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Nov 28, 2021

God Speaks, Are We Listening?

God Speaks, Are We Listening?

Passage: Hebrews 4:12

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Stand Alone Message

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: christian living, bible study, hearing from god, how to read the bible, burnt hickory baptist church, god’s spirit, burnt hickory worship, how to hear form god, what is god’s will, discern god’s voice

How does God speak to us? We hear this a lot, but what does it mean to hear from God? How do we know what God’s will is for our lives? Well, for Christians, we hear God through His word and through His spirit. We also can hear God though Godly people, the church, and through our circumstances. We have to be actively involved to hear and is starts with submission to God’s will. During our bible study today, we’re going to explore the different ways we can hear from God, and how to discern His voice from our own opinions. We also learn that our ability to hear from God will never out pace our submission to God.

Well, good morning, church, and let me just say a really big welcome to all the Alabama fans who promised your firstborn children last night in overtime against the Auburn Tigers. Well, I'm so glad you're here today. I really, really hope that this past week you had just some time to celebrate, some time to pause with your family, with your friends, and really and truly just to thank God for what he's done in your life and what he's done in all of our lives, what he's doing right now in our lives, and quite frankly, just what he is going to keep doing just for eternity.

You know, last week, if you were here, we dove into one of what I just called one of the best or most powerful verses in the whole New Testament. We looked at this idea out of Romans Chapter eight, verse 31. In the spirit of thankfulness, we looked at this idea that if God is for us, who can be against us and we looked at this thing that, you know, really and truly what that says to us is that nobody can bring a charge against us. Nobody can really condemn us; nobody can convict us. And really, no one can separate us from God. Why? Because this really doesn't rest on who we are. It rests on him, and it rests on his power and his presence in our lives. And we launched into this week of thankfulness off of that idea. Last week, we watched how we should be encouraged from that, and it's the fact that God is for us that lifts us from despair. It causes us to worship, and it puts us into his mission.

Well, I want to stay in that theme of thankfulness this week, and I want us to look at another incredible promise from God. Or I guess you could say, another incredible idea that God begins to move into our live or a blessing in our life. And I want us to look at this gift today that God gives us, and that he promises to speak to us, that he promises to speak to us. Now, when I know, I know that when I say that God speaks to us, most of us automatically go to this idea that God kind of speaks on this macro level, right? That God spoke the universe into existence, that God speaks through his creation, right Romans chapter one and know what he is without excuse because of what he's done in that there's this general revelation that God speaks to us. I mean, even this week had some time with my with my boys in the woods and just watching this creation, right? God speaks to us on that level. Now, that's not necessarily the way that I'm talking about.

God speaks this morning. What I'm looking at this morning and where I want to press in and spent some time clarifying this morning is just through this idea or through this promise that God not only speaks on this macro level, but he also speaks to us personally. He also speaks to us privately and this idea that that as a believer in Jesus God listen, is always communicating with his children. He's always communicating. And so, the question this morning that we need to answer is, will we listen? That's the question. I can't tell you. one of the biggest, one of the biggest pastoral questions that I get over and over and over again and most of the other pastors, we get this one question that sticks out, and it usually comes at a time of tragedy or time of decision or time when there's big things going on. And it's the question that goes something like this, and you can change the words up a little bit, but it has the same meaning it's this Matt, why doesn't God? Why doesn't God speak more clearly? Why doesn't God speak more clearly? This is probably the biggest question that I get. To, which it seems like every single time this question is asked, I answer with the exact same quote. And it's like this, I will say quite literally.

He does. He speaks clearly.

The problem is, is that we just don't hear it. That's the problem.

You know, you can kind of think of God like this and don't take this too literal, all right. You can kind of think of God like a like a cell tower, right? Let's bring it to our world here, right? You can kind of think of God like a cell tower once that tower is built. Once the power is wired, once the big antennas, that will probably cause us all to have some weird disease later on in life, right? Five. G's coming. Once all of that is turned on, that cell tower never changes a signal. The question is, what position are we in to hear it or to receive it now? If you're like me with T-Mobile, stay on the interstate, right? That's all you're going to get. But for the rest of you with real cell phones, you know what I'm talking about, right? You see, that's kind of how God operates. God's signal to us that it doesn't really change.

