Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Let me begin by reading a short scripture, but such a powerful one. John 10:27.
[00:00:15] This is Jesus speaking. He says, my sheep listen to my voice.
[00:00:20] I know them and they follow me.
[00:00:25] Can I start with a question this morning, have you ever prayed and asked the question, God, are you really listening?
[00:00:36] You feel like you pray and you wonder whether God has actually heard.
[00:00:43] I wonder if we could ask another question alongside that one, which might be God, am I hearing you right?
[00:00:51] Because I believe that we are loved by a heavenly father who loves to hear our voice and he loves to speak to us.
[00:01:03] His desire is that there would be a conversation that takes place.
[00:01:09] Prayer is a conversation.
[00:01:11] Prayer is me talking to God and listening as he speaks to me.
[00:01:18] I can be honest. Sometimes I feel like my conversation is one way where I'm doing all the talking and I'm not doing much listening. Any other guilty parties?
[00:01:31] It's like God, I got my list of all of these things that I've got to get off my chest and I wonder if I would stop. And he says, can I speak to any of those for you?
[00:01:41] I think he wants to. I think he longs to speak to us.
[00:01:47] The Bible tells us that hearing God's voice is not just possible. It's actually normal for believers.
[00:01:54] We can understand that God wants to speak to us.
[00:01:59] You know, in the Middle east, often shepherds would have a small flock of maybe eight to 10 sheep, maybe a little more, a little less.
[00:02:07] They would be responsible for caring for those sheep.
[00:02:12] And as they would go out to the pasture, they would come back at night and there would often be a sheepfold. And that sheepfold could have multiple flocks of sheep within it.
[00:02:21] The shepherds would take turn to guard the gate, or they would become the gate. Jesus said, I am the gate.
[00:02:28] And they would create a protection for all of those sheep from all of these different flocks.
[00:02:34] But then there's a point where in the morning they go to find new pasture or new water, and at some point they have to find out who's who.
[00:02:44] And there's this moment where the shepherd will start to call the sheep and the sheep will respond.
[00:02:51] Many of them probably even named, but the voice of the shepherd was heard by the sheep, and the sheep would follow the shepherd.
[00:03:00] Friends, the question for us today is, do we know the shepherd's voice? Are we familiar with his voice, that we would hear it and be able to respond?
[00:03:12] I want to look at some truths from God's word that as we listen and we hear through prayer, we're going to Hear from our children. We've been praying and believing that they are hearing from God. But I want us to hear from God today. I want us to hear his voice speak to us.
[00:03:29] The first thought is that God desires to speak to his children.
[00:03:34] Can I just put a myth to bed right now?
[00:03:39] There aren't special people that hear from God, and that's reserved for them alone.
[00:03:44] God longs to speak to anyone who he has called to be his own.
[00:03:51] He'll even speak to those who haven't yet responded to Him.
[00:03:56] Come on. Maybe that is your story. Maybe that's your testimony that you were not walking with God and God called out to you through circumstance, through a word, through somebody else speaking into your life or hearing the gospel message. You heard God speaking to you. God wants to speak to you. Jeremiah 33:3. Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.
[00:04:22] Let that verse sink in. Call to Me and I will answer.
[00:04:27] God's not a distant deity standing afar, but as we prayed, he's a spirit living within us, choosing to dwell in our mortal bodies, made holy through the work of the righteousness of the cross.
[00:04:45] I shared that verse. Psalm 116. It's one of my life verses, a verse that I'll just keep coming back to. I love the Lord, for He heard my voice.
[00:04:56] He heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me. I will call on him as long as I live. Another version says, as long as I have breath.
[00:05:06] Well, I woke up this morning and I'm still breathing.
[00:05:10] So I'm going to pray today.
[00:05:14] When we have a relationship with someone, we can call them on the phone and we know their voice, right?
[00:05:20] So when I call Amy, I don't say, Hi, it's Mike DeVitta.
[00:05:29] I'm your husband.
[00:05:31] We got married 26 years ago.
[00:05:34] I don't have to go through the introduction. Normally, a hey, babe is about all that is needed for her to say, oh, it's Mike.
[00:05:43] I don't think any other men call her babe, so that's probably safe to say, but there's a familiarity with her voice that you don't even have to introduce yourself.
[00:05:56] My question for us is, does God's voice sound familiar to us?
[00:06:04] Let me just put another myth to bed as well.
[00:06:08] How many people have heard the audible voice of God? I'm keeping my hand down because I haven't.
[00:06:15] Just have a quick look around. It's only a few that have really heard the audible voice of God, I think sometimes we think that unless God is booming at us with a voice that we hear through a megaphone, that God isn't speaking. God speaks to us in so many different ways.
[00:06:34] And I have learned to hear his voice through other people, through that moment and space that I give Him. As I open the Word, I hear his voice speaking to me.
[00:06:46] And I want us to understand that hearing God's voice is something for everyone.
[00:06:53] Because when we understand that every single day, we can make an appointment with God and say, I want to hear what you have to say to me.
[00:07:04] I want to listen. I want to speak about some things that are on my heart. But more importantly, I want to hear what you have to say to me.
[00:07:15] A practical application for this thought that God desires to speak to his children.
