738 - How God Gets Our Attention

June 29.2008

Sermon #738

How God Gets Our Attention

Psalm 37:23 - 26 (NKJV) ²³The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. ²⁴Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. ²⁵I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. ²⁶ He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.

Introduction: Last Sunday we studied how a person hears from God. Today I want us to see the methods God uses to get our attention. Sometimes we are so busy or so hardheaded that we do not listen to hear His voice. When I was a young boy, we had to alarms that would get our attention, the fire bell, and the alarm bell for an enemy attack. When I was studying in Oklahoma, they had a tornado alarm. Believe me these things get your attention. God has some methods as well.

1. A restless spirit

Esther 6:1 - 10 (NKJV) ¹That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. ²And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. ³Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” ⁴So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. ⁵The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

⁶So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” ⁷And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. ⁹Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’” ¹⁰Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”

• Something was happening in the land that the king, Ahasuerus, had no knowledge about but he had a restless spirit and could not sleep

• Haman was a counselor to the king but had decided to kill Mordecai and the Jews

• God arranged to have the king read the records of the chronicles – nothing that boring could be read and not put him to sleep!

• God arranged to have the chronicle read where Mordecai was the hero

• God arranged to have Haman there so that he thinking that he was going to be honored could have Mordecai blessed

• Have you ever been so restless you could not sleep or could not be at ease? Maybe God is trying to get your attention.

ILL: My wife has learned to pay attention to my restless spirit – it always comes before we have moved or taken on a new assignment. Discontentment can be God’s push to attract you to His pull!

2. A word from others

2 Samuel 12:1 - 12 (NKJV) ¹Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. ³But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” ⁵So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! ⁶And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”

⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! ⁹Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ¹⁰Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹²For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”

• Talk about getting David’s attention!

• Be careful about the qualifications of the person who brings you the word!

ILL: When I need to hear from the Lord about ministry, I have other ministers who have been serving the ministry a long time and successively – these I will hear.

ILL: Nearly every Friday Larry Jones and I play golf. Last week I had a score of 86 and Larry had 84. Larry will tell me, “Pastor open the face of the club to make that shot” or “ Pastor you are standing too far forward on the ball to make that shot.” I do what he tells me – that is why I am now getting close to his score.

ILL: My Dad had a very close friend that would tell him “Paul, you need to buy such and such stock or Paul you need to sell such and such stock.” My father lost tens of thousands of dollars on the market. One day I asked him, “Dad is your friend rich? Does he make a lot of money on the stock market?” “No!” he said, “He doesn’t have money to invest.” “And, neither will you” I told him, “if you keep listening to a man that has no success in what he is telling you.”

3. Blessings

Romans 2:4 (NKJV) ⁴Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

ILL: I love it when God gets my attention this way. It’s called serendipity – sudden spiritual or material blessings that you were not expecting. Mary and I were vacationing in the Bahamas and I looked at a gold bracelet in a window. “Isn’t that beautiful,” I remember telling her. A few weeks later, a paper bag was on my desk and in the desk, I found the bracelet. No! Mary did not buy it or tell anyone that I admired it – God had someone get it for me just to show me that he was pleased with me. In the same way, I was given a Rolex watch as an earnest of a greater financial blessing that is to come. These tokens of God’s blessings lead to faith!

4. Financial Need

Judges 6:1 - 10 (NKJV) ¹Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, ²and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. ³So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. ⁴Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. ⁵For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.

⁶So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. ⁷And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, ⁸that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; ⁹and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’”

ILL: This is just the opposite as God’s blessings but both are designed to get our attention. I tithe, God has promised to bless me, if the financial blessings start to cease I start to check where I might be in sin or where I have failed to obey his instructions. Moreover, I do it quickly!

5. Unanswered Prayer

James 4:1 - 4 (NKJV) ¹Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? ²You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. ⁴Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 3:18 - 23 (NKJV) ¹⁸My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. ²⁰For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²²And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

1 John 5:14 - 15 (NKJV) ¹⁴Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

1 Peter 3:7 (NKJV) ⁷Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

ILL: Check it out if you see no results from your prayer life – maybe something is wrong in your life!

VI. Disappointment

Numbers 14:39 - 45 (NKJV) ³⁹Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned!” ⁴¹And Moses said, “Now why do you transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed. ⁴²Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. ⁴³For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” ⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. ⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.

• The people had listened to the 10 spies and did not go and take the land that was promised – now when they decided to go God said NO – what a dis­appoint­ment!

VII. Signs and wonders

Exodus 3:1 - 3 (NKJV) ¹Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

ILL: The burning bush was a sign that made Moses wonder – he had no scripture for it but that did not mean that it wasn’t God getting his attention. He still uses “signs that make us wonder.”