It's always there. It's always present, it's always around. But our position around God and who God is, it does change. And here's the thing there are so many things in our lives that keep us from hearing God. And it's not God most of the time. It's things like broken relationships. It's things like anger. It's things like busyness. It's things like the noise of this world. It's the things like distractions or habits that we have or lack of trust or busyness or sin or doubt or withheld forgiveness. It's all of these things in our lives, and there's so many more reasons, so many things that cloud up that signal between God and us that keep us from hearing God, how he wants us to hear him. But one of the biggest reasons I'm just going to be honest with you. One of the biggest reasons that we don't hear God is that we just have a misunderstanding of how God speaks. We do. When you start talking about God speaking, a lot of us will go to the weird people that we know, right?

I mean, those people that are like, well, yeah, God will write it in the sky, or I woke up one morning and it was on my mirror, or there was a weird post-it note that showed up in the truck or something like that, right? But that's not really how God speaks. Most often, I'm not going to say it's not how he speaks because God can do what he wants. He's got right. But God doesn't speak like that. So, here's what I want to do this morning. I want to give you really practically. I just want to give you five of the most common ways that God speaks. And then on the backside of those ways, I want to take you to a text and first Samuel Chapter three in the Old Testament verse. Samuel Chapter three when God spoke to this young boy for the first time and when he heard it, and I want to walk you through this text and give you just a couple of life principles that can help us set our lives and a trajectory to hear him better. But five ways.

First, that God speaks Let me give it to you the real practical number one God speaks through his word. God speaks through his word, or you can write the word Bible out beside that. God speaks through the Bible. You know, when you look through time, when you watch history progress, you will see that from the beginning of time, God, he began in this idea of speaking at special moments at special time through special people. We would call them looking back at the Old Testament, we would call them the prophets, right? The voice of God, the mouthpiece of God. You jump into the New Testament, and you'll see that God began to primarily speak in the New Testament days through Jesus. He was the voice of God. There was on this planet. He was the prime example. He was the paver of the way you go a little bit farther; you see that God primarily through a period of time. He spoke through the Apostles through these miracles, through this special just revelations that God gave them to not only begin the church, but to begin the canon of scripture that we enjoy.

You jump a little bit farther, and when God so chose to put the word of God together and to weave it together, to solidify it and to kind of proclaim it as complete. Now we see the way that God chooses to speak to you and to speak to me is primarily right. Listen is primarily through his word. It's primarily through his word. This is why it is so important to know his word. It's why it's so important to study his word to fall in love with the word. And honestly, let me just be as clear as possible. We honestly cannot say that we want to hear the word and the will of God and not spend time. In his word, it doesn't work out because his word is there. It's been given to us. Maybe, just maybe the reason so many of us struggle with spend with knowing what God's will is and what God's word is for our lives may maybe the reason we struggle. Hearing from God is, quite frankly, just because we're lazy and not getting into his word. God speaks through his word, isn't it so tempting? And I'll confess it is, isn't it so tempting to beg God just to speak to you, to show you to lead you, but yet not go to a scripture? It's so tempting, and the next time you want to hear from God, let me just make you the promise. Start by cracking open his word because that's primarily how he speaks, primarily. Number one, God speaks through his word.

Here's number two. Number two, God speaks through his spirit. He speaks through his spirit. Now, let me flesh that out a little bit. I know for science like now, that's a little bit weird. All right. Let me tell you what I mean by that. If you if you have stepped into a relationship with Jesus, if you have invited him into your life, if you have trusted him as your savior, if you have given him your life, the Bible is very clear where it says that God takes his holy spirit, and he places it into your life. Jesus calls him the counselor. He calls him the guide. He calls them the one that is greater than I to be in your life. God takes the Holy Spirit. He places it in your life, and he does it so that he can guide you so he can show you show that he can mold you. So, at the moment, you trust Jesus. Believers listen to me. You now have the spirit of God living inside of you. This is why Ezekiel 36. says this, he says, I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone, and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit in you, and I will move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

What does this mean? That means that God promises us when we listen to the Holy Spirit, he will literally move us in the direction that he wants us to go. Now let me tell you how this works. It works kind of like this. Maybe in your life there's a moment where it gets quiet. Maybe you're driving down the road, maybe you're just in a moment where nothing else is kind of going on around you. And all of a sudden something comes to your mind. And I'm not talking about like something like, oh man, what I ate last night. I'm talking about, like something like, hey, I need to, I need to call that person. I need to encourage that person. I need to pray for that person. I need to lift that person up. I need to give to this person. Can I just be honest with you when that happens? If you're a believer in Christ, that's the Holy Spirit in your life. That's the Holy Spirit directing you. That's the Holy Spirit guiding you. That's the Holy Spirit showing you the path that you want, that he wants you to walk on. That is what the Bible just calls the nudging of the Holy Spirit. Now, most of the times, it's not like on the mirror when you wake up, and it's not like a huge vision in front of you. It's just this prompting in your life of man. You know what? You probably need to do that.

It's also maybe you think of it like this, maybe you said something, or maybe you did something, or maybe something happened in your life in it. And it's not. It's not where God wants you to be. The Bible would call that sin. It's what separates us from God, and it's at that moment. Have you ever noticed that something in your heart begins to go, Man, I shouldn't have done that? I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't spoke that. I shouldn't have thought that. I shouldn't have looked at that. I shouldn't have been at that right. That shouldn't have believer listen to me, that's the Holy Spirit. That's how the guide works in your life. He nudges you. He pushes you; he directs you, and he moves you on to his path. So, if you are a believer in Jesus, if you've trusted Jesus, he's forgiven you of your sin, giving you life. He's not only giving you life, but he's giving you the spirit to move you.

Now our job is just to listen. Our job is, is to perceive what he's saying in our lives. God speaks through his spirit. So, he speaks through his word. He speaks through his spirit. And here's number three. He speaks through his people. God speaks through his people. You see, embedded in this incredibly large woven together story of redemption. We get to watch how God uses extraordinary people in the lives of others. I think it was Christine Kane who said that God provides delight divine assignments for divine appointments.

Listen, God uses people. He uses people. I can't tell you over the years how many times in my life, personally, that I've either been having coffee with someone, having a meal, with someone, having a meeting for someone or just a conversation with someone, and all of a sudden that some that person that is in my life said something over me. Not in a weird way. Like, let me speak a word or, you know, I mean, just like in a moment where they're like, hey, man, I just feel like I want to encourage you right now, something I don't know why, but let me just tell you, I really think that the here it is. And can I tell you there's a lot of times that that's the Lord God works like that, not only in encouraging us, but just speaking life into us, speaking hope into us. Maybe it's somebody just writing a card of encouragement and mailing it to you. Maybe it's somebody stopping you in the hallway and just saying, hey, you know what? I don't know why this week, but that something in my mind told me that I needed to pray for you, or I needed to lift you up, or I just needed to call you and go, hey, are you o k? Or is there anything I can do for you? God uses his people. Sometimes he'll use his people just to call us out, and we don't like this one.

Amen! Man, there's been times in my life where I almost just wanting to punch somebody in the mouth, right? But looking back at it, after breathing a little bit, right, it was like, man, that was probably that was probably from the Lord. That was probably God using somebody in my life now. When you think about God using people in your life, I think there's kind of two categories of people that God uses. The first one is that he uses intentional voices. He uses intentional voices. And that is kind of the people that we that we invite into our life, or whether it's a close friend, whether it's a mentor, whether it's a live group leader, a youth pastor, a leader, a life group leader, a family member. Those are the intentional voices that we've kind of given a little bit of a position in our lives to go, hey, do you see something? Why don't you to speak it? Why don't you just say it? I trust you enough to do that. And God uses those kinds of people to speak into our lives that are godly, that are wise, and they're walking with him. But also, number two, there's another category of people I'll just call those the randos. They're the randos, right? Have you ever had somebody just say something? And all of a sudden, you're like, oh my goodness, I needed to hear that. I don't even know you, Joe. But listen, what you just said just changed me. God does that.

He does it over and over and over and over and over again. So, listen, let me just say like this. If you're ever in a conversation with someone and if they say something that is consistent with God's word, this speaks directly to your situation and it's something that you have been wrestling with, man receive that as the voice of the Lord in your life because God uses people. In fact, you can't read the Bible and say that God doesn't use people hundreds of times in the Bible that we see that God puts specific people in specific places, specific time to speak specific things into our lives. My faith. one of my favorites is second same Chapter twelve, where David has signed with Bathsheba and Nathan comes walking around is like, Hey David, let's talk for a minute, right? He had no idea that he knew this. But what does he do? He begins to rebuke David, his friend, for what happened in his life. God speaks through his people.

Here's number four, God speaks through his church. He speaks through his church. You see, God uses the church to help us understand God's word for our lives. That's one of the primary purposes of the church. It is to rightly divide the word. It is to set us on track. In other words, our job as believers is to all week study the word all we pray. And then we come into gatherings like this with consistent teaching, like our life groups, with consistent teaching. And what does that do? It helps us understand. It helps us push forward, and God uses the church to speak into our lives. I don't know about you, but I can't tell you how many times I've sat in a spot just like you're in right now. And somebody like me stood up with the Bible and began to say something, and I was like, did you tell them?

Man, you know what I'm saying? Did you email them and tell them about that fight? We just had, you know, saying happens to visitors all the time, like, is this why you brought me right? Why? Man, that's the Lord, the Lord does that he meets us in these little spots all the time. We're all of a sudden God's word is spoken, his word is preached, and all of a sudden fruit just begins to fall into our lives. This is why Isaiah, 55:11, says this. So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. God uses his church to speak to his children. For 2000 years, he's been doing it, uses his church.

And here's number five number five for a reason. And I'll tell you no matter. God speaks through circumstances. He speaks through circumstances. Now this one's tricky. I'm not going to lie. This was tricky and we don't have time to completely flesh it out, but here's what I want to say. God uses circumstances in our lives to direct our paths. Sometimes he uses circumstances in our lives to shut paths off. Sometimes he uses circumstances in our lives to test us. Sometimes he uses those events in our lives to shape us to build endurance under us. Sometimes he allows the prince of this earth, Satan, to use circumstances in our life to see how we are following him. That's why. Disclaimer That's why this one so hard, because we have to approach them with a mature mindset.

But God uses circumstances. But here's the disclaimer Circumstances are hard to read. So, remember this If a circumstance ever happens in your life that does not line up with scripture. Always go with scripture. Always never follow your heart. Never. That's where we get into trouble. We get into trouble all the time where circumstances happen. But he loves me. But what if nobody else loves me? But wait a minute, makes better financial sense, right? Or wait a minute. Let's just do this. We're already doing. No, no, no. When a circumstance doesn't line up with the word, the word always wins. Always circumstances speak to us. But they're tricky to read the tea leaves. So, our maturity comes.

I love the story of Joseph and the Book of Genesis story of Joseph. The whole kind of back half of Genesis tells the story of this young guy that his brother sold. And God just uses this incredible story to weave this story of God in and show how God's circumstances in life work for the good of those who love God and are call it according to his purpose. In fact, Genesis chapter 50 in your in your thing, it says 20, but it's 50. Genesis Chapter 50 Verse 19 says this, but Joseph said to them, don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? Watch this first to you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid, Joseph said. I will provide for you and your children don't have time to flush it all out. Read it This week, I promise it will bless you. But Joseph sold into slavery, ended up saving his whole family and a whole country in the land of famine. Why? Because God uses circumstances in our lives. He uses them now.

These five ways, whether it be through his word, spirit, his church people or circumstances. These are just five ways. This is not an exhaustive list. It is not a complete list. But remember us. Remember the word always wins. And but also remember that these are not the only ways that God speaks. God can speak in countless other ways. He's God. He can do it. He can create new ways to speak. That is not on us to the side. Does God still speak through dreams and visions and angels? His God still speak audibly to which all of that. I would say yes. He does watch what is happening across the world in places where the gospel is being smashed and not being able to be spoken in Bibles aren't to be had. Watch what these people are saying and how God is meeting them. God speaks. Our role is just to be in tune. It's just to dial in, it's just to hear him. So, with that being said, I want us to go to this Old Testament event and first Samuel Chapter three, first time in Chapter three gives us these reminders of when we hear God, what is it that should come into our lives? When you read first, Samuel Chapter three gives us these reminders about hearing God. And quite frankly, it can change the way we hear God.

And I get when we look at this, that this is a long time ago. The events are different, and it's a little bit of a weird story. I get that I'm going to put that on the table right now. But I do want to say this the principles remain. The principles remain. first, Samuel spans a incredible time in history of the ending of, I guess you would say, the judges and the beginning of the profits of God. It spans this, this idea of incredible beginnings, but horrible endings in so many people's lives. It's a great book to encourage you. And it starts with this priest named Eli. This old priest named Eli. And this young boy, probably about twelve years old, named Samuel that his mother brought him to Eli to be used in the service of God, in the service of the Temple, to be an assistant to the priest, Eli. Now let's go to it. Let's look at these lessons on hearing God's word as we close up. That's just a trick. We got a long way to go.

Here it is. first, Samuel Chapter three. It says this, the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. Now pause there. Here's what that means. He was his helper. He was the doer. He was the shoveler of ashes. He lit some candles. He took care of the temple. He was the helper. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli and catch this, this is powerful. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare. And there were not many visions. Now write this down. No one hearing God. Here's what you notice in this text hearing. God is a privilege. Hearing God is a privilege. You see, when you read this text, which you have to do is you have to read it through the mindset of a New Testament believer, and here's what that means.

That means there can never be a moment in our lives where we read this text spoken over us. So Matt, what do you mean by that? Here's what I mean. You will never have a moment in your life that the word of the Lord has not been spoken over you because you possess the full word of the Lord in your lap right now. You have the Bible when you think about the context of the story. They did not have the full word of God. They had to rely on these special moments and these special people and these special events to give them a word just to get to the next word.

But listen, praise God. You've got 66 books written by 40 different authors on four different continents over 2000 years in your lap. Right now, that possesses the full word of God. Two implications from this, number one is we can't take it for granted that God has given us his word. But we do. We can't take it for granted. I love one of the other translations, it had this first reading like this, it says in those days, a message from the Lord was a rare treasure. It was a rare treasure. Do you get the fact that it is not a rare treasure to you, but it is a treasure? So, we should treat it that way? You see, we have God's words, so we should treasure it. We should trust it. We should spend time in it. We have God's word. I don't really know where the quote came from, but I can distinctively remember my grandfather saying it. And here it is. We do not need a vision from the Lord when we have a verse from the Lord. Does that make sense? That's what this says is we have God's word. So, let's just dove into it. The second thing I thought when I read this first was sometimes God just chooses to remain quiet. Sometimes God just says, OK.

That's where you want to be. I'll wait, I'll just wait. Has there ever been seasons of your life or, you know, that's what is happening? That's what's happening in this story. You see, when you look at this story, what a verse one says. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare. You see, when you think about it, there was a reason that God was silent. And here's the reason let me just take you through the context of what's happening in the story. Let's look into the story, right? There's a lot of reasons God wasn't speaking, primarily because the people weren't listening. He wasn't speaking because he had already tried to speak, he had already tried to warn him. He had already tried to say, hey, you should do this, but what did they do?

They just disregarded the word of the Lord. Does that sound a little bit familiar? God, you said, OK, so you want to go. Also, God wasn't speaking because the leaders of this day were corrupt. They were so corrupt. They were leaving people not to the Lord, but they were leading people away from the Lord. Therefore, God just said, OK, if that's where you're at right now, I will just wait over here. I will give you the desires of your heart. I'm a loving God, and I'll just pause until you decide to turn back over here. God wasn't speaking. Here's another reason. Sounds a little bit familiar. There was just too much noise in their life already going on. Just too much noise you see during this period of time, it was one of the most sexual societies that had ever been on Earth at this time. The sin was rampant. The idea that God was meaningless was all over and they were filling their lives with so much stuff that it just overrode the voice of God. So, God said, OK. I'm on hold. And the last one, God wasn't speaking because he had already said it. He'd already told them, here's what you need to do.

You see a lot of times, isn't it kind of ironic that we fall into this mindset of God, show me the way. God, show me the way when you already know what God is saying. I mean, we have to think that God is just in heaven going, really? I already said that you don't need to pray about that. You don't need to pray about sleeping with your girlfriend. It's not good. I promise you. You don't have to think about adultery. It's not right. You don't have to think about not worshiping. It's in the word. I say this all the time. I really believe that we are educated well beyond the level of obedience. I really think that sometimes we just need to decide to do what we already need to know or what we already know, God, show me your will is like, you already know my will to show me what to do. You already know what to do. Just do it. I know it sounds kind of brash, but it's true. I can make you a promise. If we would just decide to live by the word, we would experience God in a way that we have never experienced and before. We really would.

Let's get back to the text here we go. Hearing God's privilege. Look at verse two, it says one night, Eli, that's the old guy. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see all of the details in the Bible was lying down in his normal place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out. And Samuel, that's the kid was lying down in the House of the Lord, where the Ark of God was. In other words, he was near the presence of God. Then the Lord called Samuel, Samuel. He answered, Here I am. And he ran to Eli and said, Here I am, did you call me? Did you catch what just happened? God called him, and he thought it was Samuel calling him one because he was in tuned with the priest's voice. that was his job. That's what he did. Don't we get in tuned with here in the world so much that we answer it that really fast, but sometimes it's the Lord. Keep going. But Eli said I didn't call you. o back and lie down. So he went, lie down. Verse six, again, the Lord called Samuel and Samuel got up and he went to Eli, and he said, here am I. You called me my son, Eli said, I didn't call you. o back and lie down. Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. In other words, he had never heard the Lord speak before. Watch this verse eight. third time, the lord called Samuel. And Samuel got up and he went to Eli and said, Here I am, did you call me? Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy. It was the Lord that was speaking to him. o Eli told Samuel, Go and lie down. And if he calls you say, speak lord for your servant is listening. So, Samuel went, and he laid down in his place. Verse ten The Lord came and stood there, calling us the other time, Samuel. hen Samuel said, you might want to underline this. Speak for your servant is listening. Your servant is listening.

Now notice what just happened. Because not only is hearing God a privilege, number two, hearing God requires active involvement, it requires an activeness on us. It requires a movement in us. It requires us being actively involved with the process when God begins to call. There's now a step that we need to take. Now, God didn't expect Samuel to be a pro at it right here, right Perfection only belongs to God. He didn't expect Samuel to have all of the answers at this point. Samuel was just being asked at this point to jump in further into God's service. Now watch this Samuel had not gotten in tune with hearing God's voice yet, but notice the position that Samuel was already in. It's important Samuel was already serving. He was already involved, and he was already doing whatever it was that needed to be done in God service. Samuel, in other words, was not sitting around in his church one day going, God, you got my number. If you need me, just call me. If somebody needs me, they'll let me know if somebody needs me to serve and somebody needs me to volunteer. They got my number. They'll call. No. Samuel was already postured in a place that he was serving. He was getting to know the Lord. He was walking in a way that he was being useful in God's kingdom. And then all of a sudden, because he was in that position, God showed up and spoke even clearer.

It's kind of like riding a bike, right? Remember when you learn how to ride a bike? Some of you might have been a minute, right? You remember how you remember this? You can read all you want to about riding a bike. Young people, you can watch all the YouTube videos on how to ride a bike you want to. You can watch other people ride a bike. You can have a bike for the rest of your life. But I'm going to tell you this until you get your hind end on that seat. Until somebody shoves you down the road, you will never learn how to ride a bike. Why? Because you've never done it. You've never positioned yourself in a spot to be able to do it. That's what this is. You want to hear God. It requires us being actively involved in the process, and we learn to position ourselves in a way that we can receive the signal from God. Let me boil it to. I thus say it the Lord's statement. Here it is.

If you want to hear the voice of God, get involved with God, just get involved with God. Ask God to speak. Position yourself before him. Say yes now and then find something. You're good at that you can go ahead and do now. And all of a sudden you realize you're in a spot and you're like, Man, that's the Lord. Don't sit back and wait. Don't expect me to call you. Jump in. Look at verse nine, so Eli told Samuel, Go lie down, and if he calls you say, speak lord for your servant is listening. So, Samuel went and laid down in his place. That's where he's always at. The Lord came stood there calling us the other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, speak for your servant is listening. And that's strong. Samuel's involved, Samuel's in position. Samuel's anticipating such an incredible message, but it's even more incredible when you realize that the Hebrew word here, when Samuel said Speak Lord, is the word Shemar, which literally means God. Before you say anything, my yes is there. That's what that word means, that's not like, huh? No, that's not what it means, right? It's God. Yes. And when you tell me whatever it is, it's still going to be. Yes. You see, this is an incredible life lesson. Is it not? You see, we can't truly approach God, and say God, I'm hearing you with a mindset of, Hey God, I might hear you if you just say something that I want you to say.

That's why, number three, check this one out. Hearing God starts with wholehearted submission. It starts with wholehearted submission. You see, hearing God is not this idea of God, would you just speak to me and let me process it through me and then let me decide if that is something that I need to do in my life? God doesn't play that way. That's what some of us live in the silence for so long. God says, hey, position yourself, say, speak. Put your yes on the table and then watch what I do in your life, you see, this is the Romans twelve one, right? Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices wholly and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. What is a living? A living sacrifice is not a dead sacrifice. It's a sacrifice that chose to crawl onto the altar of God. And say, Hey God, here I am. Here's my hands. Here's my feet. Here's my eyes. Here's my body. Here's all of me, Lord, what do you want me to do? My answer is yes. Some of us never hear the voice of God because we're never postured in a way that we positioned ourselves there with thankfulness, saying, God, my yes is here now. Just speak, what do we do? We say God. There's not too much trouble that doesn't cost me too much. I'm a busy person. Just let me know. It's not where Samuel was. Samuel took his normal spot before the presence of the Lord, said speak Lord. Your servant is listening. Let me ask you this. Have you ever truly. So, God. Yes. Yes. It doesn't matter how much time. It doesn't matter how much money. Doesn't matter, what it's going to cost or what it's going to make me look like. Your servant is listening. I think that's why we don't hear the Lord. Because we approach him with this mindset of ehh, maybe. let me pull all this down into two kind of walk away principles, and this is for real.

This is the takeaway. Number one, our position determines our reception. Our position determines our reception. Here's what that means. That means when you place yourself in a spot to hear God, chances are you will hear God. If you place yourself on the backside of the mountain, or you know something is between you and God. Chances are that signal's going to get washed out. So, here's the question this morning. What position are you in? For some of you. It means that you need to meet Jesus today because your position needs to change from sinner to child of God. And I don't mean to be mean in that, I just mean that that's an offer that's before you. That Christ has come to give your life, and to give it to you more abundantly to step into your heart, to step into your life and to walk with you, to forgive you. You're never going to hear the voice of the Lord if you don't know the Lord.

But for some of us that know the Lord. Man, it's a whole lot of stuff that is causing noise in our lives for us to not hear him, our position determines our reception. And here's the last principle, number two, our ability to hear God will never outpace our submission to God. It just won't. Matt, I'm just not hearing God. It's probably not a hearing problem. It's probably a submission problem. It's probably a submission problem. I guarantee you, if you say yes, he'll begin to speak, he'll begin to guide. He'll begin to show himself to you. Do you know that God is a gentleman? What does that mean? That means in a lot of ways, God will not nose himself into situations that he knows he is not welcomed into. What will he do in his loving kindness? He'll wait. He'll step back. He'll go, hey, give you the desires of your heart, your ability to hear God will never outpace your submission to God. So, here's the question What's holding you back? What's holding you back from hearing the voice of God? I don't know. I don't know where everybody is in this room. I know the ones that that stick in my life, and they know any business. But we all got them.

So, the question this morning is, what do we need to do? Say yes, Lord, speak, your servant is listening.

Lord Jesus, to walk to this time of decision this morning. God for the people in the room that need to meet you. I just pray that if there's a stirring of the Holy Spirit in their lives today. There would be a submission. To your name. There will be a moment in their life where they say, Lord Jesus, I know, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that I'm separated from you. Come into my life. Forgive me. Be my savior. Lord, if that is people's hearts, that's hearing my voice right now, God, help them respond to your call. God, as soon as I'm done with this prayer God, I just pray that wherever they are that they respond, whether it's through the next steps button on the app or website. Or whether it's in whatever service they're in, just walking down to the front and looking at whatever passers there and just saying, hey, today I met Jesus. God, we'll do the rest, we'll talk them through the rest. God, I pray they meet you so they can hear you loud and clear, God for a lot of us that know you. Got I pray today is the day we say yes, Lord, speak. I'm your servant. God, walk with us in the next couple of minutes of worship, Jesus, and it's in your name.

Amen.

Let's stand and sing.

Follow Along with the Message

God Speaks, But Are We Listening?

November 28, 2021

How Does God Speak?

1. Through His .

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

2. Through His .

Ezekiel 36:26–27
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

3. Through His .

4. Through His .

Isaiah 55:11
So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

5. Through .

Genesis 20:19–21
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children…
1 Samuel 3:1
The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
Hearing God…

1. is a .

1 Samuel 3:1
In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
1 Samuel 3:2–10
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

2. requires active .

1 Samuel 3:9–10
9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

3. starts with whole-hearted .

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.
2 Walk-Away Principles

1. Our determines our reception.

2. Our ability to hear God will never outpace our to God.

Additional Notes

 

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