Hearing God's Voice/ Knowing His Will Series

Opener:

Good morning everyone! We are just thrilled that you are here this morning. This morning we are continuing our sermon series on Back to the Basics. During this series we will be tackling some of the fundamental doctrines/teachings concerning Christianity. These doctrines will help us to gain a greater understanding of God and who we are in Him.

I would like to share a story with you this morning: A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help. Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, "Jump in, I can save you." The stranded fellow shouted back, "No, it's OK, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me."

So the rowboat went on.

Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, "Jump in, I can save you."

To this the stranded man said, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."

So the motorboat went on.

Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety."

To this the stranded man again replied, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."

So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.

Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, "I had faith in you but you didn't save me, you let me drown. I don't understand why!"

To this God replied, "I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"

This story illustrates to us that sometimes God’s answer to our prayers are right in front of us yet we can miss it. As you may recall, last week, we talked about the Word of God. We talked about how the bible is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold. We learned how powerful the Word of God is and that we are called to use the Word of God in our everyday lives.

This morning we are tackling two very important subjects. We are talking about knowing when God is speaking to us and how to discern His will for our lives.

I. Hearing God’s voice

A. Phone call

a. In getting back to the basics, one of the fundamental teachings that we need to understand is that we have the ability to hear from God.

b. To me, this is just amazing that the Creator of the universe wants to talk to me. He wants to share His heart and His thoughts to me!

c. That is just amazing! Simply Amazing. One of my favorite bible verses is found in Jeremiah 33:3 3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

d. Wouldn’t it be really awesome if you could call heaven and talk to Jesus directly?

e. You would not have to worry about His secretary giving you the run around. Maybe like mine does when you call the church office!! LOL

f. You can just call Him and ask whatever questions that you have.

g. What if you could just text Jesus and then He would respond back right away.

h. All of us have moments that we want to hear God’s voice, we want to receive definitive directions regarding a relationship, a business decision, or a major purchase.

i. We recognize that our decisions matter, the choices that we make today, will affect our future.

B. Voice

a. Since we are not able to call Jesus on the phone. How can we hear His voice?

b. There are some practical ways that we can hear from God and here are some of those ways:

i. Bible Reading – God speaks to us through His Word and meditating on His Word. So thinking about His Word throughout the day! Let me say this and God woke me up in the middle of the night the other day and He shared this with me: God’s voice will always align with God’s Word. Every time without fail.

ii. Journaling – This is the practice of writing down personal thoughts, reflections, and meditating on the responses from God’s Word

iii. Fasting- This is the practice of temporarily abstaining from food or other things in order to focus on the Lord

iv. Taking Rest- A period of resting from the busyness of life and spending time reflecting on God.

v. Worship- This is really a powerful way to get us into the presence of God. We do this Sunday mornings that I love it. Sundays should not be the only time we spend worshipping our Creator!