Spirit

Winding down series “Is That You, God?”

Seen how we can hear God’s voice through scripture, common sense (wisdom), circumstances, community, and always and most clearly through Jesus. Jesus is what God ultimately has to say.

This week we are looking at hearing God’s voice in the way we might initially think of when thinking of hearing God - through direct, supernatural means of the Spirit. Things like dreams, visions, prophetic words and words of knowledge. This is some of the most exciting ways we can hear God speak, but if we’re honest, also maybe some of the most frightening or perplexing ways.

While I don’t think we should expect these kinds of interactions on a daily basis, I wonder if we have any expectation for them at all. Do we still believe God speaks supernaturally to us today? Was this experience confined to people in Bible times, or maybe to particularly holy people - like pastors?

“No, you will pastor the church in Fort Smith.”

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve felt like I heard the almost-audible voice of God or received a vision. Yet, I think my lack of frequency is more related to problems on my end than God’s.

How about you? Have you ever experienced a direct message from the Spirit? A dream. A vision. A check in your spirit that you knew you weren’t the source of? A moment when you knew deep down that something beyond your own reasoning was at work?

Would you be willing to believe that this is possible, and that God wants to lovingly lead you in more direct ways?

I love the passage from Psalms that says:

Psalm 32:8–9 NLT

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”

The promise here is that God WILL guide you. But he would rather guide you as someone who walks in a listening posture instead of the kind of person who lives from personal instinct. I believe that God consistently speaks to those who consistently listen and obey.

This morning we are looking at one of my favorite passages about hearing God’s voice directly through the Spirit. It is exciting. It is perplexing. In many ways it leaves questions unanswered. But I think it gives one of the best images of what a life in the Spirit can look like for those who are open to it.

Pray...

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The passage we’re looking at comes in the context of Paul’s second missionary journey. To offer a little context, if you were here last week, you might remember that God spoke by the Spirit through the community about what to do about all these Gentiles that were coming into the church. With this good news in hand, Paul and Barnabas decide it’s time to go visit the churches they had established on their first missionary journey.

There wasn’t a direct word from God to do this. But Paul was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and so this made sense in keeping with his calling. Paul is a brilliant man, and so he very likely has a plan in his mind of where he will go and in what order.

Do we have any planners in here? You have vacation planned down to where supper will be each night. Plans are very good; but as we will see, sometimes God disrupts our brilliant plans for his own purposes. In this case, through the direct intervention of the Spirit, he radically alters Paul’s plan and changes the course of Christian history.

Acts 16:6–7 “They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;”

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Paul has it all laid out. After visiting the cities in Phrygia and Galatia, it makes logical sense to enter the area known as Asia at the time. Lots of population centers here to plant churches in. Great strategy. But God says “No”.

OK. Well if he doesn’t want us going into Asia, let’s go north to Bithynia along the Black Sea. Great weather, large cities. And again, the Spirit doesn’t allow them. What gives?!

The first thing we see is that sometimes, we Hearing God’s voice in a divine “No”. Paul apparently never finds out why the Spirit restricted his movements. And what is really perplexing is that we are not told exactly how they heard this “No”, only that it was clear and unmistakable.

What are ways it could have happened?

Circumstances - some kind of unrest in those areas.

One of his companions or someone at one of the churches they visiting could have had a prophetic word for them.

Usually if its one of those things the writer tells us. My guess is that Paul or one of his companions simply had an inner “check” in their spirit. They knew at a deeper level that the Spirit was giving them a “No”.

It’s worth pausing to stop and consider when God’s says “no”. It’s not enough that we are open to God directly speaking. Are we open to God saying something that we don’t want to hear? Are we open to God changing our plans or closing a door we really want to go through?

How do we respond to his “No”? Honestly, I’m usually hurt or frustrated. Why would God deny me this? Why would he not let this happen?

One way I’ve learned to accept the “No” is by trusting that God would not say “no” unless something wasn’t ultimately good for me or for someone else. As a parent, there are times when your “no” is more loving than a “yes”, even though your angry teenage doesn’t understand at the time.

The point is that God’s supernatural closures are not arbitrary. They are the Spirit’s means of either protecting you OR preparing you for a greater mission. We must learn to hear God voice through his divine “No”.

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After what must have been a very frustrating journey so far - think about it, Paul has done A LOT of walking, only to be turned aside at the last minute - twice! Like, why couldn’t God have told him the correct path from the start?!

After what must have been a frustrating journey so far, we read this:

Acts 16:8–9 “so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.””

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They can’t go into Asia. They can’t go north. So they decide to go west to the port city of Troas. This was never on Paul’s radar or part of his plan when he set out all those weeks ago. But what we see is that when our best human plans are exhausted is when God’s divine voice becomes clearest. Here is where we become open to Hearing God’s voice through a divine “Go”.

All ambiguity is gone. Now Paul has a direct vision from the Spirit. He sees a man from Macedonia - modern day Greece - pleading with him to come over and help us. We’ve moved beyond circumstances, common sense, and good advice. This vision from God is:

Specific - a man of Macedonia

Clear - come over and help us

Urgent - He was pleading

God speaks supernaturally through dreams and visions and other means. Mary received a visit from an angel. Joseph knew he needed to flee to Egypt to protect Jesus through a dream. The gospel went to the Gentiles bc Peter had a vision of unclean animals and a voice saying “kill and eat”.

