How To Connect With God - Listening and Meditation

Let me just say at the onset just before we cue this up, let me let me just I just want to thank everybody on social media for posting those pictures of snow in your backyard because I did not see enough in my own. So, thank you for all those pictures of your snow because I I must have missed mine somewhere. Thank you very much. Now those are arguably the most recognizable four notes in music. Beethoven's fifth symphony in C minor. G G E flat F FFF Oh, G G E E flat F FF or G G D E F FF E flat.

That's it. Yes. Thank you, Sister Christie. Keep me straight. But in the in the palatialist states of Europe back in the 17th or 18th 19th century, they would invite these musicians to their parties. And uh this was called this device in musical uh lore is called the Mannheim rocket. It was it was designed not necessarily for this primary purpose, but it does this. It had this effect when these musicians would be at one of these palatial estates, these mansions, and and they began to play their music, they would bang out loudly on the piano, and everybody who had been milling around with their conversations, their attention would turn to the musician.

So the musician was saying to this group in a sonic signal, the music is starting, so pipe down and listen. And that's my topic tonight is listening and meditation. Listening and meditation. And so we're going to start with talking about meditating. I will not ask everybody to assume a lotus position because some of us would have to get untangled by an EMT probably if we got ourselves into that position. It's not a matter of sitting down and crossing your legs and getting your hands in the right position.

That's not uh you know joining an ash ram that uh with with an Indian swami that tells you how to do all of these these these meditation uh exercises. It is not clearing all of your thoughts as practiced in some of the eastern mysticism. But meditating as we talk about it tonight is to engage in contemplation and uh reflection. Contemplation to to consider something by focusing attention upon it. Meditating I I thought about this meditating can be a form of analysis. uh in in the vernacular of the New Testament, Paul writing into to the Philippians said, "If there be anything that's true or honest or just or lovely or of good report or virtuous, if there be anything that's praiseworthy, think on these things.

Think on these things. Focus on them." And so meditating simply means to analyze for our purposes tonight. We must not be hearers of the word only. We must believe. And in order to believe for that to happen, we have to understand what we hear or what we read. And I don't know how you process things, thoughts and and ideas, but for me, I uh I spend time I I you know, I'll go to classes and I uh uh I hear things and I I've been in lectures and and uh I I I don't digest everything right away.

It takes me a while sometimes for things to process that I've heard. And so, uh, for me that that meditating is a is kind of an analytical process. Not only have I heard the lecture from somebody, but I I go out and then I uh I spend probably more time analyzing what I heard than than sitting in the class or sitting in the lecture hall listening to the lecture. And so uh it there was a there was a time when meditating was probably more prominent and predominant than it is now.

This you know we live in such a fastpaced society. There's not a lot of room for philosophers and poets. Just not a lot of room for them. There's not a time a lot of time for sitting down and and just thinking. Uh think about how often in your day you have time for just quietness, listening. And so when I was preparing this lesson to for for this evening, uh one of the things I wanted to focus on primarily was uh not a howto. You you hear many voices telling you how to do this and how to do that and and how you should accomplish this.

I mean there are so many books about leadership on how it's supposed to be done and uh there's so many books on how to become a better person, self-improvement and all those kind of things. I'm not I'm not about to delve into any of those areas tonight to tell you how to do these things because I I I was thinking about, you know, you you got busy young housewives with three kids running around the house. How do you find time to get that quiet time and and meditate?

And how do you find that time? So, I'm going to say to you, you have to find a way. It's up to you to do that. I told someone a while back, this person was going through a situation and uh at the end the postcript was, "Please, somebody help me to know what to do." My response was this. I have found that we don't struggle so much with knowing what to do. It's doing what we know. We just have to find a way to do what we know to do.

All these lessons we've been talking about fasting and prayer and and and studying the Bible. We just have to find and I can't tell you how to do that. Nobody can. You have to find that for yourself. But meditating was much more prominent and prevalent in the Old Testament than in the New. It there was an evolution there. Uh you you read about men like Isaac, it says he went out to meditate in the field at even tide. In Joshua 1 verse 8, it gives us a key to Joshua.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, and that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein. For then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success. We know what to do. We just have to do what we know. We have to find a way to do that. uh meditating. We know that we should not just read the word of God, not just gloss through it just to check off another box for the year that I've read the Bible through again.

