Hearing God Shabbat, September 8, 2018

Transcription

1 Hearing God Shabbat, September 8, 2018 A premise throughout Scripture is that the Spirit of God wants to draw near & speak to us if we will draw near to Him and listen. He wants this kind of relationship, not only with Patriarchs and Prophets, but with all of His people. A disciple needs to trust, listen, and discern could this word, this thought, this dream be God speaking to me, speaking to us? V eemru? (And let us say?) This message is based on a lesson in the discipleship series I developed with Chad Holland, which I can make available to those seeking to grow as disciples of Messiah Yeshua. How many of you consider yourself a disciple of Yeshua? So, how many of you hear God s voice, on a consistent basis? Yeshua says in John 10:27, My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. Who are His sheep? His sheep are His disciples, who follow Him because they know His voice. Do you? Do you want to? Then you need to know how to hear Him. V eemru? In John 18:37, Yeshua responded to Pilate, You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, so that I might testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Pilate retorts, What is truth? He has no clue. Do you? The truth here is the Good News: Yeshua was and is the Messiah, the Son of God who emptied Himself to become a human and dwell among us. V eemru? He is the Lord of all especially His disciples, who follow Him as Lord. V eemru? Once upon a time, I said a prayer in which I acknowledged Yeshua as Messiah & Savior. Alas, the folks who led me through this prayer didn t teach me anything about how to follow Him. So this profession, though sincere, was from my mind and lips only, not from my heart or will. It made no discernable difference in the way I lived. I remained quite worldly and selfish, and had no living relationship with God or Yeshua. I didn t even know I could. Do you know anyone like this? A couple of years later I resumed my search for God, and discovered that I had never surrendered my life to God. So I did: I gave it all to Him, everything my worldly goods, my family, my future I offered it all to God. I even told Him, God, if you could ever tell me what you want from me, I will do it! At the time, I didn t think He would actually tell me. As a secular Jew, I didn t think God talked to people. Or if He did, it would be a rare event. But after a while after I had begun to read my Bible and pray consistently, after I started attending congregational meetings and make Myself available to serve; you need to get the basics down first the Spirit of God actually began to talk to me. 1

2 I didn t recognize that it was Him. For weeks I thought this thought that I kept hearing in my mind was just my thought though this thought made no sense to me. You should live in the Mansion. I d checked out the Mansion and decided it wasn t for me. So, why did I keep having this thought? A friend, who was a Benedictine monk, suggested that I consider where this thought was coming from. So I did and then it dawned on me it s God! Now I had told God that if he could ever tell me what He wanted me to do, I would do it. Then I realized, I had to live in the Mansion! So I did. And despite my misgivings, that was a very good move. Right, Pamela? I often find what God says a bit puzzling at first, but it always works out. But a lesson here: if you want to His God s voice, you have to trust that you are hearing Him, and you have to obey Him. Trust and obey. There s no other way. V eemru? Why would the Lord want to talk to people who don t trust Him? And how can you say trust Him, if you won t obey Him? Genesis 15:6 says, Abram believed in ADONAI and He credited it to him as righteousness. Obedient faith is crucial to hearing God as it was for Abram, so for each of us. V eemru? Webster says to credit means to give honor or recognition to someone. HaShem gave credit honor or recognition to Abraham for His obedient faith. God is a rewarder of faith the faith of those who hear His voice and obediently follow Him. Also, when the Ruach speaks to you, give Him credit. I tell Him there s nothing more precious to me than to hear Him speak to me. Truly, it is wonderful even when it s not what I expected! I think He appreciates it when I appreciate Him. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! V eemru? In Isaiah 30:21, the Ruach Elohim says, Your ears will hear a word behind you saying: This is the way, walk in it when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Do you believe the Spirit of God wants to guide you as He did Abraham? The Ruach Elohim told Abram to get going. He didn t provide a map or a compass. Abram went. When Abram would get off course, the Ruach Elohim got Him back on the way He should go. If you listen, the Ruach Elohim will do the same for you. Zechariah 7:11-13 says: But they refused to pay attention. They stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears from hearing. Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as flint preventing them from hearing the Torah or the words that ADONAI-Tzva ot sent by His Ruach through the former prophets. Consequently, great wrath came from ADONAI-Tzva ot. It came about that just as He called and they did not listen, so they would call and I would not listen, says ADONAI-Tzva ot. What does HaShem think about people who won t listen? He doesn t like it. Would you? Why should He keep speaking to people who aren t paying attention, or ignore Him, rather than trust and obey? Therefore, if you want to hear God, pay attention, trust with a willingness to obey. Veemru? 2

