SERMON NOTES TODAY
Sunday, February 17, 2019
How God Speaks to Us
How To: Hear God’s Voice
SOMETIMES GOD SPEAKS TO US IN AN OUTER OR EXTERIOR VOICE
One of the greatest benefits of our salvation has to be that of hearing God speak to us personally. There can be no intimate relationship with our heavenly Father without it.
“And you said, Behold, the LORD our God has showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does talk with man, and he lives.” Deut.5:24 - King James 2000 Bible
God Validated His Son in an Audible Voice from Heaven
“and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:22 Berean Study Bible
What Happen at Baptism
Three things happen to believers who are baptized:
(1) You die with Christ to your old self
(2) You rise with Christ to become a new creature
(3) You are incorporated in the new life with a living community which looks for the coming of the Lord.
“ I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. *And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Hab. 2:1-3)
*Habakkuk said He would stand and watch to see. “what he will say unto me”
*Habakkuk, prepared himself to hear from God “I will watch to see”
*At times you have to prepare yourself to hear from God!
Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.”
God and Elijah
Elijah running away from Jezebel and hiding in a cave
He encounters the voice of God
God and Elijah
God’s Instructions to Elijah
Saul Before he was the Apostle Paul and the Voice of God
“And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 22:7)
Paul’s Account to King Agrippa
“When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, [ *God can speak your language] 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?.” Acts 26:14 World English Bible. “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” KJV Acts 26:14
God Speaks to His Son- God’s Response to His Son
“Father glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered; others said, An angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes:” (John 12:28-30)
God Speaks To You Spirit To Spirit
John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
God Speaks to Us via His Son
God’s Supreme Revelation
1 God, who [a]at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the [b]worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had [c]by Himself [d]purged [e]our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Hebrews 1:1-4 (KJV)
Call to Christ
How God Speaks to Us
How To: Hear God’s Voice
SOMETIMES GOD SPEAKS TO US IN AN OUTER OR EXTERIOR VOICE
One of the greatest benefits of our salvation has to be that of hearing God speak to us personally. There can be no intimate relationship with our heavenly Father without it.
“And you said, Behold, the LORD our God has showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does talk with man, and he lives.” Deut.5:24 - King James 2000 Bible
- We have scripture in the Bible, that God can speak to men/ women and they will not die but live. His words give life!
- God can speak to you right now and you will not die but LIVE!
God Validated His Son in an Audible Voice from Heaven
“and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:22 Berean Study Bible
- I pray that someday we may hear those same words.
- “I am well pleased!”
- God validated His Son after Jesus’ followed His Father’s instruction to be baptized.
What Happen at Baptism
Three things happen to believers who are baptized:
(1) You die with Christ to your old self
(2) You rise with Christ to become a new creature
(3) You are incorporated in the new life with a living community which looks for the coming of the Lord.
- If this can happen to Jesus it can happen to you too as a son or daughter of God!
“ I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. *And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Hab. 2:1-3)
*Habakkuk said He would stand and watch to see. “what he will say unto me”
*Habakkuk, prepared himself to hear from God “I will watch to see”
*At times you have to prepare yourself to hear from God!
- Observe that he was watching, waiting and expecting God to speak to Him. Should we do any less? We expect the speaking God to speak!
- *May we always walk in faith knowing that God will answer our questions and that He will grant our request.
Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.”
- It’s in stillness, not busyness, that we tune our spiritual ears to hear the voice of God.
- The Lord always speaks to us in that “STILL, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12, emphasis mine), but often it’s drowned out amid all the turmoil and business of our daily lives.
God and Elijah
Elijah running away from Jezebel and hiding in a cave
He encounters the voice of God
- 1 Kings 19:12 (NKJV)
- “and after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a]a still small voice.”
- “So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1Kings19:13
- Out of the still small voice:” “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
God and Elijah
God’s Instructions to Elijah
- 14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
Saul Before he was the Apostle Paul and the Voice of God
“And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 22:7)
Paul’s Account to King Agrippa
“When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, [ *God can speak your language] 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?.” Acts 26:14 World English Bible. “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” KJV Acts 26:14
- We see that the people with Saul had seen the light but did not hear the voice. Saul was the only one, who heard the voice of God!
- In the next example everyone present heard the voice of God.
God Speaks to His Son- God’s Response to His Son
“Father glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered; others said, An angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes:” (John 12:28-30)
God Speaks To You Spirit To Spirit
John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
- This is saying that communication with God is Spirit to spirit, not brain to brain or mouth to ear, the way we communicate in the physical realm.
- Then our spirits speak to us in words like, “I think the Lord wants me to do this or that.”
- The Lord speaks to our spirits, not in words, but in thoughts and impressions.
God Speaks to Us via His Son
God’s Supreme Revelation
1 God, who [a]at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the [b]worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had [c]by Himself [d]purged [e]our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Hebrews 1:1-4 (KJV)
- God speaks to us via His Son- the word!
- We need to read the word and listen to what God is saying to us in the now!
Call to Christ
- “ But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the [j]general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Heb 12:22-24
- The blood of Jesus has power to deliver.
- The blood has the ability to protect.
- The blood has the ability to cleanse.