Receiving

Introduction

When you receive something, you take it from the source and embrace it as your own. In receiving a gift from someone else it goes from theirs to mine. Hearing the voice of God is a bit different. God speaks to us in a variety of ways, yet as He gives us His word, it is still His. Hearing the voice of God not only has to be recognized, we have to learn to receive it while recognizing it is still His. The Lord speaks His word, He supplies His word, and He sustains His word. He gives but He does not take it back. Just like His promises, He is faithful to fulfill His word. Receive His promise. Receive His word. Receive His joy.

Psalm 85:8 NIV84

I will listen to what God the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints— but let them not return to folly.

How can I receive the voice of God so I can listen to what He will say? We can receive the word of God exponentially, eagerly, expectantly, and eternally.

Receiving Exponentially

Exponentially means rising or expanding at a steady and usually rapid rate. When we receive God’s voice exponentially, we have the attitude that what we receive will benefit us and help us grow or expand spiritually. We spread our spiritual wings and soar like on the wings of eagles. The Bible tells us that if we call on the name of the Lord, He will tell us great and unserachable things.

Jeremiah 33:3 NIV84

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

In doing so, we can choose the voice from which we will be deceived or we will be able to receive.

Romans 16:17–18 NIV84

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.

Obviously, this passage tells us that there will be other voices in our lives that will try to take you away from the true teaching of God. Remember, in hearing the voice of God, God will never put you in a situation where His voice contradicts His word. If you have someone that is trying to teach you they say is from God but it contradicts His word, run. Get away. They are doing exactly what this Roman passage is saying: Serving their own appetites.

On the other hand, we need to make a choice to receive the voice of God in a way that will help you grow. As we study and learn God’s word, we will be able to hear His voice by receiving it exponentially.

Psalm 119:93 NIV84

I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.

Do you believe that to be true? If so, you are on you way to a new standard of spiritual growth.

John 5:24 NIV84

“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.

Hearing God’s voice by receiving it exponentially, you will not be condemned and will, in the words of Jesus, cross over from death to life.

Have you ever seen a freshly dug grave? I went to do a funeral in another town. I punched in my google maps the city cemetery. My directions were perfect and got me to the cemetery in record time. I got the cemetery and begin to look for the funeral home tent for the grave where I was supposed to do the service. I saw a freshly dug grave, but no funeral home tent. There was no one around, I got our of the car and went to the see the name on the tombstone and it was not the name of the person I was doing the service for. Just for a second, I looked at that freshly dug grave. No tent, no ground covering, just a big, dark, nasty hole in the ground. I realized the error of my ways, rechecked my directions and discovered there was another cemetery just a few miles away that was the one where I needed to be. I went on to the right place, but I could not get that picture of that grave out of my mind. I wonder if the person that was going to be buried there would cross over from death to life? Is that someone who received the voice of God exponentially? Did they listen to other voices?

God reveals Himself to those who really wish to know who He is. The wise will choose to hear Him while the foolish will choose to ignore Him.

We should receive the voice of God eagerly.

Receiving Eagerly

Eager means to have a keen interest or an intense desire. What are you interested in that cause you to have a keen interest in it?

We studied this idea a bit last week with our story of Samuel. In 1 Samuel 3, we experience the story of Samuel being called by the Lord and thinking it was the voice of Eli. Eli finally realizes what is happening to young Samuel and counsels him to answer what we have in 1 Samuel 3:10:

1 Samuel 3:10 NIV84

The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

When we answer that way, we are receiving the voice of God eagerly. Joshua was eager to hear what God was going to say to him the messenger that God sent to him. He had an interest in learning.

Joshua 5:13 NIV84

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

Joshua 5:14 NIV84

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

We also see that receiving eagerly means that we will have an intense desire to receive it. It drives us to receive it. How is your intensity? Another word the Bible uses is fervor.

Romans 12:11 NIV84

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Eagerly receiving the voice of God challenges us to realize its importance. Is hearing the voice of God important to you?

Proverbs 30:5 NIV84

“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 NIV84

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

Receiving God’s voice eagerly means you are hearing from the Creator of the Universe, the Author of ALL knowledge, and He wants to communicate with you. The word you receive will make you want to receive more and more. Therefore, we also receive the voice of God expectantly.

Receiving Expectantly

Our church lost a friend this week in Averette Haney. Averette was a man that when he spoke, those of us who were around him waited with baited breath to hear the wisdom come forth. Averette spent his life saturating himself in God’s word and pursuing the wisdom that God had taught him over the years. He expected to hear from God because our Lord had proved Himself faithful over and over again. When we practice this idea of receiving the voice of God expectantly, we will look forward to what God says next. We will thrive on the word we have received and long for the next.

Psalm 50:1 NIV84

The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.

There is a wonder and awe that God would choose to make Himself known to us.

We listen intently as God demonstrates His love towards us. We want to experience God’s great wonder. Have you ever thought about how precious the gift of our salvation is? The writer of Hebrews challenged us to think about it more:

Hebrews 2:1–4 NIV84

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

We will experience the wonder and then watch for it more.

2 John 8 NIV84

Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.

Jesus told a story about this very idea.

Mark 13:32–37 NIV84

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

We receive the voice of God expectantly and therefore we choose to wait.

Psalm 130:6 NIV84

My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

We receive the voice of God exponentially, eagerly, and expectantly. The reason we do all of those is because we are able to receive the voice of God eternally.

Receiving Eternally

Isaiah 55:3 NIV84

Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

God desires for us to hear His voice because He has established a covenant with us not for just a few days, or with a lease that will expire next year. Rather, He has made an everlasting covenant with us about His faithful love. In doing so, we come back to the very choice that is in our text from Psalm 85:8.

We can turn to peace or return to folly.

He promises peace to His people. Did you hear that church? He promises peace to His people, His saints!

John 14:27 NIV84

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

The funeral I participated in yesterday was indeed a celebration of one of God’s saints. Our friend Averette knew the peace of God and because he knew the peace of God, his family experienced a beautiful peace. Sure they are sad as am I. But God gives a promise of peace to His people that can not be fully explained until you have it.

God loves you dear friend and wants you to experience peace that passes all understanding. Do you have that peace?

2 Thessalonians 3:16 NIV84

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

It seems like a no brainer. Yet there is that last word of caution that is given in our text: “But let them not return to folly.”

Have you ever found yourself returning to something that you have messed up in before?

Proverbs 26:11 NIV84

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

Not to be gross, but if you are a dog owner and it gets sick, what happens? That beautiful, adoring, really smart dog of yours will go right to that vomit and eat it.

Nothing like a thought like that right before lunch. The point is that you and I are prone to go to that which we has caused us to sin over and over.

2 Peter 2:21–22 NIV84

It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

We can choose to receive the voice of God by staying away from the vomit and the mud. We can choose to go after the gift of peace. Yet, so many times we do not. Why? Maybe we are not receiving the voice of God exponentially, eagerly, expectantly, or even realize that we can receive it eternally.

The voice of God is speaking to you right now. Receive it.

Embrace it. Do what He is calling you to do. Don’t put it off any longer.