When God Calls
Good morning everyone . Today I want to talk about when God calls on you. Question ,how do we know when God calls us? ...(ask around the room and let them reply if God has ever called them). I remember back when I was about 13-14 my mom had an 8-track tape (that’s a big thick tape kinda like a cassette tape only bigger, ancient technology ) that was called “ A phone call from God”. It was about 45-60 min long and was about this country guy who receives a phone call from God. It was very funny all the way threw . God couldn’t be heard but the guy would answer His questions and you knew what He was asking the guy. He would bring up things in his very long past like when he got into a fight with a kid when he was in the 5th grade and how it affected the kid and how he should give him a call and apologize . He convicts the guy . The guy does call the one he beat up in the 5th grade and it made a difference in his life . He goes and forth talking to God on the phone , I think he had call waiting or three way or something .Any how the guy by the end is getting back in church and asks for forgiveness . What would you do if Jesus called you to talk to him for a while ? ... ( ask the room the question and get their reaction)
Please turn into you Bibles to Genesis 3:9and read aloud (ask them about what it says and what it means} . God called for Adam . Do you think he didn’t know were Adam was ? No, God knew exactly were Adam was . He called for him to convict him. Adam was hiding because he had sinned and was ashamed . When God called for him it was to bring Adam into the presence of God . Just like when some of us were younger and we had done something we knew we weren’t to do and thought we had gotten away with it just to have a parent call on us and ask us “What happened to all the cookies ,pie,or whatever?” Just to have us confess to them we did the wrong ,only to find out they knew all along what had happened and just wanted us to be truthful and confess our sin.
Now please turn to Genesis 4:9 and someone read it aloud(discuss this one also ). Again do you think God didn’t know what had happened ? Please read on Genesis 4:10 . He knew , Cain couldn’t hide what he did just as his father Adam couldn’t hide what he had done either. God is all knowing and ever present .Now that’s kind of a frightening thought . Every thought you and I have ever had , every sin that you and I have ever done He knew about . Every thought and every sin we ever will do ,He knows about . Do we actually think we can hide it from Him ? But yet we go threw life thinking that we can . Why else do we not talk to him , do we not listen to him.
A lot of us might say “but I don’t hear God talk to me the way it says in the Bible” . Well just like a radio .Your traveling away from a city and the station your listening to starts to fade away ,to where eventually all you hear is static . The radio station it still playing the music you were listening to and other people can here it but you can’t because you have traveled so far away that you can’t pick it up and the only way your going to here the music again from that station is to turn around and head back.
Well God and sin is a lot like that . Our sins separate us from Him. The more we sin the less we will hear his voice . Until we can’t hear him at all and are so caught up with our sins that something happens like we reach a low point or something bad actually happens to us . What do we do ? We TURN AROUND and usually pray to HIM. We confess something or repent with all our heart. We sometimes cry an pray out aloud to Him. He’s there , He’s always been there. He just wanted us to confess to him and talk to him. He is the one who was convicting your spirit of the sins your doing and how far you have gone away from him. It is your spirit that made you scream out to him and repent and confess your sins.
Just like our parent wanted us to repent and admit our wrongdoing after we did repent usually (accept if it really bad) they forgave us and everything was better .We could talk to them easier than before and they could to us also. God is the same way . If we have sin in our life and don’t repent and ask for His forgiveness then it’s like a stumbling block . He still hears our prayers but is waiting for us to admit what we had done .He will continue to wait ,He might do something to get you to confess sometimes but it is for our benefit . It’s to teach us a lesson and repent to not do that sin again .As we repent and talk to the Lord,He will start to talk to us . As we tune in that radio (our spirit and mindset) to His radio station (the bible ,His word) we will be more apt to hear him . But if we turn away and tune into the things of this world then we will loose His messages and His attempts to talk to us.
Back in the days of the Bible people didn’t have the distractions that we do today, this is true .They didn’t have Brittney Spears ,MTV ,Television for that matter, or the pressures of today . This is all true . They only had the human mind . The most corruptible thing in this world . There is an old saying “An idle mind is the Devil’s playground” .Where do you think Sodom and Gomorrah came from ? They had prostitution and it was more prevalent than today and much more accessible. Sin has been with us since Adam and Eve we can’t get away from it .It is written that there is nothing new under the Sun that the Lord has not already seen before. Grant it the technology is different, say like this computer I’m writing this on ,1000 years ago they did the same thing only on paper and TV same as plays in coliseums only now it is brought to us in a square box . They had distractions ,the difference is they had their radio not that far away from God’s station that they could still hear Him when he called.
Now , has God been calling to you ? Have you had your radio to far away from Him to hear Him ? Have you just had the volume turn down? Pray with me.
Oh gracious Father , we come to you today in prayer . We pray that as we know you will hear us that we may also hear you calling on us . We pray father that even though we may not have had our radio tuned to you , you were still there for us to hear . We pray Father that from this day on we will tune into you more and strive to hear when you call on us . May we be worthy to carry out your will for our life. Father we pray for those with us that may not be hearing your calling or that those that’s spirit is crying out to you ,that you will speak to their heart and open us up to you . For it is in Jesus Christ name we pray . AMEN