Romans 15:18 - 19 (NKJV) ¹⁸For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient— ¹⁹in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

2 Corinthians 12:12 - 13 (NKJV) ¹²Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. ¹³For what is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong!

Hebrews 2:4 (NKJV) ⁴God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

• Be careful, however, signs and wonders can come from Satan

2 Thessalonians 2:9 - 12 (NKJV) ⁹The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹²that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Revelation 13: 13-14 (NKJV) ¹³He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. ¹⁴And he deceives ^£those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

ILL: Check it out with the elders in the church.

1 Corinthians 14:26 - 33 (NKJV) ²⁶How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. ²⁷If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. ²⁸But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. ²⁹Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. ³⁰But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. ³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. ³²And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. ³³For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Conclusion: All of these ways God can use to get our attention but be careful about the word you believe after He has your attention!

• Does it agree with Scripture

• Is it moral and ethical

• Does it appeal to the spirit or to the flesh

• Is it God’s wisdom or human wisdom

• Does it require courage and faith?

737 - Identifying the Voice of God

June 22, 2008

Identifying the Voice of God

Introduction: I am amazed at how people say, “God told me!” Of course, when you tell someone “God told me” you destroy all argument. Who wants to tell you that what God said was wrong? Some very sincere Christians believe that everything they think is something God is saying. God told them what to wear this morning – God told them what to do this morning – God told them what to eat – God told them what to tell me! I apologize for not hearing from God as well as they do. Sometimes, most of the time, I have a problem knowing if it is something God is telling me or something I just think He is saying! “Pastor, you should not have that kind of a problem!” I know, but sometimes I think perhaps you do as well.

Matthew 16:13 - 23 (NKJV) ¹³When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” ¹⁴So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth ^will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. ²¹From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. ²²Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” ²³But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

ILL: Here is Peter, in verse 17 Jesus is telling him, “God revealed this to you.” However, by verse 23 Jesus is telling him, “You are not mindful of the things of God – how confused Peter must have been! One minute he is hearing from God and just a little while later he is listening to the devil.

I. God voice will never contradict God’s Word

ILL: What Peter was saying was contradicting what the Word said:

1. What did the scripture say?

Isaiah 53:7 - 10 (NKJV) ⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. ⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. ⁹ And ^they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. ¹⁰ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

Zechariah 12:10 (NKJV) ¹⁰“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

Zechariah 13:6 - 7 (NKJV) ⁶And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your ^arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ ⁷ “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.

ILL: Jesus had to go to the cross – God said so!

2. They say: “But we are in love and we want you to marry us – God has told me to marry him!”

2 Corinthians 6:14 - 16 (NKJV) ¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? ¹⁶And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you^ are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”^

ILL: She was very mad with me when I said, “I cannot perform this marriage. He is not a believer and I cannot join you to him!” Her father told her, “if the pastor will not perform the ceremony I will not give you away or pay for the wedding.” Over a year later she came back with another man asking me to perform a wedding. “Thank you for not marrying me the first time – I didn’t marry him and he’s in prison.”

3. They say: “God wants me to be happy!”

Matthew 16:24 - 27 (NKJV) ²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

ILL: God will never tell you to do anything that gratifies the flesh! Does what you think would make you happy glorify your flesh?

II. God’s voice will conflict with human wisdom

Isaiah 55:8 - 9 (NKJV) ⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

ILL: I’ll admit that I have a problem with this!

ILL: Christ’s instruction given in the “sermon on the mount” do not make logical sense.

Matthew 5:38 - 45 (NKJV) ³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’^{ 39}But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. ⁴⁰If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. ⁴¹And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. ⁴²Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. ⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor^ and hate your enemy.’ ^44But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

ILL: God’s program for finical gain is not logical

Luke 6:38 (NKJV) ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

3. God’s voice will always call for courage

Joshua 1:1 - 9 (NKJV) ¹After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: ²“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. ³Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. ⁴From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. ⁵No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. ⁶Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. ⁸This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

ILL: Ask yourself the question, do I have to have courage to do this?

Matthew 4:18 - 20 (NKJV) ¹⁸And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

ILL: God’s call and God will always requires sacrifice.

3. God’s voice will always call to faith

Romans 1:17 (NKJV) ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”^

ILL: A word from God to the church must always call to faith not judgment.

1 Corinthians 14:3 (NKJV) ³But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.

Conclusion:

Look at Peter again:

²²Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” ²

• Against Scripture

• Appeals to the flesh

• Human wisdom

• No courage

• No faith

Not God!