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We All have Need…So Ask I. Introduction: I like to begin each sermon with a reminder of the importance of getting ready to receive the Word of God. As you read these questions, realize the conditions that are required for the Word of God to produce fruit in your life. a. Who believes they will hear the Word of God today? b. Who is ready to have the Holy Spirit teach them? c. Who has come to humbly receive God’s Word today? d. Who is ready to put the Word you hear today into practice? e. If you allow God to enable you and to help you to do these things, His Word will produce much fruit in your life II. Before we begin today’s lesson, let us first review what we have learned in the previous six sermons. a. Without abiding in fellowship with Jesus we can do nothing worthwhile. b. One way to help maintain this type of fellowship is by Asking, Seeking, and Knocking (A.S.K.) c. We need to ask and keep on asking. i. We are helpless on our own and prayer needs to be the foundation of everything we do. d. We need to seek and keep on seeking. i. We are not supposed to seek after things; we are supposed to keep seeking to “See the King”. ii. In other words, we are supposed to keep seeking after God’s rule in our lives. 1. Remember, rule and rules are different. 2. Rules are external guides that may be helpful but they cannot make us fruitful. 3. Submitting to God’s rule in every decision is what makes us fruitful. 4. One of the hardest parts of seeking God’s rule is hearing His voice. 5. We can seek God’s rule by hearing His voice through sign and wonders, the Bible, circumstances, the Church and through prayer. iii. God is speaking, are you listening? e. Hearing from God can be difficult. i. On our own, we tend to misunderstand what God is saying. ii. On our own, Satan tries to deceive us and can even use signs and wonders to misguide us. iii. On our own, our selfish and deceitful hearts can twist what God is saying. iv. This is why we absolutely need the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth and application of what God is saying. f. Only the Spirit can guide us into the truth of what God is saying. i. One way the Spirit helps us to know God’s voice is by helping us to know God. ii. We need to know God well enough to know what He would and would not say. iii. Our natural minds cannot properly know God. iv. We need the Spirit to guide us into knowing God through the Bible. v. We need the Spirit to guide us into knowing God through our experience. vi. Part of allowing the Spirit to guide us into knowing God, is allowing the Spirit to change our mind by burning away any wrong “mental maps” we have about God. III. Another way the Spirit guides us into the truth of what God is saying is through helping us to know God’s voice. John 10:4 a. Note God’s sheep are able to follow God because they know His voice. b. The sheep follow His voice: not a plan, not just the Bible, but the voice of the living God. c. God expects His people to be able to hear and recognize His voice. IV. It is hard to develop a close relationship without two-way communication. a. Many Christians try to develop a relationship with God based upon one-way communication. i. Some try to have a relationship with God by reading a book about God (the Bible and other Christian literature). ii. Others try to build a relationship with God by coming up with their own ways to work for God. iii. Still others try building a relationship by talking to God without listening. b. Reading about God, serving God and praying to God are important aspects in building a relation with God. i. The Bible tells us to study the Word, to serve God, and to pray. 1. When done according to God’s will, all three of these activities can deepen our relationship with God. 2. When done in fellowship with God, we can get to know God by reading the Bible, praying or serving. ii. However, all of these actions can be a waste of time if you are not able to hear from God. 1. In studying God’s Word you need to be able to hear from Him so He can teach you. 2. In serving God you need to be able to hear Him so that you actually know what God wants you to do. 3. In prayer you need to be able to hear from God so that you can actually pray according to His will. c. Don’t skip over the relationship to get on with the doing! i. Don’t skip over the relationship so you can feel good about reading, serving or praying. ii. God is more interested in walking with you in loving fellowship than He is in you doing something for Him. V. Note also that God says His sheep, not His lambs, know His voice. a. This implies that a level of maturity is required to be able to consistently recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd. b. Knowing God’s voice only comes through a consistent, intimate love relationship with God. 1 Sam 3:1-7 c. Note that God was speaking to Samuel, but young Samuel could not recognize God’s voice. i. Why did Samuel not recognize God’s voice? ii. He did not know God and the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to Him (vs. 7). iii. Samuel could not recognize God’s voice without these two key elements and neither can we. iv. Let’s look at these two important keys. VI. In order to know God’s voice you must know God. a. The word “know” is the Hebrew word “yada”. Know: Essentially yada` means: (1) to know by
observing and reflecting (thinking), and (2) to know by experiencing…."To
