weekly sermon

                           4-27-08

          Hear Me ... God

How well do we really listen to the words God has given to us? Are we good hearers or just listeners of the word? There is a major difference between listening and hearing. One can listen to another without hearing what they say, but they can NOT hear the other without listening to what they say. What I mean is you can listen but not hear and understand what is really being said, but if you really hear what is being said and understand then you have listened. We should not feel bad that we have a hard time hearing God's words and taking them to heart and putting them into effect in our lives.

Lets go way back in the Old Testament and recount a story of how some folks didn't listen to God enough to hear what He was trying to get them to understand.

The Isrealites were being held captive in Egypt and forced to be slaves to make bricks for the Egyptian people. Now keep in mind that the slaves were being beaten, given very little food, given very little water, treated like pure trash, or even killed. Moses had already hid in exile because he had killed an Egyptian guard that was beating one of the Israelite slaves. God came to Moses and told him that He wanted him to go and set His people free. Moses immediately began to doubt. I mean lets put this in modern day times. If God came to one of us and said 'hey I want you to go, only being one person, and take on a nation of thousands and tell them that hate you to let all the slaves go', I can guarantee that we, just as Moses more than likely did, would laugh and say there is NO way I can go do what you are asking. But God had other plans and He took Moses by the hand and helped Moses succeed in his task.

Now the story really gets good. Moses was successful in freeing the slaves and led them away from Egypt to journey towards their freedom. God had promised these folks a land of milk and honey, the promised land. The Egyptian king decided he made a mistake and wanted these slaves back, so he gathered all his armies to go retrieve them. When they came to the Red Sea the folks, that should have been grateful for God freeing them from their captives, started to complain when they were surrounded at the bank of the Red Sea. Turn with me to Exodus 14:11, "And they said unto Moses, Because [there were] no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?" This was their way of saying 'what did we get ourselves into here? Why would we leave Egypt to come out into this place just to die anyway?' Moses started to feel the same way of course because he also could see no way out. Look at verse 15 to see what the Lord had to say; "And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:" This was God saying 'Moses why are you doubting me again?' If Moses had true belief in what the Lord could do for them then God would not have directed that question towards Moses. Then God had Moses stretch his hands over the waters, they parted, and the Israelites moved on dry land to the other side. When the Egyptian army attempted to chase after the Israelites, the waters fell on them and devoured the whole army. This would give Moses and his people such faith in God.

Now the journey continues toward the promised land when the Isrealites started to get hungry. What is the first thing these folks started doing? Turn with me to Exodus 16:3, "And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, [and] when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." God heard them griping yet again and said, Exodus 16:12, "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God." God caused manna to rain down from Heaven and the folks could eat until they were full and had abundance left over. Once again Moses and the folks had much faith in God.

The next thing you know the Israelites are upset with Moses and God again. Exodus 17:2, "Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?" The folks wanted a beverage and were eager to jump on the ones that led them to try and get something to drink. The people came to Moses and said, Exodus 17:3, "And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore [is] this [that] thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" God came to Moses and this is what He said. Exodus 17:6, "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel." If you read the verses before and after these passages you can see the God was feeling hurt that the people were so quick to doubt that He would supply them their needs. So now God has supplied them with water and all had much faith once again in God.

Because of all the doubting that the Israelites had for God, He caused them to wonder in the wilderness for 40 years, until the generation that was freed from Egypt had died off and the new generation was now the leaders of the tribes of Israel. Moses was God's servant and still the leader of the Israelites at this time. This would not last long. God came to Moses and told him, 'you have doubted me so many times over this journey that you will also not be able to enter into the promised land'. To see this turn with me to Deuteronomy 34:4, "And the LORD said unto him, This [is] the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see [it] with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither."

Let us remember that Moses was a VERY strong and faithful servant of God. This simple doubting that was shown by the Israelites and the doubting by one of God's best servants caused them to not achieve their ultimate goal. What happened to Moses? The very next verse shows us. Deuteronomy 34:5, "So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD." Moses was not allowed to enter into the promised land flowing with milk and honey because he had doubted God and the power that God has to guide us on our journeys. Even after all the doubting and griping of Moses and the Isrealites, God was a patient and giving God. He was angered for their doubting, but still He supplied for them.

Let us put this story into a more modern day perspective. We go through life wanting or in need of something, so we go to God in prayer to ask for whatever it is we need or want, whether it be family problems, health problems, money problems, or whatever. Once we receive whatever it is that we asked for then we are content and happy again until another problem pops up. What do we tend to do? We again doubt the power that God has to take care of our problems and we get upset with God until we receive what it is that we might need.

We need to take notice of the Israelites in the story and see what could happen to us if we do not keep our faith in God and fully understand what He has to offer us. We often pray to God for something and the thing we prayed for does not happen in the time that we want it to happen, so we start trying to achieve that goal on our own. If we give something to God in prayer then we MUST give God time to handle whatever it is we prayed for. We must also realize that no matter what we ask for in prayer, God knows what is best for us. We may think we know what is best for us, but God really knows what is best, that is the reason for some unanswered prayers. There is a HUGE picture that only God sees, that we can not see. If we could only see the entire picture then we could understand why some prayers get answered and some do not. The things given to us in our prayers are things that God knows in our big picture that we need to complete that picture.

We must go through our lives understanding that God has all power to supply our every need and wants. This is a true faith. This faith is the type of faith that will carry us to the promised land with a saving Father for an eternal life.

Do you have this type of faith that it takes to spend eternity with our Saviour Jesus Christ? If you do then follow the steps of the new generation to the promised land. If you do not then all you would need to do is say a simple prayer with me.

Dear Lord, take over my life and forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.

If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.

 

With Love in Christ,

Pastor Stone