Adjust the Volume

Sermon in a sentence: Sometimes, in order to “turn up the volume” you need to consider the noise in you and around you. Are you prepared to listen?

We’ve spent the last few weeks preparing for NOW.

Joy, Peace, Hope & Love - It’s so critical that we apply these truths to every area of our life. Especially, when it comes to times of prayer & fasting.

So, we’re going to take time to learn how to hear God’s voice together. We’re calling this series “Tuned In”.

As I was talking to the Lord about all this, I imagined an old television. Did anyone have one of these?(see picture) Is there anyone here who still has one? They call these Vintage. As I get older, I am going to convince my kiddos to refer to me as Vintage...ha!

Then, I was reminded of the dials on the front. One for volume, one to change the channels. By channels we mean like 5! Anytime we wanted to change them, you had to get up and walk over to the tv to make the adjustment. So, as it pertains to volume you might have to get up multiple times to adjust it before it’s “just right”.

This all lead me to a story in 1 Kings. At this point, Elijah had just seen the Lord move mightily through him against the prophets of Baal. Arab told Jezebel, his wife what had happened and then she sent a threat against Elijah. So, he proceeded to flee -

1 Kings 19:3–14 NLT

3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” 11 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

There’s a lot here, but I want to call out a few truths that we normally don’t focus on.

Elijah had a relationship with God, He saw Him perform mighty miracles in him and around him. In this moment, He allowed the noise and other external factors to take his focus from the Lord.

Back to my thoughts on the Tv’s - You ever notice both back then and even now, when there are times you just can’t seem to get the volume loud enough. Then on the flip side, it’s too loud at other times. Like, you can’t go off of the indicators alone.

I’m going to make this as non-technical as possible, but there’s a lot of work that our sound team is involved in. There are so many factors that come in when adjusting the sound. The room, the people, the weather, the type of music, the list goes on and on. If you’ve ever stepped back there, you might think aha! Let’s just push this volume knob up. Only to find that you might not have the desired results.

Tune My Ears

What I am saying on both accounts is - You must allow your ears to be tuned to the sound.

For this topic, our desire is to hear God’s voice, right? So, we must ask Him to teach us to hear His voice. To be tuned to His distinct rhythm.

John 10:27 NLT - my sheep listen to my voice. Listening means there’s action. Many have the ability to hear Him, but only His sheep follow.

We can see it above, God was re-tuning Elijah’s ear to hear Him.

Create A Secret Place

In this instance, Elijah was led into the wilderness. Even before the journey, the Lord was in it. He provided the food for it, so much that it would sustain him. Now, God might not be leading you out somewhere for 40 days, maybe it’s a 21 day fast with your church!

Everything up to this point was preparation for the journey. That He will show Himself in a mighty way during this time that you get alone with Him. In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us When we pray, when we fast, & when we give. When, not if!

In verse 6, He says go into your innermost room. It’s your heart. If it’s filled with a bunch of junk, it’s not His. It’s not spring yet, but we need some cleaning, some healing. He is able to help with every aspect we are talking about this morning.

Elijah ended up in a cave, the point here is just that we are with Him. Now that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we can carry this secret place with us everywhere we go.

Learn to Linger

We all just experienced Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyone ever experience times where you’re like, “we’ve overstayed the welcome, time to go”. I think of it these days as a restlessness, a desire to be in the comfort of your own home and rest.

Well, Jesus isn’t like this at all. He comes to you and says Be yourself. He works on us and sometimes we don’t even know it. He never wants to leave the place of intimacy with us. That might weird you out a bit, especially if you’re a manly-man. For a moment, we need to put that aside and remember His words. Come like little children. Little children love the intimacy, they love the closeness and they most definitely tell you exactly what’s on their mind and how they feel. That’s what He wants from us. REAL!

He knows it, so you can’t hide it. There is power in our words and agreeing with Him, out loud.

As Elijah waited here in the cave, God answered. He gave Him a very detailed answer and plan for what was coming.

Closing

Some of us have been waiting for the wrong things, with wrong motives or even distracted by all the noise that we’ve missed His word for Now.

The Promise of Deliverance (not just for Israel, but for us too!)

Jeremiah 30:17 (NLT)

I will give you back your health and heal your wounds,” says the Lord.

His word says that He will pour out His Spirit on ALL people. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord - WILL BE SAVED. (Acts 2)

He’s asking you to be strong and courageous. To steps out in boldness and say Yes to His MORE for you.