Shepherds Voice 1997

Now, there was a time when, if you had a church building, and a little something going on inside it, didn't take much to fill it, people would come. Not anymore. So, if someone comes in here and says, God has plans for this block, that are going to defy the statistics.

God intends to fill this place to overflowing, closing as it seems, week after week, with men, women, young people, whose hearts are on fire, with the fire of heaven, and they're going to go out there and spread that fire. If someone comes along and says that, you have a right to say, God told me. How do you know it was the voice of God? Maybe you heard a voice, but how do you know that it was the voice of God? All we have to do is wait for a while, six months, a year, a year and a half, and pretty soon it will be evident whether that bold prediction came from heaven, or from the Father of life.

We'll know pretty soon whether that person was hearing the voice of God or another voice. Because everything changes on the voice we're listening to. Everything.

The way we think, the way we live, what comes out of our mouth, changes on, depends on, what voice we're hearing. Is it coming from above, or from below? There's a knock on the door. You open it, and there stands a man with a big smile on his face.

Hi! Reaches out to shake your hand, but a voice within says, Watch it. And you ignore that voice at your peril. Sometimes it's the voice of a friend.

Oh, you're in the market for a car? I know where you can get a good deal. Good guy will even get you a round of sales tax. And we catch it.

But this voice says, Slow down. After King Solomon died, his son King Rehoboam was opposed by the people of Israel, who asked him to ease up on the taxes. Your father made our yields heavy.

Lighten it, and we'll serve you, they said. Come back in three days, Mr. King. Then the king called in the elders of Israel.

What do you think I should do? Listen to the people. Give them a break. Then the king called in his young cronies who had grown up with him.

What do you think I should do? Lay it on them. Then give them a break. What a difference it would have made in the history of Israel if Rehoboam had listened to the right voice.

He listened to the voice of his cronies, and from that day, the nation of Israel split apart and was never brought back together. My sheep hear my voice, said the shepherd. And yet, as long as we're in these bodies of flesh and blood, even if we are his sheep and hear his voice, there are other voices.

All kinds of other voices that speak to us. That sounds much more logical, much more practical than the voice of the shepherd. And we are tempted to listen.

Oh, it's all very well for you to get to him that needs us, but what about your own needs? Sure, go ahead and turn the other sheep and be aware. You can sit there and pray if you want to, but God helps those who help themselves. We're barred with voices which mock us, intimidate us, belittle us.

Do you still believe that? Do you really think Jesus is going to get you through this one? But through it all, there is one voice that remains the same, never changes. And if we walk with him and make an effort to say connection to him, he causes his voice to be heard, and if we listen to it, what a difference it makes. Jairus was ruler of the synagogue.

His little girl was dying. Nobody seemed to be able to help him. So Jairus throws his pride to the wind and goes looking for Jesus.

Falls down on his knees as he can see. My little girl is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made well.

Jesus is far from those with him. But a crowd is rushing in from every side, slowing him down. To make matters worse, here comes this woman who's pushing her way through the crowds and says to herself, if I can only touch his garment, I'll be made well.

Jesus stops. Why is he stopping? My daughter is dying. Who touched me? What do you mean, who touched you, says the disciple? The crowd's been rushing you on every side, and you say, who touched me? The woman falls to her knees.

I'm the one. I've got to heal. Daughter, your faith is making well.

Go and be healed with this peace. But what about my daughter, says the man to himself? Time is running out. And just as it appears, they're too late.

A message has come to her now. Your daughter is that white robber teacher in the firmament. And then Jesus says to him, do not fear.

Only believe. And this man chooses to hang on to that word and talk with him. They arrive at the town.

Everybody's preaching and wailing and carrying on in proper fashion. And Jesus says, why are you making all this racket? The girl's not dead. She's sleeping.

And so now the mourners forget their mourners, and they start laughing at it. It's crazy. The girl says, Jesus, stands there with this man, and this man chooses to take hold and hang on to those words.

Don't be afraid. Just believe. Jesus puts everybody out of the house, except Jairus, his wife, the disciples.

Goes in, takes this child on his back. Little girl, get up. Her eyes open.

And this child answers the call, the voice of eternal love. It's rising. My feet hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

And they shall never perish, and no one shall take them out of my hand. Now the shepherd, whose voice never changes, is calling this flock, this flock, to a place it's never been before, to accomplish things that it's never accomplished before. As the body of Christ, worldwide, is going through all kinds of changes, this flock is being called to something new.

Now we don't know what happened to Jairus after his daughter was restored to him. But we know this. Whenever Jesus says, do not fear, only believe, that kind of faith does not come cheap.

It costs you something. Yes, salvation is free. But the faith that reaches out to take hold of that salvation, that blessing, that healing, is a faith that in fact, the proof that Jairus believed was that he did what he was told.

