Hearing God/Prophecy

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  1:23:13
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How does God speak?
1. Creation
Romans 1:18–20 NIV
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 8:22–23 NIV
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Luke 19:39–40 NIV
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Not sure the point is they will literally offer utterance, but this imagery is that creation is revealing who God is
2. Written Word
2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
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.
1 Corinthians 14:37 NIV
37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.
The next 4 ways that I share should not really be separated as they are all intertwined
However, we will break them up a bit for understanding…knowing that they all work together
3. Physical Word - Jesus
Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
John 16:12–15 NIV
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
4. Church
Ephesians 3:7–11 NIV
7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 4:11–12 NIV
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
1 Corinthians 12:12–14 NIV
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
5. Individuals
1 Thessalonians 2:13 NIV
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
Romans 10:14–15 NIV
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
6. Holy Spirit
We spent a lot of time going through John 14-16 where we learned how the HS
Guides us into all the truth (John 16:13)
Speak what He hears (John 16:13)
Teaches all things (John 14:26)
Testifies about Jesus (John 15:26)
1 Corinthians 12:7–10 (NIV)
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
Hebrews 3:7–8 NIV
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness,
Examples:
Acts 8:29 NIV
29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Acts 13:2 NIV
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Acts 15:28 NIV
28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:
Acts 20:22–23 NIV
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.
7. Prophecy
1 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV)
10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
1 Corinthians 14:1 NIV
1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 NIV
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
What is prophecy?
Prophecy (propehetes) literally means: inspired utterance
Sam Storms: “the human report of divine revelation”
In scripture, it was clear that God spoke in many different ways to people
Just for an idea, I looked up the word for prophecy in my fancy software just to see how often the word was used
Note that the OT was mostly written in Hebrew and the NT mostly in Greek. So I looked at the Greek word and then looked a the hebrew word that would be translated as “prophetes”
I looked up the root which would should words that have the same root
Before I reveal that, I also looked up pretty common words like love and grace
Let’s guess, how many times do you think the word grace is used in the bible?
It’s 125 times
Now, how many times do you think prophet or prophecy is used?
It’s 477 times! 299 in OT and 178 NT
Prophecy is mentioned 2.5x more than grace!
Now, to be fair, I looked up love and it was a bit more
567 times the word love is used
So, it is less than love but much more than grace!
The reason I share this is prophecy is a common theme in the bible, even in the NT!
The Bible tells us specifically that God speaks, but we might not know it!
In Job we read:
Job 33:14–17 NIV
14 For God does speak—now one way, now another— though no one perceives it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, 16 he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, 17 to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride,
What ways do we see God speaking directly to people?
Now some of these things some people might not consider to be prophecy.
What I have found though is there really isn’t a great category for them and so I just lump them into prophecy…God revealing Himself in some way
1. Audibly
Moses and likely many of the prophets
1 Samuel 3 we have the young boy who heard the Lord speak 3 times before Eli told him that it was God speaking to Him
Jesus baptism
Mark 1:11 NIV
11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus transfiguration
Matthew 17:5–6 NIV
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
Jesus talking to the crowd
John 12:28–29 NIV
28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
notice in this one not everyone recognized it was God’s voice
2. Internal Audible Voice
This is one that has some debate and we don’t explicitly have a lot of scripture for
We do have a potential example in Ezekiel
Ezekiel 14:1–4 NIV
1 Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. 2 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? 4 Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry.
Seems like if this voice were audible, the Lord wouldn’t need Ezekiel to deliver the message, He would have just said it out loud, as He did as Jesus baptism
3. Still Small Voice
1 Kings 19:11–12 NIV
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
4. Impressions
Nehemiah
Nehemiah 7:5 NIV
5 So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there:
Notice how it’s not specific
A lot of us may have come to know the Lord because we got an impression - go to church, open the Bible, talk to this person…
I like to refer to impressions as thoughts from the Lord
Acts 14:8–10 NIV
8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
Somehow, Paul knew the man had faith, you can’t literally see faith in someone
5. Dreams and Visions
Dreams you are typically asleep while visions you are awake
OT
Daniel
Joseph
Jacob
Pharoah
Samuel
NT
Acts 2:17 NIV
17 “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Zacharias
Joseph
Pilot’s wife
ananias
cornelius
Peter
Paul
John - book of revelation
6. Trances
Inability to use physical functions, semi-conscious semi-asleep
OT - Balaam, Saul, Daniel
NT - Peter, Paul
7. Physical Manifestation
Honestly, there isn’t much biblical evidence for physical manifestation linked to prophetic gifting
Luke 8:46 NIV
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
If you read stories of people walking with the Spirit, often times they will feel things that seems to commonly be the Spirit using them!
There are other some examples of physical manifestations of the HS, but not necessarily in relation to prophecy directly
Speaking in tongues
Falling to the ground
Transfiguration
Matthew 17:6 NIV
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
Saul
Laying on of hands
Mark 16:18 NIV
18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
1 Timothy 5:22 NIV
22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
Hebrews 6:1–2 NIV
1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
Acts 8:14–17 NIV
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
So, there is something powerful and important about laying on hands
As you can see, God speaks in many different ways
Next week we will dive more specifically into the gift of prophecy and give some ins and outs
But as we respond this morning, maybe the Lord has been speaking to you…
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