God's Voice
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08-12-2018
Gods Voice
Intro
How many of us had distractions?
How did you handling those distractions
Rather than stepping on toes I just want to encourage you to stay the course and when the distractions happen tomorrow cause you know they will I want to encourage you to stay focused on Jesus and Jesus alone
This morning I want us to go back to 1 Samuel and talk about Hannah son that she prayed for
This morning I want to talk about the night Samuel heard Gods voice
1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. 2 It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well), 3 and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, 4 that the Lord called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he answered, “I did not call, my son, lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. 8 So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”
This is the boy that Hannah had prayed
The story already starts off with the notion that the word of the Lord was rare in that time, hearing a word from the Lord was rare
Part of the reason for that was because of the people in power the sons of the priest Eli were not right before the Lord
See the boys of Eli were doing bad things, they were living in sin and allowing it to run rampet in their lives
When you and I allow sin to run rampet in our lives then it would make sense that we would not recieve a word from the Lord
Our God is a holy and just God and cannot and will not be a part of sin, so if you are expecting to be blessed of God or to recieve a word from God while remaining in sin
It just wont happen
Eli’s son we so caught up with sin
Eli was becoming very old and not able to sleep at the temple to conduct his duties of the priest, so Samuel is his apprentice probably more of the temple gopher
Because Eli was so old and unable to conduct his job and business he has Samuel doing his job
Samuel though does not know God
Samuel does not know God because he has not had the opportunity to know God
Samuel has not had the opportunity to hear from God and since it was rare in that time it would make sense that He would not think it was God calling Him
Now we get to the calling of God
The first time God calls Samuel it appears that it may have been early in the morning
But what a picture of true obedience, that in the early morning hours after working all day he jumps up and runs to Eli because he thinks Eli called him
Eli of course tells him no and then he returns to bed
Then God calls again and rather then dismissing it because Samuel is willing to be obedient no matter what
See when Samuel is willing to be obedient God sees someone ready and willing to be obedient and thus He calls him
You and I will never be called of God unless we are willing to be obedient
Last week we talked about Peter, can you image the joy and God’s presence he felt getting out of the boat
Peter was willing to be obedient to get out of the boat so Jesus called Him out of the boat
Samuel was willing to get up in the middle of the night so God called Him
Are you willing to be obedient?
I was willing to be a youth pastor so God called me to here and then I was willing to be the Pastor so God called me and here we are
You need to ask yourself if you are willing to be obedient to the call of God and then he will call you
Then what are you so afraid of?
God sees that someone who does not allow sin to run in their lives and who is willing to be obedient he calls them
So this morning I also wanted to see what Gods voice sounded like
You see scripture says that as believers in Jesus you and I will know his voice
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
You and I will know his voice, you and I will hear it and recognize His voice
This is true if we know Him, see you and I must know Him and for us to know Him we must spend time with Him
When I wrestled in high school during the tournaments with the headgear on and the crowd screaming it is tough to hear what is going on
I could hear clearly 2 voices
I could hear my assistant coach and my dad clear as day it would seem
the reason is because I spent time with them and I knew them
This is no difference, you and I will hear and recognize His voice when we spend time with Him
So then I asked the question what does His voice sound like
I am glad you asked
4 “After it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard. 5 “God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.
His voice is thunderous and loud, and magnificent
When God speaks He speaks with power of thunder and lighting and power and majesty
Gods voice is loud and can cause us to tremble before Him
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful, The voice of the Lord is majestic.
Gods voice is so very powerful and so very majestic
Cedar trees are very strong the scriptures go on to say that the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon
I am pretty sure by just yelling at a plank of wood I cannot break it and neither can you
7 The voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire.
Not only can he break things down but He speaks with flames of fire
God voice is so very strong and powerful
I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in the sound of His voice that maybe we miss it, it is so loud and power at times that you and I get so fixated that we will miss it
11 So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Gods voice not only can be strong and powerful but it can and sometimes it is also soft and quite
But in the BIble Gods voice is loud and in the movies it is loud and powerful, Yes
But also Gods voice and speak in the softness and quiteness
There is a reason scripture calls us to be still before the Lord so that you and I can hear it
Sometimes we need to be the distractions away so we can hear the voice of God
You and I need to train ourselves to hear the voice of God, by spending time with Him and being quite beofre him so that you and I can hear His voice
35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!”
And in all of it sometimes God will speak audibly for you and I physically hear His voice, and then others He will speak through people
I have told you that I listen to a lot of sermons and I believe that Adiran Rogers is what God sounds like, Johnny Hunt another person I listen to thinks the same thing also
I just love his voice
But we have talked about the thunderous, the lighting, and the softness, His powerful, and Majestic Voice, but it also is an audible voice
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
Like we have said, you and I need to know God to know His voice and like Samuel we need to be free from sin
We cannot be wrapped up in sin and think God will use us and bless us
You and I must also be willing to be obedient before we can hear from God
Then it is imperative that you spend time with Jesus so that you begin to know His voice and then when you hear it like Samuel you will be able to say Speak Lord for you servant is listening
Closing
I want to invite the band up
The invitation is simple much like it was last week
If you are here today and you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior
Then I want to invite to the front and you can invite Jesus into your heart this morning and begin to know Jesus so you can hear His voice
the second part of the invitation is for those of us who know Jesus and struggle to hear His voice, maybe you need to confess your sin before Jesus or simply spend sometime quite before the Lord
The altar is open