Jan 9, 2021 Hearing God's Voice (Open The Ears of My Heart) Part 1

if you read the bible enough you might not think you know a lot about it but if you keep reading it and reading it it just gets into you you know and you might not be able to know that this is isaiah 38 verse 8 you know something like that but it will come out of you it's not important that you know sometimes the exact chapter and verse unless you're trying to find it what matters is that when you're talking to somebody and and they're squeezing you that the word of the lord should come out that's what they need they don't need to hear the chapter and verse they need to hear the word of the lord [Applause] and you'll see the more you talk to people the more you realize it's it when the word is richly in you it comes out of you it just does and and most of the time when you're talking to people that don't know the bible it's not important and you go well exodus 12 38 said that you already lost them let's give him the word the numbers were there for teaching purposes god didn't say to moses okay let's take a break now chapter 12. um i'm going to start things off with a premise and a premise you're probably very familiar with a premise but it's a proposition supporting a conclusion so this is my premise no matter the time or how god was dealing with his people which by the way is called dispensationalism i'm not a dispensationalist i'm just not god is the same yesterday today and forever so i don't want to offend anybody but that's not the way i move with the lord but with that being said no matter the time or how god was dealing with his people if you are dispensationalist one thing remains constant and that is god's voice no matter what dispensation you might think you're in right now what remains constant is god's voice now i'm just going to run through a bunch of scriptures to kind of set the stage i'm not going to go into any big detail about them but i'm going to go in kind of chronological order all right um let's take a look at genesis 3 8. it says they heard the voice of aranoi god walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze so the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of adonoi god among the trees in the garden so here we have the fall of man sadly enough but in love and mercy god searched after his fallen creatures and they heard god's what yeah let's take a look at the word it's coal in the hebrew in its voice or sound they heard a sound okay next job 37 5 it says god thunders wonderfully with his voice he does great things beyond our understanding here if you remember there was somebody called eliahu and he intervenes between job and his three friends and he's incest he's upset with job because job is justifying himself rather than god and he was also very angry with his three friends for failing to answer job adequately so elihu depicts god's wisdom and power and awesome majesty in his what his voice let's take a look at the word same word cold voice or a sound moving on to exodus 19 5. it says now if you pay careful attention to what i say and keep my covenant then you will be my own treasure my say good lord from among all the peoples for the earth all the earth is mine so here the children of israel arrive at mount sinai and from adam to this time there has been no direct law of god now he offers them a conditional covenant he says he would bless them if they would only pay careful attention to what what he says let's look at the word same word his voice moving on to deuteronomy 28 1 it says if you listen closely to what i don't know your god says observing and obeying all his mitzvoth those his commandments which i'm giving you today i don't know you god will raise you high above all the nations on the earth so here israel is ready to come into the promised land and god speaks blessing for obedience if they would listen to his what let's take a look at the word whether it's say voice or says it's the same word cold psalm 29 3 we read that this morning the voice of adonoi is over the waters the god of glory thunders are annoying over rushing orders here the psalmist is speaking of god's power and majesty in terms of his what same word let's take a look sound or voice isaiah 6 8 then i heard the voice of adonis saying whom shall i send who will go for us i answered i'm here hiney send me so god calls cleanses and commissions isaiah to prophesy with his what yeah you're getting it good the next word again same thing voice same word over and over again i just want you to see this consistent pattern of god speaking that's the point i'm not trying to bore you or belabor it it's important to set the stage okay jeremiah 7 22 23 he had the prophet jeremiah speaking to judah's hypocritical religion what god desires obedience not rituals therefore they need to pay attention for i didn't speak to your ancestors or give them orders concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices when i brought them out of the land of egypt he didn't rather what i did order them was this pay attention to what i say again let's take a look at the word his voice and last but not least just in case you think this is just old testament references a reference in the new testament that you're all too familiar with john 10 27 it says my sheep listen to my voice i recognize them they follow me now let's just take a look yeshua is the good shepherd the true sheep of yeshua here his voice let's just make sure it's the same thing phonet in the greek is voice the sound of actual uttered words so as you can see the premise stands that no matter what the time or how god was dealing with his people one thing remains constant and that's his voice now with that being said i'd like to just go over a few principles you know me by now i keep it very simple some um may be offended by the over simplicity but i believe over the years i think things have gotten very complicated in the faith and i think your lives are complicated enough i think you need to keep your faith quite simple okay there's three things i want to mention the voice of god is personal the voice of god is intangible and the voice of god is present so let's look at the first thing as i said the voice of god is personal most people i