Sermon Archive

How to Hear God Speak

God has chosen to speak to us. Throughout the Bible you will see the phrase, "And God said..."Hearing from God requires a real, live, personal, interactive relationship with God himself. But there can be no relationship without communication.

The problem is communication is often misunderstood. When my wife speaks to me I often, a) don't hear it, & b) misunderstand it. I'm sure I'm the only man that ever felt that way! Men, there are two things you need to understand about women.... & nobody knows what they are!

If I have that much difficulty with my wife (or she with me) who I spend my entire life with & love & know & still we don't always communicate clearly, how much should you expect there to be communication challenges with God? Frankly, I am very skeptical of people who always have a clear word from God. People who claim that God has spoken to them have done a lot of stupid things. I'm very skeptical when people tell me, "God told me this ..." Some people think that pastors always understand exactly what God wants. That's not true. I am often as confused as everybody else about what is God saying, what is God trying to say.

On the other hand, there are times in my life when God speaks when I am pretty sure that God is speaking to me. Just like when my wife calls me on the phone, I don't have to ask who it is -- I know her voice.

This morning I’d like to share with you about, "Learning to Hear God's Voice". Jesus said in Luke 8:8, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

So Jesus told a story about “Hearing God” in Luke 8, in which He says, “Let me explain to you that there are four different ways we hear & respond to God’s word.” There was a farmer who goes out to sow seed, which was scattered all over different types of soil. Back in the Middle East in Jesus day they didn't plant one seed per spot & cover it up with dirt. They did what was called broadcasting. A farmer would have a pouch on his side filled with seed & as he'd walk he would toss the seed. That's where we get the term broadcasting. Obviously some of the seed falls on good soil & some of it on not so good soil. He says these four soils represent four different ways we hear & respond to Gods word.

They're not necessarily four kinds of people, but actually all of us have responded in all four of these ways. Sometimes we're open to God & to what He wants to say to us. Sometimes we're closed. Let me identify the objects in story: the Farmer is God, the Seed is God’s Word, & the soil is our minds.

So if you want to hear God speak, what do you have to do?

1. I MUST CULTIVATE AN OPEN MIND.

I've got to be ready & willing to hear & do God's Word! If I were to ask you, “Have you ever heard God speak to you,” What would you say? I'm not talking about an audible voice, but an impression in your mind that you knew this word is from God. How many of you would say: "I can't think of a time in my life where I ever actually heard God speak to me."

Why is that? One of the possible reasons is that you've never been open to the possibility of it. Maybe you didn't even know it was possible that God does want to speak to you.

This is the first type of soil. v. 5"Some seed fell on the path & it was trampled on & the birds of the air came & ate it up....[v. 12]Those along the path are like people who hear & then the devil comes along & takes away the word from their hearts so they cannot believe & be saved."

In the field there's a footpath that the farmer would walk down. As he went he would sow the seed out onto the land. There are two characteristics of a footpath. #1) It is hard because of the constant traffic of people walking on it. #2) It is narrow.

Do you know anybody like that? They're closed minded, narrow minded, hard hearted. They're not even open to the possibility that God might speak to them. As a result, Jesus says the farmer sows seed but it can't take root, it can't sprout, it just lays on the hard & compacted surface of the ground & the birds come along & eat it. It never even gets a chance to grow.

This is true with us many of the times. God wants to speak to us, so He can guide us & help us to experience a fruitful life, but He doesn't even get a chance because our minds are closed, we're unwilling to listen, we’re unavailable to hear, or we just don't want to hear what God has to say. So, What causes us to have a closed mind?

1. Pride causes us to have a closed mind. When I think, "I don't need God or I don't need to hear from God. I can make this business decision on my own. I don't need God. I know how to raise my children. I don't need God. I know how to plan my own future. I don't need God. Anytime you FAIL to take the time & effort to hear from God, you're basically saying, "I don't need God. I can handle life on my own. I can resolve issues. I can solve life’s problem. I can handle it." That's called pride. And pride causes a closed mind.

2. Fear, sometimes we're just afraid of what God might say to us. What if I read the Bible & open my mind to God & God tells me to do something I don't want to do? He might tell me to take a risk. He might tell me to do something I don't want to do or don’t think I can do. So I'm afraid. If I let God speak to me, I might become a religious fanatic. Or maybe God will make me some kind of religious nut. So I'm afraid. I'm afraid I'll loose my freedom to be boss of my own life. No thanks God, I’ll do it myself. So I close my mind off from God. Some people close their mind to God simply out of fear.

