07.24.22
Order
Pre Worship Music
Opening Song That’s Why We Praise Him Lynn
Prayer Rick
Howdy Moment…. (Online & Inperson) Steve, Kelly, & Linda
Song Oceans Lynn
Reading (Online & Inperson) Kelly & Linda
Songs Graeat Is Thy Faithfulness Lynn
Message The Voice(s) of God Rick
Song ? Lynn
Community/Closing Peace Rick
Post Worship Music
Words and Voices
Music [Slides]
That’s Why We Praise Him
He came to live live a perfect life He came to be the living word our light
He came to die so we’d be reconciled He came to rise to show His pow’r and might
That’s why we praise Him that’s why we sing That’s why we offer Him our ev’rything
That’s why we bow down and worship this King ‘Cause He gave His ev’rything
He came to live live again in us He came to be our conquering King and friend
He came to heal and show the lost ones His love He came to go prepare a place for us
That’s why we praise Him that’s why we sing That’s why we offer Him our ev’rything
That’s why we bow down and worship this King ‘Cause He gave His ev’rything
Halle hallelujah Halle hallelujah
That’s why we praise Him that’s why we sing That’s why we offer Him our ev’rything
That’s why we bow down and worship this King ‘Cause He gave His ev’rything
Prayer [Slides Midway through]
Prayer comes from David’s prayer-Psalm 116 and Jesus’ prayer-Matthew 6:9-13
I love you Lord, you bent down to hear my voice. You inclined you ear to me, so I will call on him as long as I live. Death itself has encompassed me; the place of death has attempted to hold on to me; for this reason I suffered distress and anguish. That is when I called on you, that is when I shouted “O Lord, save my life!” Gracious are you Lord and righteous; are you God. You protect the simple; and when I was brought low, you saved me. Return, me to your rest, for you, God, have dealt generously with me. You have delivered me from eternal death, you have dried my tears, and you have kept my feet from stumbling. I walk before you Lord in the land of the living. I shall keep my faith forever.
[Slides Begin] [Join me as we say the Lord’s Prayer]
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses,
While we learn to forgive those who trespass against us.
And, God, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the glory forever.
Amen
Howdy…. [No slides]
Meet Kelly Segal of Sierra Vista, AZ and Linda Hall of Norman OK.
- What is the temperature outside where you are right now?
- What is your current profession, or, if you are retired, what was you profession?
- Please share 3 Quick facts about you that will help us know you better?
Music [Slides]
Oceans
You call me out upon the waters The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery In oceans deep my faith will stand
And I will call upon Your name And keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine
Your grace abounds in deepest waters Your sov’reign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me You’ve never failed and You won’t start now
So, I will call upon Your name And keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior
I will call upon Your name Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace I am Yours and You are mine
Reading [No Slides]
[Kelly] Now Abraham was old, advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said to his servant who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
[Linda] The servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, all kinds of choice gifts from his master, and set out and went to the city of Nahor. Abraham’s servant made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water; it was the time when women go out to draw water. The servant prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please offer your jar that I may drink,’ and then she will say, ‘Drink, while I water your camels’— God, let her be the one who is to be the wife of Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
[Kelly] Before Abraham’s servant finished praying, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. Then Abraham’s servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.
[Linda] Now Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field, and, looking up, he saw camels coming. Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she jumped quickly from the camel and said to Abraham’s servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master, the man you are to marry.” Rebekah took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her.
Genesis 24
Music [Slides]
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father There is no shadow Of turning with Thee
Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be
Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning New mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Summer and winter And springtime and harvest
Sun moon and stars In their courses above
Join with all nature In manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness Mercy and love
Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning New mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Pardon for sin And a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence To cheer and to guide
Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning New mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Message The Voice(s) of God [No Slides]
Genesis 24
I have reached that time in life where my body has begun to give up on me. A couple of decades ago my vision began to fail, and now, my hearing is beginning to reveal signs of fatigue. I have been to the doctor and am now calculating the desired level of hearing in direct comparison to how much I am willing to pay. I’m finding that, in addition to my inability to hear everything, I was also am having to strain to assign voices to the speaker.
Figuring out who is speaking is one of primary messages from our passage today. I love the closing visual of today’s passage, “Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she jumped quickly from the camel.” (Genesis 24:64)
While this is probably the translation in your bible, “Rebekah look up, saw Isaac, and jumped quickly off the camel.” Some scholars feel that it is more authentic to translate this passage as “..she fell off the camel.” This may have been the first ‘falling in love” moment – probably the first Hallmark moment.
But this of course, is not the beginning on this journey to love for Isaac and Rebecca – both had a story before ever setting eyes on each other. The story of Rebecca’s journey is a story of discerning God’s voice, while being a story of the three primary voices of God we hear in scripture.
Hearing God’s voice is a challenge. There is so much noise all around us, so much clutter within our hearing range, plus, so many voices competing with God’s voice. Often times our biggest question in our journey is ‘What is God saying to me?’’ Sometimes that question is accompanied by ‘How can I identify my voice, or the voice of others, or even what I want God to say or sound like. verses God’s actual voice of God’?’
It is a difficult question to answer, it is a part of our life journey, a question that, for all but a few, never goes away. Genesis 24 gives us three examples of God’s voice and how it is particular to the person being spoken to and the moment in which it is spoken.
The first example in Genesis 24 is God speaking to Abraham. Here, God’s voice is obvious, Abraham actually hears God’s voice to which he interacts with just as he would another human being. While, in our day, many claim to hear God’s voice as Abraham, however, few if any are honestly hearing God’s audible voice.
When one of my sons was in his teens, he came home from a bible study a bit dissolution by the study leader. The leader was a young adult male who would frequently justify his choices, usually very selfish choices, by saying “God told me to do this….” To which my son sarcastically said, “I’m pretty sure next week he is going to say ‘God told me to buy the latest XBox.’ This was all the more outrageous because the leader would also frequently talk about how broke he was.
Abraham actually only heard God’s audible voice seven times over a thirty year period. There are just a handful of individuals in scripture who have such an audible experience – Adam and Eve, Cain, Noah and his sons, Abraham and Sarah, Hagar,, Rebekah, Moses, most of the Prophets, Jesus, some of the apostles, and a handful of others. Actually hearing God’s voice is not a commonality in scripture, it is a rarity.
We cannot help but ask the question, ‘why did God speak to these in this manner and not me?’ If we look at this list, however, we see some common elements that may help give us a clue. Most of those listed prior to the prophets are early history, there is no precedent for anyone in regard to God. There are no testimonial traditions, there are no written sacred writings, there is not even any fragments of stone on which God wrote truth. Most of the time, those that hear God’s audible voice have no other person or resource for God to communicate through. Even if God were to send an angel messenger, there would be no understanding of who this messenger came from – in these cases, a direct voice from God is essential. God is not speaking here to a people who have a greater or lesser faith, this is simply a moment of God having no other avenue to communicate. God speaks directly because it is the only way for them to hear.
While we may think that an audible voice would be impossible to ignore and outrageously faith affirming, the truth is that the lessons from these that did hear the audible voice, they had just as difficult time trusting this voice of God as we do with the voice God uses to speak to us.
The second example of hearing God’s voice is heard in the prayer of Abraham’s servant.
“O Lord, God of my master, Abraham,” he prayed. “Please give me success today, and in doing so you will be showing unfailing love to my master, Abraham. Right now as I speak, I am standing beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. God, this is my request (this is the voice I am able to hear). I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’— that will be the proof from you that this is the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will hear your voice.” (Genesis 24:12-14)
The anxiety level in Abraham’s servant spurred on by this mission was at least in the ninety percent level. The servant little to stand on in regard to knowing God. He knew that Abraham, his master, trusted this God. He maybe had heard second hand, from Abraham, about these holy audible engagements Abraham. But the servant had nothing to base any personal belief on. He had to find the one woman that was to be Isaac’s wife, only then would he be released from the burden of this mission. So, since for him, seeing was believing, he said to God, “If I see this, I will know that this is the woman you have selected.” It was a pretty specific request and would be a fairly undeniable sign that this was God’s voice.
This is much like the request of Gideon who set out a similar request to God…”Do this and I will know this is from you.” Gideon, however, found that even this was not quite as satisfying as he expected, so he asked God for a second go round to prove this to himself. God’s ‘do this and I will believe’ voice seldom results in an answer that that truly enhances the faith of the person, it is seldom an avenue to strength one’s faith, and it is seldom God’s intention in using an such a voice voice. However, it is a voice from God that is an earthly evidence of God’s compassion and mercy.
Abraham’s servant was desperate, he needed God to do this, after which we do not really know what impacts it had on the him.
This third voice we hear from God is revealed in the relationship of Holy and Rebekah, the ultimate fiancé selected for Isaac. Rebekah, was simply doing the one holy thing she knew to do, it was not a prayer, it was part of her life. The holy tradition of Hospitality was a constant in the Middle East, as it is today. Rebekah was found in Nahor in Mesopotamia, an area known as Abraham’s homeland prior to God’s call to leave. We soon learn that Rebekah, is from the same family as Abraham. Since the family that Abraham left behind were not worshipers of the one true God, it can only be assumed that Rebekah was also raised in this tradition, but, she did practice this holy truth of hospitality (a precursor to loving the other),.
‘When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself,” (Leviticus 19:33-34).
Rebekah’s story does not begin with a prayer, it does not take place in a moment of desperation; this story is about a woman, who knew a holy truth, and authentically had absorbed that truth into her life. A stranger from another country shows up at the well, she gives him a drink, then proceeds to care for his camels, giving them drink. Ten camels, each drinking at least 30-50 gallons of water, that is an authentic and genuine sacrifice of hospitality.
God’s answer was to reveal the character and the heart of this woman to Abraham’s servant. This was a revelation that this woman was the right choice for Isaac. The servant does not ask for more proof, like Gideon, asking her to do something else, the servant accepts this as God’s voice.
Interestingly, if we were to pick this apart, the instruction for the servant is that he would be released of his burden once he found and invited the woman accompany him home to Isaac. If the woman had married Isaac and been a mistake, it would have reflected poorly on the servant. The servant’s trust in God’s answer at this early stage of faith, without any caveats, is truly amazing.
Sometimes God’s answer is already in our heart as well as in our mind. If we have not hardened ourselves to the voice of God, we will know the direction of God. For Rebekah, she was already acting on God’s voice that she knew, to show hospitality, love others as much as you love yourself, sacrifice for this person as you would do for yourself. God’s voice had already spoke the answer to Rebekah’s prayer, “Should I help this foreigner?” God had answered this prayer long before Rebekah would have needed to ask it. It was an answer to a prayer that was given long before she had need to ask God – therefore she didn’t even need to ask. She already knew, it was already in her internal hard drive.
We do not pick the voice of God that we hear, it is determined by our need. God’s voice and answer are seldom going to be what we expect, the tonal aspects of God’s voice may not be immediately identified as that of God, even when heard audibly from God.
How do we know what we hear, regardless of the form, that we are hearing God’s voice?
Lieutenant Scott Swires says, “This is very similar to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, which encourages us to use Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason in relationship with the Holy Spirit as sounding boards. (Lieutenant Scott Swires, Rome, NY Salvation Army)
Simply put, we critique the voice to determine if it echoes the voice of God in the person of God in the flesh, Jesus. We remember God’s revealing truth is given to us in order that we will be ready to discern and identify God’s voice. We return to scripture, we return to the teachings, we dig through our treasure chest to see if it matches up to the movement of God that we know, we seek the Spirit’s guidance as we listen. We ask ‘Does this voice line up?’ In the end, just like with Rebekah, it is going to come down to living holy so that we will recognize – living right, living holy, requires following the one that is right, the right(eous) Jesus Christ.
This is the sound of God’s Voice to at least 90% of our prayers, dilemmas, and questions we present to God. Prior to the prayer we strive to live out the life of Jesus, always striving to know Jesus more, then, for further evidence, we use Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason.
We go into the question, and discerning the voice by the fact that we already know of peace, mercy, compassion, we recognize that life is life eternal, we trust God.
Jesus said, ‘The king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and we gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and we welcomed you or naked and we gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the King responded, “When you did it to the least then you have done it to me”’ (Matthew 25:34-39)
Somehow, Rebekah already knew the voice of God even before she met God.
Let’s pray,
God, “we see your face in the face of the poor. We hear your voice on the tongues of our black brothers and sisters as they are unjustly degraded. We feel your presence in the presence of women who refused to sit down, who refused to be quiet. God, sometimes your voice is heard in the oppositional, and possibly mocking, voices of others. God, you are all around us, you are among us, and you are at work in us and in our world.” Amen.*
*Prayer words borrowed from Jakob Topper, Pastor, Northaven Church, Norman, OK
Music [Slides]
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father There is no shadow Of turning with Thee
Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be
Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning New mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Summer and winter And springtime and harvest
Sun moon and stars In their courses above
Join with all nature In manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness Mercy and love
Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning New mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Pardon for sin And a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence To cheer and to guide
Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning New mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Community [Slides]
- A Haunting Oracle, Next Sunday, Genesis 25:1-28
- Wednesday Lunch – July 27 Noon (pick up your lunch at Joes or elsewhere and bring it with you to Fellowship Center)
- GF Business Gathering next Sunday 10 minutes following morning worship
Closing Peace [Slides]
May the Peace of the Lord go with you.
And also with you.
Go in the peace of the Lord.
Order, Words, & Voices 