I would I would prefer to spend time in those sidebars and going down those rabbit holes that give me some insight to what I just read rather than just glossing through the scriptures just to say that I've read them again. Amen. And so we we find in the Old Testament, David often used this, I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect to thy ways. And in the the New Testament, uh Paul only used this word one time when he was writing to Timothy. He said in 4:15 of First Timothy, "Meditate upon these things.

give thyself holy to them that thy profiting may appear to all. So it was more of a widespread practice and less of a trendy thing. What we call meditating. Meditating in the New Testament finds its equivalent in the word that is translated think. Think on these things. The he uh the Greek term is legitimi. Reckon yourselves or think yourselves to be this or think this or think that. It means to exercise your mind. I'm so glad that when you come to God in spite of what many people think, you don't put your brain on hold.

You don't check your brain at the door. You use, as a matter of fact, with the transformation of the mind, you begin to think right. You begin to think right. And so meditating is to exercise the mind, to reason, to consider. And and Solomon warned us in Proverbs 23 and verse 7. He said, "For as he thinkketh in his heart, so is he." As he thinks in his heart. It's an interesting word that's used here in the Hebrew, Shaar. It it is a uh a root word that comes from the the meaning gate.

So a gatekeeper, your mind is really the gatekeeper of everything. Everything. It's it's the key to even your spirit. The the spirit of God wants to control your mind and therefore he will control control the person. And so what we let in the mind is as important as what we keep out of the mind. What we bring into is as important as what we bar from. Ultimately, and I talked about this in prayer meeting a a couple of weeks ago, ultimately thoughts find fulfillment. Thoughts become words.

Words become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become character and character determines destiny. So we have to be careful because at the root of and the source of all of it is our thought and so we have to and we should think on things that are edifying to our souls. First and primary in this consideration is the word. Paul said, "There are four things, Timothy, worth considering, putting your mind on. Read." That word there in the Greek is anagonosco. It means to know again. Don't just read it one time and think you've got it.

Read it again and read it again. Know it again. Know familiarize oneself with the scripture. No. Again, get it ingrained until it is so integrated into your spirit that it becomes like an oil painting and the oils of that painting that you cannot remove them without destroying the picture. And so it must be that we ingrain the word of God. It's called the engrafted word of God. It gets in you. It's like it becomes like a fires shut up in your bones. It's a treasury of the soul.

So Paul says reading know again exhortation that's comfort and consolation. You won't find the comfort and consolation like this anywhere else. The word of God, the spirit of God, the presence of God. He said doctrine is worthy of thinking of. We need to know what we believe and we need to know why we believe it because if you get these things in you, you cannot be shaken by anything uh that the enemy forms against you. Doctrine is important. Meditate on what you believe and ask yourself why do I believe this?

If you have not challenged your faith, I I admonish you. Try it sometimes. Find out why you believe what you believe. If you do not, I promise you, there will be things in this life that will shake your foundation if you don't get grounded. Not only in I know what I believe, but I know why I believe it. And Paul said this gifting Timothy that is in you. You think about these things. Listen you all, I'm looking at people who have gifts. You have got hidden gifts.

We have not seen that. You've not shown them to the church yet. You've not shown them to the world yet. But God does not call you without a purpose. So if he calls you, he will gift you with something in your life that will bring edification to the entire body of Jesus Christ. I believe that I I tell young ministers, find your gifting, find out what your gift is, your ministry gift. You need to know this. Is it teaching? Is it a word of faith? What is your particular gift because that is where you're going to find your purpose?

Meditate on these things. Think about some of these things. I used to tell my students, think deep thoughts. take what we consider some of the the most basic subjects and start thinking deep thoughts about them because there's more to this experience with God. There's more to this word of God than than a superficial glance will uncover. It is so deep. I am fascinated by the word of God. I love the word of God because every time I get in this book, it's like peeling back another layer and there's something else that's revealed in that word of God.