believe people of faith want to hear god's voice personally when they're facing a decision would you agree okay they say i think this is what they say god if you would only speak to me and tell me which choice to make or which direction to go i would do it does that sound familiar okay yet um i think there are extreme positions you know i'm obviously an extremist sometimes vernon that will say to me you know you have to you have to be moderate you know not moderate in terms of liberal but you can't be obsessive all the time but asking an obsessive person to be moderate is not it's not possible you know i've really tried i really have guys it's it's kind of almost it's a blessing and a curse obsession it's a blessing and a curse at times it's a blessing there's no question and at times it's like a prison but i'm 62 and i've tried you know it's not like really doable you know on price road i see a can and then yesterday i spend the whole day cleaning up price road because to me it's a total disrespect god's house is here god's presence is here and so i can't just pick up a few cans i've got to then go into the woods and if i even see i'll see i'll see every imperfection being obsessive it's crazy i'll see things that people don't see not that that's glorious it's really not at times but these are the extreme positions i see sometimes with god's voice some take a very mainline conservative approach and they say everything god needed to say is in the bible and you might have heard that in your travels we don't need to know anything more than what's been written down in the bible then there's the other extreme where you meet people and they go god said god said god said god said god said god said god said and i don't want to be disrespectful but i think a lot of times in fact it was simply their own thoughts and desires that led them in a particular direction i'm sure if you look back on your life there was times where you were convinced that god said something but really it was such a strong emotion that you wanted that you just wanted to believe that god said it and so in a way you were going before god and you were asking him to follow you and god doesn't follow he leads and you you paid a price for it probably and we'll get into more of that next week because that's a that's a dangerous area but without a doubt i'm here to tell you that one of the best and most direct ways to hear god's voice is through his word there's there's no question about that that's just um an irrefutable faith fact because the bible does contain certain universal principles that are the will of god for all believers okay i'm just going to give you three quick examples all right not going to get into detail look at first thessalonians 5 18. i would love to you know i put up thessalonians i think well that was a small congregation paul spent three shabbats there according to the book of acts they were people that were gifted with understanding eschatology and i want to tell you all about this i can't i don't have the time for that but you need to know some things you've been a believer too long and you've read the bible longer than me to not even know where thessalonika is or where paul was and who's running it or the purpose behind the letter you know you you deserve to know more you know it's it's a sad state of effect when cults know more of their scriptures than christians do i just find that said really sad and the information is out there and you don't even have to go to the library it's at your fingertips it says here in everything give thanks for this is what god wants some of your aversions that you read this is the will of god from you who are united with the messiah yeshua so we know universally for every single born-again believer every blood-bought believer every redeemed person god's will for us is to be thankful amen agreed yes okay believers are marked by thanksgiving that's how i know i could tell a believer quickly because when things go awry believers always look for something to be thankful for they're always looking for some kind of silver lining in a cloud um so that's number one number two first thessalonians 4 3 it says what god wants is that you be holy some some of your versions say the will of god is for you to be holy that you keep away from sexual immorality now it is god's will for us not just to be positionally holy we can't just say well we sit in heavenly places with messiah yeshua that's the starting point that's not the finishing point you just entered into a not just a positional place of holiness but a practical place of holiness god is looking for practical holiness he does want us to be set apart from the world because if we're like the world how we distinguished there's no distinguishing factor the specific sin here is talking about sexual purity now i don't have to tell you this is a massive issue not just today it was is and always will be this is the sin of sins this gets everybody there's three major sins that people have to deal with and i call them the three g's gold glory and girls all for you ladies gold glory and guys god does not want you to touch his glory money becomes a god yeshua spoke more about finances than faith i've got to tell you i had this side thought i don't mean to say but i have some friends that are incredibly wealthy their life is the same they just live in a bigger house and drive a nicer car they're still going to work they still get uptight about things they still have a grueling existence nothing's really changed for them they just have fancier stuff so don't think it's all that it's cracked up to be peace is priceless third lastly first peter 2 15 it says for it is god's will that you're doing good should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people [Music] you don't have to fight foolish people let let them let them talk they'll prove themselves believers and our faith believers in our faith i'm i'm not i'm on your side okay we're together you should never look at me like i'm the enemy okay am i am i pushy of course you're gonna need to be pushed in these last days if you're not pushed in these last days i'm not being scary i'm telling you you won't make it i'm doing i think what god is telling me to do for your