Learn to Listen – 5

Learn to Listen – 5

Subject – His Voice

By Rick Welborne

1 Samuel 3:9-10 (NIV)
⁹  So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
¹⁰  The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." 

Psalm 29:4&11 (NKJV)
⁴  The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
¹¹  The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace. 

--Because Psalms 29 talks about the voice of God being like thunder, and breaking trees, and dividing fire, all we hear it saying is, God speaks with His strong outside voice. 

--We miss two of the most important verses in this chapter; four and eleven. His voice is powerful but also majestic. He is strong but He gives strength and peace to His people.

--My interpretation of that is: God’s voice is custom fitted to each individual based on what your need is. If you need strength or peace, He will speak that into your life. He speaks our language.

--Translation – God has the ability to speak into our lives, not just what we are doing wrong and correcting us but He finds what is right about us and celebrates that with us. His voice is kind.

Appreciative inquiry – instead of focusing on the wrong in someone’s life and trying to fix it, you identify what’s right and try to replicate it. It’s playing to people’s strengths. It’s catching people doing the right things and celebrating what you want to see more of. It’s bragging about people behind their backs.

--This is not my sermon today but it needs to be said. Stop finding fault in others and then, sharing those faults with everyone you can. You hurt the body of Christ and break the unity of the church.

Matthew 7:2-3 (NIV) ²  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
³  "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 

--We struggle so much to understand each other and we don’t actually hear what someone is trying to say. Why? We hear everything thru the filters of our history, personality, ethnicity, and theology.

--So many ears. There are American ears, southern ears, northern ears, Spanish ears, Puerto Rican ears, Mexican ears, Catholic ears, Protestant ears.

--There are republican ears, democratic ears, male ears, and female ears. Just because we attempt to speak the same language does not mean we hear one another. 

--We get hurt and we even get angry so many times because we don’t understand what the other person is saying. If we could pause and consider the other person’s heart, we would calm down.

--Thankfully, there is a God Who is big enough and Omniscient enough to speak a language we each can understand. 

1. God is Bigger than Big.

--If creation reveals anything to us it is that God is bigger than big. Theologians call this transcendence. 

--Earth is larger than Mars, Mercury, and the moon. But it is much smaller than Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Jupiter. Jupiter is 1,321 times larger than earth in terms of volume.

--But it is 10 times smaller than the sun. The sun is really a small dwarf star. Arcturus, an orange giant, is 26 times bigger than the sun and produces 200 times more energy. 

--Antares, a red supergiant, is 10,000 times brighter than the sun. And we are not even out of the Milky Way galaxy. To us, Earth seems huge. Not so much. 

--This is a reminder of how incredibly small we are; it’s a reminder of how incredibly big God is. He doesn’t exist within the space-time dimensions He created. Stop putting four-dimensional limits on Him.

2 Peter 3:8 (NLT2) ⁸ But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.

Batterson – We have a hard time thinking of God in anything other than four dimensions, because that’s all we have ever known. And we try to create God in our own image rather than allowing Him to create us in His. What we end up with is a god, lowercase g, who walks and talks an awful lot like us. 

--How much happier would all of us be if we were to allow God to take His hammer and smash our small world. We make ourselves the center of the universe. Sad when God is Creator. 

--How wonderful it is to discover that God is bigger than big, but that is definitely intimidating if that is our final analysis God.

--There is a theological counterbalance to His bigness.  It’s called the immanence of God. God is closer than close. He can hear the slightest whisper. 

Psalms 36:5-6 MSG 5 God’s love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic,                                                                 6 His purpose titanic, His verdicts oceanic, Yet in His largeness, nothing (no one) gets lost.

--God is great not just because nothing is too big; God is great because nothing is too small. God doesn’t just know you by name; He has a unique name for each one of us. He speaks our language. 

2. God is Big Enough.

--In His book A Mile Wide, Brandon Hatmaker shares about his first trip to Ethiopia. Working with Steve Fitch, the founder of the Eden Project. Deforestation had devastated parts of Ethiopia.

--Generation after generation had stripped the land and made it barren. The project was to restore the forest by planting trees. A hundred million of them.

--As Brandon boarded the plane for his trip, he had second thoughts. He didn’t like flying and he didn’t want to leave his family. He wondered if what he was doing would make a difference.

Hatmaker – God, I’m sorry. I’m trying, but I just don’t get it. I don’t want to be on this plane. I feel like I am wasting time and money. If this is important to you, will you please overcome my ignorance, doubt, and blindness? Will you connect the dots and show me what I am missing? Amen.

--After his prayer a 30-year-old man sat next to him on the plane. He asked Brandon why was he going to Ethiopia. He said he was going to plant trees. 

