL before the Lord.
• Expect to see VISIONS AND DREAMS.
• JOURNAL what He is speaking.

Seeing in the Spirit - Part 2

What is our goal as a church family? To glorify God by passionately pursuing after Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit!

One of the most important tasks we have before us is to learn to hear the voice of God and see the revelation that He has for us in the day-to-day of life. To enter into dialogue with God is to experience a two-way conversation with Him – why? Because He loves us and we love Him.

Thus far – we’ve learned that:
- God’s voice in our hearts sounds like the flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, in order to hear Him, I must tune into spontaneity.

- God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry. Therefore, I must embrace stillness in order to hear His voice.

- God uses visions and dreams to speak intimately to our hearts. Therefore, I will fix the eyes of my heart upon Jesus, seeking to see in the Spirit the dreams and visions of God.

When we begin to operate and live from the eyes of the heart – our experience with God takes on a vibrancy and life that simple head knowledge cannot ever replicate!

Last week, we defined vision as…
VISION DEFINED: Vision is seeing the movement of God with the eyes of the heart.

When God gives vision it is always to help you and I see what He is doing or is about to do! He gives vision so that we can participate with Him in what He is going to do.

And we also looked at the life of Christ and how He absolutely depended upon vision in order to accomplish His life’s purpose.

Remember what He said in John…
“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” John 5:19, 20

Today we are going to take a look at:
• How to prepare the eyes of your heart for God to speak to you.
• How to test any revelation in order to be certain of it’s origin.

We are going to look at how to test any revelation in order to be certain of it’s origin – prior – to discussing how to prepare your heart for God’s revelation. The reason we are doing this is that when I get to the preparation stage of this message, I don’t want you freaking out and saying: “Won’t this open me up to all kinds of falsehood and error!”

1. How to test any revelation in order to be certain of it’s origin.

We’ve been taught to live rationally – as if the mind were the center of the human. But it isn’t – receiving revelation happens as Spirit-to-spirit communication occurs. Yet, God hasn’t called us to throw away our minds! In fact, our minds serve us well and have a very important role to play in our spiritual development. God intends for you to use your mind as a place of testing what is being revealed!

As we begin to live in the Holy Spirit, we will make mistakes. So that’s why Paul wrote these words in 2 Thessalonians 5:21 - “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

There is so much at stake – you must learn how to test what is being purported to be of God.

1. Determine the origin – you’ve go to know who it came from, and from what I can tell, there are three possible sources:
- My mind – if so, then the picture will be born in my mind, not in the spirit – it will be a creation of my mind and will have been painted stroke by stroke by me.
- Satan – if so, then the picture will seem terribly out of place, it won’t fit what you know God is doing.
- The Holy Spirit – if so, then the picture will be a living flow of life coming from your innermost being and pointing you to Jesus!

2. Determine the content –

“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” 1 John 4:2-5

Is the content of the revelation, word or vision one that brings honor to Christ?

If the ideas are merely my own, they will sound like what I’ve learned, and expression of what I have been feeding my mind and heart.

If the ideas are from Satan, they will be negative, destructive and pushy. They will bring accusation and fear. The message will not only violate the Word of God, but will violate the nature of God! Perhaps the clearest indicator of satanic origin is secrecy – darkness does not want to come into the light!

Any revelation from God will be open and eager for testing. It will be meek and humble, willing to be submitted to the Body of Christ! Truth seeks truth and isn’t afraid of the light! Divine revelation will be instructive, upbuilding and comforting!

Thirdly – test the revelation by…
3. Examining the fruit.

Matthew 7:16 tells us…
“By their fruit you will recognize them…” Matthew 7:16

What is the result of the revelation? Where does it lead?

The fruit of my thoughts will vary – depending on what I’ve been feeding myself.

The fruit of Satan will be fear, bondage, anxiety and confusion.

But the fruit of the Holy Spirit will be a quickening of faith, deepening peace, increasing enlightenment and knowledge of God!

Examing the fruit, determine the content, and determine the origin.

Now – how do you prepare your heart to receive revelation?

2. How to prepare the eyes of your heart for God to speak to you.

Paul prayed…
“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:18

Preparation requires moving away from the logical, analytical and cognitive for a period of time and willingly entering into a place of vision, imagination, creativity and wonder.

When you were a little kid, you could move into imagination so easily. Broomsticks become swords, pop flies into right field become World Series winning grand slams. One of my all-time favorite comic characters is “Calvin” from Calvin and Hobbes. Why? Because Calvin has an amazing imagination – he can take a stuffed tiger and he becomes his best friend Hobbes. He can take a box and travel though time. He can take the same box – turn it upside down and it becomes the “transmogrifier” where he is able to transform himself into whatever he wants to be.

Now, something happens when we ‘grow up’ – that causes us to be embarrassed by our former abilitiy to imagine. But, we lose more than the ability to imagine – we lose the ability to see with the eyes of our heart! Our heads take over to exclusion of the heart.

So, what do we do –

1. Enter into a Bible Story. Simply picture the action as it takes place. Imagine what was going on – all around – as the scene unfolds.

Can you see Goliath standing tall across the field – can you hear his mocking voice? Can you feel the fear in the armies of God? Look at there faces – the hopelessness, the certainty of death? Do you see David’s size compared to the great warriors? How ridiculous his claim to kill Goliath sounds? How silly he looks in Saul’s armor? Can you imagine the shock Goliath felt when David made his bold statements – how much it must of sounded like a chijuahah going up against a pit bull.

Enter into the Bible – move into the third dimension – allow the Holy Spirit to open up the vastness of Scripture.

2. See Jesus while you pray. When you pray, look for Jesus. Go to a comfortable, welcoming place where you and Jesus can talk. In the eyes of your heart – walk with Jesus along the beach, in the shade of pine trees in the mountains, seated in the comfort of your patio.

What I’ve found is that I rarely see His face. I frequently see His hands, and He invites me to walk with Him, hand-in-hand – with Himself leading. But, I also see a quality of presence unlike whne I am with anyone else. Compassion, gentleness, love become reality. And then, as I see in the Holy Spirit my Savior, He begins to speak – bringing the words of wisdom and life that I so desperately need!

When you are praying for others, I’ve begun to see Him take action. When I pray for healing, I see Him touching the sick person at their point of need and giving them exactly what they need.

3. Enjoy praise and worship as you see what you sing. As the Holy Spirit leads you into worship, ask Him to help you see what you sing. Enter into His throne room – see the glory, see the angels and apostles worshipping, join them! When you sing “to see him high and lifted up” – see Him high and lifted up!

Worship will take on an entirely new meaning and vitality when you stop singing with the mind and begin to see what you are singing about! What does it mean that He is ‘holy, holy, holy’? See holiness! What does it mean when you sing…

The whole world’s shaking with the love of God
Great and glorious let the whole earth sing
And all you ever do is change the old for new
People – we believe that…

God is bigger than the air I breathe
The world we’ll leave
God will save the day and all will say
My glorious

CONCLUSION
Ultimately, to see in the Spirit requires that you do two things:

1. Become convinced of the value of living in the Spirit.
2. Set aside time for developing your spiritual life.

I want you to take a moment – and ask the Lord to bring vision and revelation to your life as I play a song for you --- use the tools that I’ve taught you recently…

Spontaneity
Stillness
Seeing in the Spirit

Play: “I can only imagine”

- What was that like for you?
- What did you see?
- How did it help you in your relationship with Christ?