benefit not for mine i push myself guys i don't push you and not push myself and i'm here to say i push myself way further than i push you you ask my wife or ask my kids i never ask of you not even just ask myself i push myself more no no question about that now believe is in our faith that's us are constantly and ceaselessly being bombarded by the ignorance of foolish men you know i take it from me i'm out there you know i talk to people all the time you know that's what i do that's my life i'm not in ministry i'm a minister and i don't minister in the synagogue i minister way more outside the synagogue and my ministry doesn't consist of a pulpit and a microphone it's wherever yes i mean it's it's hard to stop it but i'm noticing there's a level of ignorance and willful ignorance and anger towards our faith i didn't get much anger you know and especially moving to you know the bible belt i mean look guys megan you should know the history this isn't the by part of the bible belt this is the very buckle it's the buckle there's more churches here than anywhere in the world per capita and even here is anger now you might not see it and why don't you see it because you go to church and then you stay home and then you hang out with your little small group and then you go to your bible study why are you going to see it there you're only hanging out with people that agree with you you don't open yourself up to the darkness you're only shining a light with other people who have the light and i'm not being accusatory but you might say i don't feel that of course not but you don't put yourself out there to feel it but i feel it all the time and i mean all the time almost to the point where i just want the lord to come back i'm tired of feeling it um but i'll tell you we'll hear the talk of foolish men most three places today one is the university classroom they're not non-believers in the university god knows and satan knows god wants your children to be set apart he wanted you to train them you have till 18 with them and they are on their own they go up to that school they're done just because they come home for thanksgiving and they call you once in a while they're on their own at that point so satan knows i got to get at them now i got to deprogram them and fill them up with with nonsense and foolishness and anti-biblical talk i need them to start to question god's existence because if i can get their parents they've prayed over them they taught them they sat with them i sat with my kids every single day and then some bernadette homeschooled them for the purposes not because we thought they were going to be smarter not because we were protecting their innocence we wanted them to be influenced with god and then satan tries to get his hands on my kids the university classroom number one number two the science laboratory scientists are so anti-god they're they're you know they're just so anti-god not all obviously but a minority are not a minority and third sadly enough the pulpit the pulpit amen yeah it's really sad today what i'm hearing being preached in places yes it's it's not only not biblical um forgive me i woke up the other day two in the morning i don't know why and god told me to google hearing god's voice and i went to the first message it was 14 minutes and it was a place that had like it looked like it sat 20 000 people a huge church very popular guy and i listened for 14 minutes and i cried throughout the 14 minutes not once when there was a verse not once was there anything substantive it was nonsense it was like the voice of god will bring you away from your determination and into your destiny he was making no sense and people were standing 20 000 people and cheering and over a million people watch this it wasn't bad guys it was making me cry that that many people can listen to something that's so empty peter says here that one of the best answers to such blasting is living a holy life your best sermon is a holy life the bottom line is that we should live so honorably and so unblameably and that's my word that non-believers will have no legitimate basis for accusation so just taking the three verses i gave you these three passages of scripture we know that the believer us should always give thanks in every circumstance avoid sexual immorality and live an exemplary life right let me tell you something if you never heard god's voice that would be enough if you never heard god's voice and just live that way that would be very impressive if you ask me what do you think if you're always thankful in every circumstance if you set yourself apart from the world i mean and you lived exemplary would that not be enough would that not be if if your children were doing that would that not be impressive to you as a parent so with that being said i absolutely believe there are specifics for each individual and that has to be heard through god's voice right you can read the bible for three hours and and get something out of it but not as much as you would think right but let god speak to you and it's explosive it could change your whole destiny when i began reading the bible which is pretty much you know when i delve into it as soon as i get back from israel i you know you've got to realize i was an empty vessel empty so in some ways i was i was blessed because i had no preconceived notions that's hard for you to believe because most you were raised in the faith and you were bombarded with things that a lot of them were true and wonderful and some were not but they were in there and they had to be carved out and i think some are still being called down for me i was in i was just an empty vessel and this is what i saw i saw god speaking to adam i saw him speaking to noah i saw him speaking to abraham and isaac and jacob and moses etc etc it just kept going this was the thread so without knowing much of anything you got to realize i was green i just figured he didn't stop speaking no how's this it's not that i didn't think he didn't stop speaking i just thought that's what he does he speaks i just made that assumption and so the bible might tell us to go into the world which it does at the end of the gospel of matthew but it was the voice of god that specifically told me to go to israel