Be still and know

Joke:  Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. They discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother. The first said: “I built a big house for our mother.”

The second said: “I sent her a Mercedes with a driver.”

The third said: “You remember how our mother enjoys reading the Bible. Now she can’t see very well. So I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot recites it.”

Soon thereafter, their mother sent out her letters of thanks.

“Milton,” she said, “the house you built is so huge. I live only in one room, but I have to clean the whole house.

“Gerald,” she said, “I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home so I rarely use the Mercedes. And that driver is so rude! He’s a pain!”

“But Donald,” she said, “the little chicken you sent was delicious!”

Joke:  Independence Day was approaching and the teacher took the opportunity to teach her class all about patriotism.

She said to them, “You know, we live in a great country. And one of the best things about it is that we are all free.”

At this, a little boy marched up to her from the back of the class, put his hands on his hips and said angrily, “I’m not free. I’m four.”

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This week we will be celebrating the 4th of July.  Our Independence Day.  But today I need you to understand perhaps the greatest thing we need to celebrate and that is our dependence on God.

It’s in Him we live and move and have our being.

Jesus came so that we might have life to its fullest.  But so many believers are struggling with things, situations, circumstances, thoughts that are hindering the life that Jesus desires for them to have.

What we need to do is change our focus, from what we see in the natural to what God has promised for us through His Word.

There are so many things that we miss because we busy ourselves and may I suggest drown out what the Spirit is trying to reveal to us, simply because we fill our minds with the noise of the world.  And not with the mind of Christ.

And church you have the mind of a Christ, but often we battle with our minds and believe some things that were spoken over us, and to us, that simply are not true of us.

And we allow all the noise of what’s being said about us to drown out what He is speaking to us because He doesn’t come to us in a thunderous applause, or a burning bush.

And the noises that are unhealthy and the lies we hear seem louder than the voice of God because we have yet to understand that sometimes he simply just whispers our name hoping that His sheep will indeed hear His voice.

But we have become so accustomed to loud music, the loud noises, that we miss the still small voice of God wooing us into an intimate relationship with the Him.

Let me tell you about Green Bank, West Virginia

Green Bank, West Virginia, is the home of as of the 2010 census 143 people, and home also to the Green Bank Observatory, a cluster of radio telescopes in a mountain valley.

Standing 485-feet tall and weighing nearly 17-million pounds, the telescope is so large that a college football stadium could fit inside the dish.

According to the New York Times’s Pagan Kennedy, these giant devices are “like superhuman ears—they can tune into frequencies from the lowest to the highest ends of the spectrum.”

It’s also incredibly sensitive to electronic interference and so powerful that it could pick up the energy given off by a single snowflake hitting the ground.

But this technological comes at a cost. For even a short-circuiting electric toothbrush could blot out their receptive abilities. As a result, the residents of Green Bank do not use cellphones, Wi-Fi, microwave ovens, or any other devices that generate electromagnetic signals. As a matter of fact all wireless devices are forbidden.

Kennedy calls their town “the land where the Internet ends.”

It’s here, inside the National Radio Quiet Zone, Kennedy experienced “the kind of silence that she hadn’t heard in years.” But she asks: “Who will save the endangered Quiet Zone inside our own heads?”

And that is the question we all must ask.  For it seems in our culture today that there are so many things that seem to want to occupy the space in our head.  And many times God has to fight with His children to be a part of that.

Joshua 1:8 (NIV): Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Now back to Green bank. . .

Residents say they are happy with their quiet, unplugged lifestyle.  It allows them to connect in ways that actually matter, said Sherry Chestnut.

How do the teens make it in a life without technology.  If they do want to call any of the 143 residents they need to use a landline and no it’s not a cordless phone it has a the cord attached to it.

Or as teenager Barry Bias said he doesn’t feel deprived because he lacks instant access to social media accounts. He also doesn’t mind that he can’t text his buddies when he needs them.

“I have school up here and you can go talk to them most of the time,” he said.

Dallas Vandevender pointed out how easy it is to make plans with friends: “You go see them.”

And if they’re not home?

“You just go around until you find them,” he said. “It’s not that big a town.”

They say, you really don’t miss what you never had.

So now let me get to what I really want to share today.

We need to sometimes detach from our culture and simply spend time with Jesus.

Often times Jesus would go to a solitary place and just spend time with the Father.

In the garden with Adam and Eve God would come in the cool of the day and just spend time with them.

But so often we can’t even quiet our mind enough to hear what God is saying.

I believe God is always speaking, to all His children, but we have busied ourselves with things, that we miss what He is saying.

Elijah had that problem.

1 Kings 19:1–9 (NIV): Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” 3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

I love this, let me explain why.

Elijah had just seen God move so powerfully.  He had raised a widows son from the dead.  He had called forth a drought and called forth the rain after his servant running back and forth seven times finally he came with the report that he saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand.  He Elijah outran Ahab’s chariot.  And he had defeated 450 prophets of Baal after suggesting they both build an alter and call on their god.  The 450 prophets of Baal cut themselves, tried everything but nothing happened.  Elijah even teased them no more like mocked them suggesting that their god was sleeping. Then came his turn and he had them pour water over his alter and sacrifice a few times then he calls on God and God comes and consumes the alter and the sacrifice with fire and the 450 prophets are put to death.

And after all that now we find Elijah asking God to take his life and in hiding.  Right after all these miraculous things.

So here’s one lesson we can learn from these passages of Scripture.  it can be hard to stand when you feel alone and worse yet it can be easy to abandon the field of battle even after great victory.

Galatians 6:9 (NIV): 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up

I love this. . .watch

1 Kings 19:9–10 (NIV): There he went into a cave and spent the night.  And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Elijah look at all that was accomplished, look at the exploits God did through and with you.

1 Kings 19:11–18 (NIV): The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Sound familiar?  And then it continues. ..

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

I love that, God said your not alone there are 7000 more that have not bowed to Baal.

Elijah you thought you were all alone.  I have 7000 more that are standing fast to what is true.

Elijah had to learn he could do nothing against the prophets of Baal by himself, he was out numbered 450 to 1.  He needed to be dependent on God.  He needed to be dependent on God to bring him out of his fear.

And church we too need to be dependent on God for Him to work in us, and through us.  And He desires to do just that, but just a Sunday message is not going to make it.  At some point in our journey we will have a Jezebel that is after us.  And we are going to have to call out to God to help us through the battle.

But the only way that happens is if we find a quiet place for our minds.  A time just to mediate on the Lord, a place without the distractions that we have become so accustomed to.

We need to spend time with Papa God just as Adam did in the garden of eden.  Just as Jesus did in his solitary moments.

Elijah learned that God is not always in the wind, or in the earthquake, or even in the fire, sometimes God speaks to us in a gentle whisper.

Listen church I’m not saying God doesn’t shout in the wind, He does.

John 3:8 (NIV): The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Acts 2:1–2 (NIV): When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Nor am I saying that God never moves in an earthquake, He does.

Acts 16:25–26 (NIV): About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.

And I’m also not saying that God never moves in the midst of the fire.

Exodus 19:18 (NIV): Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.

And who could ever forget

Exodus 3:1–4 (NIV): Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

And then of course at the Day of Pentecost it continued from where I read before. . .

Acts 2:3–4 (NIV): They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues  as the Spirit enabled them.

But what I am saying is that often times God will speak to us in just a still small voice and the only way to hear it is to settle our thoughts and have our minds stayed on Him.

The enemy is so quick to throw his darts, his thoughts and drown out the voice of God because of all the noise, but if you have spent time in the quiet place during the day those noises won’t effect your hearing because you have come to know Papa’s voice.

Matthew 14:22–23 (NIV): Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,

Mark 1:35 (NIV): Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Acts 4:1–13 (NIV): The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. 5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’  12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Did you get that?

Acts 4:13 (NIV): When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Remember I mentioned Paul in Silas in prison?  Scripture said, the prisoners listened another translation said the prisoners heard them, I want to say after the earthquake and the prison doors opened surely they all knew that they had been with Jesus.

Sometimes in order for God to truly use you, you need to get in your solitary place quiet yourself, take a trip to your Green Bank and. . .just simply spend time with Jesus.

Psalm 46:10 (NIV): He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Exodus 14:13–14 (NIV): Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

(Talk about Egypt coming from behind and the sea in front)

The only solution that had was to depend on God and the promises He made.

Psalm 62:5–8 (NIV): Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. 6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

ILLUSTRATION by Thomas Bevers

Have you ever walked into a factory? The noise is usually deafening. You have to wear ear plugs just to avoid bodily harm.

Can you imagine taking a nap near an assembly line? The sounds of air compressors, pistons and other loud machines would make it nearly impossible. It takes a lot of noise to produce a car.

On the contrary, have you ever walked into an orchard? The still, the calm, the birds singing all evoke a great sense of peace and tranquility.

Can you imagine stretching out under the shade of the vines and just resting? It doesn’t take much noise to produce fruit.

APPLICATION

When man produces what he produces, it is accompanied by an over abundance of noise, commotion and little rest. But not so with what God produces.

When Jesus told us He is the vine and we are the branches, He intended us to remember that He is the one doing all the work; He is the one producing the fruit through us.

What does the branch do besides act as a go between? It’s the vine that does all the work! The branch bears fruit by remaining at rest in the vine. Likewise, you and I bear fruit by remaining at rest in Christ.

John 15:5 (NIV): 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

See here’s the thing church we need to learn to rest in His presence.  We need to understand we work from victory not for victory for we were already made victorious.  We need a “Radio Quiet Zone” for out souls.  So that we can hear the plans God has for us.

Jeremiah reminds us that His plans for us are good.  And God will always work out everything for our good and for His glory.

Listen church does it seem that life is so hectic that there is no peace.  Then here’s the thing your not living the abundant life that He promised.

Isaiah 26:3 (NIV): You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

I want to walk this community, minister in this church, go wherever Papa leads me and have people look and say to me just as they did to Peter and John. . .they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

I need to hear Him, so I need to get to a place where I can block out the voices in my mind as Lauren Daigle says, that say I’m not enough.

Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know.

The words go on to say,

The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me.

In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity.