Pastor Jim gave his 2nd sermon at PUMC on Sunday July 13. His text was from John10:1-5 and Acts4:5-12. The title of the sermon was, “The Voice of God is Calling”…
John 10:1-5; The Sheep Hear the Good Shepherd…
In John 10, Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd. The sheep (us!) hear His voice and recognize that it’s Him. Not only do they recognize His voice, they obey His voice and they are able to tune out all of the other noise and static generated by “other voices.” Open the box below to read John 10:1-5…
Click here to learn more
1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
NKJV
Acts 4:5-12; No Other Name
In Acts chapter 3, Peter and John heal a man who had been lame from birth. They did this while on their way to the Temple to pray. Of course, everyone was amazed that this lame person could now walk. But Peter and John don’t take any credit- this happened because of their faith in Jesus. And they made no bones about explaining who Jesus is.
But the Priests and temple officials aren’t very happy about Peter and John preaching about Jesus, so they arrest them and keep them in jail overnight. The passage in verse 5 opens as Peter and John are called to explain themselves before the high priest…
Click below to read the passage…
Click here to learn more
5 And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,
6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
NKJV
The “voices” we listen to can have a major impact on our lives. But sometimes we listen to the wrong voices… imagine if you did everything that TV commercials tell you to do! But sometimes we are influenced by voices that say “you can’t be successful without ___” and we are turned to greed, or pride, or fear.
Sometimes we have trouble hearing the voice of God. It’s like an old AM radio on a summer night. We need to do our best to tune it into the station, and we also need to concentrate on filtering out the noise and static.
———————————————————–
Are You Listening???
Many people are running around with blank faces; rushing around with no purpose and empty lives. They’re looking for a shepherd, for a teacher, for purpose in their lives.
When we think about the Voice of God, there are two points that need to be remembered:
Imagine that- the Creator of the universe wants to have a conversation with little ‘ole you!!! We’re sinful, we rebel against Him, we constantly ignore Him, but God still wants to have a relationship with us. God could have done a “Cntl-Alt-Del”, rebooted creation and wiped us out. We’re the ones who hung up the phone; God’s still waiting. He wants to have a personal one on one “sit down” with you.
The refrain from the familiar hymn, “In the Garden” says: “And He walks with me, and He talks with me. And He tells me I am His own. And the Joy we share as we tarry there; none other has ever known.”
Check out the following Allan Jackson video of “In the Garden.” God wants to have a personal relationship with us.
Here’s the 2nd thing to remember about the Voice of God…
The verbs used throughout scripture are present tense. It doesn’t just say “God spoke”; the Bible tells us that God IS SPEAKING! God IS WALKING with us.
- Noah was expecting to hear God; he built a boat in the middle of a desert.
- Abraham heard God and left for parts unknown.
- Moses saw God in a burning bush and confronted Pharaoh.
God continues to speak to us through the Bible, and He still uses a variety of ways to grab our attention. When we let the Bible become part of who we are, God also speaks to us through our experiences, church traditions, and even our human reasoning. He speaks to us in prayer (do we pause to listen or are we too busy with our laundry list?) As with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and countless others, God wants to give us exactly what we need at this very moment… but are we tuned in? Or, are we distracted by the noise of the world?
Do you hear what God is Saying?
You can do all of the religious stuff and still not be in tune with God. It’s like the story of a man sitting on his roof amidst rising floodwaters. He believed that God would rescue him, so he refused the help of a boat and helicopter. Despite his pleas to God for help, he drowned. God was answering the man’s prayers, but but the man was listening to his own preconceptions instead of being tuned into God for His answer. God uses our resources and experiences to talk to us.
But could it be that we don’t hear because we have our own idea of what we expect God to say?
A story is told that one time President Roosevelt became convinced that nobody in these reception lines was actually listening to him. On one occasion he decided to try something out. And so as people greeted him, he smiled, warmly shook their hand, and then calmly said “I just murdered my grandmother this morning.” Most of the people didn’t realize what he said. They just assumed it was idle conversation and gave a canned reply such as “that’s nice Mr. President.”
Are we really tuned into our Shepherd’s voice?
Do we recognize Him?
Do we hear what He’s saying?
Do we obey???
============================================================================
Click the “Play” button to hear a recording of the sermon. Both sermons are “about” the same, but take your pick between the two services.
(Is the file taking too long to load? Check out Proverbs 14:29)
9:30 Service…
11:00 Service…
Rev. Dr. Jim Bolton
