Good morning, CHURCH!

(Opening joke)

Isn’t it amazing how a man and a woman get so excited to get married? They have a wonderful wedding and even a romantic honeymoon.

This particular couple had enjoyed all of the former and now they were back home to get started with their new life together.

The very first morning back home together as husband and wife, they started arguing over who should make the coffee.

Being a good Christian woman, the wife went to the scriptures for her answer.

She came back to him and said that the Bible specifically stated that the husband should be the one to make the coffee.

He said woman please! The Bible says no such thing. She argued that it really does.

With a puzzled look on his face, the husband asked her where in the Bible it said that.

Very confidently, the wife opened up her Bible and said: “It’s right here. You see it says,

HE-BREWS.”

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s go to the book of John 10:27-28 ESV for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

John 10:27-28 ESV

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Theologians often speak of the general and specific will of God.

General voice of God and the specific voice of God.

When we have those big decisions in our life, we want to hear a specific word from God.

(Should I make a career shift, should I invest this money, what college should I attend, should I marry this person etc.)

Wouldn’t it be great to get God’s direction on every major decision we face?

The problem is that we often don’t prioritize hearing the general word from God regularly, which makes it difficult to hear that specific word when we need it.

When I met my wife caller ID wasn’t regular.

It’s the same way with hearing God speak.

The title of today’s message is:

When He Speaks

When God speaks things happen.

When God speaks what he says comes to pass.

(Genesis 1 God said Let there be...)

I believe that if I asked, “Do you value hearing from God?” Most of you would say absolutely.

But if we looked at your daily schedule.

Some value Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max and so on more than they value hearing from God.

And I don’t even think that it’s intentional for most believers, but we just allow ourselves to get so busy and so caught up with our day that we often forget or put it away for later and later usually never comes.

One of the best things about being a Christian is that the God who created it all wants to talk with you.

This wasn’t always available.

1 Samuel 3:1 ESV

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

The word of the Lord was rare in those days.

(Yaw-kawr) it means precious, highly valued!

Do you value hearing God speak?

I’m going to have two parts to my message today.

First, I want to talk about what happens when God speaks and how that is a benefit to us as his children.

Then I’ll talk about some practical ways to train yourself to hear from God.

So, I’ll talk about what happens when he speaks and how to hear him.

Part 1

When God speaks the Universe listens.

E.F. Hutton talks people listen.

Have you ever been in a tight spot? It seems as if your back is against the wall. Nowhere else to turn.

If God doesn’t come thru, you’re finished.

In 2 Chronicles 20, there are three armies that have surrounded Judah and Jerusalem.

Jehoshaphat prayed to the Lord, and this is what God spoke.

2 Chronicles 20:15-17 ESV

And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's.

16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel.

17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

2 Chronicles 20:21-24 ESV

And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,

“Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Instead of going into battle as they usually would, now that they have a specific word from the Lord, they are going to worship God and let him win the battle for them.

22 And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. 23 For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. 24 When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped.

If you find yourself in trouble right now or if it happens in the future, don’t loose hope, just get a word from God.

Psalm 46:10 ESV

“Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Is it possible that you don’t know that he is God in certain areas of your life because you haven’t been still to hear him?

Sometimes we fight battles that we don’t even have to.

Jeremiah 33:3 ESV

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Romans 10:17 ESV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Often times God will have you do something that seems a little ridiculous.

It takes faith to not fight in a battle your facing because you’ve heard from God.

And that faith comes from hearing.

Anyone of us would do what God said if we heard an audible voice.

But God doesn’t usually speak audibly so we need to get used to hearing him speak so that we know that we know that we know it is him speaking to us.

Now that we agree that we need to hear him, how do we learn the skill of hearing God speak?

Part 2

Schedule A Meeting

Do any of you get these emails like I do from maybe a dentist or eye doctor that says, it’s time to schedule an appointment.

Exodus 19:10-11 ESV

the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments 11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

What was happening here.

The Lord wanted to talk with the people so he scheduled a meeting.

He scheduled a time and a place.

Exodus 19:19 ESV

And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.

God showed up to a prepared atmosphere.

Could you imagine if you showed up here for Sunday service and there had been no preparation during the week.

We would have chaos; no organization and the Spirit of God would not be pleased and probably not show up.

God shows up where his people have prepared to meet with him.

God will show up regularly for you if you just prepare for him and schedule some time to meet with him.

If I were to schedule that vision appointment, they would give me a time and a place to meet with the doctor.

Just as we schedule times and places to meet with individuals or professionals, we should be scheduling a time and place to meet with God.

This week I want you to start scheduling a time and a place to meet with God.

Let’s talk about when a good time to meet with God is and where a good place to meet with God is.

You’ve probably heard people say that 5:30 am is a good time to meet with God.

Not everyone is a morning person.

Pick the time that you are at your best and able to focus in on God.

Could be lunch time for some.

Could be after the kids go to sleep for some.

Could be at a Starbucks or book store for some.

Jesus set a time and a place to meet with the father.

I shared this with you a couple of weeks ago.

Mark 1:35 ESV

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Jesus had a time (early morning) and a place (a desolate place).

Now that your ready to schedule a meeting with the father, it would be good to do these three things during the meeting. (Praise, Read & Pray.)

I personally like to start with reading the Bible and then listening to see what God says to me through what I just read.

Then I will turn on some worship music and sing songs of praise to the father and see where that leads me.

Sometimes it leads me into more studies and sometimes it leads me into hearing from my father.

Dr A often likes to start with worship and allow her worship to lead her into her hearing from her father. And I know she likes to change it up because she doesn’t want it to get routine for her.

But however you do it, the main thing is that you do it.

Let me give you an idea of what to pray for when you pray.

Pray for whatever is on your heart.

Pray for whomever is on your heart.

Pray things that you have read in scripture.

Let me give you an idea of what to read.

Anywhere in the Bible.

The Bible app has so many reading plans and devotions.

For wisdom you can read a proverb of the day of the week.

You can read some O.T. and some N.T. each day.

And read a dynamic translation.

Let me give you an idea of how to train yourself to hear from God.

Write your prayers and the answers.

The best way I know to train yourself to hear the voice of God is to write when you are meeting with God.

Write your prayers to God.

Write what you think God is saying to you as an answer to your prayers.

Write what you thing God is saying to you through the scriptures you read.

Now when something big comes up, you’ll be used to hearing God speak to you.

Psalm 45:1 ESV

My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

He was saying that his heart overflows with gratefulness while spending time with God and he has to write it down as he addresses God his king.

1 Chronicles 28:19 ESV

“All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the Lord, all the work to be done according to the plan.”

As he would write what God was saying to him about building the temple, he would understand it as he wrote it.

Habakkuk 2:2 ESV

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.

(Closing illustration)

A young and financially successful advertising executive out of Chicago thought he had no time to spend time with God daily.

or

A Listening to God exercise.

John 6:16-21 ESV

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles,[b] they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

If you’re watching online or here in the room, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is Holy Spirit saying to you right now?