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"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
-Matthew 5:8 |
Sermon Archive
How to Hear God Speak...
God speaks to his people. All through the Bible you see the phrase, "And God said..."God wants to have a personal relationship with you. Hearing from God requires a real, live, personal, interactive relationship with God himself. There is no relationship without communication. God has chosen to speak to us. So how do you & I hear God speak?
1. I MUST CULTIVATE AN OPEN MIND. If you see the Bible as an opportunity to know Jesus better, then the Holy Spirit will use the Word to instruct & guide you as you read it.
2. I MUST ALLOCATE TIME TO LISTEN
I've got to make time to hear Him. I've got to slow down, prioritize, & make time in your schedule. We schedule a good deal of our lives -- vacations, dentist & doctor appointments, athletic practices, games, matches, tournaments, . Do you schedule time for God in your schedule? Or does God just get the leftovers. The second reason a lot of people never hear God speak is we're in too much of a hurry. Americans are always in a hurry. We're in such a rat race society that we're always in a hurry. American Demographics said juice in jars is now outselling frozen concentrated juice because it takes too long to thaw & Americans don't want to put up with thawing anything. Even overnight Federal Express mail isn't fast enough any more. The cyber space, computer hackers call that snail mail because it goes so slow. You can set down at a key board & type it out & it goes in a nano second to wherever you want it to go. We're always in a hurry. This is nothing new. De Toqueville, a french philosopher said 150 years ago, Americans are always in a hurry. When we live in a hurried lifestyle, God gets shortchanged, shuffled to the back of the deck. He gets the leftovers of our time. We want to hear God speak, yes, but what we say is, "God, I'm in a hurry, so do it quick! I only have a minute!" As I'm running out the door to my next project or assignment or job I'm saying "OK God, speak to me, but do it right now!" As a result, we miss what God wants to say to us.
v. 6 "Other seed fell on shallow soil with rock beneath. This seed began to grow but soon withered & died for lack of moisture." v. 13 "Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe it for a while, but in the time of testing, they fall away."
Just as the hardened path represents the closed mind, the shallow soil represents a superficial mind. It's shallow. When He talks about rocky soil here He's not talking about soil with a bunch of rocks in it. In much of the middle east & particularly in Israel, much of Israel is built on a bedrock of limestone with about 3-4 inches of topsoil on top of it. That means plants can grow down 2-3 inches but that's about it. So when summer comes and the heat is on, the plants wither. They die because they don't have any roots because there's a bedrock underneath that does not allow them to develop deep roots.
He's saying this represents the superficial type of hearer who hears the word of God. It sprouts up & they're all excited about it but it doesn't last. When the heat is on & when the problems come they will wither & fall away. Likewise we do this. Sometimes we hear God & we get all excited about it & we're superficially moved & we react emotionally & we're moved impulsively. But we never give it the time to sink in to our bodies, to sink in to our minds. I can't tell you how many people have told me, "I was so moved by that message! I was really touched.
I was moved to tears!" But a month later there is still no perceivable life change or behavioral difference in their life. They're still living the same way. They got excited about the message but they didn't do anything about it. As a result they are just shallow, superficial. They have no roots. When the heat is on, they're not going to last.
Why is it that we don't have change? The U.S. Air Force did a study & found that we forget 90-95% of everything we hear within 72 hours. If you want a statistic that will depress a pastor, that's it! We work to put together sermons, realizing that by Wednesday, you've already forgotten everything we've said on Sunday except maybe 5%. I don't remember what I preached on last week! That is why we have the sermon outlines. Write it down & later on review it. The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory. If you don't write it down, you're going to forget it all. If you forget it, you can't work on it.
This is a problem that all of us have, even pastors. I went to a conference & heard a message. God spoke to me, "You need to work on this area of your life." I thought, "You are right. I really need to work on this area in my life." I was motivated and charged up. But somehow those notes I had taken got misplaced & I found them this week in another pile. When I pulled them out, I realized that in the two months I had done nothing. I had already forgotten what I was so excited & motivated about recently.