PRAYER
I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By Your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face
Is before me
I can only imagine
{Chorus}:Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine

Seeing in the Spirit - Part 1

As Christians, we face the daily choice of where we are going to draw our power:
- The power of the flesh – where we simply do ‘what feels good…’
- The power of our soul – where our mind, emotions and will direct us
- The power of the Holy Spirit – where we allow God living within us to lead us.

As we turn away from fleshly and soulish living, we simply must have intimate, dialogue with God so that His Spirit can lead us. We need to hear from Him – we don’t know how to live in the Spirit, unless we are in touch with the Spirit.

Which is why we are learning how to have authentic DIALOGUE with God – we aren’t talking here about one-way prayer, instead we are talking about training ourselves in the joy of having two-way conversations with God!

Thus far – we’ve learned that:
- God’s voice in our hearts sounds like the flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, in order to hear Him, I must tune into spontaneity.

- God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry. Therefore, I must embrace stillness in order to hear His voice.

Today – we move to the next step in having dialogue with God. And it is this:
- God uses visions and dreams to speak intimately to our hearts. Therefore, I will fix the eyes of my heart upon Jesus, seeking to see in the Spirit the dreams and visions of God.

PRAYER
Look at Habakkuk 2:1 –
“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Habakkuk 2:1

Here you see the process that one of God’s prophets went through to hear from God – and notice right in the middle of the text: “I will look to see what he will say to me…”

Habakkuk is LOOKING TO SEE what is BEING SAID – and interesting turn of words – why doesn’t he say, “I will listen to what God is saying”? – Because, Habakkuk understood that God speaks through visions and dreams – Habakkuk is LOOKING for the vision that God will send!

This may strike you as a new idea – it certainly has me – until I looked deeper into the Bible and discovered that there are hundreds of verses from Genesis to Revelation that demonstrate that God has chosen to reveal Himself within our hearts by use of dream or vision!

And, since this is one of the ways that God speaks, it is vital for your spiritual growth and maturity for you to learn to see in the Spirit what God is saying!
At the day the church began in Jerusalem – the Day of Pentecost – the day that the Holy Spirit came – Peter quoted Joel 2:28 in Acts 2:17…

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” Acts 2:17, 18

The Holy Spirit of God is given to all who call upon Jesus! As a result – there will be prophesies, there will be visions, there will be dreams – all of which bring us into a greater revelation and experience of God!

It is time for us to move into this dynamic power – to allow Christ to set our hearts aflame with His love – to pursue Him in such a way that He opens us up to that realm of revelation that we have largely ignored!

Our problem is that we have all grown up with a cultural bias against spiritual life! Our culture bows down at the throne of Rationalism – to the complete exclusion of the spiritual realm! We must come to see that this is not God’s problem – this is our problem! The world says: There is no realm of the Spirit – there is only the material world, that which can be observed through the five senses! And much of Western Christianity has bought into this world view blindly – forgetting that as Christians our very hope lies in the fact that there is more than we can see – that God exists and has a Kingdom that is unseen to the natural eyes! We must repent of allowing the world to force us into its mold! If we are ever going to move into truly Spirit-filled living, we must willingly break out of the hold that our godless culture has on us!

Paul prayed for people like us in Ephesians 1:17-18…
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:17, 18

• We need the Spirit of wisdom!
• We need the Spirit of revelation!
Why? So we can ‘know Him better’!

• We need the ‘eyes of the heart opened and enlightened’!
Why? So we can ‘know hope and inheritance!’

Why is this so important? Because it is with the eyes of your heart that the heart of the Lord for you is revealed!

Let me illustrate:
HEAD KNOWLEDGE: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

• God loves everyone.
• God sacrificed His Son.
• I must believe.
• When I believe, I am saved.

Let’s be honest – to hear that with the head doesn’t do much to thrill us!

But hear it with the heart…
HEART KNOWLEDGE:
“I am loved. I am loved deeply, personally, eternally. In spite of my mistakes, in spite of my most wicked moments, even when I said and did horrible things – God was busy – not condemning me, but loving me! His love for me is so extraordinary that He did the unthinkable – He willingly , planned, allowed and carried out the sacrifice of His only child so that I could be brought back from my stupidity, my foolishness, my failures and my eventual death! Imagine, because of this great love, I can experience peace right now. If He loves me like this, I must be of some importance. It doesn’t matter what my parents said, what my classmates or teachers said, it doesn’t matter that I didn’t finish college, that I don’t make a million bucks a year – that I won’t win any beauty contests, that I am not famous: I AM LOVED BY MY CREATOR! And now, I can talk with Him, and he’ll talk with me. I can pour out my heart to Him, and He pours out His heart to me! I can go into any circumstance and He goes with me! Why? Because He loves me! He – loves – me! I – am – loved!”

When we begin to operate and live from the eyes of the heart – our experience with God takes on a vibrancy and life that simple head knowledge cannot ever replicate!

Today and next week – I want to:
• define what vision is
• provide you a biblical foundation
• show you ways to prepare the eyes of your heart for God to speak to you
• and give you a series of ways to test vision to make sure of it’s origin.

VISION DEFINED: Vision is seeing the movement of God with the eyes of the heart.

When God gives vision it is always to help you and I see what He is doing or is about to do! He gives vision so that we can participate with Him in what He is going to do.

There are two worlds and two sets of eyes.
• The seen, temporal world – which are viewed with the eyes of the flesh.
• The unseen, eternal world – which is seen with the eyes of the heart.

It’s not hard to see what is going on in the natural world – it takes no skill or revelation. It’s obvious. But God gives vision so that you can see what He is doing in the unseen, eternal world!

Perhaps the best example of this is found in 2 Kings 6:15 – where the enemies of God have camped around the city where Elisha was staying. Let’s read the text:

“When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:15-17, NIV.

Elisha saw his servant’s fear, and prayed for Him – “God open his eyes so that he may see!” And God did – he gave vision where there had only been fear – and the unseen, eternal world – the activity of God was revealed.

• Vision is God showing up and letting you know what His plans are! And isn’t it amazing that He loves you enough to do this for you!

• Vision helps you in your communion with Christ – as He opens your eyes to His plans, your hunger and desire for Christ grows! Your love relationship with Him increases! His presence, His reassurance, His gentle word – draws me closer to Him.

• Vision also helps you as seek to minister to others – He shows you what He wants to do. (Christina – I saw in the Spirit the word “YES”)

VISION AND JESUS – A BIBLICAL FOUNDATION
TURN TO JOHN 5:19-20:
“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” John 5:19, 20

Jesus saw vision – “…he can do only what he sees his Father doing…” “…For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does…”

TURN TO JOHN 8:38:
“I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.” John 8:38

Jesus spoke what He saw in the visions - “I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence…”

TURN TO MATTHEW 13:34
“Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” Matthew 13:34, 35

Jesus taught with visionary pictures – “parables, things hidden since the creation of the world…”

TURN TO COLOSSIANS 1:15
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15

Jesus is a visionary picture of God – Do you want to see God – look at His image – Christ!