Now Paul discovers the reason for the divine “No’s” by receiving a vision for a divine “Go”.

There is a voice of caution in my head that thinks “You should caveat all of this with ‘this isn’t the normal way God communicates today’”. But I want to ignore that voice. I want to speak hope and faith and expectancy over your life that at any moment of any day, God could invade your space with a his divine voice that says “Go”.

And when he says “Go”, what will you do?

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Here’s what Paul and his companions do:

Acts 16:10 “When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.”

This seems a little anticlimactic. He literally has a vision from God - and so decides to go to Macedonia. Duh!

But notice that even with a vision, he still leans upon his community for discernment. Notice the “we” and “us”. The word translated “convinced” literally means to “put two and two together”. Dreams and visions CAN be the result of a bad burrito, so we still need to look for confirmation.

Having received a divine “No” and finally a divine “Go”, the last thing we see is that we must Obeying God’s voice for a divine “Grow”.

Obedience to God’s supernatural voice through the Spirit is often a catalyst for some of our greatest personal growth. Often it is what gives us the courage to take that step of faith where fear had been holding us back. It was a vision that brought Julie and I back to the Vineyard after having attended and leaving less than impressed. And obeying that vision I think is fair to say has brought about the greatest personal growth in our lives - along with some of our greatest blessings.

In addition, Obedience to God’s supernatural voice through the Spirit is also the catalyst for some of God’s greatest mission growth. Paul’s act of obedience led to the conversion of a prominent woman named Lydia, the deliverance of a demon-possessed girl, and the salvation of a Philippian jailer and his entire household. That was the immediate growth.

But the impact was even greater. His little boat ride across the Aegean actually brought the message of the gospel to a whole new continent. Because Paul obeyed the divine “no” and responded to the divine “go”, the gospel went West. If you are a Christian today, this is why.

The truth is that we have no idea what God might do through our “Yes”. New horizons will be opened in your life, new growth will happen, when you obey God’s voice for a divine “grow”.

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If there is any warning or condition to what I’m preaching today, it’s this: God consistently speaks to those who consistently listen and obey. If we establish a pattern or ignoring God’s voice, we will find we are less likely to hear it. You may be here today and it feels like you don’t or can’t hear him clearly. Let me ask you; is there something that you know God has been telling you to do that you’ve been putting off, or that you’ve just said “no” to? Maybe the way to unlock God’s voice in your life is to go back and do that thing you have been disobedient about.

Has God been telling you to start giving and you’ve been putting it off?

Has he put it on your heart to serve our kids but you selfishly don’t want to?

Is there a relationship he’s been telling you to end because it’s not healthy?

God’s voice consistently comes to those who consistently listen and obey.

Today you may be hearing God’s voice that it’s time to stop riding the fence with your faith. You’ve heard enough of the gospel to know that God loves you, that he sent Jesus to die for you and take the consequences for your sin, that he offers you a new kind of life - that’s what eternal life is in the Bible - not just a life that goes on forever, but life in a new capacity. You know all this but you’ve never surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord. Would you do that right now?

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There was a young man named Patricius. He was the son of well-to-do family living in Briton. His family were Christians, but he was very disinterested in faith. Until tragedy struck. At 16 years old, his family’s villa was attached by pirates. He was captured, taken far away, and sold into slavery. For six years he worked for his slave masters as a shepherd under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. But during these six years, something happened in Patricius. He cold faith came alive. He spent his lonely hours praying and singing. His love for God blossomed.

And then, after six years, he had a dream. It was time for him to go and that his ship was ready. When he woke up, we acted on his dream and escaped to the coast. Sure enough, a boat lay at anchor and he convinced them to take him on board. He eventually found his way home, but he was now a very different person. He wanted to serve God, so he traveled to Europe where he eventually became a priest. And then he had another dream. In his dream a man named Victorius handed him a letter, and as he read the letter he heard the voices of the people who had enslaved saying "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us."

He was eventually made a bishop and send back to the people who had enslaved him. But he now has a supernatural love for them. We know him as Saint Patrick, and through him the gospel came to Ireland.

How?

I’ll offer two suggestions:

“Go back to go forward”. Repent - if you know there is something you’ve not been obedient in, start there.

Cultivate a “when” not “if” attitude. Have you ever noticed how people live who are 8 month and 3 weeks pregnant? They are ready to go to the hospital at any moment. They go about their life as if ANY moment might be THE moment. That’s the nearest example I can get to. Learn to cultivate a pregnant expectancy that at literally any moment God may speak supernaturally and you are ready to respond.

God speaks through dreams and visions. Maybe he won’t send you as a missionary to a foreign land. But what doors might he open for those who are open to his voice?

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Communion

Have them stand… Invite the worship team forward…

Let’s rejoice with all Gods’ people in the promise of God’s guidance found in Isaiah:

Isaiah 30:21 NLT

Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

Thank God for his loving guidance...

Thank him that speaks beyond the limits we put on him…

Thank him that he was spoken most clearly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus...

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.