to go to india to go to kenya to go to australia to go to ethiopia and believe it or not it was the voice of god that told us to come to macon i did not read that in the bible you might not have heard bernadette she said we're still looking i would love to share with you the the emails i get you know i want to share so much um we don't have the time but i just got one from samuel i mean when when he writes to me we just we just fed you know 3 000 people over three days and he said but we're not that busy i don't want to read it to you because it it sometimes it could cause you to feel like what am i doing but then again you know what are you doing maybe it's a good question but we sent him just some money yesterday we'll send him 25 000 every few months and he'll use it to feed and do and and i can't see you know sometimes using that money to build a fellowship hall with a great swing set because some of these fellowship polls and you know some of these kids programs that the big churches really i'm just saying they put 2-3 million dollars into the kids program it's like being on a cruise is that what they need you need that to attract people because if you attract the kids and the kids say mommy daddy had a great time then you get the parents and you fill up the seats and you fill up the baskets it's crazy it's just not you listen i'm going to tell you something up front okay here's here's the deal you guys have read the bible enough to know what you're supposed to do i don't even need to tell you anymore what you're supposed to do i don't need to you know what you're supposed to do you know the right thing to do you know if your shoe was right next to you what he would tell you just do it man just do it what's the worst thing that when you hear god's voice it might be wrong what about if it's right and you don't respond how many times has it been right and you didn't respond let me just read you a quick letter i didn't know why i pulled this out we get letters all the time right we get them all the time all the time which is really wonderful and encouraging but this is just a letter this guy writes i was in and and by the way again i'll sell you any letter i read i get permission from the person to read it okay i was in mcdonald last year and met and i'm not going to say who they met but they come to our congregation i've been a believer for a long time but due to cares of the world i had been slipping away but still held on to jesus this couple started telling me about this synagogue and the rabbi they gave me the book from the projects to the palace now i know they heard god tell them to do that it doesn't mean that my book's going to save a soul it doesn't mean that it means whatever god tells you to do just do it's a potential for you to get a faith injection don't question it don't pray about it don't dismiss it rabbi what if it's wrong i'll get into how you can know that it's right i'll help you understand it better but just go with it they gave me the book i said that i would read it not knowing if i ever would so in other words his intention was not to read it how many times have people given you a book and he didn't read it let's be honest i always tell people don't give me books because i won't read them so i don't get books thank god because i don't have time i don't i have time to read the bible that's the book i choose that's the book of choice so he said i started reading it and it made me cry it also brought me back to where i should have been all along then last month i read it again which is really really unusual for me and again it made me cry i want to thank them and rabbi for giving me a new vision for the rest of my days i also thank god almighty for steering me to those believers in georgia because i was going nowhere fast i'm 72 now and i see where the world is going and i don't want to go there with it i'm just passing through thanks again rabbi we will come back to georgia to see friends and family and i definitely want to come to your synagogue god bless you and this guy's in washington the state of washington my point is what if they didn't listen not listen hearing is one thing doing what you hear is a whole nother ball game what if they didn't where was this guy going i don't know but according to where he was he was going to hell just because he once you know made a prayer doesn't mean much at all he was not working with the lord at all now um we said the voice of god is personal he's going to speak to individuals i i got to tell you i speak differently to all my four children i take them away separately we have different relationships i'm they're all of their father but they have different personalities they have different strengths different weaknesses and i speak differently to each one and this is just a human being speaking to four little human beings how much more do you think god wants to speak to each one of you personally the the next point i want to make is that the voice of god is intangible what does that mean the voice of god is not capable of being perceived by the senses of touch sight smell or taste i know i've heard people say oh you know taste and see that's not exactly the same thing when it comes to hearing his voice and you should read in context because it's not the same thing as taking a bite out of the lord the voice of god must be heard it must be heard is the voice of god audible i don't believe so i don't believe so i think when you hear it so clear in your heart it's louder than audibility it's louder so you feel like that was audible we have to hear god with our hearts okay we have to hear him with our hearts let me give you a biblical example first kings three five through seven and nine it says at give on ibn al-anoi appeared to solomon in a dream at night and god said tell me what i should give you solomon is becoming he's being installed as the king of israel said you showed your servant david my father much grace which he absolutely did and he lived before you honestly and righteously he really did he had a very bad interlude but he repented of that through nathan the prophet he had an upright heart with you you preserved this great grace for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne that was solomon as is the case today here i am you promised so now i'll annoy my god you have made your servant king in the place of david my father but i'm a mere child even though he wasn't a little boy this is this is beautiful humility some of you are older than me younger than me you're in business you're very good at what you do but when it comes to spirituality we're all mere children we just are i don't know how to lead guys i'm telling you when i was called here i didn't know how to lead so i just decided to follow the one that does therefore give your servant an understanding heart it's beautiful in hebrew if you spoke that word in israel they would so know what he was saying to be able to administer justice to your people so that i can discern between good and bad for who is equal to judging this great people of yours meaning who could do this now let's take a word let's take a look at that word so here you have the lord appears to solomon solomon feels totally inadequate of this task in front of him i'm sure he has wisdom and i'm sure he used this wisdom with affairs of state but dealing with people that amount of people so this is what he asked the lord for love shema it's literally a heart to hear he wants a heart to hear he wanted to be able to hear god's heart for his people and his people's heart he wanted to hear their heart their needs their fears their desires and he wanted to hear god's heart for them you know that anthem in christianity open the eyes of my heart lord open thee i want to see you i don't agree with that at all i don't want to see god open the ears of my heart lord open the ears of my heart i wanna hear you how many of you have sung that song when's the last time you saw god i don't need to see god his spirit i need to hear him i desperately desperately desperately need to hear him last but not least god is in the present what does that mean we have to hear the voice of god today today god said to moses i am not i was our faith needs current events not just history in order to grow and thrive now forgive me again but some of you tell me stories about what you were doing in high school you know it was okay when you were out of high school two years but now you're in high school 40 years that's why your faith isn't thriving it's not thriving you still have it you're saved don't let me take that from you you're still reading and praying but it's not thriving it's not growing look at john 1 1. it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god in the beginning was the word he did not have a beginning himself but existed from all eternity he never was created he had no beginning the word was with god he had a separate and distinct personality he was just not a thought or some vague idea but a real person who lived with god and the word was god he not only dwelt with god he himself was god now let's look at that word because it has a great meaning it means a word uttered by a living voice but it also embodies a concept or idea and that's the way it's being used from the greek in john 1 1. in other words a word is a way of expressing thought and in messiah in messiah yeshua god has fully expressed himself to man that's why yeshua could say whoever has seen me has seen the father when we look at yeshua we are looking at the one who perfectly displays the father so when it says john 1 1 the word it's not talking about a voice it is not now let's go to matthew 4 2 through 4 and you'll see something different with the same word it says after yeshua had fasted 40 days and nights he was hungry of course the tempter came and said to him if you are the son of god order these stones to become bread but he answered the tanakh meaning the old testament it's just an acronym for the torah the navy and the k2 being the whole old testament it says man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of anoin now i just want to say you're seeing word here in matthew 4 you're seeing word in john 1 but it's a totally different word in the greek so why do i push you to look up words because if you don't look up words in the original language you'll have no idea how to interpret the verse none it's not possible guys nobody could do it it's not your fault that's why we have a concordance you got to look it up now let's look up that word and does it embody an idea no no it's that which is uttered by a living voice a thing spoken you might have heard people say rhema rhema that's this word they just don't pronounce it well from the greek it's just a mispronunciation yeshua is basically saying here which is a totally different thing that is being said in john 1 1 that getting bread is not the most important thing in life you can go without bread for 40 days what is most important i just thought to myself i couldn't go bread for 40 minutes that's probably why i don't fit my suits anymore what is most important is hearing god's voice that's what he's saying that's most important we need to hear god's voice for this is what sustains us spiritually however just as a blind man cultivates a sensitivity to reading braille we need to cultivate a sensitivity to hearing god's voice it takes training and it takes practice now let me show you a picture so i didn't want to get too scientific on you um but i just want to read something to you and i just want you to see these different parts that create voice okay and i'll read to you the voice is the most unique thing about a person no two are alike you know i've got to tell you whenever i go somewhere in macon you can imagine if i go to suntrust the manager comes running out hey rabbi i said how do you know i was here i heard your voice fresh mark of the same thing the lady comes out behind the deli counter hey rabbi said how do you know i heard your voice my if i call you you know who it is my voice is very distinctive all of yours is but mine especially right that's why i told murder that when i first moved here there's no way i could rob a bank and make it because even if i disguise myself they said did you get a look at him no we didn't see what he looked like but he sounded like rabbi greg now there are many factors that work together to produce a voice i just want you to see how unique everybody's voice is okay even