Let me hurry on to listening. Listening is to hearing what seeing is to sight. Sight is the physical aspect of looking. Seeing is how we process what is being looked at. So hearing then is the physical act of processing sounds. I wear hearing aids. I can turn you off. I go out in my yard. I can't hear hardly anything anyway. But just so I don't hear anything at all, I put earplugs in. I like the quiet. I like to be alone sometimes with my own thoughts.

I'll get into this in a minute, but but listening listening when I when I pop those earbuds in or those those earplugs in, I I used to go walking and uh listen, God can speak to us in so many various ways. Bishop talked, I think the first lesson of the year that you taught, and you said you never heard audibly the voice of God. I doubt that very many of us have heard a booming voice that comes out of the cloud that speaks to us in a coherent fashion.

Very few of us probably have done this. But but hearing hearing is the physical act of processing sounds. Your your ears are filled. The world is filled with all kinds of sounds. this cacophony of sounds that we that we get assaulted with on a daily basis and and it's mostly indistinguishable unintelligible sounds. But listening listening on the other hand is the focus process uh of distinguishing what is being communicated. Listening is a cultivated art. It's a learned and developed activity. We aren't very good at it.

Most of us aren't. Many times, many times we hear without listening, even when somebody is speaking directly to us. Hello. Listen. It is it is really great. Finding a good listener, Pastor Brad, is like finding a good mechanic or a good dentist. You don't want to turn them loose, right? You don't want to lose a good listener because because listening is such a a delicate art and and what I've been guilty of this myself. Sometimes I'm framing a response before you're finished speaking. I quit listening back there three sentences ago because I'm already trying to figure out what I'm going to answer you.

We do that. We do that. Listening is a cultivated art and and a it's a very important element in the church. Listening, listening, listening, listening, listening. How important is it? It's this important. The single admonition is given to every single church in Revelation chapters 2 and three. Every single one of them got this admonition. He that hath an ear, let him hear. what the spirit is saying to the church. Jesus in his ministry stated this seven times. He that hath ears, let him hear. What do you mean Jesus?

If people got ears, they can hear. Apparently not. Because he rebuked the scribes and Pharisees severely for being blind leaders of the blind. and and he said, "You've got eyes to see and you've got ears to hear, but you don't see or hear." What does that mean? He not only did he res rebuke the the the scribes and Pharisees, but his own disciples, Sister Cresa, he he got his own disciples and he rebuked them. He he said, "Having ears to hear, you hear not." You're getting the sound.

You're getting the sound, but it's mingled with all the other sounds and you're not being discreet about your hearing. You're not hearing, you're not getting the deeper meaning and you're not processing what you're hearing correctly. They had the data of the miracles down. Jesus said, "How many baskets did you take up?" They said, "12." H how about the second time? How many did you take up? They said, "Seven." He said, "How then do you not understand? You've seen and you've heard these things, but you you've missed the insightful lesson of seeing beyond the noise.

Oh, this is the art of listening, not just hearing." listening, not just hearing. Hearing the voice is not always heeding the voice. When you hear the voice, you got to listen to what the spirit is saying. How many times is it written that a voice of God was heard? Countless times God spoke in the Old Testament to Adam and Eve says that he walked with them in the cool of the day and they heard the the sound the sound of the presence. He spoke to Cain the murderer.

He spoke to him, gave him a message and and and Cain heard that voice of God. He spoke to Noah and said, "Build an ark and if you follow these instructions, your household and and and anybody who comes into that ark will be saved." And and Noah listened to his voice and he spoke to Abram. And Abram listened to what God was saying throughout his life. And and God brought miracles in his life. All of them heard God in a language that they understood. Listen, God doesn't want to be an alien to us.

