"Hearing God"

Chapters 15-18

15-

"Hearing God in Scripture Reading"

Luke 10:38-42

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

I. At best, commentaries and devotional books are second best--they are what God said to somebody else.

II. What will happen when we let God teach us

A. Revelation. (God will tell us about Himself)

1. There is nothing more important in our Christian walk than our personal knowledge and understanding of God.

2. God desires to reveal Himself to us personally, and He will do this as we are able to receive and willing to receive.

3. The degree of fellowship is in direct proportion to the amount of personal knowledge one has of the other person and to the quality of the relationship.

B. Interpretation. (What the Scriptures really mean) Always interpret Scripture with Scripture.

C. Application. (How the Scriptures are relevant in our lives right now)

Chapter 16

"Hearing God in Prayer Life"

I. Prayer is a two-way conversation between God the Father and one of us, His children.

A. It is one of the primary sources of fellowshipping with our Lord.

B. It was the only thing the disciples asked Jesus to teach them, and He did–

1. By example

2. By instruction

C. When prayer is a one-way conversation, it is a very dull and boring experience.

II. Fundamental requirements to our Christian journey

A. Hearing God involves a proper God-image

1. God loves to tell us what He is really like.

2. Knowledge of Who God is will enable us to see Him for Who He is—apart from misconceptions that mask the truth.

B. Hearing God involves a proper self-image.

1. God loves to tell us what He thinks of us.

2. Psalms 139: 14 "I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well."

III. Assessing Our Present Spiritual Self-Image

A. Definitions

1. Self-image: "An idea, the concept or picture of ourself that we hold in our mind."

2. Spiritual self-image

a. "The idea of ourself that we hold about our relationship to God"

b. "It is what we think God thinks of us. "

c. This depends on what we think God is like.

B. List names and adjectives that God would use to describe us.

C. We can find out what God thinks of us through meditation.

IV. Arriving at a Correct Spiritual Self-Image

A. Possible ways to arrive at our spiritual self-image

1. God tells us personally what He thinks of us.

a. Through the Scripture He brings to our mind

b. Through His conversation with us.

c. This is the only reliable way.

2. Other people--evangelists, pastors, friends--tell us what God thinks of us.

a. This is inadequate because, at best, we are getting the information secondhand.

b. Worse than that, they might be wrong!

3. The Evil One directly tells us what God thinks of us. (He is a deceiver!)

B. The vast majority of Christians think too little of themselves--far less than God thinks of them.

1. Some of them believe this is humility, but it is nothing more than inverted pride.

2. True humility is thinking about ourselves the way God thinks about us.

C. The worth and value of anything are determined by what a person is willing to pay for it.

Chapter 17

"Hearing God in Ministry"

I. "Dead Works" or Lasting Ministry?

A. Ministry is what God does through us for others.

B. "Good works" are what we do at the command of God for others.

1. They last for eternity.

2. All lasting ministry begins with a word from God.

C. "Dead works" are what we do for others on our own, supposedly in the Name of God.

l. They do not last.

2. Watchman Nee: "God will only back and bless what He initiates."

II. Steps in lasting ministry

A. Receive a word from God.

B. Walk with the Lord Jesus.

C. Listen to the Holy Spirit and obey Him.

D. Results: Effective, exciting, enduring work

III. Jesus' Example

A. For thirty (30) years Jesus stayed in Nazareth.

1. He never taught, healed, delivered, or did much that we could recognize as "good works."

2. Yet the need was abounding.

B. Yet the Father said of Jesus at the River Jordan--before He had done any "good works"-- (Luke 3:22) "and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, 'Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased.'"

C. Jesus' secret of His ministry and ours

1. John 5:19 "Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner."

2. John 5:30 "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own Will, but the will of Him who sent Me."

3. John 14:10b "The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works."

D. Christ tells us that He was guided by an indwelling voice, not by an external appearance.

E. Norman Grubb:

We fail to bridge the gap within us between God's thoughts and God's word of faith because we are bound by the domination of the visible.

We see the blind eye, the withered arm: Christ saw the will and power of His Father to heal, and spoke the word. "Stretch forth thine arm." "Receive thy sight."

We see the five loaves and the multitudes, and say, "What are they among so many?" Christ saw His Father's invisible and unlimited supply, gave thanks for it, acted on the full assurance of it, and faith was seen to be "the giving of substance to things hoped for."

Chapter 18

"Hearing God for Life"

I. If we open our hearts and minds to the Lord's guidance in all facets of our lives, we will discover that He is interested in everything about us.

A. God is interested in the smallest details of our lives.

1. "Toy" calculators, jammed toilets, and lost diamonds

2. Matthew 10:30 (NIV) "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

B. God's answers are often delayed.

C. Many things happen when we are in fellowship with the Lord that do not happen if we are pressing Him for answers. We must guard against our human tendency to use Him and go to Him only when we want something from Him.

II. What is Fellowship?

A. 1 John 1:3 "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."

B. Fellowship with God differs from fellowship among people.

1. Fellowship with Him covers all of life--nothing is left out.

2. 1 Corinthians 1:9 "God, Who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

C. Fellowship pictures of God

1. Fellowship with God compared to marriage

a. Commitment: Two people marry because of love and they make a commitment to one another--a love covenant that encompasses all of life.

b. Communication: Out of this commitment, comes communication -the conversation that goes on between them.

1.) The conversation that sustains

2.) That builds the relationship

3.) That helps in working out the love covenant

c. Goals and attitudes: From this conversation come goals and attitudes.

d. Decisions: Then the husband and wife make decisions based on their fellowship with one another.

e. Behavior and actions: These decisions become behavior and actions, which are just a continuation and outworking of their

fellowship.

2. Fellowship with God compared to a Father-son relationship

3. Fellowship with God compared to a Bridegroom-bride relationship

4. Fellowship with God compared to a Counselor-counselee relationship

III. God desires to fellowship with us in all areas and matters of life, not just those we deem to be "religious," or spiritual.

A. Guidance as to the details of living is only an extension of the inner speaking and hearing.--Norman Grubb

1. Communion with an indwelling Person is the privilege of all, and the unceasing experience of some.

2. Guidance is the direct communication of the Spirit with our spirits and is not to be confused with Scriptures.

3. God's written Word is the general guide to His people.

a. The Bible is the inspired and infallible revelation of the principles of Christian living.

b. Any individual guidance which does not conform to it is from a false source.

4. The Spirit gives the guidance.

a. It is always in conformity with the Scriptures.

b. It may be in the words of Scripture, but it is the indwelling Spirit who guides.

5. Romans 8:16 "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."

B. Three basic things to remember as we fellowship with the Triune God

1. God the Father is interested in all aspects of His children's lives.

2. Jesus the Bridegroom is interested in all aspects of the life of His bride to-be, the body of believers.

3. The Holy Spirit as the indwelling Helper is there to help in all of life.

IV. Summary

A. The more we learn to hear God, the more we will have the privilege of fellowship with Him in the ordinary and mundane matters of life.

1. We cannot spend all of our time studying the Bible, or in concentrated prayer, or in ministry.

2. Our Lord is just as interested in us at all other times and in all other matters--both the little and the big.

B. Hearing God now is a basic scriptural teaching.

C. Hearing God is the privilege and right and responsibility of every born-again