Hearing God's Communication by Brother Curtis Hansen

         Good morning. Today we are going to read from the book of John chapter 10. We will be reading from verse 3 to verse 5.

        3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

        4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

        5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

        The message this morning is about communication and how to actually hear what is being said. In last week's message regarding Jonah, he had heard from God and he ran from his calling. The problem for man isn't being able to hear God, it's what man wants to hear from God.

        God is a communicator. If you were to look at the first 11 chapters of Genesis, God is communicating often. He spoke the world into existence. There was no communication back to him until God created man. Man was created by God for two different reasons. To give continual praise and to communicate. God wants to communicate with you still today. If you look at Genesis chapter 1: 26-28, God created man in his own image to have dominion over the earth and all living things upon it. He also blessed man to be fruitful and multiply. God is still blessing man today, but he also has given man a purpose. God gives us direction. If we return to Genesis and look at chapter 2 and verses 16-17, God gave Adam and Eve directions to be explicitly followed. God is such a devout communicator that an overview of all the scripture of the Bible showed that there are 416 times where it was written the people prayed to God and verses where God spoke? There are over 2000 verses.

        You may be here thinking this morning, "How does he communicate? I can't hear his voice." God communicates in various ways. Sometimes his communication is in the Bible. You read something and the scripture opens your understanding. It is your responsibility to hear from God in your week. There are a lot of people who hang on every word their pastor gives as it was from God himself. No, the words from the pulpit is not a surrogate or translation for each individual in the sanctuary. The word from the pulpit is instruction for the church as a whole. God is talking to you all the time. A tool you can use to hear from God is fasting. There are other tools you can use beside fasting like prayer. When you are reaching out and communicating to God, you should double your listening and lessen the talking. We were created to communicate but also to listen.

        Now when Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, they immediately heard the voice of God. Sin can separate you from God personally but not from his voice. No matter how difficult and hard life can get for you personally, you will never not hear the voice of God.

        Going back to the moments after the original sin; did God immediately call out Adam and Eve? No. He wanted a conversation with them. Why are you hiding? Who told you you were naked? 

        Let's touch on the phenomenon of The Lord speaking to me. There are many many people who proclaim this and as a believer you should be skeptical of the source as well as discerning. Many times people proclaim they heard from God, but it's their flesh they listen to. You may feel anger or envy at a word from God. You may think that you are in an exclusive echelon of believers who hear from God. There is no club of select and special members with God. You are all special. You open your ears to listen what he speaks to you, you will not contradict the word of God, the pastor or the prophet.

        Now, life is a blessing for man given by God and man needs to seek getting direction in his life. If you are in a spot in life where you don't know where you should go and you feel confused by life, start praying to him. Prayer is a primary form of communication to God. A word will come to you after you fall short or make a mistake. The only obstacle in stopping the word in our life is us. The pastor gets a word for the church. You should hear for the word in regards for your life.

        There are abusers who "hear" from God. They wear you out with essentially empty and hollow words. Just because there is abuse prevalent doesn't mean God isn't speaking. If you look through the years after King David, many kings sought out a word from a prophet who "heard" from God. These were men who sought favor from the king and to satisfy their flesh. God wants to talk, to speak to you and give you a direction. You can get a word from God yourself if you are hearing what is being said.

        I've been talking about God speaking and to listen for his voice. Why is it so hard to hear? Going back to an earlier point; sin doesn't separate you from the voice. Hard of hearing isn't due to a lack of devotion or discipline spending time in God's presence. The problem is in not turning down the assorted noises we are surrounded by. When you remove some parts of the world that is detrimental to your spirit life, that helps in lowering the overall noise from the outside. A noisy life is one full of distractions. This week, pause and be mindful during your week and see how God communicates with you. Some people would think you have to attune or cue up your spiritual senses to God. What does spiritual mean though? Anything we do, we expect God to be there. Whether it's fasting, preaching, binding, loosening, prayer, praise, worship. You have things you do which are spiritual and those that are carnal or of the flesh. So, what is carnal? Carnal can be the day to day minutia of activities and actions which you don't need God's assistance on. There is a danger in lulling yourself into compartmentalization of your day regarding what you can do and what you need God for. You are parsing bits of your day into two separate categories.

        The first time spiritual is mentioned is by Paul in the book of Romans. In Romans, Paul wrote that all parts of our life should be spiritual and not segmented of separated. The term of prayer without ceasing is thought of as long winded, excessive prayers. The real action of prayer without ceasing is in moment to moment when you should call upon God. Constantly in the spirit- everything matters to God. You may see some things in your life as inconsequential or insignificant but God doesn't. Everything matters to him.

        Spiritual isn't something you became or arrive to, you are already there. The lines are open and the workers are few.