3 Romans 12:1-2 urges us to present your bodies as a living sacrifice and not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect. How many of you would like to be able to discern God s will? Especially His good and perfect will? Well, it s a promise with two conditions. You must present yourself totally to God as a sacrifice and you must no longer be conformed to worldly patterns of thinking but be renewed in your mind. Godly thinking means you need to be different, rather than conform to what the world says is cool. If you re up for that, then the Ruach Kodesh will handle the transforming of your mind. Proverbs 14:15 advises, The naïve believes every word, but the shrewd discerns his steps. Because Eve was naïve and gullible, she fell for the deception of the serpent. To discern, or hear God s voice accurately, you must be shrewder than the serpent. Since hasatan can speak smooth words to your soul, you must be able to discern the difference between God and the adversary, between truth and fake news. V eemru? 2 Timothy 3:13 warns, Evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Yeshua also warned about wolves going about the flock in sheep s clothing. Beware! But you and I have something that Eve and Adam didn t. What would that be? The Scriptures! 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness, so that the person belonging to God may be capable, fully equipped for every good deed. Consistent meditation in God s word is essential for discerning His voice accurately for God sounds like His word. He often quotes it to me, and He never contradicts it. V eemru? I recommend the SOAP method for Bible meditation: 1) Read a swath of Scripture (a few chapters from different sections (I use a web site that goes through the Bible in a year). Before reading, say a short prayer asking the Holy Spirit to draw your attention to a verse. 2) Observe this verse in its context a few verses before and after, historical context, genre, i.e., is it poetry, prophecy, wisdom, history, apocalyptic? What is God saying to you? 3) Apply the verse to your own life and situation. How will it bring change and transformation to you? 4) Finally, write out a heart-felt Prayer. Here s an example from a spiritual notebook I keep in the cloud : May 30, Paradoxes of Grief and Joy. [Scripture: Proverbs 14:13. Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief. Observation: Wisdom speaks truths that every heart recognizes, though every heart must apprehend them on its own. And note the paradoxes: one associates laughter with the release of pain, yet often laughter (especially from in response to a thoughtful comic) actually recognizes the ache of regret; the joys of life are so often cut short by sudden sorrow present or past. Should one be surprised? Application: Better to be surprised by joy than by sorrow. Either sorrow or joy may be around the bend, but better to dwell in the presence of joy than in the house of grief or regret or disappointment. Prayer: When I am tempted to abide in disappointment, help me, Lord, to trust that I will rejoice in You again, and speak of Your joy always to our friends. 3

4 How many of you heard the Lord speaking to me through His word? [Many hands raised.] Writing can help you hear and discern God s voice. Habakkuk 2:2 says, Write down the vision and make it plain so the reader may run with it. How many of you have found that writing it down helps to make what you re hearing clearer? Then you can come back to what you wrote and reflect on what you heard. In addition to Scripture meditation, the Lord may speaks to us in many other ways: The Spirit of God may impress or prompt your heart, mind and/or body. Romans 8:14: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Pericles shared an example with me. He was driving one morning before light, when he saw a raccoon. The Holy Spirit prompted him, then said, That raccoon was a warning. Slow down! So he did, and suddenly right in front of him were two great big bucks standing in the road. I call this example: The Bucks Stop Here! How many of you experienced promptings from the Spirit? [Many hands raised.] Here s another one: I was on the phone with Nick Negoescu and he mentioned that that it was Allen Geary s birthday. At that moment, the Holy Spirit prompted me to visit Allen, so I thanked Nick for nudging me. It s a good thing when the Ruach nudges me to go out of my way to visit folks like Charlie & Carolyn Muskett in a nursing home near here. They were members of Beit Simcha many years ago, until disabilities made it difficult for them to come. It s better to give than to receive. Could the Ruach be prompting you? When we appear before the Lord at the Judgment, He may ask if you paid attention to Him when He was hoping you would visit Him in the nursing home or hospital or prison. Another way to hear God is through dreams. God spoke to Joseph through dreams both the Patriarch and the father of Yeshua; and many prophets and apostles. Job 33:14-15 says, For God does speak now one way, now another though no one perceives it, in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds. Dreams are a common way for the Lord to speak to people if they pay attention. Many people have told me that don t have dreams, or don t remember them, or they are strange. I find that if I ask God to help me pay attention to dreams, He will make it so. You may need to wake up enough to review the dream; if I do so, I can recite it later with the Lord, as Pharaoh did with Joseph and Nebuchadnezzar did with Daniel. Dreams aren t the only things that seem strange; anything from God may seem strange to us; instead, marvel at the imagery of the dreams; some of mine are like wonderful movie productions! As both Joseph and Daniel agree (2:28), there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. If you pray, the Lord will provide the interpretation if not to you than to someone who has the gift. John Wikkerink 4

5 shared a significant dream about communities last Shabbat. [A transcription from Barbara Sitler is at the end of this message.] I ll share one at our Yom Teruah service tomorrow evening. It s a doozie! Another way is through nature. Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky shows His handiwork. This week, in the park, the Ruach called me to a bridge to look down at the stream. As I looked down, the Ruach told me to listen to the water. I heard the sound of water rushing over a rock, foaming up just past it and then rushing on. The Ruach told me to keep listening. As I did, He spoke to me: The river is the Ruach, always flowing past me, always giving life. The rock is a trial, a place of resistance in my life. Yet the rock does not prevent the river from rushing past. Rather, the river rises up past it and its sound increases a bit as it foams, so that I notice the sound of the river--the presence of the Ruach all the more. The place of resistance will wear down, but the river will continue to flow. Therefore give thanks for the place of resistance, rejoice in your tribulation, because it draws attention to the presence of the Ruach around me, moving steadfastly past me. Interestingly, when I was discipling Jordan last week about hearing God, among other things I spoke about hearing God in the sound of water rushing over a rock... So the Ruach had more to say 1 Corinthians 14:3 says that one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation [or, comfort]. Prophecies can also be warnings or directions. How many of you have heard the Lord speak to you powerfully through a prophetic word? [Many hands raised.] Tzofiya Rogers gave me a prophetic several years ago, in which she described the new Synagogue space before I ever told her about it. Such confirmation! She also gave direction that it should start out as open as possible so we ll hold off installing a dividing wall between the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall until we re in the building a while. Occasionally, the Ruach will speak through a conversation. In The Invisible Hand of God at Work, Pastor Larry Burd mentions several examples. When I talked with the grieving parents in their home, I was nervous and careful about every word I spoke. In the midst of our conversation I asked them, Were you able to get any sleep last night? Immediately I regretted what I had said. I thought, What a stupid thing to ask parents whose son had just committed suicide the day before. Of all the words I spoke during our conversation, I wished I could have taken a pair of tweezers and removed that one sentence. As I was leaving, the father s eyes filled with tears and he said to me, Pastor, you will never know how much it meant to us when you asked us if we had gotten any sleep last night. The one sentence I wanted so desperately to remove from our conversation was the very sentence God used to touch the hearts of these grieving parents. Pastor Burd also describes how the Lord led him through unusual circumstances, including his pastoral calls from Massachusetts to Getzville, NY and from Getzville to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I m so glad Larry listens to the Lord. His testimonies of walking by faith have been a great encouragement to me. Pastor Burd will speak at the He will be sharing with us at our Celebration of our new Synagogue & Community House on October 6 th. Planning this event is another step of faith. Pastor Burd knows all about steps of faith. Whenever and however you hear the voice of the Lord, hearing Him requires trust. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, by faith. V eemru? 5