CONCLUSION:
If Jesus needed vision – you need it too!
Jesus opened acknowledged that all of His strength was the result of His intimacy with His Father in Heaven. If Jesus needed strength – you need it too!

We speak often about the spiritual battle we are in – how the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy you – how you are in Christ potentially a powerful agent of transformation

The enemy doesn’t want your spiritual eyesight opened, he wants you to muddle through life, doing the best you can, living according to whatever soulish power you can muster up - but Christ offers you His vision – He offers you His reality – He offers you His life!

People ask: What is God doing at SUMMIT Church? And the answer is: He is building a truly SPIRITUAL house! He is calling us to pursue hard after Him – to long, to seek, to go after – to be willing to throw every lesser thing away – so that we can truly know Him!

Is this your desire?

Tune your heart into spontaneity.
Turn away from the noise and move into the stillness
Seek to see in the Spirit of GOD!

Developing Stillness

We are talking about having dialogue with God. Do you know what the word ‘dialogue’ means?

Here’s a definition that I found: “Talk of any kind between two or more people.”

When we speak of having dialogue with God, we are speaking of moving into such an intimate love relationship with Him that not only are we talking to Him, but we are hearing His response!

For most of us – this is quite a stretch from where we are at today. But – this is His desire for you! Jesus said:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

So far, we’ve learned that in order to have authentic two-way dialogue with God we must:

• Tune into spontaneity. God speaks to our hearts – and we need to grow in our ability to listen in the spontaneous ways of the heart!

The next part of our journey into dialogue involves…

• Training in stillness. God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry that control our lives today! If I am to experience dialogue with God it will be the result of learning to still my mind and emotions.

Our biblical foundation for this spiritual truth is found in 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.” Psalms 46:10

This verse comes in the context of a Psalm detailing a world at war – look at Psalms 46…

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” Psalms 46:1-11

And in the midst of troubles, trials, shaking, floods, earthquakes, political upheaval, God says– BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!

This has meaning for two different groups of people:

• The enemies of God are to be still and know! He is GOD! He is infinitely greater than they are! He will foil their plans for domination and He will be exalted – among all the nations!
• The people of God are to be still and know! We are to be calm and still, secure and no longer afraid – why? Because He is GOD! His IDENTITY secures our identity! His EXALTATION lifts us out of depression and despair! His NAME is given to us! We belong to Him!

Do you know what God means when He says: “Be still” ? He invites you to come to Him with all things and to cease striving, to relax, to let go and to enter into an attitude of playfulness!

All of this is the result of your taking your faith and putting it into action! Do we really believe that God is who He says He is? Will He really take care of me? Will He really meet all of my needs? – Or – am I on my own, alone in this cold, harsh and unkind world?

God invites you into the a place of absolute security – where He will speak and you will be built up as His child – “Be still and know that I am God!”

BUT – stillness doesn’t come easy. We aren’t exactly trained in stillness – in fact – everything in our culture and world goes directly opposite of stillness! All of us are experts at hurry! We have advanced degrees in noise! And confusion – we can do confusion extremely well!

So – what is our ACTION PLAN for becoming still?

We begin by…
Removing distractions to stillness.

Look at Mark 1:35…
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35

What do we learn from Jesus about removing distractions to sillness?

• To get up early because the days are too busy! “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark…”

Let’s face it – few of us have a tremendous amount of free time. Most of us ‘go, go, go’ until we drop, drop, drop at the end of the day. We need to be intentional with our time with God – it won’t happen by accident, and it won’t happen if you wait ‘til you get around to it!

Some of you might say: “But I don’t like getting up early.” If you look at what Jesus was doing the night before in verse 32-34 – we see that it wasn’t until nighttime that Jesus really began ministering to people and that it most likely went until late at night before He finished! You may not like getting up early – but if you are going to pursue hard after Christ – you’ll find Him best in the early hours of the day!

The second thing we learn from Jesus is…
• To get away from others because we need our time alone! “He went off to a solitary place…”

Rancho Cucamonga is the 9th fastest growing city in the United States. California – in spite of it’s high home prices, traffic problems, smog and host of other challenges had in 2003 – nearly 36 million people living here! According to the US Census Bureau, there was an average of 2.87 people living in each household.

Regardless of all of this – the spiritually minded person, who is full pursuit of Christ is going to find both the place and the time to get away from others in order to be with Christ!

The benefits of being alone with Christ are too numerous to mention – but try these on for size:
o Gain clarity when confused
o Rediscover the love of God through Christ
o Find forgiveness when convicted of sin
o Direction for life

To get away from others is hugely important in hearing the voice of God! You know that you need this!

Where can you go – where you can be undisturbed for 30 minutes? It isn’t as hard as it may sound – if you make a commitment to be up early, before the others in the household!

On a practical level, once you’ve made the decision to be alone with God there will be other distractions:

• Physical Distractions – be comfortable! If you are kneeling, you’re legs will go to sleep. Be comfortable so that you can make Christ your focus!

• Brain Distractions – as soon as you sit down to be with God, your mind will begin to race – “You forgot to pick up the dry cleaning!” “Did you send the card to your nephew for his birthday?” “Am I ready for my meeting at work today?” “Did you make the deposit?” What are you to do with this? If you try to push those thoughts down – they’ll get louder and louder – so, deal with them – have a pen and paper ready, and when those thoughts come, write them down – so that you can deal with them later. Then refocus your thoughts back upon Christ.

• Conscience Distractions – Suddenly all of your sin is put before you. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Runs through your mind like a hamster on a wheel! You’ve got some choices to make: If you have not confessed your sins – now is the time. And then, you’ve got to take God as His Word. If you have confessed your sins – you’ve got to remind your conscience of God’s Promises. We are either going to gaze upon our self and our sin and weaknesses – or – we are going to choose to focus on Christ and His glory and grace! The Bible tells us that what we focus on will determine what we will become – check out 2 Corinthians 3:18

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18

We must decide to fix our eyes on Jesus and trust that He will clothe us in His righteousness!

What is the GOAL of stillness?

The goal of stillness isn’t to empty the mind or totally blank out the intellect – rather the goal is:

• Refocus ourselves upon Christ! For it is in Christ that we are made new!

• Know deep within ourselves the movement of God! For it is in the stillness that God speaks and brings revelation of Himself and His plans into our lives!

Becoming still isn’t doing something, it is being in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ within! To be still is to experience Christ in this very moment. He is the Great I Am. To live the God of the Now, I must live in this moment.

I am not mourning for the past, or worrying about the future – I am living and enjoying Christ in the present moment. I am allowing my salvation to impact this very moment. I am living out what David wrote about when he said…
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24

CONCLUSION:

Christ is calling you into the deep. He is saying: “I want to speak with you. I have the words of life – will you turn away from the noise, the hurry, the confusion – and come into the quiet, into the stillness, into my presence – in order to hear what I have to say?”

This week – turn inward. Turn toward the quiet.

In your notes there is a place where you can make a couple of notations:

• PLACE: Where will you go to be with Christ?
• TIME: When will you go there?
• PREPARATION: What will you bring with you?

