Sermon Tone Analysis

How Do We Hear From God?

Have someone dial my cell phone.

Answer it, act like you can’t hear them, and then the call is dropped.

Then act like trying to dial out but can’t get any signal.

Walk all over twist and climb trying to obtain a signal.

Since the invention of cell phones we have become even more dependent on being able to instantly contact someone, anytime, and anywhere.

The average american household pays around $60-$120 a month for cell phones.

If your a family of 4 that is an average of $240-$480 a month for just the convenience of being able to instantly get a hold of each other.

My work place requires me to have a cell phone on me at all times so in an emergency they can call me in.

I also volunteer as a chaplain for the Webb City Police department, where I could be called in at anytime.

I am at any time day or night, just one phone call away from total disruption of my normal activities.

I, my family, and especially my wife are used to me being on call.

All of my adult life I have been on call for either my job, or ministry.

Back before cell phones I had to carry a pager on me.

I also had to make sure I had change on me at all times so I could find a phone booth somewhere if the pager went off.

My point is, our need for communication has always been important.

From smoke signals, letter carriers, telegraphs, telephones, to two way radios.

For anything to run efficiently there has to be good communication between all that is involved.

Good communication is not only important for business, and society, it is important for the individual, the couple, the family.

While our methods of communication have appeared to improve over time, when you study the effects of modern communication you find that people misunderstand each other more when they communicate electronically.

I remember when hotmail came out.

I was a young backhoe operator and didn’t work in an office, but I overheard a couple office guys talking in the breakroom out at Atlas powder how this new computer thing was going to ruin how people communicate.

I remember when the internet first started and email

How true that statement was.

I have since worked in an office for a large corporation where I have seen emails totally misunderstood, and taken out of context.

To make things worse emails have been reduced to SMS messages which stands for short message service “texting”.

Relationships are not as strong as they used to be due to communicating by text messaging.

A text message lacks the ability to hear the volume, and tone of the persons voice, you can’t see the facial expressions someone has when they text.

You can see how it’s sometimes impossible to know if someone is pleased with you, or if they are angry with you in an email or a text.

I know they have added emoji’s to electronic communication but I wouldn’t have a clue what most of them mean.

Families in this country as a whole are also failing to effectively communicate with each other.

Not all of them, there are still a few families that are an exception and still have a time alone as a family to share their lives with each other.

When I was a kid, mom would always have dinner ready at 5:00 sharp, we would all sit down for a nice big meal, and talked about how our day went.

Families were stronger, and closer back then than they are today due largely because of the family time at the dinner table.

There is a lot to be said about breaking bread together whether it be family, or the church family.

Relationships grow, people get closer, and more personal with each other.

I apologize for getting on a soap box this morning.

I know that the pulpit is not place to air a persons personal views, but I am just stating the facts as I have seen them in my 53 years on this earth, and I am leading into how important it is to have good communication with our Heavenly Father.

Good communication with God is so much more than just us throwing up a list of wants, and needs once or twice a day.

It’s not asking Him to bless the food we are about to eat.

Communicating with God, is even more than just praying, even if we pray right, good communication with God is so, so much more.

Let’s take a look at how we can communicate with God better.

Let’s look at the different ways in which we should effectively communicate with God.

We see the model of the human race effectively communicating with each other and how much closer we are to each other when we have effective communication, and the bond that a family builds when they spend time together, talk, and share experiences together, the good and the bad experiences.

The more we have good quality communication with God the closer of a relationship we will have with Him.

The closer the relationship we have the more in love we will be with Him, and Him with us.

“The Holy Spirit Says”

The first way we communicate with God is through His Holy Spirit.

Verse 7 in Hebrews Chapter 3 says, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says”.

The Apostles, and Prophets are not the only people the Holy Spirit speaks to.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us Christians as well.

What does the Holy Spirit say?

In these passages He says Today, if you hear His voice.

What does God’s voice sound like?

He sounds different to every person.

He made each and everyone of us unique.

We all hear, and react differently to the voice of God.

Some of us don’t hear Him at all.

The scripture says today, IF you hear His voice.

Some of us are too busy, or we are making too much noise in our life to actually hear what God has to say.

For some He speaks in a still small voice, and we don’t slow down enough too pay attention enough to know that He is talking to us, and what He has to say.

Others he speaks loudly as He did to the Israelites.

When He spoke to them it was loud enough the Bible says the mountains shook.

He speaks loudly to some of us through circumstances in our life.

We get so loud ourselves complaining about the circumstances we drown out His voice speaking to us.

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Then there are those like the Israelites who could hear God’s voice shaking the mountain, and they straightened up for a little while, but they soon hardened their hearts and rebelled against Him.

They were so selfish, so self centered they rebelled against God and did what they wanted to do.

They tested God, and God does not like to be tested.

God commands that the Israelites not test Him.

God only allows us to test Him when it comes to tithing.

The word used in both scriptures that is translated test in our language is actually two different words.

The word nachah is a Hebrew word that means more tempt than test.

You ever have your parents say “don’t tempt me there boy” tempt them to what, punish you severely of course.

God is saying don’t tempt Me boy, I don’t want to lay my wrath on you.

God was very angry with them.

What happens when you are angry with someone, it’s difficult to talk to them, we don’t want or care to talk to them while we are angry.

Thank God, as Christians we receive the Holy Spirit to live in us to speak to us, to guide us on the right path.

We don’t follow the law anymore to be saved, but with the Holy Spirit guiding us we will want to follow the 10 commandments if we listen to Him.

The problem is we let our minds, our fleshly selfish desires rule us.

These desires distract us from listening to the Holy Spirit.

How do we focus on hearing the Holy Spirit?

We focus on the Spiritual things, we read our Bible, we fast and deny our body it’s earthly desires, and we pray unselfish prayers by praying prayers of praise to our most High God.

Verse 9 in Romans goes on to tell us we don’t have to be ruled by our own desires because as Christians we have the Holy Spirit in us, that is the perk of being a Christian, as belonging to Him.

It says that non-believers don’t have that Holy Spirit in them to guide them away from their selfish desires.

Let’s go on to read

We need to remember these words when we start falling prey to our own desires.

We shouldn’t use our fleshly desires as a crutch to sin.

We can’t use the excuse that we inherited sin in our flesh from Adam.

Instead what we have inherited is the Spirit of God who lives in us to speak to us to help us to say no to our earthly desires.

We Hear From God Through The Church

Let’s move to

God has chosen to speak to us through each other.

He speaks to us through the apostles, and prophets by inspiring them to write His Holy word in the scriptures.

He speaks to foreigners through missionaries who speak, teach, and act out His Holy word.

And He speaks his word to us by calling some of us to be pastors, and others He calls to be teachers.

New Christians are still considered to be babes in Christ.

They don’t know how to hear from God, they don’t know what God sounds like, so they can be fooled by false teachers.

That is why we can’t allow spiritually immature Christians to teach in our churches.

We may be able to hand them some DVD, and written material, to teach from.