though people say you sound like so-and-so nope no such thing totally unique your voice starts down in your lungs down here below your trach and air is exhaled to create a stream in the trachea it moves up the trachea that's known as your windpipe right where the wind moves and across the larynx which is often called the voice box stretched horizontally across your larynx are vocal cords like guitar strings really that's really what they're like as the air passes over them the vocal cords vibrate very quickly and they produce sounds the higher the rate of vibration called frequency the higher the pitch will be changes your whole pitch the pitch of your voice is determined by the length and tension of your vocal cords and no two are the same by themselves the vocal cords produce just a buzzing sound the parts of your body between the vocal cords and the outside world such as your throat your nose and your mouth acts as a resonating chamber to turn those buzzing sounds into your unique human voice so in the same way god has a unique voice as well and we have to be able to recognize it i remember when bernadette and i first got saved really god was speaking to us constantly i mean crazily and bernard would tell me you know god told me to bring some bandages to the park i didn't and then some kid fell i said i tell it all the time the same thing just go with it just go with it what's the worst thing so you have some bandages in the park it's not like you're committing a sin and she would say to me if only god would just speak to me in an english accent i would know it's him i said then just read the king james version let me just finish off with some practical things that i think are almost prerequisites to hearing god's voice okay you can get lucky at times but god doesn't operate with luck one you must pay attention you must pay attention look at proverbs 4 20 i'm just going to give you some biblical references about these things you don't think i just came up with this my son pay attention to what i am saying incline your ear to my words let's look at the word attention of course in the hebrew because it's the old testament it's to be attentive to hear and to heed to heed some of you aren't even heeding now sadly enough to incline the word is to stretch out to extend to stretch out to incline your ear means to push towards the sound to look for it with your ear to expect to hear it to hear god's voice we must give him our undivided attention now this is totally contrary to our modern day society i see kids studying reading a textbook with headphones on listening to music with the television on now you might think it's getting through to you but it's not you cannot focus on more than one thing that's science i could never read the bible with music on even if it's the deepest best worship music can't do it every time i even attempt to i have to turn it off there's no way i can hear two voices how can i hear the voice of god in the voice of music at the same time even when my kids are talking at the same time i go one at a time it's just the only way you can hear properly there are so many voices today vying for our attention everywhere you go there's a screen on everywhere it's crazy now in the banks i need to watch tv in the bank everywhere because they're trying to distract you the devil is trying to distract you he's the power of the airwaves he's trying to get your focus it's a it's an attraction of distraction we're abused by it it's abusive to hear god's voice you cannot afford to be distracted now listen some people will sit here no offense and you like i could care less about hearing god's voice i understand and this could be just an exercise in futility for you but there are people that really do want to hear god's voice and for you i'm telling you there's no easy way there's no quick fix or little pill you could take people ask me all the time you hear god's voice a lot well i don't think it's luck i don't there's a lot of effort that goes in i'm not toot my own horn i'm just saying there's a lot of effort that goes in none of the greats in any area whether it's sports or it's corporate america they didn't get there overnight they worked hard there's a great example that you guys know all too well about a distraction and it's luke 10 38 40 and it says on their way yeshua and his talmudin his disciples came to a village bethany which is about seven miles from jerusalem where a woman named marta welcomed him to her home she had a sister called miriam who also sat at the lord's feet and heard what he had to say but marta was busy now you're not gonna tell me some of you are too busy because you are some of it you have to be some of it is nonsensical nonsense wasting time on nonsense now let's look at the word busy of course it's in the greek to be over-occupied not occupied the bible says occupy till he comes but to be over-occupied and occupied with what to be distracted she was distracted she was too busy martha was distracted i find this an amazing contrast which i find the whole bible a contrast the whole bible is a contrast to me it's rock or sand it's sheep or goats it's light or dark it's heaven or hell it's righteousness and unrighteousness it's the holy and the profane the whole bible guys i've tore it apart everything in there is black and white there's only two roads to go by only two which to me makes it so simple one is the right road and the other is the wrong road one road is narrow one road is wide i'm telling you you will not find any gray area in there i promise it's not a head scratcher you know when you go today and you go i need glasses and you see a thousand frames that's crazy why do you think i always get black cars it's simple why do you think all my clothes are black it's simple why do i think my dress shirts are white i don't want to spend any time trying to figure out what i should wear it's a waste of time it distracts me i don't want to be distracted but this is amazing mary is found sitting at the lord's feet and she heard everything martha on the other hand was busy and distracted and she heard nothing so got to pay attention number two there has to be quietness everything is so loud today it's so loud it's so busy look at psalm 46 10 it