Prayer: A Conversation with God Pt 7

Hearing God

John 10:1–21 (ESV)

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

In John chapter 9 Jesus heals a man that was blind from birth. When Jesus and his disciples came upon the man a question arose as to why the man was blind. The disciples assumed it was because of someones sin and Jesus put that assumption to rest and in an unconventional miracle took some mud made of saliva and touched the mans eyes making him whole. This obviously stirred the neighbors who wondered if this was the same man they had known. The man doubled down on the fact that it was Jesus who had healed him. They then took him to the Pharisees and being it was a Sabbath day they earnestly began to question him about the events. Unsatisfied with his response they called his parents and they were afraid of being excommunicated from the Synagog. They differed to their son as being old enough to speak for himself and again he held to his story that Jesus indeed healed him. The Pharisees ended up casting the man out after he repeatedly gave the credit to Jesus. Jesus then found him and reinforced that he was indeed the messiah come and the man worshipped him. Some of the Pharisees heard the conversation and aggressively questioned Jesus about his statements to the man and he refused to back down saying that they indeed were guilty before God. This led to Jesus telling the parable of chapter 10 which Jesus is portrayed as the good shepherd and everyone else trying to gain access to the sheep are thieves and robbers. The shepherd knows his sheep and they singularly know his voice.

Prayer is a conversation.

John 10:3–4 “3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

As followers of Christ we are invited to talk and listen. The problem is listening is a trait that most people do not do very well.

James 1:19 “19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;”

Listening requires a few things

Intentionality

One must be quiet to listen

Time

Foundation

What will you be listening for?

Not every voice is the voice of God.

Humility

Truth sets us free

You are talking to the one who knows you.

John 10:3 “3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

John 10:14 “14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,”

The ultimate comfort is not that the sheep know the shepherd but that the shepherd know the sheep.

I am intimately known by God.

Jeremiah 1:5 “5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.””

Psalm 139:1 “1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!”

Psalm 139:16 “16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

My conversations with God can be different than any other because he already knows. I can listen differently because he knows me like no other. I can lay down my defenses because the shepherd is for me and I can trust what he says. The one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy does not know you like the shepherd does. He never comes through the front door.

His song stays the same.

Malachi 3:6 “6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

Psalm 102:27 “27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.”

Isaiah 40:8 “8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Hebrews 13:8 “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The shepherd’s voice stays the same. It’s the voice of safety, of love, of sacrifice.

John 10:4–5 “4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.””

John 10:10–15 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

The reason the sheep know the shepherd’s voice is because it doesn’t change.

John 1:1–2 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.”

Romans 10:17 “17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Matthew 24:35 “35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

If it’s different it’s a thief

John 10:1 “1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.”

John 10:8 “8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.”

John 10:12–13 “12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”

Jesus issues a warning that he is the only way and no other Gospel exist. Everything outside of what he has already said is not another Gospel but Satan attempting to rob you of the truth.

1 Corinthians 15:1–5 “1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

2 Corinthians 11:1–7 “1 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?”

Galatians 1:6–10 “6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Everything you hear outside of prayer and during prayer is immediately filtered by what God has already said. This is why the body of Christ is so important. We are together for the mutual benefit of one another. Teams, connect groups, prayer times are all relational experiences where we can test what we are hearing.

When Eve heard, “Did God say” she should have reverted to what she had already been told instead she opted for a new voice. We do not need a new voice we need to hear the old ancient voice of God that has been singing the shepherds song of salvation since man listened to another the first time.