He doesn't want to be dis. He said, "If you'll draw near to me, I'll draw near to you." And there is Elijah in that cave of despair and he and he sees the lightning and thunder and feels the earthquake, but he's not there. But he keeps listening in that darkness and and there's a still small voice. God got so close to Elijah that he could whisper. God doesn't want to be alienated from us. He wants us not just to hear. We We come into a service and we get all the sounds.

We get all of that. But the thing that I want to be most attuned to is the voice. Is the voice. No matter how loud the music gets or how loud the preacher gets, I I want to hear what the spirit is saying to the church. Listen. Moses was 80 years old, living in his father-in-law's basement, taking care of his flocks and herds. He had come from the palace of Pharaoh and now he's he's living out there 80 years old and for the first time in his life he's out there walking and a bush catches on fire.

I'll just be honest with you. My response would not have been what Moses was. Linda Moses, listen. You get your cameras, you get your your phones ready because if you catch me walking by a bush and it catches on fire, I am not going to say, I will now turn me aside and see what this thing is. you get it on your camera because it will become viral on social media. My reaction if a bush catches on fire. But Moses just says calmly, h I will now turn myself aside here and see what this thing is.

And when he did that, it position it was like that Mannheim rocket. Beethoven's fifth introduction. And Moses says, "Yes." And the voice, God says, "Now that I've got your attention with the fire, I'm going to talk to you. Now listen to me, Moses." And he began to speak to Moses in the desert. The fire got his attention, but the voice with understanding is what sustained Moses. This was beginning of many intelligible conversations in which God would speak to Moses. Before anything was written in stone, God was a voice speaking to Moses.

And Moses was a listening ear. He listened. Before God entrusts us with anything substantial, he has to know that we are listening to what the spirit is saying. at Sinai. Watch this. Moses marches up the mountain again. And there he was in the presence of God, enveloped in the very glory of God. When he came down, his face was glowing from the proximity to the glory of God. The glory faded, but the words stayed. The what he had heard on that mountain, what he had listened to stayed with him long after the glory had faded from his visage.

Moses was listening to a speech of God, the voice of God. While below all the people heard thunder. Isn't it unique how that we can all come to a service? Some of us will walk out saying, "Wasn't much today. Just a lot of thunder and lightning on that mountain." And Moses walks away saying, "WOO! I'VE BEEN IN the glory of God and I have heard the voice of God." Amen. Moses rebuked them in Deuteronomy 4:12. "And the Lord spake unto you," he's talking to his congregation.

"The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude. only you heard a voice, you heard a sound, but you didn't get what I got out of it. Our entire perspective changes when one, as John said, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. When you get where Moses was, you'll understand why Moses was a glow with the presence of God. In the spirit, you'll be hearing more focused things. You'll your your your you'll your your ears will be attuned to a voice that is speaking to you.

It'll be more attuned to that than on trials and afflictions and the chaos that unfolds around us. Amen. When we come to the house of God, is it just a roar or are we listening to the voice of God? Is it just the voice of Cardon up there just droning on and on? Or am I hearing something? Is something penetrating my soul and my spirit that I'll carry off of this mountain that will sustain me? Jesus was baptized in Matthew chapter 3. And the only one that heard a voice and saw the dove was him.

He was transfigured on the mountain in Matthew 17. The voice was heard by Peter, James, and John. They didn't understand a thing they saw or heard. And Jesus said, "When you go down off the mountain, don't tell anybody about this because you didn't understand. You didn't get it." Facing death, there was a voice that came. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. And all the crowd heard was, "It must have thundered. It must have thundered." In all these examples, this is how God chose to speak.

He chooses to speak clearly and audibly in human terms, but only to those who are attuned and listening closely to the sound. As pertains to the church, there's a conclusive and decisive and ultimate voice that guides us. God who at sunundry times and diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. Hallelujah. There is a voice in the church that still speaks. I believe that Jesus is alive. I believe that he's still got a voice.

And I believe that he still speaks to the church. He speaks through his word graphically. When I'm reading this word, it is not like some self-help book. It is not like any other book that I might pick up for reading enjoyment. This is a book that gets me in the spirit. It gets me in my very being. No matter how we learn, listen, don't block yourself off by saying, "Well, I can't understand it. I don't know what I'm reading." Listen, the word of God, no matter how you learn, what your particular learning modality might be, no matter how you learn, no matter what your level of a learning experience might be, this book, it cannot be hidden.

It is not some esoteric book that cannot be understood. Even the simplest human being must be able to understand the writings of this book. Otherwise, otherwise salvation is only available to a few. Just listen to how the word speaks. It speaks to us phonically, not only graphically, but phonically. It speaks to us. I hear the word of God. I listen to a lot of preaching. Thank God for technology. Thank God for for being able to watch preaching videos and teaching videos. I thank God for that.

It's edifying to hear them. And and so preaching and teaching, hearing for inspiration and enlightenment and insight, preaching, the foolishness of preaching, as the New Testament calls it, is proclamation and passion combined with passion. It appeals to the heart and it should appeal. Listen, sorry, I I keep apologizing for this, but I shouldn't. I get excited, Pastor Brad, just teaching the word of God. But preaching, preaching is a passion. It combines the element of proclamation with passion. We should get involved. We should get fired up when we are carrying the precious word of God to a congregation of people.

It appeals to the heart. Teaching is a proclamation with information. It appeals to the head. We're trying to impart knowledge. But both teaching and preaching should bring clarity and a challenge. If teaching and preaching does not challenge us, it falls flat. Listen to what the spirit is saying. If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to battle? So likewise ye, except you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air.

Thank God for preachers and pastors and and and teachers. And thank God for these people. Brother Spa teaches Sunday school. I can tell you there's a lot that goes into a lesson. A 45minute lesson, a 40-minute lesson, probably six hours of study and putting things together for enlightenment. Thank God for for those who teach and preach a and but if you're just hearing if you're just hearing a noise and you're unaffected and you're just seeing thunder and lightning, we need an adjustment. We need to get in the spirit when we come to the house of God.

What a difference it would make if we would come with the attitude, I've come to hear FROM GOD TODAY. NOT JUST THE voice of a man, but I'm listening. I'm listening in every song, in every every time a musician plays a note. I'm listening to hear what thus saith the word of God. While tongues are for a sign, 1 Corinthians 14:22, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. You know what it is? It's the congregation of Moses standing on the plane looking at the mountain and all they're hearing is thunder and lightning.

tongues doesn't mean anything to them, but to them that believe not, but prophesying or proclaiming serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. So that we need the interpretation of tongues. That's not for the unbeliever. That's for me. That means, sister Gretchen, that God HAS USED A HUMAN voice to speak his word. And somebody, somebody in that congregation who is attuned to what the spirit is saying is going to get a message. I want that to be me. When the message goes forth, they're going to get a message that will edify them.

It's not just a thundering salvo that that gets the attention of the skeptics. It's the distinctive sound that speaks to the spirit of the believer. I hurry on. The spirit speaks intuitively through life lessons. I I tell you, Pastor Brad, don't stop listening to your kids. Don't stop because what that what I'm sitting back there listening to your stories. I'm saying hey he's sensitive to the spirit speaking through the simplest of life experiences. It's we must be attuned. God can speak through those children and bring a message to an entire congregation.

We can pass it off as just anecdotal evidences, but it is not. It's a sensitivity to God. God speaking. Listen, I see him everywhere. I've seen him in a bird in traffic. I have seen him uh I've seen him in in the sunrise. I've seen him in the sunset. I've heard God's voice as I'm walking along on my walk. I've heard the voice of God when I've been mowing the grass. Why? In all of life's experiences. You can hear his voice if you've got an ear to hear.

Cultivate the art of listening. Never lose the fascination with the voice of the Lord regardless of how it is communicated. I close quickly. The final chapter is written in Revelation. The final notes of seven churches representing church ages. The last one, Leodysa. And what does God do? He says, "I'm going to give you a hearing test. You need a hearing test. I've got to get your attention. Oh, God will do it. He knows how to get our attention. If we can't hear him in a whisper, he'll send a storm.