One of the best rock bands in the world today – a group of guys called “Switchfoot” wrote these lyrics:

What's it gonna take to slow us down
to let the silence spin us around?
What's it gonna take to drop this town?
We've been spinning at the speed of sound.
If we're adding to the noise turn off this song
If we're adding to the noise turn off your stereo, stereo, stereo

This week – I dare you to move away from the noise, and into the stillness.

The Spoken Word of God - Part Two

Last week we introduced the concept of the “spoken” word of God – I introduced you to the word “rhema” which means God’s spoken word.

We learned that we have to learn to distinguish between the various voices in our hearts…
• Satan
• Intellect
• Will
• The Holy Spirit

We learned that God wants us to step out complete dependency of cognitive, analytical approaches to God and to willingly move into the heart – which requires that we be open to spontaneity. God bringing to mind ideas that express His heart to our heart!

• This is the voice of God: a chance idea that intersects your mind, not flowing from the normal processes, but simply appearing in your heart.
• This is the voice of God – an idea from God lighting upon your heart and being registered in your mind as a spontaneous thought.

The first time this happened to me it was like Christmas morning! He was talking to me! He was talking to me! There was an old song we used to sing when I was a kid: “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!” That’s what I’m talking about!

But, if you are going to hear the voice of God – you’ve got to embrace spontaneity! God does not jump through our soulish hoops to speak to us, we’ve got to open our hearts to His Holy Spirit in order to hear Him speak!

So – what does God’s voice sound like?
1. His voice is like a love song.
1. His voice is light and gentle, easily drowned out by soulish exertion.
1. He frequently speaks in the first person.
1. His voice takes me to higher levels.
1. His voice excites.
1. His voice brings power to do what is needed.

1. His voice is like a love song.

When he speaks, he speaks as a lover speaks to his beloved. He is tender, compassionate, and very much for you!

At the baptism of Jesus – God spoke:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:1

The Song of Solomon is an allegory of love between a husband and wife – but also between God and His people. God lovingly invites, entices and welcomes us to Himself…
“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me... show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” Song of Solomon 2:10, 14

This is quite different than our fearful belief that if God were to speak He’d be like a Middle School Principal scolding wayward students! Or a harsh parochial school nun ruling with an iron first!

Even when God speaks words of correction- they are gentle and loving!

Paul wrote in Romans that it is
“…God’s kindness leads you towards repentance.” Romans 2:4

You need not fear the voice of the Lord anymore than you’d fear the words of someone who really loves you! His voice is like a love song – which is why we are to be worshippers –

How do you respond to love – love back! Driving down the freeway singing of His praises! Going through the workday – giving praise in every moment of the day! Turn off talk radio and love God!

Paul McCartney sang a song called “silly little love songs” where he responds to the people who were critical of him for not being more like John Lennon. Many Christians are critical of other Christians who just want to worship and sing ‘silly little love songs’ to God – and let me respond to that: There is nothing more important ‘to do’ than to express your love in return to Him!

You want to hear God? Join in the love song!

1. His voice is light and gentle, easily drowned out by soulish exertion.

If I interrupt the spontaneous flow with my own analytical thoughts or self will, God will not try to out shout me or speak above the noise. As a man who is seeking to become truly Spiritual, I’ve got to discipline my mind, will, emotions and body to be subject to the authority of the Holy Spirit living within.

Psalms 46:10 tells us what to do:
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”” Psalms 46:10

The Hebrew word for ‘still’ is “rawpha” and it means to sink, let down, relax, to go slack!

When you are listening to God – and when you start to get ahead of Him in mind, will or emotions – simply say to your self: “Be still! God is speaking!” and then pray: “Holy Spirit, help me be still, for I long to hear from you!”

Thirdly…
1. His voice is highly personal.
What I’ve discovered as I’ve tuned into spontaneity, is the frequently when God speaks He’ll use my name: “Doug…” and then off He’ll go. If you were to read my journals, you’d see that frequently when He begins to speak to me, it begins with “Doug…”

This makes perfect sense – for God is a Person desiring a personal relationship with His people.

Jesus said:
“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30

Don’t you think He knows your name?

He said to Moses in Exodus 33…
“I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:17

Isn’t it thrilling to know that He knows your name and isn’t afraid to use it! God’s voice is highly personal!

1. His voice takes me to higher places.

Let me explain: When my soul is in control, my prayers, thoughts and attitudes are frequently pretty mediocre. “God help me with this, help me with that… I’m worried about this, that and the the other thing…”

But when the voice of God comes – it always takes me to higher places! His voice is more merciful than mine! His voice is more discerning than mine! His voice gets to the root issues while my mind is still running around in circles in circumstantial confusion!

When God speaks, He lifts.
When God speaks, He points to a higher way, to more pure motives, to better responses!

Do you know why?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8, 9

When the voice is from God, you can rest assured that it will take you higher – never lower!

Which leads us to #5 -
1. His voice excites.

And how could it not! To realize that you are so connected with God that you are now – beyond a shadow of a doubt – hearing His voice – how could this not thrill us to the core of our being!?

When God speaks, He brings with His voice a special sense of excitement, conviction, faith, vibrancy, awe and peace!

When you know that you know that you know that it is the Lord who is speaking, you’ll find that your body, soul and spirit will respond differently than to any other voice! I have had experiences where I feel my heart racing, my body feels like electricity is flowing through it, my mind sees more clearly – why? Because I am in the Presence of the Lord!

In Isaiah 66:2 God says:
“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” Isaiah 66:2

The voice of God excites. In an age of cynicism and doubt – hearing the voice of God makes you young again – filled with hope and excitement about what He is saying to you!

And then, lastly…
2. His voice provides the power to do what is needed.

When God speaks – and when He directs, He also provides. He gives you the power to do what needs doing.

Jesus said:
“My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”” Matthew 11:30

It is only easy and light when we are living in the power of the Holy Spirit. But when God speaks – and when He leads – He provides what is needed. Even if He gives a hard assignment, He provides what you need, exactly when you need it.

Jesus speaks to Paul and to us:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 1 Corinthians 12:9

When Moses heard the voice of the Lord – Moses was empowered to bring the slaves of Israel out of captivity in Egypt and to the Promised Land!

When Gideon heard the voice of the Lord – Gideon was empowered to fight with an army of 300 against an army 1000 times as large and win!

When Peter heard the voice of the Lord – Peter was empowered to preach the Gospel to tens of thousands gathered in the Temple courtyards and at least 3000 men were saved that day!

When I heard the voice of the Lord – I was empowered to stand my ground and fight on behalf of this church!

CONCLUSION:
• When you hear the voice of the Lord – you will be empowered to do what He tells you to do! When He tells you to forgive the person who hurt you, you will.
• When He tells you to love your enemy, you will.
• When He tells you to stay in that marriage and fight for it, you will.
• When He tells you to stay in that church and serve, you will.

Because what we are all looking for is the power of God in our lives. And the power of God comes as we hear the voice of the Lord.

LAST WEEK, I gave you an assignment to journal – asking God to speak as you wrote.
This week, I give you another assignment – do it again. And listen. Listen for a voice that…

1. is like a love song.
2. is light and gentle.
3. speaks in the first person.
4. takes you to higher levels.
5. excites.
6. brings power to do what is needed.

The Spoken Word of God

All of us want for God to touch our hearts. We want to truly experience Him in our lives. In order for this to happen, we must learn to live out of not only the written word of God, but also the SPOKEN WORD of God in our hearts!