know" God is to have an intimate experiential knowledge of Him. b. Recognizing God’s voice comes from an intimate experiential knowledge of God. i. Last time we looked at how we need the Spirit to help us to know God through the Bible and through experience. ii. We need to allow the Spirit to help us to know God well enough to know what God would and would not say. 1. However, our knowledge of God needs to go beyond knowing about God. a. It needs to go beyond knowing what He likes and dislikes. b. It needs to go beyond knowing how He works. c. It needs to go beyond knowing what He wants you to do. d. It needs to go beyond knowing that He loves you. 2. In order to recognize God’s voice, we must know God intimately and experientially. c. To know God’s voice we need to know Him intimately. d. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines intimate as: 2: marked by very close association, contact, or familiarity 3 a: marked by a warm friendship developing through long association[1] e. Both of these definitions are very appropriate to describe the type of relationship we need with God in order to be able to recognize His voice. i. Note that an intimate relationship is a very close relationship. 1. Some of us are content to know God from a far. 2. Others want a close relationship with God. 3. But note that an intimate relationship is a very close relationship. ii. In order to be able to consistently discern God’s voice, we need to be in very close relationship Him iii. It is only through an intimate relationship that we begin to recognize voices. 1. My brother likes to play jokes on me. 2. He often calls my office and tries to disguise his voice and pretend like he is stranger calling to ask a question. a. It almost never works. b. I have been in hundreds of hours of conversation with him. i. I know what he sounds like when he is upset, tired, grieved, and happy. ii. I have been in such a consistent and close relationship with him, that I can even recognize his voice when he tries to alter it. 3. God never alters His voice, but Satan and even our own hearts often try to imitate it. 4. We need to have such a consistent and close relationship with God, that we are always able to discern His voice. VII. How do we come into this intimate experiential relationship? a. Some believe that you can learn to know God intimately and experientially by simply serving, or worshipping God. b. It is not this simple. i. Simply being in God’s presence or serving Him or worshipping Him does not necessarily mean you are growing to know Him. ii. Being in the presence of the Lord does not mean you know Him. 1. Samuel grew up in the tabernacle. 2. In the Old Testament, the tabernacle was where the presence of the Lord abided. 3. Yet young Samuel did not know God. Tradition states that Samuel was about twelve years old at this time. He had grown up in the presence of the Lord and learned to serve in His tabernacle, yet he did not have a personal experience with the Lord (v. 7).[2] iii. Note that vs. 1 tells us Samuel ministered to the Lord. Ministered: sharath (shaw-rath'); a primitive root; to attend as a menial or worshipper; figuratively, to contribute to: (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.) 1. You can grow up in God’s presence, you can serve God, you can worship God and you can still not know Him intimately and experientially. VIII. So how do we get to know God? a. There is no formula for growing in an intimate experiential relationship with God. i. I cannot tell you that you will grow in a relationship by reading 3 chapters in the Bible a day, praying for an hour, giving up smoking, functioning in the body as an Evangelist and learning to recognize God’s love in your life everyday. ii. This may be the exact way that somebody grew into a deeper relationship with God, but it is doubtful that it will be your way. iii. Each of us was created as a unique individual, and each of us grows with God in a unique way. IX. While there is no formula, I believe we can find some keys in Scripture to growing to know God intimately and experientially. Eph 3:14-19 a. In this prayer, Paul prays for a chain of events that would lead to the saints being able to know the love of Christ and being filled with the fullness of the Godhead. b. I believe vs. 19 expresses the level of experiential intimacy in which God desires us to walk. c. I like the way the Amplified version expresses it. Eph 3:19 i. The word “know” in vs. 19 is the Greek word “ginosko”. 1. In this Scripture it carries the connotation of knowing by experience. 2. God wants us to really know by experience His love for us. ii. Note why He wants us to experience His vast and powerful love: that our beings might be filled with the richest measure of His divine presence. iii. This is the level of an intimate experiential relationship in which God desires us to walk. iv. This is the level of knowing God we need in order to consistently recognize His voice. X. Note some of the keys we are given that aid us growing into this relationship. a. Prayer (Eph 3:14) i. Paul prays that the Lord would do these things in their lives. ii. Remember prayer needs to be the foundation of everything we do. iii. If you want to know God, ask Him to help you to know Him. b. The Family of God (Eph 3:15) i. Note Paul specifically mentions the family of God in vs. 15 and prays that all the saints would comprehend God’s love. ii. We need to function as the Body of Christ in order to grow into the fullness of knowing God (Eph 4:11-16) c. The Spirit (Eph 3:16) i. We need to be full of the Spirit. ii. The Spirit strengthens our inner man so we can overcome the flesh. iii. The Spirit strengthens our inner man so we can walk in the miraculous power of God. d. Christ (Eph 3:17a) i. Christ needs to dwell in our hearts. 1. The heart in the Greek represented the center of our thoughts and desires. 2. The word “dwell” carries the connotation of permanence. ii. Christ needs to be at the center of our thoughts and desires. 1. Christ comes to dwell there by faith. a. Faith is a powerful belief that makes Christ as real to you as your closest friend. b. True faith produces the fruit of works (Ja 2:26) c. God desires that our faith produce in us a loving obedience. 2. It is a loving obedience that allows Christ to dwell in us (Jn 14:23) e. We also need a consistent love for God (Eph 3:17b) i. The love that produces obedience needs to be more than a passing fad. ii. Love needs to be the constant foundation of everything built in our fellowship. iii. “Rooted and grounded in love,” indicates that love is the foundation upon which all else is built. iv. No other foundation can support the relationship God wishes to build with you. f. We need a spiritual understanding of God’s love (Eph 3:18). i. God wants us to mentally grasp the depth, height, length and width of His love. ii. In other words, God wants us to be able to comprehend the vastness of His love for us. iii. Part of walking in an experiential relationship with God is mentally comprehending the greatness of His love towards you and others. g. As we allow God to leads us into these key steps, we will begin to experientially know His love and we will be filled with His fullness. h. This is the depth of relationship we need to consistently hear and recognize God’s voice. XI. Not knowing God was not the only thing that hindered Samuel from recognizing God’s voice. 1 Sam 3:7 a. Note that the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to Samuel. b. In order to consistently discern the voice of the Lord, you must wait for God to reveal His Word to us. c. In other words, to hear God, you must wait for Him to speak. i. Do not get impatient, but learn how to wait for God to reveal His Word. ii. If we get impatient, we can make a message out of the static. 1. It is like waiting for somebody to talk to you on a HAM radio. 2. Sometimes while your waiting all you hear is static or white noise. 3. Don’t get impatient and let your own heart or Satan make a message out of nothing. iii. Learn to wait on God. XII. Waiting is not passive. a. Passive waiting can lead to a spiritual lethargy. i. We do not want to wait like the wicked and lazy servant in the Parable of the Talents who buried his talent and did nothing. (Matt 25:25) ii. Waiting on God does not mean doing nothing. b. Often when waiting we should use the time to actively examine ourselves, empty our hearts and be spiritually attentive. c. We need to examine ourselves to see if we are positioned for God to reveal His word to us. i. We need to look at ourselves and make sure that there is nothing in our lives that would hinder us from allowing God to reveal His word to us. 1. Pride can cause God to resist us (James 4:6). 2. Sin we have not dealt with can separate us from intimacy with God (Isa 59:1-2). 3. Not recognizing God as God can cause us to be spiritually insensitive or callous (Rom 1:21). 4. Doubt can harden our hearts (Mk 16:14). 5. Habitual sin can harden us against God (Heb 3:13). ii. Sometimes God is waiting to speak to us because we are not in a position to have His Word revealed to us. iii. If you are waiting on God, examine yourself to make sure there is nothing in your life that would hinder you from hearing God’s word. d. Another way we actively wait is by emptying our hearts. i. When waiting we often need to empty our hearts of ourselves. 1. When waiting to hear from God, we should ask the Lord to help us empty ourselves of our own wants, fears, and ideas. 2. We have talked before about the fact that our own deceitful hearts can corrupt what God says to us. ii. George Muller, a mighty man of God who pastored a church in England during the nineteenth century, said that 9 tenths of his problems of hearing from God were solved when if he could just get to the point where his heart had no will of it’s own. iii. Often God is waiting for us to empty ourselves of our wants, fears and ideas so that we can correctly understand Him when He speaks. e. Finally, as we wait we need to be spiritual attentive. i. After we have asked God to speak to us, we need to pay attention. 1. Remember, Scripture tells us if we seek and keep on seeking we will find. 2. One of the problems we have in hearing from God is a short attention span. a. We ask God for an answer, stay quite for a minute or an hour, and then we let our focus wander. b. To hear God, we need to seek and keep on seeking. ii. We need to remain attentive to hearing from God until He reveals the fullness of His word. 1. This means paying attention to all aspects of how He might speak to us. 2. Remember, in Scripture we see God speaking in at least 5 different ways: signs and wonders, the Bible, the Church, circumstances and prayer. 3. We cannot dictate to God how we want Him to reveal His Word to us. a. God has the prerogative to speak how He wants to speak. Job 33:14 b. We need to be paying attention to all aspects of how God may speak to us. c. If God is trying to speak to us through circumstance and we want Him to speak to us through prayer, we may not perceive what He is saying when He speaks. iii. Spiritual attentiveness needs to be persistent. 1. It can be dangerous to go with your first impression when listening for God. 2. When we think we hear from God, we need to make sure that it is truly from God. 2 Cor 13:1 3. Note that every word should be established by two or three witnesses. 4. We need to make sure that what we think we hear from God, lines up with Scripture or some other way God is speaking to you. a. A great many problems have risen in the Charismatic church because people thought they heard from God, when really it was their own hearts or Satan. i. Through growing in a love relationship, there are times when you will have absolute certainty that you are hearing from God. 1. In these times when you have the conviction and peace of the Spirit that you are hearing from God, move immediately. ii. However, there are many times when you will think you are hearing from God, but you do not have the conviction and peace of the Spirit. 1. When God reveals His word to you, if you do not have a crystal clear understanding of what He is saying, He will usually confirm His Word through other “witnesses”. 2. If you are unsure as to what God is saying, persevere at paying attention and wait on God to make things clear. Lesson Summary:
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