Oooh, would you listen now if God Could Talk

I have always loved Classic Rock and many of the artists that were popular in the 70's. You have heard me mention it before, but one of my favorites was Meatloaf. Meatloaf, you say? Wasn't he that guy that made the albums named Bat Out of Hell, I, II, and III?

Yep!

Before I truly turned my life over to God, that is how I lived, like a bat out of hell. Now I guess it more closely resembles a crazed Goonie out of Heaven.

Anyway, on what appears to be his last and final album, there is a song titled, "If God Could Talk" in which he asks his lover if God could talk, what would God suggest, and what road would they take.
The last line of the song slows down tremendously as he sings it:
"Oooh, would you listen now if God could talk?"

I can't help but wonder if there are a lot of people in the world who wonder if God can talk. To many it would sound strange to consider it as they see God as this "thing" up "there" somewhere in the Universe. It is a presence that has no way of communicating with us, just a way to dangle things before our eyes that we may or may not ever get to experience. 

One problem that I find here in the "bible belt" is that the older generation takes it for granted that most everyone has attended church for a period of time and they are familiar with God and how He works. Sadly, especially in these days, fewer and fewer people attend church and those who do attend get a VERY watered down version of God, usually just the "Happy God" version. Pastors never preach about Hell and the consequences of not accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior. It's more like: Just believe in Christ and your life will change. Things will go smoother, you'll be blessed financially (especially is you keep sending your $$$ into the pockets of these TV shysters), your health will be great (don't forget to buy those prayer cloths to keep you well), and you'll never have a worry again.

I hope if you are reading this that you haven't bought into the Happy God Religion. It certainly isn't Christianity. Far from it. You Will have troubles, You Will have financial hardships, You Will experience sickness and death in your family. The difference is with Jesus Christ and God, His and our Heavenly Father, you will have a sense of peace and courage to face those trials. And in the end, when you look at how your life plays out each day, you will realize that this is the true Happy experience.

Another problem most people have trouble with is believing that what is in the bible applies to them, and could very well happen in their lives. In the book of the bible called Hebrews, Paul writes:
"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.…"  Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV

In Genesis, we see where God is talking to Adam and Eve in their walks through the Garden. He was as much a presence that could be seen and heard as you would be if you were standing beside me today. Did you know that "God spoke" occurs 9 times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the New Testament.Now, I'm no scientist, but it seems to me that the only way we could know that "God spoke" was if someone heard it.

Sin changed a lot of things that I would have loved to experience, one of them being able to meet face to face with God when we wanted to, especially after a hard day.

God now uses Jesus Christ, His Son, to speak to us through what is called "The Holy Spirit". No, you won't experience a ghost hovering in mid-air most likely in front of you, telling you what you need to hear. What you will experience is what some people call "their conscience". It is a little voice inside that is not "audible" as most people would use the word, but nevertheless, it is that nagging feeling, those words that keep popping up in your head for no reason, that urge to do or not to do something that is before you. That is the Holy Spirit talking to you. Problem for mankind is that we refuse to listen. I WANT IT MY WAY! AND I WILL BLAST THROUGH ANYONE WHO TRIES TO STOP ME! Well, all I can say is "Good Luck With That."

Think about it for a minute. We read instruction manuals written supposedly by someone who has done a certain task and knows how to complete it successfully. We read biographies of successful people to learn how to be more successful in our lives. We search the internet for information about something from someone who is credited as an expert.in that field.

So you have someone who has been around since before the Earth was formed, who can guide you in what you need to be successful and to survive this crazy life, and yet most people refuse to listen. What the ???? It seems pretty stupid to me. You would rather listen to some guy with maybe 20 or 30 years experience at the most instead of someone with 1000's of years of experience? Really? I mean Really? (to quote that annoying guy on the arby's commercials).

Quit wasting your money to make someone else rich (why do you think he/she is so successful, it isn't because of their great knowledge all the time, it's because you keep sending them your money!) and start listening to The One Who Never Charges A Dime! 

No, I have never "heard" a voice from Heaven, yet I have been given many words of instruction from God. Take this blog for example. God gives me the wisdom to write this. I have no degree in journalism and I'm not some big lecturer in some vast circuit. Yet, the words flow from me, whether it is on a page, in a blog, or in a sermon given somewhere in front of an audience. Pay attention the next time you see me preach. I have an outline, but I do not stand there and read from a script. I study the material that I want to preach on, and then I stand up before you and bring the word that God wants to tell you. Many times I have it all planned as to how I'm going to present it, then God gives me the words otherwise and by the time I'm done, I'm hoping it was recorded because even I can't remember what all He flowed through my mind and to my lips.

So in closing I'm going to ask you again ... "Oooh, would you listen now if God Could Talk?" And now that you know that God Can Talk, will you pay closer attention to what He says? And will you take the words that God has given you, and act upon them accordingly?

Only you can answer for yourself.

In Christ,
Keith

Traffic Signs that you need to know

While driving on the road this past weekend, I wound up on a 4 lane highway that was divided by a grassy median. Two lanes went in each direction, and every so often there would be a portion of the median that was paved so that people could cross the road. On both sides of the road facing the direction that would have traffic flowing in the wrong direction, there were signs saying, “Wrong Way” or “Do Not Enter.”

This got me to thinking. That is what the bible does. It shows us that our ways are wrong when we are committing sins that the bible is Very Explicit about. God’s word should be a sign in front of our face when we are contemplating doing something that we know is wrong. Following Satan is the “Wrong Way” and the door that he will try to lead us through needs to be flashing “Do Not Enter.”

A little bit further down the road I saw a sign that said, “Keep right except to pass.”

I thought about this and decided that it is another sign that we need to apply to our daily lives. We need to “Keep Right.” We need to stay on a path that doesn’t stray away from God’s word and His commandments. And that includes not picking and choosing which ones we want to obey, and which ones we want to ignore. We need to either keep the whole bible as God’s word or throw the whole thing out. Some people have said that they don’t believe it is the word of God since man wrote it, yet they observe things that were written in the bible. You can’t have it both ways. Either read the whole manual and live a life like you should, eventually enjoying an eternity in Heaven with God. Or throw the whole thing out and risk getting fried (in about every way possible, both here on earth and in hell.)

But then I thought about the rest of the sign. “Keep right [except to pass]”

So, when would I pass? Well, that is easy to solve. A lot of people mature at a faster rate than others. The same can be said for Christians. There are some who buy the “fire insurance” and they can barely maintain a safe speed through life. You know these types of people because every little bump in life upsets their whole life, and they frantically try to “grab the wheel” to bring their life back under control.

There are others who notice the bumps, keep a tight grip on the steering wheel, and they make it through life fairly unscathed. They have learned how to worship God. They have learned how to ask God for what they need. They have learned to count on God to care for them and be their Rophe, Jireh, Nissi and many other names that I’ve covered earlier in other blogs.

These people are going to pass up the first type of people on the road to success and contentment in their lives. When you learn to trust God for your daily needs, you learn to keep your eyes on the road, study the “road map” on your trips and trust that you’ll arrive at your destination “Heaven” as scheduled.

Life is also like what I found when I went further down the road. There was an exit ramp. Life has exit ramps. Growing up I can remember the old folks saying that someone who had been active in church and then left to pursue “worldly” interests had “backslid.” I think of it as an exit ramp. They got off track and took another road, eventually realizing that they were headed in the wrong direction, and then hopefully they did a U-Turn and came back to where they took the exit ramp. There is almost always an “on-ramp” for them to get back on track and continue on with their life pursuing God. Sometimes they reach the wrong destination, and tragic events can often happen.

What road will you take? What lane will you find yourself in? Will it have “Wrong Way” signs staring you in the face? Or will you find traffic flowing smoothly in your direction, the Son shining upon you, and “Keep right except to pass” will be the road sign that greets you periodically. Sure, you will have “danger” signs, “reduced speed” signs and other road hazards in your way. But if you have God as your GPS (Globally Positioned Savior), your road ahead will be the best possible route in front of you.