The New Testament uses two different words for ‘word’: Logos and Rhema

The Dictionary of New Testament Theology says: “Whereas logos can often designate the Christian proclamation as a whole in the New Testament, rhema usually relates to individual words and utterances.”

In fact in every use of the word ‘rhema’ in the New Testament – some 70 uses – not one of them refer to the WRITTEN WORD, but everyone refers to SPOKEN word!

Ephesians 6:17 says: “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (RHEMA) of God.” Ephesians 6:17, NIV.

This is important because what Paul is saying in Ephesians is that when we are doing battle against the enemy – we need for God to give us specific scriptures that are appropriate to the situation!

Learning how to hear the voice of God means that we allow the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts with the SPOKEN words of God!

What I am discovering is that the SPOKEN WORD OF GOD – Rhema – gives me the precise word that I need when I need it!


SO – HOW DO WE RECEIVE THE SPOKEN WORD OF GOD?

First of all –
Affirm by Faith that our God is a Communicating God!

From Adam and Eve to today God speaks to His people!

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God…” Genesis 3:8
“Now the Lord said to Abraham…” Genesis 12:1
“The Lord said to Moses…” Exodus 4:13
“The Lord spoke to Joshua…” Joshua 1:1
“I, John, was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of trumpet saying, ‘write in a book what you see….’” Revelation 1:10

And Jesus said in John 10:27…
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27, NIV.

Affirm by faith that God has not changed and that you and I – as simple people of faith – can and will hear His voice spoken to us!

Now that that is settled –
Learn to distinguish the voices inside.

In our lives – we hear voices – some have said “it’s like having committee in my head…”

The voices include:
• Satan – seeking to deceive and destroy us.
• Our fleshly mind – which is analytical and cognitive – desiring to figure everything out. The fleshly mind wants answers and doesn’t allow for that which cannot be understood.
• Our my own heart – which has an agenda of it’s own – desiring what it wants, when it wants it – or ---
• The Holy Spirit – which is intuitive and doesn’t not answer to the fleshly mind, yet is exactly Who we need in order to genuinely hear His voice. The Holy Spirit is Spirit-to-spirit communication expressing God’s SPOKEN words through spontaneous thoughts, ideas, words, feelings or vision.

Distinguishing the voice of God – that is the Holy Spirit within – means that we learn

1. To recognize and reject deception and embrace truth! That shuts up Satan!

We know that Christ has said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10, NIV.

The key to recognize who is speaking here is to know what kills and to know what leads to life!

Do you know what kills? Do you know what leads to life?

Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6, NIV.

IF WHAT YOU ARE HEARING doesn’t lead you to Christ – it doesn’t lead you to life!

Reject it! Renounce it! And then – embrace what leads to life! Embrace truth!

Secondly – we must learn to…
2. Turn our head away from demanding analytical answers and instead to simply come to Him in love and worship, praise and passion! That takes the human mind off that throne and returns Christ to His rightful place as Lord!

Do you want to hear the voice of God? Worship Him! Sing of His praises!

Worship and love for God is a powerful prerequisite to hearing from Him! Listen to Psalms 100:

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalms 100:1-5, NIV.

Frequently, the time that I need to hear most is when I am in trouble – and that’s when the Enemy doesn’t want me to praise and worship the Lord, and he whispers in my ears: “You aren’t worthy! God doesn’t want to hear from you…”

But that’s exactly when I need to worship the most – I need to do just the opposite of what the enemy and my mind demand – I need to come up against this with an opposite spirit – and nothing could be more opposite than worship and love!

WHEN you need to hear – love! Reach out! Praise His name!

By worshiping and by loving God, I am telling my mind: “You are not in charge! You cannot demand answers! God is greater than my ability to understand!” Which then enables me to hear God’s voice instead of my demanding mind!

If I am going to hear the spoken word of God than, I must learn…
3. To submit my heart’s desires to the will of God, coming to a place of sweet surrender to Him and His plans!

How can we hear to voice of God when our heart is screaming: “I want! I want! I want!”

Ezekiel 14:4 speaks of the danger of “setting up idols in our hearts.” And one of the biggest idols that I can set up in my heart is MY WILL being done! So long as I demand my will – over God’s – than how can I anticipate hearing His voice?

When I come to the Lord in prayer, I am to be a living sacrifice. It isn’t about what I want, it is about what He wants for me! If pray about an issue where I have a preconceived notion of what I want, that notions interferes with what the Spirit of God may be desiring to say to me. How can I hear one thing, when I am so fixated on another? What needs to happen is that my focus has to change – I must focus on Him and His love, kindness, mercy and grace far more than I focus on what I want to have Him do. As I do this, I am set up to receive pure revelation from Him!

As I do this, I begin to live in a place of sweet surrender where the concerns of my heart are silenced by His love!

Now, the next part of preparation to hear spoken word of God is much more positive:
4. To embrace the Presence of the Holy Spirit as the vital key to hearing God by accepting that God is speaking to us through those spontaneous thoughts, ideas, words, feelings of vision that come to us as we seek Him! This opens us up to the Holy Spirit!

Let me give you an illustration that I think most of you will relate to: Have you ever been doing something – driving, cleaning, walking – when suddenly someone’s name popped into your mind and you just knew that you were supposed to pray for them? You hadn’t been thinking about them, but ‘out of nowhere’ you know that you are supposed to pray for them – right then. And, furthermore, you accepted this as God leading you to pray for them. That is intercession.

The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for ‘intercession’ is paga – which literally means a ‘chance or spontaneous encounter’

This is the voice of God – a chance or spontaneous idea that intersects your mind, not flowing from the normal process, but simply appearing. That is God’s voice – an idea from God lighting upon your heart and being registered in your mind as a spontaneous thought.

In order to hear the voice of God – we must be willing to simply listen for spontaneous thoughts that He puts on our hearts and minds.

As these spontaneous thoughts come to us we then filter them:

Is it Satan deceiving me and taking me away from Christ?
Is it my mind demanding that God answer?
Is it my desires demanding their own way?

OR – is it from the Lord showing me His ways?

CONCLUSION:
I’ve included in the bulletin a list of every time that the word “rhema” is used in the New Testament – I think it would be a great study for you to do this week on your own.

Moving from an analytical and cognitive approach to spiritual life in Christ is not easy. We’ve all been trained to live in our heads. But the Lord is calling you into deeper waters with Him and that requires that you open yourself up to the eyes of the heart and to spiritual intuition.

I want to encourage you – to exhort you – to challenge you – to conduct an experiment this week.

• Take a pen and paper.
• Using spiritual vision, see Jesus with you in some comfortable scene.
• Write down: “Lord, what do you want to speak concerning the things I am learning?”
• Then, focus yourself on the eyes of the heart and tune into spontaneity.
• In simple faith, begin to write down the thoughts that begin to flow into your mind. Don’t challenge them or doubt them for the time being, just receive them in child-like faith and record them as they flow.
• Now, after several minutes, go back over what has been written – test it. Does it line up with Scripture? Does it sound like something God might say? Does it point me to Christ?

In this simple exercise, you are beginning to dialogue with God.

Jesus said in John 6:63:
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words (rhema) I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” John 6:63, NIV.