He'll send an earthquake if we're not attuned. A hearing test for this church. I remember I remember Adrien Littlefield's story walking across the campus at University of Texas and a sniper Charles Whitman climbed in that tower, fired a bullet, high-powered rifle. It hit Adrien Littlefield about an inch from his spine and just blew his abdomen out after he had healed. We saw his abdomen. It looked like ground beef. Everything was just blown out. His dad had gone with him to that campus. And when Adrien got shot out there, his dad convinced the EMTs to go out and pick up his boy.

Literally, he gave him a choice. They said, "We're not going out there. That man's still shooting." He said, "You can die here or you can die out there, but we're going to get my boy." And so they went and got Adrien and picked him up, put him in the ambulance. And I remember this story vividly on the ride to the hospital. He said, "I remember my dad in the ambulance with me, tears streaming down his face." He he said, "I felt his tears falling on me as he would lift his hand and slap me across the face AND SAY, "WAKE UP, ADRIEN.

Listen to my voice, Adrien. You got to focus on my voice and listen to what I'm saying." Because he knew that if he slipped into sleep, he would slip away into darkness. HE WOULD SLAP HIM and say, "Wake up, Adrien. This is what the Lord is doing in the church of Leadaceia. Wake up church. Behold, I stand at the door and knock corporately. He spoke to every one of these churches to a body of believers. But listen, the final hearing test came to the individual. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

Not to the church now, but if any if any man if any individual hears my voice, let let people do what they're going to do. Oh, I'm sorry. I've taken off tonight, but I feel this in my spirit. God's going to get our attention. And sometimes it's a slap in the face, but he's saying, "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you because if I let you lapse into that sleep, you're going to lapse into a coma and you will not arise again.

I want you to be alert and I want you to wake up. Listen, if any man is there anybody in that building that hears my voice, open the door and I'll come in. Not with them, but I'll come into him and I will suck with him. It is not a corporate responsibility for me to listen to the voice of God. Bishop, you're not responsible for me to listen. Pastor, you're not responsible for me to listen. When I come through those doors, I've got to be make sure that I am attuned to listening to the voice of God.

Let's stand together. If anyone hears my voice, is there anybody listening? Is there anybody listening? Is there anybody listening? He's just looking for an individual. Every time we come together, my friend, I love you, but you are not responsible to for my salvation. You are not responsible for my relationship to God. I've got to make sure that when I walk through those doors back there that I come in with my ears tuned. Where are you, God? Where are you, God? I want to hear your voice.

If it's in a song, if it's in the music, if it's in the preaching of the word, if it's in a testimony, I want to hear what the spirit is saying to the church. I am responsible to open that door. Whether any of you do or not, I am responsible to open that door and say, "Come on, Jesus. Come on in Jesus. Listen, listen, listen. How's he going to speak? And how does he speak? And how will he speak? There are so many ways. There are so many ways that he speaks and we come in sometimes so dull of hearing, thinking he's nowhere to be found.

But I can promise you this. Every time we come together, he is here. I've just got to make sure that I'm listening for that voice and open when he says, "If you'll open, I'll come in." Let's just thank him to Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Jesus. He is speaking if we will just have the ears to hear what he is saying. Proverbs says, "The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. I think it's important that we pray and ask for the Lord to give us a hearing ear.

Would allow us to hear the message that may be beneath the surface. Perhaps it's as you talk with someone. God, give me ears to hear and give me eyes to see. Can we pray that in whatever way that you want to say that to him? Jesus, I want to hear when you speak. I don't want to be deaf to your voice. I don't want to be distracted by other noises in this world, but I want to hear your voice clearly. I want to be attentive to your voice, Jesus.

out of whatever other voices I need to silence in my life that I would hear your voice more clearly. I pray that you would help me. Give me courage and wisdom to do that. God, give me eyes to see you and ears to hear you and give me eyes to see others and ears to hear others. Lord, give me eyes to see myself and ears to hear myself. want to listen and meditate upon your word and how you are speaking. Lord, I thank you that you come close to us, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. Amen.