Have we tuned our ears to hear God’s voice, or are we letting the noise drown Him out? What if He’s already speaking to us? Join us as we learn to listen to the good Shepherd.

EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.

---

OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

So, I have a major problem.  I’ve always played this joke on my kids that they will say something like, “Dad, we need to go soon” and I will pretend to mishear them and I’ll say, “did you say we need a goat platoon?”  They are always like, “Dad, that’s not funny…”  the problem is, now I’m starting to really not be able to hear them…  Lol, I’m getting old!  

This isn’t just an old person problem.  The other day we were in our car on the way to school and one of my kids popped up from reading their book and said, “You need to do something about that hair.”  I laughed and said, were you listening?  I asked the question because we had just spent about 5 minutes talking about the hair and how I can look like a rooster at times!  Lol, they hadn’t heard a thing because they weren’t listening…

We all have times we don’t listen so well, right?

B

But what happens when you don’t listen to God?

In this series, we are going to talk about “hearing from God”

But I don’t mean this in a generalized sense.  I mean actually hearing the voice of God…

ILLUSTRATION:

Have you ever heard some one talk about “Hearing God” speak and thought, “that’s a bunch of hocus pocus”?

I think that a lot.  I think LOTS of people misuse and abuse the notion of hearing from God.  They use it to justify all kinds of junk…

So, before we go too far into this short series, I want to do a few things today:

First, I want to normalize hearing the voice of God.  Hearing from God should be a normal part of the Christian experience and show you how even if you don’t think this is your experience, it might be.

b

Second, I want to give us some VITAL guardrails.  I want to protect us from weaponizing a part of what should be a normal piece of the Christian experience.

1. Is hearing from God normal or signs of a mental condition? 🙂

Lol, come on, you know that’s what some of you are thinking “hearing voices in your head Kent?”  That’s crazy…

But you do know this appears to be the normal experience of people in the scripture, don’t you?

[Put up as one slide so I can move through fairly fast]

• Abraham (Call of Abram: Genesis 12:1-3, Covenant with God: Genesis 15:1-6, Pleading for Sodom: Genesis 18:22-33)
• Moses (Burning Bush: Exodus 3:1-6, Mount Sinai: Exodus 19-20, Tent of Meeting: Exodus 33:11)
• Jesus (Baptism: Matthew 3:17, Transfiguration: Luke 9:28-36, Prayer in Gethsemane: Matthew 26:36-44)
• Paul (Road to Damascus: Acts 9:3-6, Thorn in the Flesh: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Prayer in Prison: Acts 16:25)
• Not to mention 
  • Old Testament: Adam & Eve, Noah, Hagar, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel, Job, Gideon, Manor & his wife (parents of Samson), Solomon, all the prophets, Balaam (a false prophet)
  • New Testament: Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, The apostles, Stephen, Ananias, Cornelius, John the Baptist

God seems to love to engage with His people…

Listen to how Jesus says this:

John 10:1-5, 14-16

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

ILLUSTRATION: 

There is a funny video on Youtube (youtube.com/watch?v=e45dVgWgV64) of this person trying to call this shepherds sheep over to them.  They call with the same words he uses to call them.  The sheep just ignore the person, but when the shepherd steps up and calls the sheep, all of the  sudden their heads look up, they see him, and when they do, they come running to him.  

Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd” and that his sheep follow Him because they KNOW His voice!

b

But Kent, I’ve never heard a voice, I don’t have visions or talk to really hot shrubbery, does that mean I’m not one of His sheep?

Can I take the pressure off of you?  There is a group out there of Christians that make everyone else feel like they don’t hear from God – they say things like “The Lord told me I was supposed to buy this thing or do that thing” and they make it sound like God us up there as their personal administrative assistant telling them when to do everything…

[reveal the below one line at a time]

But I’ll bet, if you say you’ve never heard God’s voice that you have: 

• Have you ever read something in the scripture and been moved by a thought that came over you?
• Have you ever been in a worship service and felt moved?
• Have you ever heard a sermon and felt like you were supposed to do something?

b

That’s the voice of God

ILLUSTRATION:

for me, I always know it’s the voice of God when it’s something that Kent, in his Kentness wouldn’t naturally do or think.  I’ve felt like I was supposed to call someone and encourage them, that’s not me.  I one time was telling God I love Him and I felt like I heard Him say back, “I love you too”  I just started weeping.  I’ve felt like I was supposed to buy someone gas – that’s not me, I’m more inclined to drive right by that person.  I have a buddy who said he was thanking God for all the blessings he has and he heard God say, “what are you going to do with it?”  

For me, God’s voice is not loud, it’s not shouting at me, it’s just quietly leading me like a shepherd.  “hey, don’t go over there…” or “hey, there’s some really good grass over here…”

Can I give you some Guardrails as we talk about this subject?

Because I’ve seen, particularly spiritual leaders, abuse people with this…

Guardrails to consider when learning to listen to God…

• If God has already spoken in the scripture about your situation – you don’t need anything more (If you are waiting to hear God on whether to stay with your spouse or leave them for your mistress – God has already spoken on that…)
• Be humble and test the spirits (Not every idea/thing that comes into your mind is from God or even you.  Test what you are hearing against seasoned followers of Jesus and against the word of God)
• God does not tend to operate in either-or situations (Giving God the options of “God it’s either this or it’s that” – if you’re truly inviting God to speak in your life, let Him speak what He wants to say, not your pre-populated answers)
• NEVER use what you believe God spoke to you as a means to beat others into submission – if God spoke it to you, He is more than capable of speaking it to them as well…

ILLUSTRATION:

Early on in ministry, I told a church that I felt God had told me we were supposed to move our congregation to a different building.  I don’t want to go into the specifics, but I felt like God convicted me, because in reality, I felt like we should make the move, but God had not directed me to do it.  

I confused my ego with God’s direction and in the process, manipulated the sheep as though my words were from the shepherd.

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:

Jesus is the good shepherd, and he laid down His life for you.  My prayer as I was writing this sermon was not that people would learn a lot about listening to God, but that they would actually tune their ears to the God who is speaking to them.  I have learned that as I age and my hearing actually gets worse, I have to lean in a little and actually listen to what people say.  I have to really focus on it and when I do, I can understand them.  What would it look like for you to tune your ears and your heart to God?  One of the ways to do that is to lean into God, we are about to sing this song and I want to invite you to come up to the alter and lean into God.  Pray and just tell Him, Jesus, if you want to speak, I’m listening.  don’t put any pressure on it, if you don’t hear anything, that’s alright.  But what if you do?  What if  when you say, “I love you” He says, “I love you too!” Back.  He has already said this to you!  Come and give your life to Jesus!

---