Habbakuk's Habit - Hearing God's Voice

The Christian who is able to accurately and consistently hear the voice of God will experience a quality of spiritual life far greater than the one who cannot.

I want you to learn about hearing God’s voice from a man of God by the name of Habakkuk. Turn in your Bibles to Habakkuk 2:1:

• Habakkuk was a prophet and a poet for God
• He lived at the same time as two other more well known prophets: Jeremiah and Zephaniah
• He wrote his little book, which is actually a song (Like the Psalms) sometime between 650–627 BC


“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.” Habakkuk 2:1-2

These two verses answer four very important questions regarding our desire to hear the voice of the Lord:

1. What does God’s voice sound like?
2. What must I do to hear Him?
3. How does God speak?
4. What do I do with what He says?


I. WHAT DOES GOD’S VOICE SOUND LIKE? – V. 2A

As a prophet of God, Habakkuk knew the voice of the Lord.

“Then the LORD replied…” v. 2a

Habakkuk is seeking God and God responds. Habakkuk recognizes who is speaking. He isn’t uncertain. Habakkuk says in no uncertain terms: “Then the LORD replied…”

One of our big struggles is separating the voices in our head. We question: “Is this God, or is it …my own thinking? …my own emotions? …the voice of others? or …the voice of Satan?”

Habakkuk knew who it was. And so can we. Two weeks from now, we are going to dig in deep around the issue of what God’s voice sounds like.

But for today – be assured – God stills speaks – and if you will seek His voice, you will hear Him. From Genesis to Revelation God spoke to His people. In every covenant that God has ever established – from Abraham, to Moses, to the New Covenant of Jesus – God speaks to His people.

Jesus said in John:
“I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” John 5:25

We were – apart from Christ – dead in our sin. But He spoke to you – and as you heard, you came to life.

What He has begun in you He will complete. Rest assured, God will teach you what His voice sounds like.

Before Habakkuk heard the voice of the Lord, he had to position himself in a listening position. He uses military terminology of a soldier standing on guard duty.

II. WHAT MUST I DO TO HEAR HIM? – V. 1A

“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts…” 1a

He goes to the highest part of the fortress – the ramparts – and he stands, watching.
What is he watching for? The voice of the Lord.
What is he doing? Standing at watch.

The Hebrew word for ‘stand’ literally means to ‘stand still, to attend to, to stop moving or doing and to take a position.’

This is very important for those who would hear the voice of the Lord. You’ve got to put yourself in the position where you can hear.

God’s voice is easy to miss. You won’t hear it in the noise. You won’t hear it in the hurry.

There is a fascinating account of Elijah hearing God’s voice in 1 Kings 19:12-13…
“And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it…” 1 Kings 19:12, 13, KJV.

God is not in the earthquake.
He isn’t in the fire.

His voice is in the stillness. He doesn’t yell. He is far too confident for that. He speaks in a whisper.

And – here’s the miracle: Elijah heard Him!

Do you want to hear the voice of God? Come out of the noise, come out of the rush – and station yourself in a place where He can be heard.

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10, NIV.

In three weeks, we are going to be focusing all of our attentions on what it takes to be still. But for today – because you want to hear Him speak, you’ve got a choice to make: Stay in the noise and hurry – or – choose to find time where you pull away and move into the stillness. This is imperative, there is no shortcut – to hear God’s voice, you have to join Habakkuk ‘standing at your watch…’

Is the Spirit of God calling to you right now – don’t you feel His desire for you to come alone with Him? This week – pull away – two times, three times – get to the ramparts. Get alone with God and be still. Be still. Be still.

Which brings us to the third question:
III. HOW DOES GOD SPEAK? – V. 1B

“I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” 1b

Notice the mixed terms he uses: “I will LOOK to SEE, what He will SAY to me…” Ordinarily one doesn’t LOOK to SEE what is said, usually you LISTEN to what is SAID. But this is no accident and it isn’t sloppy use of words. Habakkuk is very intentional here.

The Hebrew for “look to” literally means: “to look, to observe, to watch closely…” – This is what Paul was talking about when He said…

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened…” Ephesians 1:18, NIV.

To hear God – I need to see with the eyes of the heart!
To hear God is more about spiritual revelation than it is about intellectual understanding!

Do you want to hear God? Pray that God would open the eyes of your heart!

The Hebrew for ‘to see’ literally means: “to see, to have vision, to gaze at…”

To see is to experience this spiritual revelation. God revealing Himself to you. A moment in time when you experience a spiritual eyeopening!

God has been teaching me that His revelation is more about VISION and DREAMS than about WORDS. In other words – the voice of God can and frequently is spoken through the use of VISIONS and DREAMS.

God speaks through visions and dreams.

Look at the promise found in Acts 2:17-18
“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” Acts 2:17, 18

• God speaks through His Holy Spirit – poured out and poured into your life.
• Male and female, young and old – will experience the Revelation of God!
• He speaks through prophecies.
• He speaks through visions.
• He speaks through dreams.

We aren’t very good at prophecy, visions and dreams. But, God says He speaks to His children this way, so it seems like wisdom to get good at it. On July 10th, we’ll be examining the issue of seeing in the eyes of the Holy Spirit.

But for today – why not ask God to speak to you as you sleep? Why not ask God to show Himself to you through your relationships with other Spirit-filled believers?

Which leads us to the fourth question:
IV. WHAT DO I DO WITH WHAT HE SAYS? - V. 2

Habakkuk gets alone with His God, and God speaks. What did he do with what was revealed? Verse 2 tells us…
“Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it” v. 2

The Hebrew word for ‘write down’ speaks of make a recording, a record, to write it down so that it is preserved.

The Hebrew word for ‘revelation’ literally means: vision – so God says to Habakkuk ‘record what I have shown you.’

Now, God may reveal something to you that is intensely personal and is specific to you – it isn’t for everyone, it’s for you. Still you should learn to record what He speaks, because it will help you as you continue your journey. This is a very significant point. When God reveals something to you, you are to record it. To write it down.

One of the disciplines that the Lord has been developing in me is that of spiritual journaling. Allow me to share a couple of revelations that I have recorded:

On February 13th, while attending a worship service at Harvest Rock church in Pasadena, a prophecy was given over me. I recorded it immediately in my journal: “Those who upheld your hands failed you. You are a man of God. The new ones will stay. Move in the Spirit as a father with anointing. The increase of harvest is coming and you are trusted in leadership. As you act believing, a release of the Holy Spirit is coming with signs. You are God’s man.”

This word from the Lord gave me confidence to lead out – and the evidences of the truth of this are becoming more and more evident in this church family.

Writing down what God reveals becomes a source of confidence and continued direction. You can look back upon it and see where God has taken you and how far you’ve come as you’ve walked with Him in faith and obedience.

To hear the voice of the Lord requires that we record what He has said, so that we can accomplish what He directs.

CONCLUSION: Some of you might be thinking: “Well, I have the Bible, isn’t that enough?” And of course, everything you receive must be evaluated and tested against the Bible, and if it is found to be contradictory in any way, than it must be rejected. BUT – as you seek a PERSONAL relationship with Christ, then PERSONAL words from Him seem absolutely vital to your growth.

When I hear the voice of the Lord, it builds me up in a way that nothing else ever has! And you can have this same kind of exhortation and encouragement in your walk with Him as well!