3. Bitterness. Whenever we've been hurt & we hold on to those hurtful memories, it causes us to close our minds to God. We start saying things like "God, why did You allow this? Why is this happening to me? If You're such a great loving & powerful God, why did this happen?" FACT: you're going to be hurt in life! You will have pain in this life. This is not heaven, this is earth. God has given us a free choice & so people are free to do wrong things & the result is innocent people suffer. Not everything that happens in this world is God's perfect will. I don’t believe it was God’s perfect will that 5 young students be killed & 17 be wounded at Northern Ill. University this past week. I don’t believe it was God’s perfect will that 8 people are killed & 5 wounded as they watched a street race along a Maryland highway. I don’t believe it was God’s perfect will that 80 are killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan. God has given us the freedom to choose. So people get hurt. You're going to be hurt in life. What you do with that hurt will determine whether you become a better person or a bitter person.

When you become bitter, when you hold on to your hurts, it only prolongs the pain. We think, "They hurt me so I'm going to build a wall to hide behind & I'm not going to let anybody get close to me, not even God! Why? Because God let it happen!" You start blaming God for things other people did to you. As a result, you close your mind. People who have been deeply hurt often have a hard time opening up their mind & their heart to God.

Some of you have been deeply hurt in the past. Some of you maybe have lost a loved one. You still feel that pain. Some of you were abused as children or you were molested. Some of you were verbally abused, physically abused, emotionally abused. Some of you have known the betrayal of a spouse who was unfaithful to you & that still hurts. Some of you have even been hurt by other people who claim to be Christians. Or you were in a church situation & professing Christians didn't act very Christian. They hurt you! The tendency is to say, “If that's what Christianity is all about, no thanks, God!” You blame God for what other people have done to you.

If you have been deeply hurt, let me say two things to you:

#1. I'm very, very, sorry you hurt. I believe God hurts with you. I believe He understands the full extent of the pain you've gone through. But remember this, as Christians we are not exempt from pain.

#2. When you are in pain & when you are hurt, don't run from God, run to God. He's the one who can help. He's the one who can bring healing. When you run from God out of pain, you're running from the person who can heal it. Never allow any other human being or an experience to block your relationship to God. Don't close your heart & don't close your mind. The tragedy of that hard beaten path is that it is unproductive, unfruitful. Nothing can grow there. A bitter life is a wasted life. Jesus says the birds come along & eat the seed. That kind of life is for the birds!

Instead, look at James 1:21 "Get rid of all the moral filth & the evil that is so prevalent & humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you." Drop your defenses, open up your mind, & let God love you. The first step in hearing God speak is I must cultivate an open mind.

Special note: The preaching & teaching of God’s word saves some & hardens some. This is going to be difficult for some of you to grasp.

In Isaiah 6:9-10 God tells Isaiah his ministry to Israel will be saving for some, but hardening for others. God says to Isaiah, " … go & give the people this message: “No matter how much you listen, you will not understand. No matter how much you look, you will not know what is happening.” Then he said to me, “Make the minds of these people dull, their ears deaf, & their eyes blind, so that they cannot see or hear or understand. If they did, they might turn to me & be healed.(gnb)”

In other words, time had run out for these people. The Word of God was no longer effective to save them, but was only effective to cause their hearts, their ears & their eyes to be closed. Remember that this hardening judgment was given after years of closing their ears, minds, & hearts to God’s word.

This teaches us something very important about responding to the teaching & preaching of God’s word. Even when preaching & teaching the Word of God does not soften & save & heal, it is not necessarily ineffective. The teaching & preaching of God’s Word may be doing God's work of judgment. It may be hardening people, & making their ears so dull that they will never want to hear again. Don't be careless in hearing God's Word. If it is not softening & saving & bearing fruit, it is probably hardening & blinding & dulling (2 Cor. 2:12-16). The more people resist God’s truth, the less able they are to receive God’s truth.

Are you taking the time, making the investment to open your mind to God’s word? If you see the Bible as an opportunity to know Jesus better, then the Holy Spirit will use God’s Word to instruct & guide you as you read & obey it. The extent that you read & obey God’s word, will be the extent that you experience the full, rich, fruitful, abundant life God want you to experience.