He kept walking with Jesus when the messenger said, too late. He stood with Jesus when the mockers laughed at Jesus, you're crazy, the girl is dead. Don't believe.

Do not fear, only believe. And to believe is to obey. From Luke chapter 6, verse 46.

Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my word and does them, I will show you what he is like. He's like a man building a house, who dove deep and laid the foundation upon rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it was well built.

But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the stream broke and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. So, if Jesus says, you must forgive, to believe is to obey. And if Jesus says, take that portion off your head and let your life shine, to believe is to obey.

And if Jesus says, give and it shall be given you again. Judge not. Keep the kingdom first.

To believe is to obey. And so that ties in with what I'm thinking for what is calling this talk, among others, to do. As the church worldwide is conscious of the nearness of the hour of the Lord's return, as that hour comes closer and closer, the worldwide body of Christ is undergoing radical and rapid change.

The old institutions and structures of Christendom are trembling before our eyes. The old loyalties that held people to their churches, I'm a Luther, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Catholic, I'm a Pentecostal, are evaporating. People are starting to scramble in every direction.

Some are just giving up and disappearing. Some are finding their way to the crowds, joining the crowds of people, going to these Christian entertainment centers, where their music is playing. And the message itself is upbeat, and they have Christian aerobics every Tuesday morning.

But in the middle of all this confusion, the Spirit of God is raising up, out of the dry bones, a surge of men, women, young people, who are listening to the voice of a church, and are reaching a heart that's real. And this flock is called to be among them. For what other reason does this building stand here? For what other reason has this flock been preserved down through over a century? From John chapter 4, verse 35, Peter says, Do you not say there are yet four months until the harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already ripe for harvest.

He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. It's reaping time. And we are called to be among the reapers.

Long before we ever came on the scene, somebody else was preparing those parts out there. Somebody else planted the seeds. Somebody else washed.

God caused this to grow. Now he sends us in at this late hour and says, Go out there and reap. They're already prepared.

All you have to do is draw them into the kingdom, draw them into the communion, into the presence, into the reality of my country. Oh, but Lord, I've never known you to reap any reaping. I don't know how to reach people.

The Lord says, Do not fear. Only believe. And to believe is to obey.

Just go out and be there among your friends, your relatives, your neighbors. Be there in my name. And believe that I'm with you.

And I'll give you the words you need, the wisdom you need, the power you need. Believe that you, you yourself, are going to see living souls drawn into the kingdom from your wisdom. Believe that the Holy Spirit has prepared a way ahead of you.

Believe that the word that burns in your heart now is trying to find a way across your mouth and tongue is not going to return to its master, boy. Believe that you were placed on this earth at this late hour for no other reason than to serve the kingdom of God. I say that God, the shepherd, is calling this flock to a place it's never been, to accomplish things it's never done before.

Yes, we've seen growth in the past. And we've seen people come in from the streets and lanes of the city to the banks of all of God. Thank God for that.

But never to the degree that I'm thinking that God intends for his church now to accomplish at this hour in history. Never like we're going to see. If we will listen to the voice of the shepherd, to the point of obedience, we're going to see this place cleansing at the seams week after week with men, women, and young people whose hearts are on fire.

We're going to see life flowing out from this flock into this city like a river of healing, ten times stronger than we've ever seen in the past. Do not say there are yet four months left, Dr. Harbert. I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest.

He who reaps receives waiting and gathers fruit for eternal life so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. The sowers who did their job a long time ago are now waiting for us to do our job. Our time has come.

We're sent out by the shepherd to reap a harvest that was prepared ahead of time, to pick fruit that's already ripe. Living souls that are right in the kingdom of God just need to be picked. All these people need is a welcome.

And we're going to welcome them into the kingdom of God. And we're going to see lost sheep coming home, captives set free, wounded souls made whole. It will but listen to the voice of the shepherd.

I'm sending you to reap a harvest on which you bestowed no labor. Others have labor. And now I'm sending you to enter into their labor.

Do not fear. Only believe. And remember to believe is the whole point.

Let's pray. We give thanks and praise to you, Heavenly Father, above all things for the gift of your son. So often we begin to grasp this.

We thank you that you have brought us to a place where we have seen at least a glimpse of that glory already shining in this world for eyes that can see it. And we praise and thank you that you've given us the privilege of being a part of this. And we ask that in the coming days, as you pour out such power and grace upon the body of Christ across the earth where people are obedient, that you'll prosper this plot in the purpose of the kingdom of God to an extent that it's never, ever known.

We pray that you would take each one of our hearts and help us to empty ourselves of our own glory and our own confidence in ourselves and of our own agenda and our own plans and our own resentment and all the things that clutter our hearts so that your strength, Lord God, can indeed be made perfect in our weakness so that your power may flow through our emptiness. And for this we give you thanks, Heavenly Father, through Jesus' name, amen.