John K. Jenkins Sr - Can You Hear Me Now? - Part 2

You can be seated. Open your Bibles with me to Jeremiah chapter 33. Today is part two of a series we started last week called "Can You Hear Me Now?" Somebody say, "Can you hear me now?" Last week , we talked briefly about the technology we have in this day and age to talk to anyone around the world wirelessly. I am referring to cellular telephones, which allow you to be anywhere and communicate with anyone globally, wirelessly . I mentioned last week that one particular cellular carrier , which has three letters in its name, sometimes drops calls. Now, I didn't want to specifically call out AT&T again because I received some tweets and texts from people asking why I had to single them out. But the truth is the truth. As a customer, I hope they will do better. In certain areas where there is inadequate cell phone coverage, you'll drop the call, and many of us have probably dropped a call with all of the carriers on numerous occasions. We call folks back and ask, "Can you hear me now?" In fact, I know when I'm driving my car with my Bluetooth on-by the way, just to throw that in there real quick-over headphones, talking on the phone, I realize when I enter certain areas that the call is going to drop. So, I try to complete the call or wait until I get past that area before making the call or find another route so that the call won't drop. Are y'all with me? And yet , some of us have not recognized in our personal lives that there are things we are doing, certain areas in life we walk in , that cause God's communication with us to be dropped. I wonder about folks who are always questioning why God isn't answering them . Jeremiah 33 : 3 gives a specific response to that, and I want to try to finish this message this week. It says in verse 3, and I'm going to zoom in on it: "Call to Me," God says, "and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." There 's a proclamation and a promise from God. He says, "Call to Me." With clarity and specificity, He assures us that if we call on Him, He will answer and show us great and mighty things. As a matter of fact, verse 2 says , "Thus saith the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it, established it; the Lord is His name." We serve a God who has the ability and power ; His arms are not short , and His ears are not dulled that He cannot hear us. If you call to God, if you cry out and make a proclamation to Him, He will respond; He will speak back, He will answer, and, as a matter of fact, the text says He will show us . He has the ability to respond to us. God wants to respond to you; He wants to respond to your prayers. So, if you're praying and not getting an answer, there's a reason for that . Last week, I went through the first three reasons with clarity about why God wouldn't answer. Today, I won't pick up the other four of these seven reasons why God may not hear you. Now, how many of you were not here last week and didn't get the first three? Okay, you'll have to get the CD or DVD from the bookstore if you want those. You missed church-shame on you. Here 's number four. As a matter of fact, let's go to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5 gives us the fourth reason that will cause God not to hear you, and we want to look at verses 14 and 15. Verse 14 says, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." Those two powerful verses give us a strong reason and explanation. Here 's the deal: Why would God not hear you? Because you're asking Him for something outside of His declared will. Here 's what it says: We can have this confidence. We can go to God boldly to the throne of grace and make a bold request of Him. We can ask Him confidently when we have asked anything according to His will; He will hear us if it's according to His will. Now, if you have any questions about what God's will is, get in His Word. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Get your butt in His Word." Go ahead, tell them: "Get your butt in His Word." All you have to do is find a biblical basis for what God wants to happen in our lives. Ask Him. Go to Him and ask for a biblical basis. There's no need for you to ask Him to help you win the lottery-that is not the will of the Lord. Don 't ask Him for the numbers for you to play. Come on, talk to me for just a second. Don 't ask Him to let someone else get divorced so you can marry them. That is not the will of God. Don 't ask Him to let someone lose their job so you can get their job. What God has for you is for you. He doesn't need to take something from someone else to give to you .