For our brothers and sisters in Africa, things are better there. Can you say "Praise God" for that? A number of things are taking place today, not all bad. A CNN reporter got shot with tear gas, so there are some bright sides taking place. I don't think very highly of CNN; it's a propaganda station. They weren't hurt, by the way. It makes it humorous. A lot of good things are taking place. Let me read just a couple of lines here from Tony. He said:
Finishing our day and receiving some of the last reports from our contacts, those in the housing estates here in Eldoret and from around the nation. The government ban on live broadcasting in still in effect, delaying the spread of current events, so the team of men in the churches are helping, as well as numerous other sources. Some of the key events are as follows: We had a good time in the Lord in our mid-week service. We had it early in the morning to avoid the potential dangers and the chaos of the rallies.
[I shared with Tony--they were under a lot of pressure and stress in some of the leadership there--I just shared that they were trying to get DT back up and running with half [the] staff and half of our attendance, and I told them to just pull everybody together and make it non-academic DT, like we do here at times when there have been needs that have arisen. Don't worry about having to teach. Just get them together and encourage them in the Lord and share the Word of God and lift up each other's hands. So they've been meeting to do that. Continue to pray along those lines.]...
Knowing God's Voice, Doing God's Will, Part 2
January 20, 2008 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Amen! I haven't heard that one for a long time. That's a song that I've always enjoyed. Larry, thank you for singing that. It goes right along with what we've been teaching. There's one phrase in there that I've always thought was interesting. It says, "The joy we share, as we tarry there, none other has ever known." That's how personal it is; amen? No one else experiences what you experience with the Lord, praise God! It's just for you--that intimacy, that personal touch. Aren't you looking forward to that day? The Scripture says that He has a name engraved that He's going to present to us that nobody else knows--just our little pet name. Do you have a pet name? You give a pet name to your loved ones, and this is that intimacy that He has with us. Thank God that this relationship we have with Him is personal!
Turn to the 119th Psalm. We're going to share a couple of principles again this morning on hearing the voice of God. As we were sharing Wednesday, there are a lot of voices in the air right now. At this time here in our country, of course, a lot of them are political. Are you tired of them yet? We have a whole year left! We hear the voice of Madison Avenue telling us how to look better and be skinnier. (Some of us should take heed!) We hear the voices of all the commercials telling us what we lack, what we need to be fulfilled in life. There are a lot of voices. There are the voices of the academia telling us, of course, that to be successful, we have to attend their schools, believe their philosophies, and apply their ideologies. What are we listening to?
The Scripture says there is this still, small voice that says, "This is the way; walk in it." Are you listening enough to hear that voice? Or is there so much noise that we're distracted and incapable of really hearing what God's saying to us today? I'm going to talk about one of the greatest hindrances to hearing that voice this morning. We made a comment on Wednesday night that before we can know the voice of God, we need to know or become familiar with our own voice. Because the fact is, most Christians mistake their voice--their will, their wisdom, their goals, their ideologies, their traditions, their family bonds--as the voice of God. Most of us think our voice is the voice of God. And we need to know what our voice is so we can distinguish clearly between that and the voice of the Spirit of God that does, in fact, lead us into all truth. We need to know the danger of self-deception and the danger of being answered according to our own idols, and it's so subtle. It is not only subtle, but it is so prominent that most of us truly believe that we're hearing the voice of God. "My will be done."..
Knowing God's Voice, Doing God's Will, Part 3
January 20, 2008 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Just before we get into our study tonight, just a reminder to hold Tony up and all of the brothers in Africa. The trials are continuing there. There is a need of refreshing in the lives of the men, Tony especially. So just be in prayer. Lift his hands up, and we're believing Father for that refreshing, the wisdom of God that is necessary, and that Father would be glorified in all of the circumstances there. We have the promise as it pertains to the believing individuals, not a nation. God is not concerned with nations; He uses them for His own purpose. The nations, the Scripture says, are as a drop in the bucket. He raises up and brings down as it is best for the eternal kingdom. But in the midst of all that, there are the people who can say, "All these things are working together for good." That is God's promise to us. We want to just prayerfully hold them up and sustain them in our intercession.
