WCB -Speaking with God 4-6-26

How should we speak with God? Your eternity could depend on just that!

Transcript

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There are men who have heard their call. They are faithful ministers, God's watchmen on the law.

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Welcome to the Watchman's Call. We invite you to study with us the ancient prophecies of the Bible and witness their fulfillment in our modern times. We're sure all of you have noticed lately, there's been a lot of people talking about the prophecies of the Bible, especially concerning the end of days or the end times, as most people put it. Now, don't get us wrong, we're glad that there's a lot of people talking about these different prophecies. But everybody knows that once you start getting a whole lot of people talking about the same subject, that subject starts getting blurred. And so we have to be really careful, very, very careful, who we're listening to and make sure of where they're getting their information from. So our suggestion is just make sure that what you're hearing absolutely and totally lines up with what the scriptures say and not just somebody's opinion. Today we want to talk about something that actually goes along with all those prophecies. We notice that when a lot of people hear different prophetic words given and the things that are coming, some people just put their hands over their ears to try to keep from hearing anything, and some get really anxious. See, the truth is this kind of stuff scares a lot of people, and they're just trying to figure out what they can do to protect themselves and their families for the most part. One of the things that almost everybody is doing is they're starting to talk to God. See, there's a difference between talking to God and talking at God. And this is what we're wanting to discuss today. Do y'all remember back September 11th? There's a lot of you that's old enough to remember that. There's a whole bunch of you that don't remember it, but hopefully you've at least heard of it. Well, at that time, a lot of the churches just filled up. September the twelfth, I mean, people was just filling in the churches. And every day after that, everybody wanted to talk to God because most everybody was thinking, well, this is the end. America's under attack, or we're fixing a fall. Well, it turns out that was a warning from God, you see. God allowed our protection to be raised just a little bit, and a little bit of an attack to come at us to get our attention, because a real large majority of the American people have forsaken God and his laws. So we have to ask ourselves, how is the best way to speak or talk with God? If the way of learning wisdom is to listen to God more and to talk to him or someone else less, especially using you know endless sentences, just on and on and on, and big words that most people don't even understand, then how exactly should we speak with God? In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon, who called himself the preacher, he's trying to teach us how to speak with God in chapter four and verse four, it says, the teacher now comes to focus in on our speech to God. Now, when we first read this, it seemed like what he's talking about don't really have a lot to do with us, but the focus is on making vows. Okay? So now making vows is probably not something that most people do on a regular basis. I mean, it's kind of like making New Year's resolutions. A lot of people do that, but do you make a resolution on January or in March or in September? In other words, do you make resolutions to keep doing something different? Like making lifestyle changes constantly. So what's the difference in making a resolution and making a vow? Well, the simplest way to explain that, for me to explain it, is when you make a resolution, normally you've made that agreement with yourself, okay? Just you and you. But when you make a vow to someone, that's making a promise. That's giving somebody your word that you will do whatever it is you're saying you're going to do. And that's what we saw on September eleventh. It seemed like the whole country was making vows to God, trying to get things straight with him, and those vows, if we really look at them truthfully, they were all made out of fear. And this is where we get back to King Solomon and his warning. Basically he says, If you tell God you're going to do something, then my friend, you better do it. God absolutely cannot stand foolish chatter. Now this might cut and it might hurt, but we have to think about how much time we spend on foolish chatter. And I'm not leaving myself out of the equation here either. See, Solomon says again in Ecclesiastes chapter five and verse five, if you vow it, then do it. He said it's way better not to promise in the first place than to make a vow and not pay up. And this is another hard one. He also said basically, don't let your mouth make a sinner out of you. That's in verse six. So what's the preacher really saying here? See if we look at this for exactly how it is, he's talking about the religious worshipers. You see, Ecclesiastes is showing us the kind of person who looks at the world and they realize that everything is really and totally out of their control and is way past their complete understanding. And because of that, then that person decides it don't really matter what they do, it don't really matter what they say, it don't really matter what they think, and it don't matter what they feel in their heart. They start to believe that they can say whatever they want to God. Because if they can't always see the meaning of the world, then their own worlds and their own words have no meaning. Think about it like this. When someone finds themselves in a bad situation, they say something like, Lord, you know I'm in really a bad fix here, and things are really bad. And now, I promise, Lord, if you get me out of this, I promise. See, right there, right there is that vow. I'll serve you the rest of my life. And we know how that usually works out. Whenever that the bad situation is passed, no matter what it was, of course, that person that made God the vow or the promise, most of the time never even gives God a second thought. Now why is that? Well, because they think God's probably not really there. They think he probably really wouldn't be listening, you know, especially to me, he wouldn't be listening to me. You know, I was just stuck in a bad spot and I needed something to say to God. After all, it's just words. It means nothing. But you see, in Ecclesiastes, for the believer, this kind of attitude is very serious. You see, folks, God really is in heaven, and God, according to his word, one day is going to bring judgment on both the righteous and the wicked. God actually does see and hear and knows everything. And what the preacher of Ecclesiastes is saying to us is that the one undivided God wants an undivided worshiper. Let me explain that. He wants somebody that's not double-minded. We all know these kind of people. We may have even been these kind of people at some time. When we're with certain groups, we talk a certain way and we agree, you know, with certain things, maybe do some certain things, but then when we're with a different group, we talk like they do and agree with what they say or what they like. But this is what God means by an undivided believer, someone who says what they mean and means what they say. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter five verses four through six, those kind of vows were never commanded, but they were permitted in the Old Testament, but if they were made, they always came with the understanding that you would do what you said. Now when we look through the New Testament, we can get a good understanding of what Jesus thought about these vows. That's when we come to the understanding that even though vows were not commanded, they were permitted, and with that they really shouldn't be necessary. This is what Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verses thirty four through thirty seven. He said, Do not take an oath at all either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, and do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say simply be yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. Folks, see God wants us to realize that vows, oaths, and swearing all that exist because of the simple fact and the absolute truth is that mankind is just untruthful. You see, we naturally change the details just a little bit off of whatever the story is we're telling people. Again, it's just our nature to try to make the story a little bit better or a little bit worse either way than what it truthfully was. And when we're telling the story of something that really happened, a lot of people turn it into a vow. Now how do they do that? So how many times do you hear somebody say, Man, I ain't lying. I'm telling you that's how it really happened. See, that person just made a vow for their version of the story to be the absolute truth. If we just tell a lie plain and simple, you know that's bad enough. But when you say I swear that's the truth, then you have just made a vow to someone that is totally sealed in lies. When we finally realize that God sees our hearts, we have to ask ourselves what do we look like to God when all of our words don't even resemble the truth of reality? We should all take to heart the warning Solomon was trying to give us in the middle of all this uproar, all the violence, all the world problems, don't make God a promise that you're not fully committed to keeping. Here's a lesson from Solomon. Whenever we speak to God or when we're talking to others, keep it very simple. Simplicity will guard your sincerity. For all believers who are honest, they should not need to make vows or oaths of any kind, just a simple yes or no most of the time will guard the honesty of what you say. We try to become people that are not looking for an angle, or a person who tries to make a story something totally different than what it truthfully is. Remember the old saying what you see is what you get. We decide that because God sees, we're not going to live off of the fact that the person I'm talking to does not see. You may not know whether I'm telling the truth, but God does. So the lesson here is this When we live with the understanding that God has my heart opened up in front of him like a book, I stand in awe of him. Now that's verse seven, and it says This takes concrete form to the kind of words that do and do not leave my mouth. So friends, how do we speak with God? We do this in all truthfulness and in all sincerity with the understanding again that He sees us like an open book. Y'all be blessed. Thank you for joining with us here at the Watchman's Call. My friends, Jesus is coming back very soon. The signs for his return are showing up all over the world, even as we speak right now. Our job is to reach as many people as we can and warn them about his return. And you can help us do that by sharing these messages with everybody you know. That means the saint and the sinner. Everyone must be warned, and we don't have much time left. Y'all be blessed and keep watching. And remember, leave us a comment to let us know your thoughts and concerns.