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"Can You Hear Me Now?" |
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They slowly moved from where they were standing to a small planter box next to a sidewalk café. The planter was filled with various seasonal plants, but as the old man gently pushed back the flowers, behind them revealed a small bird’s nest filled with baby chicks; their chirping almost indistinguishable from the din of lunchtime dinners and people on the sidewalk. No one seemed to pay any attention to the old man, his grandson or the little nest, but the grandson was amazed. After watching for a few minutes and then moving away the little boy looked up at his grandfather. “Grandpa, how did you hear the birds? There is so much noise, so much happening, how could you hear?” Without saying a word the old man took several coins from his pocket and tossed them on the ground. With the tinkling of the coins on the sidewalk it seemed everything came to a stop. People turned around. Diners stopped eating to look their way. Several almost seemed to want to reach down and pick up the dropped coins. Then as quickly as it had happened – everything went back to the way it was. That’s when the old man spoke, “It’s all in what you are listening for, my child, it’s all in what you are listening for…” Sometimes I think we are much like the crowd walking down the street. We fail to hear the most important things in life. We’ve filled our lives with so much noise that it’s difficult to hear anything anymore. And when we do hear, we often mistake what we are hearing for what we want to hear instead of what we should be hearing. That’s some of what the story we just heard from Melinda is all about. Listen…misunderstanding…listening again…and finally getting it right. We’re beginning a two-part series this morning entitled “Can You Hear Me Now?” Most of us have seen the guy in the commercial…most of us have laughed at ourselves as we’ve quoted his famous “Can you hear me now? Good.” ™. But honestly, I wonder if maybe God is not up in heaven often wondering the same thing. Can you hear Me now? You should! There are lots of things we can choose to listen to today. There are lots of voices vying for our attention and action. TV, radio, all types of media outlets are screaming for our attention. You can’t drive down the road without a sign staring at you from somewhere; I noticed they just installed three or four more billboards on the way to church. If we’re honest, too, most of us will have to admit that we don’t like it too quiet. (I even go to bed at night with “white noise” in the background so I can sleep better.) We’re afraid of the quiet – and maybe we are afraid of what we might hear. But there is a LOT to be said for simply listening. James 1:19 tells us we should be “quick to listen, slow to speak”. That is never more true that when we are listening to God. There’s a lot God wants to share with us…if we will just listen. The Bible gives us a lot of benefit to listening to God as well. Listening to God proves you are His child: John 8:47 “Anyone whose Father is God listens gladly to the words of God. Since you don’t, it proves you aren’t God’s children.” Listening to God makes you wise: Matthew 7:24 24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.” Listening to God gives you a solid foundation to build the rest of your life upon. In Hebrews it tells us that listening to God keeps your heart soft. Three times God tells us in the letter to the Hebrews that you should listen and not harden your heart. Hebrews 3:7-8 “Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him” Hebrews 3:15 “But never forget the warning: Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him” Hebrews 4:7 “Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him.” Listening to God protects us from those who wish to do us harm: John 10:8 “All others who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.” Listening to God keeps us from stumbling: 1 Peter 2:8 “They stumble because they do not listen to God’s word or obey it” And listening to God keeps us from drifting: Hebrews 2:1 “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.” We live our lives on shaky ground when we do not listen to God We are unwise in our decisions when we do not listen to God. We get hard hearted when we do not listen to God. We stumble when we do not listen to God. And we drift away from God’s purposes and plans for our lives when we do not listen to God. So let’s listen! When God says, “Can you hear me now?” We need to be ready to respond, “Yes, Lord, your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10 So how do you hear God? Yes there are times when God will SHOUT to us in the situation we find ourselves, but most often God speaks softly, gently and simply waits for us to tune our ears and listen. How do we do that? How do we get ourselves to the place where we really hear God? I’m not talking about some phony person who goes around telling you or me that “they’ve heard from God” and use that as an excuse to do whatever they want – I mean living with the confidence that God is really speaking to us and we can act on His Words. I’m talking about learning to really listen to God and making sense out of what He is telling us! The story Melinda shared a few minutes ago about young Samuel gives us the three keys to learning to listen to God.l Three Keys to Listening to God Notice first