Let's go back to the book of Ezekiel where we left off this morning. We've been looking at the subject and how important it is in this hour to really understand what it means to hear the voice of the Lord. Many of us here, in fact, probably all of us would say that we've heard the voice of the Lord. Some of us would have testimonies that would say that we believe we've heard the audible voice of God. Some of us would say that we've heard the word of the Lord spoken to us through angels. Some of us would be able to relate that we've heard from the Lord very clearly through His Word, through the revelation of the Word of God that is quickened to us. We've all heard testimonies of how it seems like the words would jump off the page at us or have some type of monumental effect immediately on our spirits as we look at a passage of the Word of God. Others, as we listen for the voice of God and believe that as the Lord is speaking to us, that it would come to us through counselors. So we would all say, "I believe I've heard from the Lord." The one thing we do know that all of us can say that we've heard from God is that no man can come except Father draw him. So we have heard, "This is the way," and we're thankful for that...
Knowing God's Voice, Doing God's Will, Part 4
January 23, 2008 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Hallelujah! Amen. Hopefully, most of you have read Psalm 119. We won't necessarily ask you to quote it tonight but I know some of you have memorized it. It's good to hide His word in our hearts (Amen?) that we don't sin against Him, realizing the Word of God is the source of all truth, John 17 tells us, and that the Holy Spirit is going to order our steps and lead us constantly into truth. A lot of us seem to think, then, that that's an intuitive voice of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit is going to speak to me, and I'm going to hear this voice, or know this momentary prompting. You'll find that most of the time the Holy Spirit speaks to you, it will be to bring to your remembrance the Word of God. He will lead us into truth. "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). The more we memorize the Word of God, the more we exercise the Word of God through obedience, the keener we're going to be able to hear the spirit of God. The more of God's Word we've hidden in our hearts, the Scripture says in Psalm 119:100, will make us wiser than the ancients, the wise men, the elders, even more than our instructors. Now, lest you would like to think that, "Well, praise God, I'm smarter than Mom and Dad and all of the deacons," it's not just knowing the Word of God; it's doing the Word of God. Amen? What it's saying to us there is that it doesn't have to do... Wisdom doesn't come with longevity. It comes with experience in doing the Word of God. Wisdom does come with experience, not just years, experience. Choices of obedience, fruit that will come and vindicate that you're a doer of the Word, and not just a hearer only, having deceived yourselves. Knowledge puffs up. Not just knowing the Word of God, but obeying the Word of God. Hearers, and not doers, are people that are self-deceived and in jeopardy, as we shared last session out of Ezekiel, of being answered according to their own idols. We left off in that Ezekiel passage. That's a little bit of review...
Knowing God's Voice, Doing God's Will, Part 5
January 27, 2008 • Pastor Star R. Scott
I know this morning, I don't know for sure what, but as I was--it was one of those nights I just couldn't sleep, and I didn't get off till about three o'clock this morning as I was just interceding.
This was prior to this e-mail, and as I woke up to this e-mail, but [I was] just praying for Tony and not only for Africa but just for the ordering of our steps here, as we live here in Sodom. Looking for the wisdom of God, and in the midst of all of our prosperity, believing Father, praying for us as a people that--as the prophets had spoken, they're going to be destroyed because of their prosperity.
We're not going to see that happen. Amen? We're going to be a people that keep our eye on the prize, the high calling of God that's in Christ Jesus. We're going to use this world but not abuse it. You have to be keen to do that. It's not an easy thing to live lives of faith in the midst of abundance. We've talked about it before. These folks over there in Kenya right now that are praying "Give us this day our daily bread," can pray that in faith. And we in all of our abundance must pray it in faith. Amen? Don't lose sight of who our provider is and that what we have is a daily provision, because it can take wings and be gone in a day, praise God. So be prayerful and don't trust in anything but the Lord and His grace and His strength in our midst.
Let's go ahead and pick back up where we've been in our study as we've been talking about hearing the voice of God and knowing that voice, distinct from our own individual appetites. We said that before we can really know the voice of God we have to become very familiar with our own voice, our own will. We have to come to grips with our own personal agendas in life and be able to pray like Jesus did in the garden: "Father, if it be possible [I do have a preference, and I know what it is, and if it be possible], let this cup pass from me; [Bring me out of this trial. If it be possible, here's my preference of what I would like to see in my life and the life of my children, but most importantly] nevertheless, not my will, Thy will be done." Amen?...