--The elderly lady asked the Ethiopian man something in Amharic (Why was he going) and he answered in Amharic. She literally stood and began to wave her hands in the air like somebody cared.

--Brandon asked what was going on. The lady said that she had prayed for 38 years for God to forgive her country for destroying the forest and to send someone to plant trees. 

--Before he knew what was happening the lady was laying hands on him and praying that God would use him in a miraculous was to bless her country. God is big enough to hear our prayers.

Psalm 37:22-24 (NLT2)
²²  Those the LORD blesses will possess the land, but those he curses will die.
²³  The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
²⁴  Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. 

--Think about this, you very well could be the answer to someone else’s prayer. Brandon was the answer for this lady. When you reach someone who is lost, you are answering someone’s prayer. 

3. God is Closer than Close.

--Before Holy Spirit filled or gifted or stirred or convicted or sealed or revealed or reminded, we finding Him hovering over the surface of the deep.

Genesis 1:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
²  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 

--But can I tell you Holy Spirit is hovering over our lives the way He hovered over creation. He still speaks light into darkness. He still brings order out of chaos. He still makes beauty out of ashes.

--The Hebrew word paniyum describes where God is. In regard to time He is there the split second before and the split second after. In regard to space, He is at the place in front and at the place in back.

--He every sense of the word, He is Immanuel – God with us! He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Listen to A.W. Tower explain paniyum.

A.W. Tower – God is above, but He’s not pushed up. He’s beneath, but not pressed down. He’s outside, but not excluded. He’s inside but not confined. God is above all things presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside all things embracing and inside all things filling.

--So what is this saying to us. Holy Spirit is hovering. Holy Spirit is whispering. Holy Spirit is breathing into you the same breath He breathed into the dirt that became Adam. Are you listening?

--Listen and be amazed…Hebrew scholars believe that Yahweh—or without the vowels, YHWH—is synonymous with the sound of breath. YHWH.

--On one hand, the name is too sacred to pronounce. On the other hand, it is whispered with each and every breath we take. It is our first word and our last word, and every word in between. 

--It has been estimated that we take approximately 23,000 breaths every day. God is as close as the breath we breathe. We say His Name YHWH 23,000 times a day. YHWH, YHWH! 

Revelation 11:16-17 (NKJV)
¹⁶  And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,
¹⁷  saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

YHWH, YHWH, YHWH!

--Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening!

We Need Each Other – 7

We Need Each Other – 7

Subject – How Corporate Community Makes a Difference

By Rick Welborne

Acts 2:1-6 (NKJV) ¹ When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
²  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
³  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
⁴  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
⁵  And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
⁶  And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 

--Today we are continuing this series about community and how important it is to the body of Christ. Let’s see what God can do when this community of God is functioning the way He intended.

Acts 2:44-47 (NKJV) ⁴⁴ Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
⁴⁵  and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
⁴⁶  So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
⁴⁷  praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Heb. 10:24-25 (NCV) ²⁴  Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds.
²⁵  You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming.

Community of God – A group of born again believers worshiping together, loving each other, encouraging each other, and sharing their possessions and responsibilities in complex unity for the glory of God.

--I truly cannot think of anything more complex than getting large groups of people together from different backgrounds and demographics and throw them together for the glory of God. 

--The community of God intentionally comes together to worship the God Who saved them, to love and encourage each other, for a common mission, and comes together for the glory of God!

--The key is that we are intentional about doing this. We all know we are sinners, we all know we have different likes and dislikes, and we know community can be messy but we choose to do it anyway. Why?

--Because we are so much stronger together than we are apart. We can accomplish more together than we ever could apart. We all need each other to bring honor and glory to Jesus.

1. The Day of Pentecost

--Because we consider ourselves to be Pentecostals, Spirit-filled, or Charismatics we all understand about the day of Pentecost and the initial outpouring of Holy Spirit. 

--I want us to look at this through the eyes of community and see how it really happened. We just rush to the miracle or the outpouring without investing proper time.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (NKJV) ³ For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
⁴  and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
⁵  and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
⁶  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

--I have heard people say silly things like…we will never have revival here at Life Church until we get everyone in one mind and one spirit. Have you ever studied revivals…Brownsville Revival?

--Leading up to revival there were people who wanted revival and people who did not want to shake up the apple cart. We have been like this for 100 years…why change now? Because you are dead.

--Question for you…Jesus appeared to how many? Over five hundred. Remind me but how many showed up on the Day of Pentecost? 120…380 didn’t find it important enough to show up…sound familiar?

Luke 24:49&52-53 (NKJV) ⁴⁹ Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
⁵²  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
⁵³  and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. 