that young Samuel was Practicing His Purpose “the boy Samuel was serving the LORD by assisting Eli” (1 Samuel 3:1) Samuel was already doing all that he knew to do. He was serving in the temple. You see, even before Samuel was born God had prepared a plan for him. His birth was miraculous (his mother had never been able to have children) and as soon as he was old enough to leave his mother he was dedicated to serving God in the Temple (known then as the Tabernacle). You might be thinking, “Well, that’s easy for Samuel, he already knew what he was supposed to be doing. I don’t have a clue what God wants me to do with my life.” Well, think again, because the whole point of the passage is that Samuel didn’t know the whole story. He didn’t know that God was about to call him as a prophet and judge over Israel. Samuel didn’t know that God was going to use him to share his message with the High Priest. All Samuel knew was what he was supposed to be doing right then! He was supposed to be taking care of Eli the priest. He was supposed to be listening to Eli’s call. He knew little if anything about what he was supposed to do next, he was just busy doing what he was supposed to be doing right then! Sometimes we get stuck waiting to hear what we are supposed to be doing next and we fail to do what we are supposed to be doing right now. That was the predicament I found myself in years ago in Napa, California. Terrie and I had moved to Napa to Pastor a small church, but when we arrived we found that the circumstances had changed and instead of being the Senior Pastor I assumed the role of an assistant pastor. Not only that, but the church was too small to support me full time (sound familiar) and I had to go looking for a second job. Soon I found myself cleaning the bilges on Navy submarines, just about the grungiest job you could imagine. But there I was from 7:30 to 4:10 every day up to my elbows in grease and junk. Then I would head home, clean up and head off to church to do my work as an assistant Pastor. Neither role was very glamorous. On more than one occasion a friend would tell me, “Paul, you should quit your job at the shipyard, quit your job as an assistant Pastor and go Pastor your “own church”. There were only two real problems with those suggestions. First, it wasn’t my church, it was God’s and He was the One who decided to Pastor’s His church. And second, God had me where He wanted me already. My responsibility wasn’t to try to go somewhere else – it was to serve God where I was with the abilities I had right then. What came next was ultimately in God’s plan, not mine. I spent nine years in Napa before God moved us to another church where I assumed the Senior Pastor responsibilities and another six years before God brought us here to FamilyFellowship! In every place we have been my desire has been to serve God and others where I am and let God decide what’s next. Samuel was practicing his purpose. He was serving God where he was. He wasn’t afraid to serve others, he realized intuitively that his purpose was where he was right then. It’s also interesting what it says at the beginning of verse one… “Now in those days messages from the LORD were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.” (1 Samuel 3:1) The Bible had not yet been written, there were very few “preachers” and because most people were ignoring God anyway, He wasn’t speaking often. Samuel had not heard directly from the Lord, that was rare, but he did know what he was supposed to be doing right then! That was enough for then! How about you? Are you sitting worried about what God wants you to do? Why not just get busy doing the things you already KNOW you should be doing. My dad used to say it this way, it’s a whole lot easier to turn a moving car than one sitting still. So get moving! Do the things you already know you should be doing. Practice your purpose. Practice the things you can do and God will begin telling you what’s next. Not only was Samuel practicing his purpose, but… Samuel was in the proper position. It’s interesting to note when God spoke to Samuel. “One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had just gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly, the LORD called out, “Samuel! Samuel!” (verses 2-4) It was night time. It was quiet. There were no distractions. As a matter of fact some Bible scholars say that it was probably right before dawn, right before morning. The “lamp of God” was the first “Menorah” a seven branched lamp that had bowls that held olive oil and lit up the Tabernacle. I think it was probably one of Samuel’s jobs to make sure there was always enough oil in the lamps at night, but it was still night and the lamps were just fine. So there Samuel was…in the quiet…being still…no distractions…when God spoke. Here is a powerful key to hearing from God…get rid of the distractions. We don’t hear God when He’s speaking because there are too many things in the way. Parent’s you know how it is…I certainly do. I’m sitting at my desk reading or working on the computer preparing something for Sunday. Someone is sitting on the couch across the room watching the TV. Then one of the girls or Terrie will come in and want to talk to me. I want to listen, I want to really get what they are trying to share, but it’s hard to focus with the computer staring at me, the TV on, the list of projects sitting on my desk…sometimes it’s just hard to pay attention! So imagine yourself trying to listen to God, have a conversation with Him, and there are a million and one distractions around you. How much do you assume you are going to hear? Get rid of the distractions. Psalm 46:10 is probably a verse that all of us should memorize. It says, “Be still and know that I am God…” “Be still”… Write this one down…First Kings 19:11-13. Got it? First Kings 19:11-13. It’s the story of God speaking the prophet Elijah. God tells Elijah to stand in the opening of a cave and He will speak to Him. First God sends a hurricane, then an earthquake, and then a fire…and the passage says that God did not speak to Elijah through any of those things. But after the storm, after the earthquake, after the fire…God spoke to Elijah in a quiet whisper…a still, small voice. It’s not that God won’t speak to use in the HUGE THINGS of life…but most often He wants us to simply be quiet and still before Him without any distractions. What about you? What’s distracting you from hearing God? Maybe you should do what I do from time to time (and I should do more often). I take time to just get away. Sometimes it’s in my backyard. Sometimes I drive off somewhere quiet and peaceful – a park, a creek, just somewhere away from everyone, alone. Sometimes I just lock myself in the bathroom! But I get alone and quiet and try to listen to God. It you want to hear from God, remove the distractions. That may seem difficult. It will be. But nothing is more important than hearing from God. So make the effort to make it happen. And when you learn to hear the whisper of God in your life it will obviously be much easier to recognize when He shouts! Samuel was practicing his purpose. Samuel was in the proper position. And Samuel was in the proper place. Did you notice were Samuel was living…right there in the Tabernacle of God! Right there near the “Holy Place”. Often we’re not hearing from God…we’re not listening because we are in the wrong place! We’re living a lifestyle far from God…we’re accepting practices in our life that we know God does not want us to do. I don’t have to spell out a list of sins right now, just let me ask it this way…what do you know that you are doing that you know God doesn’t want you doing? Do you realize that sin is like putting ear plugs in your spiritual ears. Sin deafens our heart to God’s voice. When I worked for the Navy we worked around some pretty loud machinery. Every year they would have us take a hearing test to check our hearing. What I found out was if I did not protect my ears I began to lose my ability to hear certain sounds. Sometimes the lose was temporary…but if I did not take the proper precautions I would lose those sounds forever. Sin, the things we know God tells us not to do, deafens our ability to hear some of God’s sounds…and if we don’t take the precautions to protect our spiritual hearing we may lose those sounds forever! Do you know what I do when I really want to hear what someone says to me? I get my ears close to them, sometimes right up to their mouth. I get as close as I can so I can hear every word, understand every meaning, fully grasp what they are saying. Samuel was living in the presence of God. He was living as close to God has he could possibly live. What about you? Where would you put yourself in relationship to God? Close…far away…fiddlin’ in the middle somewhere at a comfortable distance…not that close, not that far? Don’t lie to yourself. Anywhere but close to God is too far away. So let’s bring this all to a close. How do we hear God now? He wants to speak to us. He wants us to listen, to hear when He speaks. How do you fit the checklist? þ Are you practicing your purpose? Are you doing the things you already know God wants you to do? He won’t tell you what’s next until you finish with what’s now! þ Are you in the proper position? Are you taking time to be quiet and still before the Lord without all the distractions? By the way…there is a spiritual habit that has been practiced by Believers for thousands of years, it’s called a “Daily Quiet Time”. A quiet time is taking time every day to just be quiet before the Lord and listen to Him. þ Are you in your proper place? Another way to ask this question is what’s keeping you from living close to God? God is waiting in heaven, just waiting for us to tweak our ears toward Him so He can speak to us. He wants to speak to you. He’s just waiting for you to hear Him now! Before we close though, let me share one final important point: Jesus made it absolutely imperative that we hear and listen to His message. It’s not an option if we want to be assured of eternal life. Here’s how He said it in John 5:24: “I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” Notice the equation: Listen to His message (that He came to forgive you sins and give you His life) plus (+) believe in God who sent Jesus (we must put our faith, our trust in Jesus as our forgiver and boss) equals (=) eternal life. And what is eternal life? It means our sins are forgiven and we are given God’s life! There is no greater message from God than the message of salvation, the message of John 5:24. Accepting Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and eternal life is the first step to hearing the voice of God in your life.
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(c) Paul Newell 2003 FamilyFellowship Church P.O. Box 465, Beaumont, CA 92223 |
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