Are we hearing the voice of the Shepherd?

Intro: The challenge to what I see and hear….

Exodus 16:14-And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”  For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.

–God in redeeming a people from Egypt has now taken over to be their Provider-in this new provision (manna) that looks strange, they need Moses to point out to them, that this is their new sustenance to live by…

-When you think about following God and fulfilling His purpose-it don’t resonate w/anything we have ever seen or done before- following God takes faith, not blind, but guided by His Word/Spirit to something that makes you ask the same question as Israel, “what is it?”

-It is “the questioning” that proves to us that we are not completely convinced-the doubt/unbelief in what God has presented before me is enough to live off of?…

-so God has to “wean us” off the things we inherited from the world, that makes us doubt whether or not we can survive without (fill-in the blank)-Israel missed the “leaks and onions”…what are you struggling with, that you know God wants to replace and be enough for, yet you still doubt?  Ex: it may be a mentality, an image, a job, a conviction or stand that you need to take, a habit…the doubt you’ll be content w/out it

–The temptation is to settle and not be challenged in our faith to live off Jesus, and what He is asking us to feed off of-when we settle we make the grave mistake of recycling a heart and mentality that reveals where we came from, rather than where God wants to take us…(as proud as we maybe of where we came from, it is idolatry to cherish that over where God wants to take and change us!)=conformed to His Son

-When God redeemed Israel, He had to defeat Pharaoh and in bringing them to a new life,-the only way to flourish was to embrace wherever God was leading them and whatever He set before them..

–so what we are “eating” now,  is either affirming that we are living off of Christ (manna, because this is unfamiliar but I’m following Him!)-Or we are recycling a mentality that looks no different than where we came from

Ex:  Each time God met the children of Israel with a challenge of faith, (something new)-they reverted back to complaining and yearning for the things they came out of…that is a heart issue with God (anger from suffering)

-Their complaining to God was a resistance to true life, but because they didn’t recognize it as that –their stubbornness kept trying to change a new life of faith and redemption, into an old life of unbelief and sin…

Hebrews 3:7-11-Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,“Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

-The warning from the Israelites is to recognize that though they saw God’s works in their life-when it came to trusting and following Him, they didn’t know Him from the heart, to trust Him when He presented them His ways…(the “relationship” never got down to the Person and character of God-it wasn’t His lack of love, it was their own heart not to want Him)

John 9:39-41–Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see,and those who see may become blind.”

-each “new thing” we get presented to trust God with (manna/Christ as life)-is a challenge of whether you trust Him over what you see and think you know-pride=God can’t lead us

–The more you walk with God the more you realize that we don’t know anything-which keeps us from trying to control and define things by what we think is right and good.  God usually makes us ask “what is it?!-takes a heart changed by God to followwhat we don’t always understand…)

The fruit of conviction-(the blessed harvest of conviction)

JOHN 10:1-3-Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice,and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

-Jesus begins establishing why He is considered the Shepherd to lead those who believe,-rather than others who come to lead the people, because His voice is distinct, personal, and powerful!

-The Bible establishes that the Word and Spirit are to convict of all unrighteousness,-that only Christ and His Spirit brings with it judgement of sin and an establishment of true righteousness

John 16:8-And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

-When God calls us out of the crowd, what enables you to hear what He is saying and those around you ignore the conviction, is that we are sheep (distinct)-The sad truth is that instead of cherishing that call, naturally we tend to want people with us…Abraham, Moses, etc. eliminating the intimacy of God’s heart towards us

-So God’s call is personal, and the more personal the more precious-Love is exclusive and distinct to that person, that we don’t love everyone/everything the same!-Ex: God’s love is immeasurable but distinct to who we are

–God doesn’t call us with our friends or family members-because He wants to establish that this is a personal relationship, distinctly called-Ex:this is what makes the Church powerful when we take being called individually as precious-so a service can be filled with the praise of a God who has graciously called us, and we are experiencing the fruit of that call from a love that unifies

–Our obedience to His voice allows God to use us in ways that affirms this distinction-so God’s call is not to remove us from people who don’t believe but rather expose

John 17:15-17-do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

–Without conviction to the voice/word of God you will have a difficult time walking distinct from anyone-because the fear of being alone overrides you more than voice of God

John 16:32-Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet Iam not alone, for the Father is with me.

-Jesus out of conviction to fulfill the will of the Father is moved by one voice-and it is the voice of God that empowers Him to let people leave Him, and be left with God who is enough…

-‘The question that every sheep has to ask itself, is who is your Shepherd?-And has the voice you’ve been following led you to manna, bread, and abundant life? John 10:9–I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  Or left you in the bondage of following with no personal conviction

Anyone who is choking out the conviction to adhere to the voice of God is not worth listening to–people should have to earn your respect to be followed, when you live to embrace the True Shepherd other voices can’t compete…

The distinct voice and confirmation of the Shepherd

John 10:4-6-When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

-Any parent, no matter what they believe, if they love their children-desire to put them around those who affirm/confirm what they taught them…Ex:  wanting our children’s first school year to be in private school

-That they live out the voice of the teachings that will help them live out the best life possible,-of course that has to be lived out, not just spoken…so when they see/hear something “strange” they don’t follow it

–this is the premise Jesus is using when it comes to His sheep-and why being called by a distinct, personal, and powerful voice is key…b/c what awaits sheep is wolves and places that lead to destruction, and if you have no ear to hear what the Spirit is saying, you blindly walk into things that could be avoided…

-Which leads us to look at some of the “strange voices” we picked up-that are still strong and rival Jesus’ voice…

Ex:  if you have never been made to take responsibility for your behavior as a child-now being held accountable to do so causes you to deflect and blame everybody but yourself…the voice of the Shepherd says take accountability and repent, but the strange voice says blame..

–Which brings us to why we needto feed off the Word-that we become more sensitive to the voice of the Shepherd, than the strange voices we tend to gravitate toward…

-Because Jesus says we won’t listen to the voice of a stranger and follow them if we are truly His sheep-so for the most part we may say we are following the Lord…but the deeper challenge is to measure the decisions we make or don’t make that are not of God, though we know we are His sheep?

–So we must admit that there are still places in our lives, that need to be sanctified/brought in alignment with the truth-When we consider that we are called out by Living Word “out of the world”, the only way we mature out of that system is to feed on the Word, and deaden the voice of strangers I may be following..

  

Conclusion:  The commitment of the Sheep

Proverbs 6:22-When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.

(Many times we focus on money, when it is bad decisions/lack of direction  from a lack of wisdom that cost us more)

-God knew when He redeemed Israel He had to replace the “voices” of Egypt with His voice-so  He commanded Moses to make sure the Word was taught to the children, who would go into the promised land and be a generation that grew up with the “Shepherds voice”-(Deuteronomy 6)

-That they wouldn’t grow up like their fathers generation who would ask the question, “what is it?” when it came to trusting what God presents-That living out the truth of the gospel from listening to the voice of God is the norm for Christians, because we are His sheep…

Christ left the hope of us knowing His voice in order for us to be led and kept by Him, do you know His voice?-It is being led by this voice that makes us distinct from the world and unifies us to the Shepherd…