--In this community of God which seemed to be over 500 there was a remnant of 120 who made up their minds that they were going to do what Jesus said and receive what Jesus promised.

--I am sure there were some in the 120 who either said or at least, thought…I wish our friends were joining us in the upper room to wait on the Promise of the Father. 

--One hundred and twenty obeyed the command of the Lord:

Luke 24:49 (NKJV) ⁴⁹ Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." 

--The point here is that this community of 120 were obedient to God’s command and they had the privilege of experiencing God’s Promise of pouring out Holy Spirit. The results were immediate.

--The apostles were infused with power, the coward Peter was filled with Holy Spirit power and preached to thousands…the 120 became 3120. They were all baptized with water and instructed about Holy Spirit.

--Again, the point here is that the community (120) were in unity and because of that the church grew. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

2. The Day of Persecution

--Not long after Pentecost God was using the apostles in such a great way that people were being healed and turning to Christ (grew to 5000) this brought much persecution to the church.

--They threatened the apostles telling them not to speak at all in the Name of Jesus but they answered them that they could only speak the things they had seen and heard. They return to their community.

Acts 4:23-24 (NLT2) ²³ As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said.
²⁴  When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: 

--Their default mechanism as soon as they were released was to return to the community and to pray for God’s power to be demonstrated and for boldness to keep preaching.

--Hear your pastor, if Life Church will be the community of believers God wants us to be…we will need Holy Spirit to show up and we will need to lift our voices in prayer. 

--When Holy Spirit shows up, His presence is the invitation to worship, to sing, to seek, to move out of your pews to the altar. His invitation to break through!

--We have gifts of Holy Spirit exhorting us as a community to seek Him and to trust that He has everything under control in our lives. Our corporate worship shakes things up.

Acts 4:29-31 (NKJV)
²⁹ Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,
³⁰  by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."
³¹  And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. 

--When the community prayed, the place where the community was assembled was shaken, and the community was filled with Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness. 

--When we come together come expecting, come believing, come praying, come worshiping, come seeking, and come believing that God will show up. We will leave empowered to speak with boldness!

--Obviously we are stronger together…we are stronger when we are in community…we are stronger when we are in unity…in one mind and one Spirit.

3. The Day of Perpetuation.

Perpetuation – the continuation or preservation of a situation, idea, or a cause.

--The community of God (120) were filled with Holy Spirit for one reason…You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…You will perpetuate My Gospel thru missions all over the world. 

--The community was in one mind, one spirit, and one accord when Holy Spirit came on Pentecost. Some believe to have strong missions you have to have strong givers…I think they have to stay filled with the Spirit.

--The continuation of the community happened…120 became 3120, and then 5000. The Lord was adding to the church thru missions and evangelism. Suddenly the adding was multiplying…Perpetuation of the community. 

--When community gets the same heart, the same vision, the same mission…there is no limit what can be accomplished for God. No way to measure what Life Church can do when we are one.

1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT2)
¹⁰  I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 

--What we have done for missions is great here in this community and we give Him glory. Can He do it without you…of course but is that His will. I know He wants to use all of us not just 120. 

Acts 2:17 (NLT2)
¹⁷  ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 

We Need Each Other – 6

We Need Each Other – 6

Subject – Trust in the Community

By Rick Welborne

Luke 5:18-26 (NLT2)
¹⁸  Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,
¹⁹  but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
²⁰  Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
²¹  But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
²²  Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?
²³  Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?
²⁴  So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
²⁵  And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.
²⁶  Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” 

--It is quite difficult for me to get away from the community of the mat. This small group of men teach us so much about what community should be.

--This paralyzed man had true friends in their small community. Not people who were just friendly but people who are committed to you in a way acquaintances or paid service providers are not.

Jean Vanier – A community is never there just for itself or for its own glory. It comes from and belongs to something much greater and deeper: the heart of God to bring humanity to fulfillment. A community is never an end in itself; it is but a sign pointing further and deeper, calling people to love. 

--Today for a moment please imagine with me that you are the man on the mat. 

1. The Trust Issue with Your Friends.

--You wonder if you can trust your friends to keep you safe. What are these guys getting me into? Are they going to drop me? Ground level wouldn’t be so bad but from the roof…devastating!

--Whenever you venture out to share Christ with someone, are you a person who can be trusted to not drop them? Can you deliver on what you are promising them? Be careful what you promise people.

--Probably the most important question we need to ask…are we truly a friend to the person we are witnessing to? Have we taken the time to develop a relationship with them?

--Do you know about their lives and their families…has there been enough connection with this person that they trust you? Are you a friend or just an acquaintance? Listen to what Jesus was accused of:                                                                            

Matthew 11:19 (NIV) ¹⁹  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."' 

