The God Who Speaks

Good directions are important, yes? I have a cousin who, several years ago, wanted to attend a funeral for his friend’s father. He got directions to the funeral home and the time. When he showed up he sat in the back. As the seats began to fill, he began to notice that he didn’t recognize anyone. He thought maybe they would just seat the family last, so he wasn’t too concerned. But then they opened the casket and began the service. Staring at the person in the casket, it dawned on him that he was at the wrong funeral. Right place and time, wrong room. He ended up sitting through the whole service bc he thought it would be rude to leave. He even when forward at the end to give condolences to the family and shake their hands, getting very odd looks from them.

Getting good directions are important!

The desire for guidance is universal…

We want someone to help us know what to do and when to do it.

Throughout history people have consulted mediums, shamans, and fortune tellers in order to get guidance on decisions. They’ve studied tea leaves and animal entrails.

Today, 30% of Americans admit to using horoscopes, tarot cards, and other psychics means to get guidance on an annual basis.

All in an effort to gain understanding and guidance.

True for Christians...

While we probably don’t need God’s help deciding which socks to wear in the morning, we do face situations on a regular basis where we could use God’s guidance in decision making.

Pursuing a relationship

Parenting

How to use money wisely

Whether to go to college and learn a trade or become a social media influencer

All of us ask the big question at some point; “What is God’s will for my life?”

This is a regular struggle most Christians face at some point.

Does it ever seem to you like God makes it more difficult than it ought to be to hear his voice? Why won’t God just appear to us like he did with Moses at the burning bush? Several factors...

Skepticism. I have been exposed to so many charlatans that we would likely be mistrustful.

Busyness. We’re just so busy. It can be very hard to hear God when we are distracted by constant noise and activity.

Limit the ways we think God speaks

Main reason: Misunderstanding of how God speaks. I know for me, my expectations of what I thought it would be like kept me from hearing God clearly. Shouldn’t it be louder, some fireworks or something??

We like the stories of the burning bush. Something clear and undeniable. Why doesn’t God do that more often?

Overpower our will

True communication requires genuine relationship - We seek direction; God longs for relationship.

Beginning a series today that is all about unlocking the voice of God in your life. This morning I want to introduce this series by looking at the fact that we have a God who desires to communicate with you. God speaks. God has spoken. God is speaking. And he has spoken most clearly in Jesus.

Pray...

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Hebrews 1:1–3 “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

God speaks

I think that we sometimes think that God is silent. Unknowable. Unreachable. It’s easy to fall into a kind of deism that affirms belief in God but denies his activity in the world.

The first claim this passage makes is that God speaks. That he is a self-revealing God. Think about it: that we know anything about God at all is due to the fact that he has revealed himself to us.

The Bible opens with God speaking - Genesis 1:3 “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”

He spoke to the patriarchs - Genesis 12:1 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

He spoke to Moses to establish the old covenant - Exodus 34:27 “The Lord said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

He spoke to the prophets - 1 Kings 19:9 “At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””

The Bible says that God even speaks through what he has created. Psalm 19:1 “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.”

And as we will see in this series, the ways he speaks are many and varied. God is a speaking God.

Never in contradiction - Doctrine of immutability - God doesn’t change. All our confidence in his word and character are based on this belief.

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind. Has he promised, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

Making humans for fellowship implies a desire for communication. The point is that God wants to speak to you. He is not silent, distant, or unknowable. From creation to the covenants, God has always been revealing Himself. Our job is to become better at recognizing his voice. God speaks.

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God has spoken

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets...

We’ve already seen that there is a long history of God speaking in the OT. Primarily, God spoke through prophets - people like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and Elijah. Prophets were specially designated messengers that received God’s words for God’s people.

How he spoke to those prophets was diverse.

Moses would hear God audibly

Daniel had vivid dreams

Isaiah saw visions

Elijah received angelic visitations

He spoke through major events like plagues, droughts, or earthquakes, from which the prophets then interpreted the meaning.

Interestingly, we see all these same forms of communication in the NT. God still speaks in many and diverse ways. Again, this is what we will be looking at through this series.

God has spoken. But we need to understand that as good and true as OT revelation was, it was incomplete. God’s word through the prophets was partial. They saw through a veil. They got glimpses of what he was like, but they never saw the full picture. The OT revelation of God was progressive as God revealed more and more of himself.

God speaks. Through the prophets God has spoken. But God is still speaking, most clearly and definitively through Jesus.

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God is speaking

but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son…

Prophets were reliable guides, but their message and revelation was incomplete. Now God has spoken clearly and definitively through Jesus. The ambiguity surrounding who God is and what he is like has been dispelled. We know longer need to wonder what God is like; God is like Jesus.

In Jesus God has spoken fully, decisively, finally and perfectly.

Ezekiel portrayed the glory of God, but Jesus reflected it.

Isaiah expounded the nature of God, but Jesus manifested it.

Jeremiah described the power of God, but Jesus displayed it.

When we look at Jesus we see exactly who God is. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being. When an emperor wanted to mint coins an engraver would carve his image and likeness onto a hard metal stamp. Then he would place that stamp on a blank coin and strike it with a hammer. It would leave an exact impression of the original. This is what the author is claiming about Jesus. He is exactly what God is like.

Jesus himself made this claim. When the apostle Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus replied, John 14:9 “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” To see him is to see the Father. To hear him is to hear the Father.

God is like Jesus. God has always been like Jesus. There was never a time when God wasn’t like Jesus.

Jesus is God’s perfect Word - he is what God has to say.

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God speaks. God has spoken. God is still speaking. All of this affirms the truth that God speaks and wants to speak to you. His desire is to guide, equip, and comfort you throughout your life. While learning to hear his voice may take practice, God’s intent is not to be distant and unknowable. He wants you to know him. To recognize his voice.

Jesus said it this way: John 10:27–28 “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Two things stand out:

First, hearing God’s voice begins with being part of Jesus’ flock. Who is in his flock? Those who choose to follow him. A relationship with Jesus marked by repenting of sin and turning in faith toward Jesus is that starting point for hearing his voice. And his promise is that whoever does this will have eternal life, safely held in his hand for all time.

Have you made this decision to give your life to Jesus? Can you think of a time when you personally asked Jesus to forgive you and give you a new life? Would you do that today?

If you have made that decision then baptism is how you express it. We are planning a baptism in a few weeks. If you’ve come to faith in Jesus but not been baptized, complete a Connect Card and we will make sure you’re ready for that next step.

The second thing that stands out in Jesus words is simply the promise that those who are his have the capacity to recognize his voice. Some of you won’t remember this, but there was a time when a person’s name or phone number didn’t pop up when your phone rang. You just had to take a big risk and answer it. But even without those aids, if someone called that you were intimately familiar with, you immediately recognized their voice. Jesus is saying that you can have that same familiarity with him.

What would it be like to walk in confidence, not only that God speaks to you, but also that you can be sure it’s his voice you’re hearing? How would it change your life to have an expectation that God would communicate with you in some way surrounding major decisions? Would it make you feel more secure, more peaceful?

I believe this is not only possible, but is the right of everyone who follows Jesus. It won’t be easy because there are a lot of obstacles to communication on our end. But it is possible for each of us to grow in our discernment.

How?

The Japanese theologian, Kosuke Koyama, in his book Three Mile an Hour God writes, “God walks ‘slowly’ because he is love. If he is not love he would move much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed. It is 'slow' and yet it is lord over all the other speeds since it is the speed of love. It goes on in the depths of our life whether we notice it or not.”

God moves at the speed of love. If there is one practice we could incorporate in our lives that would help us to better hear God’s voice I think it must be the practice of stillness. Simply slowing down. To lay aside our schedule and the demands of the day just to sit in God’s presence in stillness. No compulsion to say anything or do anything. Just “be”.

I encourage you this week that you intentionally practice stillness. If you’re like me that can be hard. Start small - 5 minutes - and let it grow from there. And as you sit, just be mindful of your thoughts. In time, see if you begin to hear more clearly the voice of your shepherd.

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Communion

Have them stand… Invite the worship team forward…

Let’s rejoice together with all God’s people in the words of Psalm 85:

Psalm 85:8 NRSV

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

Father, we give you thanks that your desire is to be known by us. We praise you that this is possible through the salvation won for us by your Son, Jesus the Messiah. Through the blood of the cross he has washed our sins away. Through his victorious resurrection he has guaranteed us eternal life. Through his ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit he has made us one with you.

We remember Him who for us and for our salvation, on the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.