“How many of you would say I accept & believe in the Ten Commandments?" Ok, now "Which of you would like to come up on stage & quote them?" My guess is most of you could not even name all ten. How can you say you base your life on the Ten Commandments if you can't even name all ten? Unless you are retaining & reviewing what God says to you, you're just kidding yourselves. How is it
that people can come to church year after year & never really be changed? Because it goes in one ear and out the other.
The verse says the second kind of person -- v. 13 -- "They received the word with joy [circle that] but when they hear it they don't have any root."In other words, they don't retain it. He's saying you can be thrilled without being transformed. You need to write it down in a journal, or a binder of sermon notes, when you're in a Bible study, you take notes. Then you regularly review those things so you don't have to learn the same lesson over & over.
Some of you say, "I've been a Christian for 25 years..." No, you've been a believer for 25 years but you haven't had 25 years of experience. You've had one year of experience, 25 times. You have to keep relearning because you're not retaining it. You've got to take time to let it sink in. You need to schedule time every day where you set down with your Bible & read, think about your life, maybe review some of the lessons you've learned, write things down & keep growing by reviewing.
Having pastored in this church for thirteen years I've seen many people who have started off great. When they first became believers they were excited & enthusiastic &full of joy. Today you can't find them anywhere. They had enthusiasm but that is not enough to make it in the Christian life. It takes commitment. It takes the commitment to say, "I'm going to set down & regularly review what I'm being taught." Why should God teach me new things if I haven't put into practice what He taught me last week? or yesterday? or last night? Why do people have no roots? Because they don't take the time. How do you get roots? Allocate time to listen. Say, God, I'm going to spend 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes every day. It's not the amount of time. Just get started so that everyday you get alone with God and say, "OK God, what's next? What's the next step in my career? What's the next step in my marriage? What's the next step in my family?
..." God can't talk to you unless you slow down. Cultivate an open mind allocate time to listen.
3. I MUST ELIMINATE THE DISTRACTIONS
A lot of times we miss hearing God because our minds are crowded with other thoughts. Our minds are filled with concerns of daily living, worries, plans, goals, ambitions, bills, all these different kinds of things. When our mind is full & always thinking & never give God a chance in silence to talk to us, He can't get through.
Many of you did what I did this last Mother's Day. You pick up the phone & dial your mom to say "Happy Mother's Day" & as you were doing it you get the same little message, "Sorry, but all the circuits are busy." Everybody else in America was calling their mother.
Many times God has wanted to talk to you & He's got a busy signal. Many times God has wanted to talk to you in your life but the line was off the hook & you don't want to do Call Waiting with God. You've got to make time. When you're too busy -- & there are many things that are good but they can distract you -- you're too busy to listen to God.
v. 7 He says, "Other seen fell among the thorns [weeds] which grew up with it & choked the plants. v. 14 This seed that fell among the thorns stands or represents those who hear the word but as they go on their way they're choked by life's worries, riches, & pleasures."
The soil with weeds, this third kind of soil that the farmer is throwing seed on, it represents apreoccupied mind. We're distracted. The seed sprouts & grows but it's choked by the weeds before it can bear fruit.
Why is it that so many people live unproductive lives? I talk to people in their 30's, 40's, 50's & even 60's who say, "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing with my life." That tells me one thing: You're not spending much time with God. God had no intention for you blowing & wasting your life. If you'd spend as much time with God talking about your life as you do worrying about it, you'd have a whole lot less to worry about. God is not playing games with you. He has a plan & purpose for every life. But you're got to get time with God. We get distracted & we allow everything & anything to push God out of our lives. "Beware of the barrenness of a busy life." Don't ever confuse activity with productivity. There are a lot of you who are on the go all the time. But you're going in circles is what you're doing. There's no focus to your life. There's no rhyme or reason or general purpose. You haven't discovered why God put you here. Why? Because you're not talking to Him and you're not letting him talk to you. You've got to eliminate the distractions.
Jesus says that distractions are kind of like weeds. He gives us three examples. First, worries can distract you from hearing God speak. You can't pray & worry at the same time. Worries are the problems & the pressures of daily life. The Greek word is the word that means to be pulled in different directions. Have you ever felt that? Pulled in different directions. That's the Bible definition of worry. When you're worrying you can't hear what God wants to say to you. You're preoccupied, distracted.
Riches can be a weed in your life. We can be so busy making money we don't have time for God. So busy making a living, we don't really live. We don't really enjoy life. We just get up in the morning and go to work. We work hard to pay the bills and catch up & get even & keep up with the Jones' & we flop into bed at night, get up the next morning & do the same thing. God gets crowded out. God gets the leftovers in your life. In the desire to make money you can forget God.
Another weed can be pleasures. There's nothing wrong with pleasures. Who do you think gave you the ability to enjoy pleasure? God did. God thought up the fun in the world. God gave you the senses & the abilities & the senses you have in order to enjoy pleasure. God wants you to enjoy pleasure. But He's saying you can be so busy having fun that you forget God. When recreation replaces worship -- "It's too cold. I don't think I'll go to church this week end. Who are you having a
vacation from? God? You can be so busy having fun (& God wants you to have fun) but when it becomes number one in your life, guess who's getting crowded out?
There are a lot of different kinds of weeds. You can make your own list of the things that tend to crowd out God. It could be a relationship, a responsibility, anything. A weed is anything that distracts me from making time to be with God. To set down, be quiet and pray and say, "God, is there anything You want to say to me today?" Some days He will and some days He won't. But you've got to have the line ready, so He can talk to you.
A very theological question: How much effort does it take to grow weeds? No effort at all. My backyard where I'm growing stuff, I'm starting a weed farm & seeing how many known weeds I can grow. The difference between a plant & a weed -- a flower is something you cultivate, you fertilize, you trim, you water it & it doesn't grow. A weed you do nothing to & it explodes. That's the difference. You don't have to water weeds. They grow! Weeds are a sign of neglect.
When I start neglecting time with God on a daily basis, when I start neglecting a small group, when I start neglecting getting together with other Christians in worship, going to a Bible study -- any of those things -- the weeds are going to grow up in my life & the Bible said they're going to choke the spiritual life out of me. I'm going to loose my joy, my peace, my purpose, my sense of calmness, my ability to handle stress, etc. The weeds will choke the life out of you. And they all
come just by neglecting spending time with God.
4. I MUST COOPERATE WITH WHAT HE SAYS
God talks to people who decide in advance that they are going to do whatever He tells them to do when He tells them. Most of us want God to talk to us & then we'll decide if we're going to do it or not & God says, "No, no. We don't play that game." God talks to people who are going to do what He tells them to do once He tells them.
If you want God to speak to you, you need to say, "OK God, I'm going to do what You tell me to do whether I understand it or not, whether it makes sense or not, whether I'd think I'd like to do it or not, because I know it's the right thing & I know You know what would make me happy more than I do." It's a matter of trust.
The fourth soil represents a willing heart. Willing to do whatever God tells you to do. v. 15 "The seed on the good soil stands for those with a noble & good heart who hear the word of God & retain it & by persevering produce a good crop." Circle "retain". They not only hear God's word but they retain it. They write it down, they listen to it, they think about it & go over it. The result is a productive life.
Would you like to make your life count? Would like to have a productive, fulfilling, satisfying life? Then do what James 1:22 tells us, "Don't merely listen to the Word & so deceive yourself. You kid yourself if you think you're growing just by going to church. Do what it says."
testimony on learning to hear God's voice:
If I was able to hook up a machine to your brain right now & show the contents on one of these visual screens, some of you would be embarrassed. Some might have a blank screen. What kind of spiritual brain scan would show up? Would you have a closed mind? Would you have a superficial mind that gets excited about the service & then walk out & forget it all? Would you have a distracted mind that wants to do the right thing but you're just too busy right now? Or would you have a willing mind?
Here's the question I want to close with: What are you going to do as a result of today's message? God says, "be doers of the word, not hearers only." Do something. The moment you walk out the door, there's a little bird that's going to try to steel the seed of what we talked about today -- the devil. He's going to get you distracted, get you to think about where you're going for lunch, about the jerk who pulled in front of you in the parking lot, or any number of other distractions.
If you want to make this count, otherwise this morning was a waste, I want to give you a homework project. Do one thing as a result of today's message. It may be join a Bible study, start reading the Bible, a devotional (Daily Bread) & pray. Do something! Don't waste it.