--People want to know they are loved and that we truly do care for them. Love keeps showing up, love keeps listening, love keeps making sure that people are not hurt…love keeps directing people to Jesus!

--Because I am strong in evangelism, I often talk of leading people to Christ. But what about those who are already our brothers and sisters. Can they trust us not to drop them?

--It would be scary to find out how many people are out of church because they felt someone dropped them when they were on their mat. Now they feel they cannot trust the community of believers.

Galatians 6:9-10 (NIV)
⁹  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
¹⁰  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

--As a community of believers we must be able to trust that we have other’s good in mind. We do all we can to get each other to Jesus when someone finds themselves on the mat. 

2. Trust Issues with the Crowd. 

--The paralyzed man wonders if he can trust the crowd to be civil who had gathered to hear Jesus teach. After all, they had arrived early to get their seat. 

--Don’t you imagine that they came with their own list of things that they would love for Jesus to take care of for them. It may not be as serious as being paralyzed but it meant a lot to them.

--The crowd could have looked at this as a form of butting ahead and no one likes for anyone to jump in line in front of them. He was in no place to defend himself if people got physical. 

--Years ago I was on the platform watching as people were coming into the sanctuary finding a place to sit for the service. I thankfully saw a new couple come in. Thank you, Lord!

--Right after they got seated a couple comes in behind them who were regular attenders and they head for the same pew where the new couple was sitting. It was their pew…their permanent seat.

--I am sure there were impressions of their bottoms because they had sat there for so many years. I think…no they want…then, I think…yes, they will.

--I make a bee-line to the regular couple to try to intervene before something got ugly. I put my arms around them and gently guided them to another pew.

--They said to me…those people are in our pew and they need to move. They are guests and they did not know so you have to sit somewhere else. 

--They were not happy with the people or with me…what is wrong with people when we take ownership of certain seats. Just wiggle your big _____ until it fits in the new pew. I shall not be moved!

--Now that is funny (not really) but what about new converts or new people who come into the church and begin to take over positions you thought you should have? I have been here 20 years!

1 Corinthians 12:11-12 (NKJV)
¹¹  But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
¹²  For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 

--I have had people want to argue with me that they should have seniority because of how long they have been attending or how long they have been saved. 

--The collective congregation (the crowd) needs to take a deep breath, swallow our pride, realize it is not about us, and just love people God sends our way. The lost or re-locating believers. 

--The crowd should rejoice with those who get to Jesus and find salvation or healing.

Romans 12:15-16 (NLT2) ¹⁵ Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.
¹⁶  Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

3. Trust Issues with Jesus.

--The paralyzed man has to be wondering if he can truly trust Jesus. What if it turns out that He cannot help me after all? What if He is making a really good point and doesn’t like being interrupted. 

--He lies on his mat (or you sit on your pew) thinking of all these dangers. I could get dropped (hurt), I could get ridiculed, or I could be rejected if I stand or come forward. Does Jesus love me?

--On the other hand, if I don’t go thru the roof, it is certain that I will never be healed. This is your one shot at wholeness. He makes his decision and affirms he wants to be a roof crasher too.

--This man’s friends must have wondered how Jesus would respond (we still wonder). Jesus looks up and sees the faces of the friends looking down at Him. The verse says He saw their faith.

--We have no indication that these men said anything to Jesus but he saw their faith. He saw men working hard to get their friend to Him and their only thought was…We must get our friend close to Jesus.

 James 2:17-18 (NKJV)
¹⁷  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
¹⁸  But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

--How interesting…Jesus saw these four men’s faith…so what did He see. I think James makes it pretty clear what Jesus saw…You show your faith by your works. Missions!

--Jesus saw these men doing everything they could, working with their hands, to get their paralyzed friend to Him. They could have had faith that Jesus would come by the man’s house but that wasn’t enough.

--Usually healing stories speak of Jesus seeing the faith of the one asking for healing for themselves or their child. Here it’s the faith, not of the man, but the faith of his friends. 

--Do we, in our wonderful community, have any idea what the faith of one person can do for a friend? What did Jesus see in the faces? A big hole and four faces but more.

Ortberg – Jesus sees four guys who are sweaty, dusty, anxious, hopeful, thinking only of their friend and trusting somehow Jesus has the kind of heart that will respond. Jesus sees a little of what God intended when He made human beings. He sees a little island of shalom in a sea of brokenness. He thinks to Himself that this is humanity at its finest. He sees their faith.

--What does Jesus see when He sees you?

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NCV)
²⁴  Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds.
²⁵  You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming.