AMEN: Drowning Out The Voices - Steve Parrish
AMEN, a customary statement at the end of a prayer or during preaching to express our agreement with what is said and the hope that it will take place. But, AMEN is much so more than just a statement.
• AMEN is the resounding YES to all that God says.
• AMEN is an attitude, a posture, a way of life.
• AMEN unlocks the abundance of Heaven.
Genesis 2:16–17 (ESV) And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 3:1 (ESV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
• AMEN requires us to hear God, louder than all the other voices.
• AMEN requires a volume that drowns out all the other voices
Growing up in the mid-70’s with Smokey and the Bandit, my parents bought a Granada Ghia with CB Radio. They installed a base station at home with giant antenna and call sign KNJ6246. Lots of chatter, difficult to lock in to person you wanted to talk to, because the power limit was 4 watts. The closer you were, the clearer. People began using illegal linear amplifiers to boost their signals to 750 watts, and they became the loudest voice for miles. They proceeded to “walk all over” or “step on” all other transmitters in order to hear and be heard!
We live in a time where hearing from God can seem difficult, especially because of all the other voices. But God has given us an amplifier that, when utilized, allows us to hear and be heard!
John 16:13–15 (ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will GUIDE you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will DECLARE to you the things that are to come.
• Guiding requires listening!
He can speak out of the blue, but give Him something to work with!
read the written Word – bible, books, etc
listen to the spoken Word – preaching, teaching, prophetic
listen for the declarations!
• Guiding requires adjustments!
guiding acknowledges wrong belief/action on your end.
He desires to guide you – teachable
you can either be adjusted or you can crash
you ultimately have to yield to His direction
• Guiding requires His declaration to become your declaration!
His direction becomes your new direction
His word becomes your word
His declaration becomes your declaration – more than an opinion, or statement!
His amplified voice becomes your amplified voice!
But there will continue to be voices, and they will need to be drowned out
Drowning Out The Voices:
Your Own Voice
• Proverbs 11:14 (ESV) Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
• Psalm 119:105 (ESV) Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:12 (ESV) We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
Feelings…
Morris Albert song - Feelings, nothing more than feelings, Trying to forget my feelings of love. Teardrops rolling down on my face, Trying to forget my feelings of love. Feelings, for all my life I'll feel it. I wish I've never met you, girl; you'll never come again. Feelings, wo-o-o feelings, Wo-o-o, feel you again in my arms. Feelings, feelings like I've never lost you And feelings like I've never have you again in my heart. Feelings, for all my life I'll feel it. I wish I've never met you, girl; you'll never come again. Feelings,…
• feelings are one of the loudest and most dangerous voices of all
• feelings can be influenced by just about anything!
• Illus: remove the soundtrack in a scary movie
• respond to feelings to bring them relief will very often lead you into the wrong direction!
• David was returning from victorious battle, he and his men, on a high
• David at Ziklag: 1 Samuel 30:3–6 (ESV) And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters.
• your feelings as informed by circumstance are the worst Holy Spirit!
• His men could have just killed him, David went on to rally His men and get everything back!
• 1 Samuel 30:6 (KJV 1900) …but David encouraged (strengthen) himself in the Lord his God.
• Tell your feelings the truth of God, who He is, what He has said, what He has promised to do.
• It will also help to eat well, sleep well, exercise, guard what you watch, read and listen to!
I’m Better Off, Right Here.
• God’s Word invites us into new places that seem risky
• we’ve never been there before
• even though where we were wasn’t working out, we have a tendency to stay there instead of taking a risk.
• Numbers 11:4–6 (ESV) Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
• Our best is ahead, requiring us to let go of the safety of this spot.
• Philippians 3:13–15 (ESV) …But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
• Don’t get stuck where you are
• The best is still yet to come
“This Is How It Is, Forever”
• Sometimes we are injured and it can leave us blind, lame, paralyzed
• Sometimes it’s at the hand of another.
• Sometimes its our own doing.
• Too often, we get stuck there. For years.
• Like a tick, these situations burrow into our lives sucking the life out of us
• Addictions, broken relationships, repeat patterns of self destruction…
• John 5:2–6 (ESV) Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
• There’s a strange comfort in our situation, bad as it is
• There’s a strange comfort in the dysfunction of others around us with the same issues or who enable our issue
• Medicate one another in our dysfunction
• Spiritual Myth gets mixed in: there was no angel to stir the water!
o If God wants to heal me, he will.
o God gets more glory from my faithful suffering
o God did this to me.
• We sit back and endure.
• John 5:6–9 (ESV) When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
• Declare & Act