The example of Habukkuk serves us well in our desire to hear God more clearly.

Let’s look at the first three verse of Habakkuk 2 again:
“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:1-3

Revelation awaits an appointed time! – God will speak to you at just the right time!
It speaks of the end and will not prove false! – What God says will point you in the right direction and will be proved true!
Though it linger, wait for it! – Our task is to seek His voice, regardless of how long it takes!
It will certainly come and will not delay! – He reassures us right now – He will speak!

So – what you do with this message will determine much of what the quality of your spiritual journey will be.

Struggling to Hear God's Voice: What We've Learned Thus Far

INTRODUCTION:

Every once in awhile, it is appropriate to step back and take a look at what God has been doing. It helps us to see the forest for the trees.

• God gave us SIX PROPHETIC WORDS:
1. FAITH: “Faith is the gift from God that moves me away from fleshly and soulish living into spiritual living.”
2. IDENTITY: “Because of Faith, I belong to God and His Kingdom.”
3. BELIEVE: “To believe is to take action steps which demonstrate my new identity.”
4. MIRACLES: “Miracles are God taking action.”
5. MIRACLES: “The undeniable action of miracles demonstrates the character of God.”
6. TESTIMONY: “God is becoming increasingly real and increasingly loved by us!”

• God has been teaching us a NEW VOCABULARY:
A vocabulary of praise!
To pray believing and to speak faith!
For some a new prayer language!

• God has been teaching us that ‘isolation is not our friend’ and he is moving us onto deeper more authentic Christian relationships where He is the center and focus.

• God has been teaching us that we are gifted by His Holy Spirit to love one another deeply from the heart and to minister to one another effectively.

• God has been teaching us that He still speaks to those who love Him and that we are to rely upon the Holy Spirit in the day to day of living.

Our response to all of this? Praise God!

As Christians, we are coming to believe that God does speak to us – and that we should be able to grow in our recognition of His voice.

But – we still struggle with this!

• We have all grown up in the box of rationalism – where our intellects act as a censor or filter and as a result we miss out on a great deal of what the Spirit is doing. We don’t have ‘ears to hear and eyes to see’ what the Spirit is saying!

• We struggle because much of our Christian life has been all about keys, steps, principles, and rules – rather than relationship, conversation and intimacy.

• We struggle because when we have tried to pray, it has not been the two-way dialogue we hunger for, but feels like a monologue that bounces off the ceiling.

Regardless of our struggle – we know that God is calling us deeper into Him!

During the next few weeks of June and July, I am going to share with you what has been happening in my journey with Christ – and what He has been revealing which is setting me free to hear God’s voice more clearly than ever.

Earlier this year, I spent several weeks teaching on how to hear the voice of God. And during those weeks, we learned some vital truths that applied will help you hear God. But there is still more we need to know and experience so that God’s voice will be clear to us. And that’s why we are revisiting this topic: Nothing could be more important to me as your spiritual pastor than for you to be so connected to God that you are clearly and consistently hearing His voice.

The Desire of God’s Heart

• Why would God take us on this journey?
• Why would He lead us into these new places of spiritual revelation?
• Why would He require that we move out of the places of comfort and into new arenas of faith?

BECAUSE THE DESIRE OF GOD’S HEART IS TO HAVE COMMUNION WITH YOU AND ME.

He desires you.

When God created man, He did so to have fellowship and friendship with Him. Adam, Eve and God would spend their days walking, talking, laughing and sharing joy together in the safety of the Garden. They enjoyed one another. They weren’t strangers to each other. There was no sin – so there was no separation. There was no death – so there was no disconnection. They loved each other in a way that we cannot fully understand this side of the Fall.

But when Adam and Eve chose sin over friendship, everything changed. Suddenly there was a secret that had to be hidden. Suddenly there was shame instead of openness. Guilt cast a dark cloud. Everything changed.

And we read in Genesis 3:6ff
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”” Genesis 3:6-11, NIV.

These are some of the saddest words ever written:
‘they hid from the Lord…’ – can you picture them, cowering behind a tree when they heard the voice of God? The very thing we long for – the voice of God – caused fear!

God calls to them - ‘where are you?’ – Something has happened – I’ve never had to search for them before! They’ve always come running!

“I was afraid…” Adam replies. Fear invades and fear tries to isolate us from the very one who is our best friend!

“because I was naked…” – I’ve always been naked with you before, but now, it’s different, for my nakedness brings me shame. I don’t understand what has happened, but…

“I hid…” – I’m not the same, I am afraid, I am ashamed – something isn’t right! So all I knew to do was to stay away, to isolate, to hide – I can’t bear the thought of being seen for who I really am!

And God says: “Who told you that you were naked?” – Notice He doesn’t say: “You’re naked? Oh my goodness, you are! I’ve never noticed before!” – No! He says: “Who told you?” Who is the one who is seeking to destroy what we have together? Who is the one breaking our friendship?

“Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” That can be the only reason for this sudden change of behavior. SIN – utter rebellion against my life-giving instructions – that can be the only plausible explanation for this change.

Ever since this moment in time – God’s desire has been to restore us to Himself.

He desires you.

Listen with your heart to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, NIV.

• In Christ – makes you new again!
• From God – who reconciles us to Himself
• Through Christ – who became SIN so that we may be RIGHT with God again!

He desires you.

• He invites you… Out of isolation, away from fear, and over-coming hiding…
• He invites you… Into friendship, into faith, into His house!
• He invites you… to taste and see His goodness! (Psalms 34:8)
• He invites you… to know His will and to hear the word of the Lord (Acts 22:14)
• He invites you… to feel His Holy Presence!
• He invites you… to breathe deep of His beauty and fragrance (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, Ephesians 5:2)

This is the desire of God. You are the desire of God.

And today – we meet Him, in Christ and we think deeply, we are stirred to passion, we are humbled and exalted at the same time! And we gather around His meal – a tangible expression of His desire and His presence.

The night before His crucifixion – he gathered with His friends and ate a meal – saying:
“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:19, 20,

• Body given – for what purpose? “for you” – God bringing YOU back to Him!
• Blood poured out – for what purpose “for you” – God bringing YOU back to Him!

You are the desire of God.

So what will your response be?
• Hide?
• Shame?
• Guilt?
• Distance?

Or –
• Will you run to Him?
• Will you cast yourself before Him?
• Will you move into the depths with Him?

We eat and drink – not lightly. Not without thought. Not without due consideration of what this is all about.
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-28, NIV.

Today – we celebrate our relationship with God and His desire to bring us to Himself. He is moving in our midst. And we are growing.

PRAYER

Hearing God's Voice - Choosing BEST Over Good (Message 5)

INTRODUCTION:
• Why is it important that we hear the voice of God?

Jesus answers the question in John 5:24-25…
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” John 5:24-25

What is the answer? ‘those who hear will live…’

Life and death hinge on our hearing God’s voice. Those who hear – come to life, those who don’t, stay stuck in death.

The Greek word for “live” is the same word that Jesus used in John 10:10 where He said – “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full…”

Fullness of life – life that is truly significant – comes as a result of hearing God’s voice and responding to Him in faith!