says desist in the in the complete jewish bible other verse and say be still and learn that i am god how are you going to learn that he's got unless you hear his voice how are you going to hear his voice unless you desist look at the word rafa in the hebrew it means to stop stop relax and let go drop whatever you're doing now i know you can't do that all the time i get it but you got to do it some of the time there has to be a time in the day where you do this where you just incline your ear and you get quiet what do i always hear people say i got to go to my quiet place i mean you're not going to read the bible on the center median of a highway there's too much distraction i don't even like taking my family to a restaurant it's too distracting i have it's obvious i have massive add you've seen it operate you know i mean you know what that is you you see it in me i i don't want to take a drug for it because i don't like drugs it might help that but it's going to hurt something else so if i can avoid it i want to avoid it i don't want to change my persona i've seen people take drugs it changes their personality i don't want to change that too much this is who i am the passion i don't want to become dull look at look at psalm 62 1 it says my soul waits in silence for god alone this is scripture guys you love the bible i could belabor it and give you so many verses it's not important look at the word dama it means i can't read the bible if my neighbor's dog is barking i mean so many times i almost shot that dog but i thought you know what do i do you know do i kind of walk over and put a little derringer in his pool and say took his whole life and write a how do you explain a dead dog in your neighbor's yard i'm just saying he would stop barking that's what i'm saying to to get quiet requires time you have to be intentional it has to be your intention it has to be your focal point you have to carve out time rabbi you don't understand i'm so busy with what what are you running after what what's the goal what's the objective here tell me i want to give my kids such a better life live exemplary for the lord you'll give them a good life so you got to be quiet you got to incline the ear get along with god three you must have patience let me give you a scripture one one of my favorites that i read many many moons ago when i first started reading the bible exodus 33 11. aranoi would speak to moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend then he would return to the camp but the young man who was his assistant yahushua the son of nun never left the inside of the tent now are we talking about the tabernacle we're not talking about the tab enough because the tabernacle isn't built yet it was just a makeshift tent outside the camp because there was sin in the camp and when they went to talk to god they wanted something pure and moses would go into the tent with joshua and god would speak to moses not joshua and who knows how long they were in there joshua just stood at the entrance i don't know if it was 10 minutes or 10 hours but joshua stood there and then when moses would come out and say we're ready to go josh would say is it okay if i stay you know maybe maybe god will call me in the tent just maybe you've got to be patient i mean how long are you willing to wait to hear god's voice oh betty at how much time will you allow god to have before you carry on with your day how much time does he have you're giving the world your best you're giving the world hot bread and you're giving god crumbs four you must have a teachable spirit i mean i was very into martial arts bruce lee said it best he used to have these guys come to him in hollywood you know all the big actors elvis and you know all these rich people thinking he can buy him and they would come to him and he would just say tell me about yourself because you know people love to talk about themselves he didn't really want to know about them he just want to see how full of themselves they were and they would go over i have a black belt in this and i have a black belt in shooter khan and i studied two years wing chun with a buddhist nun in china and he would say unless you empty your cup i cannot fill it you get it semi you come here full there's nothing you're going to take away look at proverbs 1 5 someone who is already wise if they have wisdom they will hear and learn still more they'll understand the value and someone who has already understood will gain the ability to counsel well this is what is meant by a wise person in the book of proverbs one who is teachable is willing to listen and not do all the talking he is not an insufferable know-it-all thank god the people that watch and the people that come up to me they don't come up to me with you know teaching me the lesson over again there's always that person that has to come up and say well everything you said was good but let me point out something to you just love that you know i'm exhausted i'm poured out now i'm here to it's not that i don't want to learn i'm learning all week long how do you think i get what i get got to learn it got to spend time with god i got to seek his face i gotta incline my ear but most of the people come up and just say i just want to tell you i love you and that's so beautiful because that's what i want to say to them too you got to have a teachable spirit and last but not least you got to be humble look at first peter 5 5. likewise you who are less experienced submit to leaders this is not popular today there's no submission to anybody today children don't submit to parents wives don't submit to husbands congregants don't submit to leaders we don't submit to government we submit to nobody we're in a state of utter rebellion just massive rebellion that leads to sinfulness we are in such a sinful crooked corrupt society and world further all of you should clothe yourselves in humility towards one another because god opposes the arrogant makes him run just the minute makes him run but to the humble you know guys i know that i do a lot of talking that's kind of my job up here but trust me when i tell you i do way more listening than i do talking this is what i do in this hour on this day there's always that guy i meet them they want to