6 To be sure, relying only upon personal revelation can be risky. Hasatan can disguise himself in light, and may try to mislead people with subtle lies. History is full of people who have been deceived, especially by their pride or hurt or self-justification. Beware of the accuser s deception through these attitudes! That s why it s wise to see counsel and confirmation from people you respect and trust. Proverbs 11:14 says, Where there is no counsel people fall, but with many counselors there is safety. When I heard the Ruach tell me to marry Pamela, I sought confirmation from many people including Carol Ann the prophetess/intercessor I trusted, Jim who was discipling me, and my Mom on the phone (with Dad in the background) and after they all confirmed what the Lord put in my heart, on bended knee the first hour of spring, I proposed to Pamela. All this confirmation and more is recorded in our wedding ketubah and our memories, strengthening our marriage. Proverbs 15:22 says, Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. Though I ve taken the lead in our building project, I give credit to many wise and trustworthy advisers, many of whom I mention in the minutes of our annual meeting here s a link if you re interested. Proverbs 24:6, For with wise advice you wage war and in many counselors there is victory [or safety]. (Yeshuah can mean either victory or safety, and Yeshua is both our salvation (or safe place) and victory.) I cannot recall that the Ruach ever objected to my asking if I could seek confirmation. Indeed, getting confirmation that I actually heard the Ruach right often amazes me especially when He says things that I wasn t exactly expecting. Sometimes, though, counsel will add another perspective adding something helpful to consider to my limited ability to hear God myself. I receive much protection, encouragement and wise advice from Dan Juster, our elders, One Voice pastors & Pamela. As John Donne wrote, no man is an island. We hear God together. V eemru? So I urge you to seek wise counsel & confirmation before making major decisions. Essential to hearing God is to know Him well His word, His character, His covenant faithfulness. Malachi 2:10 says, Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously a man against his brother defiling the covenant of our fathers? Too often have people claim that God told them to betray their covenant commitments. If you should think you hear God saying to betray your covenant commitments with your spouse, with your brothers and sisters in this community of faith, with your Lord and Messiah, Yeshua think again, pray again, meditate on His word, seek wise counsel! Do not let the enemy tickle your ears with gossip or lies born of pride or hurt or self-justification. Fear God the One who made covenant with our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Israel, the One who joined you and your spouse in the covenant of marriage, the One who made covenant with us in this community of faith, this House of Joy, the One who made a New Covenant with all of us including you in His blood. 6

7 Numbers 23:19: God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes his mind! Does He speak and not do it, or promise and fulfill it? V eemru? Hearing God, however He speaks, is wonderful. I keep telling Him it s the best thing in my life. Listen to that still, small voice and give the Ruach credit when He speaks to you trust in Him. For as Hebrews 11:6 says, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and follow Him, by faith. V eemru? This sermon may not be reprinted in whole or in part without the express written consent of Messianic Rabbi Glenn David Blank of Beit Simcha. Your generous support for our ministry and our building project is appreciated! From Time of Waiting, Prophecy and Prayer, : John Wikkerink: I want to share a dream I had this morning; I think some of it was for this community. I was living in a community house. The setting was strange, like the neighborhood and street that I grew up back home in Wisconsin, and I think the Lord was showing me that I had been living there for a while and it was home to me. My cousin, Abby, was living with us and her boyfriend was present. Then a gentleman came by looking for him because he does odd jobs, but he wasn t there at the time so I decided to help the gentleman out. I wondered about him because of the way he looked. We walked to his dwelling and saw that he also lived in a community house, specifically in a Moravian community. Then I started meeting all the people he lived in community with both older and younger ones and they all had their unique traditions, but it was all so wonderful to see another community. Then they asked what I was doing. I said, Let me tell you, I live in a Messianic community. And they were so happy to hear about that. I feel like the Lord was telling me that revival was going to come through our nation and was going to express itself in community. Also, He was telling me we need to put down our own expectations; we need to stop looking at people with our eyes of flesh and start seeing them through the eyes of Yeshua, not how they look or are dressed but how they feel in their hearts. Thirdly, we need to give up our expectations in relationships and start giving them to God and let him grow out of perhaps a withering relationship which may become very important in the future. We need to start giving God the potential in our relationships so that people from all walks of life will walk away from their flesh and start following Yeshua. 7