A summary of the "Hearing from God" series.
Scriptures:
- Psalms 143:1
- Luke 2:25-26
- @Acts 3:1-8
- @1 Kings 18:24
- Luke 18:1-8
- 2 Timothy 1:8-9
- Romans 12:1-2
- Galatians 3:24-25
- Galatians 5:16-18
Outline:
- Hearing From God Series
- How God Speaks to Us
- How God Responds to Prayer
- Why God May Be Silent
- What to Do When God is Silent
- Finding Your Calling
- Being Led By the Spirit
Hearing From God Series
Psalms 143:1
O LORD, hear my prayer.
In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea;
in Your righteousness, answer me.
Story: old man with hearing problem
Series Topics
- How God Speaks to Us
- How to Hear God's Voice
- How God Responds to Prayer
- Which Prayers Are Always Answered?
- When Bible Promises Don't Come True
- When God Doesn't Heal
- When God Doesn't Respond to Prayer
- God is Changing You
- When God is Silent
- How to Know God is Speaking
- Finding Your Calling
20 Lessons
How God Speaks to Us
- ‘divine accommodation’
birth of Christ:
- Shepherds - angels
- Joseph - dream
- Mary/Elizabeth - angel
- Magi - star
- Simeon through the Holy Spirit
Luke 2:25-26
25And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
Different Ways God “Speaks”
What are some of the ways God speaks to us?
- Bible
- Prayer
- Voice
- Pastors / teachers
- Prophetic words
- Tongues / Interpretations
- Dreams / Visions
- Supernatural Peace
- Unusual circumstances / coincidences
- Fleece
- Opening / Closing doors
- Bringing things to your memory
- Inspired thoughts
- Prompting of the Holy Spirit
- Draw your Attention to something
- Nature / creation
- Worship / music
- Emotions
- Writing
- Angels
How God Responds to Prayer
Story: man in the flood
Responses
- Yes
- No
- Wait
- Direction / Guidance / Clarity
- Silence
When God Says Yes
Santa Clause Response
Example:
- Bicycle
- Healing
- Prosperity
- Mate
Seed Response
Oak tree -> acorn
God gives you the ingredients to make it yourself
Example: NFL player
When God Says “No”
Against God’s Will
- God may have a bigger plan
When God Says Wait
The Wilderness
- God is changing you
Sometimes it’s not that God didn’t answer you, it is that you didn’t finish the lessons
God is preparing the destination
Why God May Be Silent
Listening For What We Want to Hear
Story: opera singer
- deafened by your own voice
Influenced by
- Your Plans / Goals
- Voice of Your Flesh
- Voice of The World
- Voice of The enemy
- Voice of Religion
God Already Gave You The Answer
The Answer is in the Bible
Not the Answer We Wanted
Asking for the Wrong Thing
- Asking for what you think you want
Biblical Example: Beggar at gate called Beautiful
- @Acts 3:1-8
- asked Peter and John for money
If you get everything you wanted you might miss what you really need
We’re Praying to Remove the Symptoms
- Not resolving the core issue
More Money
- Nearly ⅓ of US lottery winners go bankrupt in a few years
Core Issue
- You spend more than you make
- Self Worth
- Valued
- Significant
Relationships
God give me someone who’s not jacked up
- If you have one obviously wounded person in a relationship, you always have 2… No exception.
Core Issue
- You’re attracted to the wrong people and you’re attracting the wrong people
Are you willing to have God change you instead of changing the circumstance?
You’re Praying to the Wrong God
Elijah vs prophets of Baal
- @1 Kings 18:24
You’re standing on promises that God didn’t make
What to Do When God is Silent
Read / Memorize The Scriptures
- Don’t tell me God is silent if your Bible is closed
Praise and Worship
- Worship means that even though I am here I am setting my mind on things above
Do the Last Thing You Heard
Example: leaving ALCF
Fast
- Personal fast
Pray unedited prayers...complaints
- Confess your doubts, disappointments, and struggles
Keep Asking
Luke 18:1-8
1Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3“There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4“For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” 6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; 7now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8“I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
You keep praying.
Keep Serving
Mother Teresa
Jesus has a very special love for you. [But] as for me--The silence and the emptiness is so great--that I look and do not see,--Listen and do not hear.
--MOTHER TERESA TO THE REV. MICHAEL VAN DER PEET, SEPTEMBER 1979
Finding Your Calling
Our culture tells us that the purpose/goal of life is to be happy
What is the Point?
Many people search for meaning in life when
- they are suffering
- they have obtained what they thought was going to make them happy but they’re not
- They’ve surrendered
Having a purpose outside of yourself allows for a more fulfilling life
The World’s View of Calling
Follow Your Passion
Job that aligns with your passion and matters to you and makes the world better
Follow Your Competence
You have to have something that separates you from everyone else on earth and until you find that you will be struggling.
Biblical View of Calling
It's God's purpose...not yours
2 Timothy 1:8-9
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
- Paul sees the suffering as part of a bigger goal
- Not according to our works...but according to His purpose
- You don’t find your purpose.
- You serve God‘s purpose.
God doesn't call the prepared, He prepares the called
- God will make a way
It's God's power that will make you successful...not yours
- Don’t rely on your competence
God's calling for your life cannot be achieved without Him
- Only with God can you achieve your calling
Until You Find Your Calling
Serve Faithfully Where You Are
- Look for opportunities to serve God and God’s people
- In order to find fulfillment you have to find your place in the body
Seasons
- We have different seasons in life
- Each phase prepares you for the next phase.
If you serve the purpose of the season you’re in right now, your calling will find you
Finding God’s Will
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
How to find God’s will?
- Present your body as a living sacrifice (submit)
- Don’t conform to the world
- Renew your mind
Being Led By the Spirit
Raised in Religion
I was raised in a religious church and didn’t have an encounter with God.
- Religion was like the training wheels.
- Missing freedom
Galatians 3:24-25
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
- Find the head and find your place in the body
Galations 5:16-18
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
The goal is to be led by the Spirit
The rules are to get me to a relationship
- The rules are to get you to the point of hearing God (and obey)
Hearing and Obeying
Rules -> relationship
Relationship -> hearing
Fear/respect -> obeying
Hearing + obeying = led by the Spirith
Turn by Turn Directions
You may want God to give you The entire plan
- But God may want you to depend on him
walk by faith and not by sight
Sometimes the silence is an indication that you’re on the right road
Oftentimes God doesn’t give you the details because He wants to use the journey to train you how to hear his voice.
The Goal
- Our goal is to be led by the Spirit
- Our goal is to hear and obey God
- This can only be done when you Renew Your Mind
Presenter: Michael Leadon
Extra
Finding Your Calling
Ephesians 2:10
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
- find out what good works God prepared for us
Being Led By the Spirit
Acts 16:6-10
6They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; 7and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;8and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
But in ways which we are not told, by inner promptings, or by visions of the night, or by the inspired utterances of those among their converts who had received the gift of prophecy, (as afterwards in Acts 21:4), they were led on, step by step, towards the north-western coast, not seeing their way clearly as yet to the next stage of their labours.
--Ellicott's commentary
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