SoulShift: Ask to Listen

Growing up we owned go-carts.

We had a blue one that had a roll cage on it. My dad took some fiberglass and made it look like an outlaw sprint car.

It was pretty cool. I had the honor of driving it in a Christmas parade one time.

We had a lot of fun on them!

We had this land behind our house that my dad turned into a little circle dirt track that we went out and road the go-carts on.

So, we had this big blue one and then we had this smaller red one that sat low to the ground. It was much quicker!

Since my brother and I are competitive, we turned everything into a race.

So, one day he was on the red, quicker one, and I was on the big blue one.

We decided to race and so my dad comes up to me before we started and said something similar to:

“now listen son (he said this a lot), he is on the quicker go-cart so I am going to put you on the inside of the track. And you are on the bigger one so as you go into the corner, don’t be afraid to stick your nose in there.”

Like a good son, I listened to my dad. We started off and of course, he got a bit of a head start - as we came up to turn one, I did what my dad said and “stuck my nose in there.”

Unfortunately, I took what he said a little literally and ran right over the top of my brother’s go-cart and tangled them up.

My dad came up to me and said “I told you to stick your nose in there, not run over the top of him.”

It was quite the time that we had on those things.

Communication is a funny thing, isn’t it?

What one person means to be figuratively, we sometimes take literally, or vise-versa.

Communication matters! How we say things and what we say matters!

But, at the same time, listening matters just as much.

As I heard what my dad said to me, I didn’t understand exactly what he was saying.

It was important that I listened to what my dad was meaning as well as what he was saying.

Sometimes, our relationship with God is like this as well.

How many of us have a hard time listening to what God is saying?

How many of us have a hard time knowing when God is talking to us?

This morning, we are going to talk a bit out how God speaks to us.

Before we dive in to specifics, let’s look at what scripture has to say about listening to God.

John 10:27 NIV

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Mark 4:23 NIV

23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

John 5:25 NIV

25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

Revelation 3:20 NIV

20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

So, as we can see, there is lots of scripture about listening to God!

I am thankful that our God is one that is active and wants to speak to us!

The disciples had followed Jesus for two years before the transfiguration.

Mark 9:2–10 (NIV)

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

So, these are Jesus’ three inner-circle disciples who had been following Him for two years, and they still needed to be told to “listen to Him.”

But why?

Well, in verse 10 they were still trying to figure out what Jesus was talking about.

The disciples clearly didn’t know everything just because they were disciples.

They were still learning to listen to Jesus.

A bit later Jesus explains again to His disciples that He was going to leave them.

Here is the dialogue

John 16:5–13 (NIV)

5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 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.

So, Jesus tells them that it is a good thing that He was going to leave them because He would send His Spirit to speak to them.

He is saying to them that the Truth was now going to be inside of them.

They would no longer need to ask and gather information from beyond who would be inside of them!

The disciples were about to learn that they needed to shift from

Ask to Listen

shifting from asking to listening means shifting from an external voice to an internal voice.

It means that rather than trying to find out all the answers from someone else, that you learn to listen to God.

It means to shift from being taught to being led.

The authors write: “Even after we have walked with God a while, we still tend to get our answers more from without than from within. Our problem is not that we seek counsel of wise friends, follow good leaders, or trust informed voices. Its is more that we seek only these things and never learn to hear the voice of God within us.” - Steve DeNeff and David Drury

How many people remember the “what would Jesus do movement?”

We wore the cool WWJD bracelets. The idea of the WWJD movement wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it comes from the book “In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon.

It’s been a while since I have read it, but it’s a good book.

But, the concept of always asking WWJD has a good intention, but a fundamental flaw.

If we follow this principle, we are always asking the question and seemingly never coming up with the answer.

What if, instead of asking WWJD, we just knew what Jesus would do?

We could create some bracelets with KWJWD on them, and get rich!

This is the idea of shifting from asking to listening.

When we listen to God, we allow our passions, desires, and knowledge to become like God’s passions, desires, and knowledge.

When this happens, we stop asking God for specific answers to specific questions and ask for God to reveal who He is and His will to us.

Then, when this happens, we learn the answers before we even need to ask, because we know God and His passions, desires and knowledge!

This doesn’t mean that we no longer listen to others or seek advice from others, but it means that we listen for the voice of God first and we get to know God on an intimate level!

Here are some difference in asking and listening:

When we ask, we are always talking, so our minds are active and busy. But when we listen, we are not talking, so our minds are passive and open to new directions.

When we ask, we want to know something, so our interests are confined to the things we want to know. But when we listen, we want to know what God tells us. We learn to ask according to the answer God gives us at the time. That becomes our subject of interest.

When we ask, we expect an answer and want it to be clear and practical. We grow impatient with prolonged waiting. But when we listen, we are not in control of the One talking (God), so we are more patient and open to ambiguity.

When we ask, the relationship with the One speaking (God) is peripheral. We value it only so far as it helps us to know God’s will. But when we listen, our relationship with God is the reason we are talking to Him.

Rather than asking God for things that match our agenda, we need to listen for what God wants to share with us.

Rather than asking “Lord, what should we do?” we should ask, “Lod, what is important to you.”

“The answer to the first question will get us through the next few weeks. The answer to the second questions will shape us for the rest of our lives...” Steve DeNeff and David Drury

Read the marry paragraph from the book.

You see, when this shift happens, it becomes less about us going to God like a wise genie who grants us information, and challenges us to get to know who God is!

Instead of asking “Lord, what should we do?” we ask “Lord, what is important to you?”

So, then the question that we are challenged with is: how do we shift?

1 (and only). Get to know God

Spend time in His Word. Understand who Jesus is!

When God helps me to lead someone to Him, the first question new christians usually asks me is “where do I start reading in the Bible.”

I usually tell them the best place to start is Leviticus - memorize the laws!

No, just kidding!

I advise them to start in the gospels, particularly in John as His spin is how Jesus is truly God.

Read about Jesus. Get to know Him! Fall in love with Him!

Spend time in prayer! And not just asking your lists for requests, but listening for His voice.

Asking to get to know Him.

Ask Him to reveal Himself to you!

Take a day a month to spend time with Him.

Leave your technology at home, take a Bible, journal and a pen, and go somewhere alone to be with Him!

Spend time reading scripture and praying.

Have no agenda, but getting to know Him.

“The key is not to get God to speak up - it’s to get the world to shut up!” - Steve DeNeff and David Drury

Ask Him to help you see Him at work in your life and the world.

Which leads me to the closing thoughts - how do we discern God’s voice?

1. When God speaks, it is always consistent with scripture!

The methods that God uses to speak to us may change, but He will not contradict His character that is seen in scripture.

I don’t think that Peter used an iPad and a projector when he preached on the day of pentecost, but God still spoke.

When I preach, I use and iPad and a projector....yet, I hope He is still speaking.

If God tells you to go murder someone, it is probably not Him.

If He asks you to steal something, it is probably not Him!

So, the first thing you should do if you feel like God is speaking to you, is to compare it with scripture.

Does it reveal who He is? It useful for building up the kingdom of God and His church?

Then it is likely Him!

2. He will use His Church

Many times we think that we hear God’s voice, but are unsure if it is really Him.

This is one of the reasons that He gives us His church!

He surrounds us with other believers so that we can help each other.

We should be coming together wrestling against what we think is God’s voice.

God often speaks through His church. He encourages through others.

He challenges us through others.

And He teaches us through others.

This is one of the main reasons that small groups are so important!

There is a Swedish proverb “Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow.”

When we surround ourselves with others, we can help discern the voice of God!

3. He speaks in ways that are consistent with how we function!

This to me is an interesting concept.

I have always said that God is often sarcastic with me. And, I believe this is true.

However, He may not be sarcastic with someone who doesn’t appreciate the gift of sarcasm that I am told that I have.

If you are someone who is black and white, God will often speak to you in ways that are black and white.

If you are someone who takes a lot of time to make a decision and want to weigh out all of the details, He will likely give you something to think about way in advance of when it needs to happen so that you have time to process it.

If you’re someone who often likes to make decisions in the company of others, He will often speak to you in presence of others.

So, be aware of how you function, and know that God will often use that to speak to you.

4. Sometimes He speaks to us through our circumstances!

Next to reading scripture, this seems to be the way that God speaks the most.

My mentor told me one time that God often speaks similarly to how a boat functions.

You see, if a boat is not moving, you can’t steer it.

But, when the boat is moving, you can direct it to where it should go.

If we want to know if God is speaking to us, we often need to start moving.

Start serving others and see if God is calling to to something.

Do you think God is asking you to give more, start giving and see if He confirms it.

It He asking you to change careers? Put out some feelers and see where He leads you!

Several years ago, I was an associate pastor.

Things were not going well between the pastor and I. We had a bit of a difference of thinking on many things.

However, I had only been in this position for a few months.

I had also changed jobs several times in just a few years.

When I accepted this position, I made a promise to myself (and to God) that I wasn’t going to leave this position for a long time unless God physically picked me up and moved me.

Wellllll, things were not good. My mentor, and many others, told me that this position was toxic and that I should move on.

But, I had decided not to because of the promise that I made to myself and to God.

I ended up going back home over Christmas break and went to a Christmas eve service. After the service, my family had a get together in the basement of this church.

The minister stayed around for a while and I began visiting with her.

I had never met her before and she had no idea who I was, let alone anything about my situation.

I began sharing some things about the situation, but tried to leave out my frustrated feelings.

She basically told me that this was not a good situation and I should look somewhere else.

All of my family said the same thing.

So, my mentor, a random pastor, my friends and all of my family told me I should quit.

But, I told God I wasn’t going to.

So the night that we got back to our home, I was laying in bed wrestling with what to do.

I told God again that I wasn’t leaving until He said to go.

And I felt, for the first time, a moment of release from that position.

I questioned God and He told me, and I will never forget it.

“Caleb, you don’t have to justify my call before man, I will take care of that.”

And I said okay, but you need to work this out.

So, the next morning I slept in just a bit and received a message from the pastor that I needed to get there ASAP because we needed to have a meeting.

So I went, and the meeting went horribly. I was calm and cool and shared by frustrations respectfully as he asked why I looked sad.

He became furious and was yelling at me. And it became clear. He is heart for ministry and my heart were on two different pages.

He came into my office later that afternoon and said he thinks its a good idea to start looking for another job.

God confirmed His call.

I ended up taking my first call as a senior pastor and had an amazing next experience in ministry.

God used my circumstance to lead me to where He wanted me to go!

Worship Team

There is a story in the book about a man who ended up taking a job that he didn’t expect that he would take.

Share the story!

5 schools and hospitals in the next 4 years!

People still ask Earl, “Boy, you got out at just the right moment - how did you know?” He always says, “I didn’t know. God knew, I guess. He just happened to convince me to do something more important.” - Steve DeNeff and David Drury

You see, for Early, God used the circumstance of a mission trip for him to know what God had been saying to him.

God made it clear to him what was ultimately important.

When we shift from ask to listen, we no longer are focused on our agenda, but on God’s.

And, when we listen, the things that are important to God become important to us!

This morning, if you need a shift…it’s beautiful!

It’s meaningful!