In recent weeks we’ve been talking about how to hear God’s voice. Thus far we discover that God speaks to those who are available, willing and humble. Last week we looked at what it takes to recognize the authentic voice of God over other voices.

Today, we are going to look deeper into what it takes to recognize His authentic voice.

We are a results-oriented people. We ask questions: “God speak to me so that I can fix this, overcome that, stop this, begin that…” etc. etc.

But God’s agenda is more than simply results:His greatest desire is RELATIONSHIP.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9

• Jesus and His Father have a love relationship that is amazing, so much so that Jesus subjects Himself to His Father’s will and the Father exalts Jesus for doing so!
• Jesus loves you with this same quality!
• And He calls you to simply ‘remain’ in this extraordinary love!

Why? Because God desires relationship with you! You were created to be connected!

Now, that said – so long as we are primarily interested in God simply for what He can do for us, we will never experience this level of friendship! Christ offers far more to us than simply fixing our problems – yes, He will intervene in our messes – but He offers something far greater – He offers FRIENDSHIP!

Maturing in Christ comes when we make our friendship with Him more important than what He can ‘do’ for us!

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

This is an illustration of two kinds of believers. One kind to be avoided and the other to be emulated.

Let’s look at Martha. What do we discover about Martha in this text?

Martha was committed.
• She offered her home to Jesus and His disciples on a moments notice.
• She was generous, preparing a ‘feast’ rather than a simple meal.
• She was seeking to serve God.

You might think – “We could sure use more ‘Martha’s’ around here!”

And you’d be wrong.

Jesus rejected Martha’s service. Her service did not please Him. And the problem wasn’t in what she was doing – the problem was deeper than that – the problem was IN Martha.

What was wrong with Martha? (v. 40) Verse 40 tells us: “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made…” She was DISTRACTED.

Here’s the scene: Jesus is sitting in her living room. Think about that. Still don’t get it? Okay – let’s put it this way:
• The long awaited Messiah is sitting in her living room.
• The King of kings is sitting in her living room.
• GOD is in the house!

Here’s the problem: Martha was so distracted by the details of her service that she was distracted from BEING WITH HIM!

She was doing a good thing – but missing out on the BEST THING!

• Like the mother who stays up half the night on Xmas Eve preparing a fabulous Christmas meal for her family – and who, on Christmas day is so tired from the preparations that she misses out on the joy of the day!

• Like the father who works so many hours – month after month, year after year – ‘providing for his family’ that he misses out on the day-to-day life of the family!

Distractions can make something that is truly wonderful become drudgery! (v. 40)

But there’s even more to the problem of distraction… Look at verse 41…. Jesus says to her…
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,”

I want you to get this… so write it down:
Distractions leads to worry which leads to being ‘upset about many things’. (v. 41)

Now – here’s the absurd part of what distraction does: GOD is sitting in the living room and Martha is a mess – worried to death about how the chicken casserole will come out!

• His Presence, which is meant to bring peace and pleasure, in the life of the distracted becomes pressure!
• Mary was bothered rather than blessed!

That’s what distraction does – it makes us oblivious to the Presence of God and leads us into a realm of completely unnecessary turmoil.

Think about how many times in your life when you’ve been filled with anxiety and worry over something – then you settle down and pray – God shows up – bringing with Him the gifts of peace – and you say: “What was I worried about! He was with me all the time!”

But distraction causes us to miss that!

And it gets worse… look at verse 40 again…
“But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

Distraction creates anger in us! (v. 40)

Martha is ticked at her sister! Can’t you imagine Martha in the kitchen, glancing in the living room – shooting darts at her sister who is seated at the feet of Jesus ‘doing nothing’! It’s not just the chicken that is boiling over! And finally, Martha can stand it no more! She comes out of the kitchen with a heart of anger!

And she’s not just ticked at Mary… She’s mad at Jesus! Can’t you just hear her: “don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself….” This anger is causing her to question the heart and motives of the very one she is claiming to serve!

And in this state of distracted anger, pride rears it’s ugly head in Martha and she COMMANDS JESUS – “Tell her to help me!”

Do not ever fall prey to the idea that we need more Martha’s – we don’t – what we need is more “Mary’s”!

Where is Mary in all of this? (v. 39)

Verse 39 tells us…
“Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

She isn’t in the kitchen cooking!
She is in the Living Room at the feet of Jesus listening!
• At the feet – in humility before her Lord!
• Listening to every word He spoke!

She is breaking the culture of her time – where she according to her culture, should have been with her sister in the kitchen. But you see:
Mary valued the BEST over the GOOD.

It was BEST for her to be with Jesus, therefore BEST took precedence over that which was GOOD!

And Martha didn’t get it. Had Mary been the one to answer Martha’s complaint she might have said: “Martha, how can you be in the kitchen, when the One we’ve longed for all of our lives is in the Living Room? We don’t know when He’ll come again, there’s not a moment to be lost!”

• Can’t you just see Mary staring into the eyes of Jesus – hanging on every word, watching every nuance of facial expression!?
• Can’t you imagine Mary saying something like: “Jesus, it means so much to be with you! I’m so grateful that You’d spend time with me in my home! There is nothing BETTER than being with you!”
• And what would Jesus’ response to Mary be? “Mary, this is exactly where I want to be! It means so much to me that you want to be with me! I am so happy that you chose what is BEST!”

You see – Martha misunderstood what was happening. She thought that she was being the hostess – but in fact – it was Jesus who was the host. And He brought with Him a true banquet – His Presence and His Words are the Bread of Life!

That’s why He said to Martha in verse 42…
“but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

What is the ‘one thing’ that is needed? (v. 42) His Presence!

We will eat again – but will He be Present in our Living Room again? Choose what it BEST – leave what is GOOD for later!

Mary chose what was best – she chose FRIENDSHIP with God over every other good thing!

In our lives – there are myriads of choices we must make – career, family, education, money, homes, cars, travel – but really ‘only one thing is needed…’

• We must choose friendship with God.
• Friendship with God is the result of a conscious choice. And to put off that choice is to make the choice.
• Friendship with God is the only choice you’ll ever make that cannot be taken away.

We can choose a mate – but death will separate us.
We can choose career – but economic downturns can end it.
We can choose to live healthy – but old age will take it away.

But Christ will never withhold his friendship from those who chose Him above all else.

So – WHAT DOES FRIENDSHIP WITH CHRIST HAVE TO DO WITH HEARING GOD’S VOICE?

• Mary sits in humility, listening to her Lord.
• Mary is the kind of friend that Jesus desires. She’d rather sit at His feet and listen to His voice than anything else! And she doesn’t seem to want anything from Him except His Presence. Just being with Him is enough.

Sometimes we want to hear from God because we need Him to do something for us. We are in a jam and we need His help. And that’s okay – God loves to meet our needs. It is in His nature to do good to those who love Him. But there’s more to friendship than simply what we can get out of it.

Mary wanted to hear His voice because it was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard! She wanted to see His face, because His was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen! Just being with Jesus was enough.

Friendship with God has always been the key to recognizing His voice.
• I don’t need formulas or steps to recognize my wife’s voice.
• I don’t need formulas or steps to recognize the voice of my children.
• I don’t need formulas or steps to recognize the voice of my closest friends.

Why would we think it would be different with Him?

“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” John 14:21

God shows Himself to you. He will come into view.