be the bride at the wedding they want to be the baby at the dedication heck they want to be the deceased at the funeral it's always about them you know god opposes the proud let me tell you what a missionary to india once said this is priceless i wish we can all get this attitude here quote if i were to pick out two phrases necessary for spiritual growth i would pick out these one i don't know and two i am sorry i don't know and i am sorry yours truly can only imagine a congregation where all the members have this humble spirit where they esteem others better than themselves where they outdo each other in performing the menial tasks it should not be the imaginary it should be the ordinary personally i don't tell you much about what i think but i i'm gonna tell you right now that i really believe that being teachable and humble are prerequisites for a believer to hear god's voice prerequisites i used to say i'm not doing this that long i'm not doing this that long but you know what it's 30 years i'm doing it long full-time ministry more like 26 years something like that but i've been ministering from the time i got back from israel we must be careful of our preconceived notions i tell you this all the time not to beat you up but you you too many come here with too many preconceived notions it's like there's a spiritual battle going on in your heart i see it there's no joy because this can lead your preconceived notions can lead to what i call the potential for spiritual rigor mortis what i mean by that there are people that if they hear something contrary and i mean a little contrary to what they feel is part of their iron clad doctrine or theology and you know who you are they immediately dismiss it so in actuality you might be dismissing the voice of god and if you do that enough he will stop talking to you he won't waste his time on deaf ears all over the bible you who have ears you who have ears if you close your ears because you're so confident in your ironclad theology he will leave them closed and that to me is heartbreaking that somebody might miss hearing the voice of god i can't begin to tell you how many times it's been a game changer for me hearing god's voice a game changer next week um what i'd like to go over is a few other very important items this was just a kind of a foundation if you will i want to share with you the sixty four thousand dollar question and that is rabbi how can we be sure we heard from god this is a question i know everybody has i know it i know it i know it and i will share with you three very basic principles on how you can be pretty sure okay how's that but but these three tests if you do them they will absolutely help you be more sure than you were before you did the test there's no doubt in my mind i also want to share with you three additional items that i learned just by experience on how to fine-tune your senses to hear god's voice fine-tune your heart and then lastly i'd like to share some really really important closing remarks that i think are going to be very important for 2021 um that i think you're going to need to know and um put into practice um again guys i want to reiterate to you that the bible is it's invaluable but it's only invaluable if you read it and then it's only invaluable if you do what you read amen it's it's not just hearing for the sake of hearing or reading for the sake of reading or feeling good hey i did my 15 minute bible devotional this morning i'm ready to go no sorry nope it's not going to cut it but there are things we need to hear i needed to hear about coming here i needed to hear about going to ethiopia i need to hear once you go to israel i don't know when that is or if it ever will be there's major decisions we make what about who should i marry what about what my occupation what about how many people move here some it's worked out phenomenally well some not so well did they not hear maybe they did here and they were supposed to be here for a season i don't i don't wanna but these are big things when you pick up your family it's a big deal to you it's like i just heard the voice of god i wanna go you wanna go because you're living in wherever and there's nothing there and there's no congregations and there's no fellowship and you feel like you're dying but then you pick up these kids and they just gotta go along with you these are things that you need to hear god's voice on you know really hear god's voice on so i think this is indispensable i think it's incredibly important and i hope um you can come back next week and hear more about this because i think it's going to really carry us through to 2021. as i said um there's a lot of craziness going on and sadly enough i've watched people get crazy with the craziness their eyes are not on what it should be really it's it's heartbreaking keep your eyes on the lord focus on his word and and let your faith increase that you can trust him in no matter what if you can do that you can't be shaken what can they do to you they can't take your soul even if it gets to a point while we're living that they persecute they kill you they free you [Applause] let's stand together i'll give that final benediction then you are free actually you were free before the benediction to be honest with you the lord just listened to my i'm telling you he talked about hearing god's voice he said he who the son sets free they're free so he's always correcting me you don't have to worry about correcting me he's constantly correcting me if i go even if i say things even in jest and it's not biblical he'll correct me instantly it's it's it sounds crazy but isn't it quite beautiful yes yes that's a good god he said he won't leave you as an orphan he'll send the holy spirit to remind you everything i taught isn't that beautiful and to guide you along the way beautiful now may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and may the lord lift up his very countenance upon you and give you his peace in the name of the principle peace yeshua everest [Music] is i love you guys god bless you shabbat shalom

Channel: Getzel

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Id: R8E7s-QXCvw

Length: 62min 12sec (3732 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 11 2021