Wednesday, February 20, 2008

how God speaks

Sermon on the Mount by Gerald Shepherd

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Hebrews 1:1-3

God's greatest form of communication is not the Bible--it's His son. Jesus. John says Jesus is the Word of God.

In human form He brings the message that God tried to communicate to his people for thousands of years. He fulfills the law that God gave His people, that they couldn’t obey.  

Jesus is the Word of God, He embodies all that God wants to communicate to us. The Bible is where we go to learn about the life of Jesus.

God speaks to us through Jesus, especially the words and actions of Jesus, that we read in the New Testament. If we want to know God’s heart, God’s desires, God’s plans, God’s wishes, God’s perspective…we’ve got to know Jesus.

We've got to read His words, and learn about the events of His life. We’ve got to let His words and thoughts enter and fill us. We’ve got to meditate and ponder and pray—and as we do that, we listen, and allow His spirit to speak to us.

If we want to hear God through Jesus, a great place to start is Matthew 5-7, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.  

Here He summarized beautifully what God has to say to us. The bottom line is to love God and love people. We can spend hours dissecting that, asking exactly what does that look like for us as individuals, and as a church; but that's the starting point. Love God, and love people. If everything we do meets the criteria of those commands; we can’t go wrong. 

As we ponder how God speaks; I am challenged to really make time and space in my life to listen and just be with Jesus. I sometimes get so caught up in ministry and theology, that I miss out on the real experience of connecting with Jesus, my savior, my creator, my friend, my father. I am reminded over and over that it always comes back to silence--making time to be present with Him.

1 comment:

Tom said...

words of wisdom brother...for me the theology has become wonderful but i finally understand why "silence" is the place to hear God. Without it, the noise is deafening. Especially with how much people say about God.