[00:07:21] Why don't you, as you spend your time with God? I don't know what that looks like. There's no rules. I'm not going to set a guideline as to how you're supposed to meet with God or how you're supposed to spend time with God. But I would encourage each of us to make a time and make a place, turn up to the appointment with God, whatever that looks like for you. Maybe it's in the morning, maybe it's in the evening. Maybe it's in the middle of the day.
[00:07:46] Maybe you've got a young family and your kids are up at 5 and you are going hard until they go back to sleep at 11 or whenever it is, or they don't sleep at all.
[00:07:56] But find a place where you say, God, I'm going to be here to listen and hear your voice.
[00:08:05] But let's ask the question, let's pray the prayers of God. I thank you for this and I pray that you'll help me in this area and will you forgive me or forgive that person?
[00:08:17] I forgive that person. We might have that conversation with God, but could we also have this conversation that says, what would you like to speak to me today about?
[00:08:27] Can I hear your voice setting the agenda for my day?
[00:08:33] That's why I really like to meet with God in the morning.
[00:08:36] Because in the morning it's a brand new day. His mercies are new every morning. So I can deal with yesterday's and begin afresh in the morning and say, God, I'm listening to what you'd have to say to me.
[00:08:52] He loves to answer a heart that's truly listening.
[00:08:55] Would we grow with that relationship? Very similar to what Samuel had living in the temple under Eli.
[00:09:03] He heard God's voice Samuel. Samuel. He thought it was Eli calling him. So he goes to Eli. Yes, you called Eli didn't realize that it was actually God speaking to him until the third time.
[00:09:17] And he says, go back.
[00:09:19] And when you hear God speak to you, say this, Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.
[00:09:26] Could we make that our prayer on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, throughout the week? Could we make that our prayer? Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.
[00:09:39] So God desires to speak to his children. The second thing we know is that God often speaks in the stillness.
[00:09:47] He often speaks in the stillness.
[00:09:49] There's a moment in the story of Elijah where he is battled. He is like one of the biggest days of ministry you'd ever have.
[00:09:58] So there's this face off between the prophets of BAAL and Elijah, and Elijah saying, there's only one true God. And the prophets of BAAL are trying to create this sacrifice so that fire will come down from heaven. They go all day, and Elijah, saying it's not working, even starts to taunt them and mock them a little bit. Is your God on holiday or is he relieving himself?
[00:10:20] And then he said, right, you've had your turn. Now we're going to see the one true God. And he takes pictures of water. He does this all himself. So physically pours water on this trench over the sacrifice, drenches the sacrifice, and remember, this is in the middle of a drought, and he's pouring precious water over the sacrifice.
[00:10:43] And then he calls out to God, and God answers with fire, burns up the sacrifice.
[00:10:48] All of those prophets are destroyed in that day. Elijah goes and he prays because he's believing for rain to come. So he sends a servant out, and he goes out seven times, comes back. He comes back finally and says, there's a cloud about the size of a man's fist.
[00:11:04] Elijah sees that.
[00:11:06] He says, go tell the people the rain is coming.
[00:11:09] The Bible says he kind of hitches up his tunic because he didn't have running shorts back then.
[00:11:14] And the Bible says that he runs to Jezreel. Their scholars are somewhere between the distance of 17 miles and 30 miles, the distance from where he was to Jezreel. So that's running about a marathon.
[00:11:31] And he beats a chariot there. I wonder if it was the fastest recorded marathon in history. Who knows?
[00:11:36] But Elijah, he does this, and then he gets there and Jezebel confronts him and says, I'm going to kill you.
[00:11:44] So he starts running and he goes and hides. And he gets to this point where he says, I want to die.
[00:11:51] I'm done.
[00:11:52] This amazing moment of ministry. And then he falls under this intimidation.
[00:11:58] And so God feeds them something real practical. Sometimes we need to eat some food and have a nap.
[00:12:04] Sometimes that's good, practical spiritual advice.
[00:12:08] And God gives him strength for the journey. For the next 40 days. He goes out.
[00:12:13] God leads him to a mountain, goes into a cave, and they're having this conversation.
[00:12:20] And God says, come out onto the mountain.
[00:12:23] And a storm begins and the wind blows.
[00:12:28] The Bible text says the mountains were shattered or the rocks were shattered and it tore the mountains apart. And then verses 11 and 12, after the earthquake came a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
[00:12:47] As I said, often we expect God to speak in this booming voice and a voice that's loud.
[00:12:54] But so often I found that God speaks in the whisper, that gentle, still moment.
[00:13:06] Why? Because whispers require intimacy.
[00:13:10] When my kids want to whisper something to me, I bend down and I listen and I get in close.
[00:13:16] What is it? What do you want to say? My kids wanted to tell me a little secret this morning. Zoe gets in close.
[00:13:23] She's watching online. Hey, baby. Good to see you. Gets in close.
[00:13:28] We're gonna do something special for Mum today.
[00:13:31] That's great. Amazing.
[00:13:33] There's an intimacy in the closeness that we see.
[00:13:38] Elijah's day on Mount Carmel was chaos, miraculous chaos, but so busy.
[00:13:46] I don't know about you, but I can't get to the end of my task list every day or the week or the month or the year. There's always gonna be something more that I can do, we can do, right? I'm no busier than anyone else. But we all find enough things in our life to find ourselves busy, right?
[00:14:05] So we gotta make space in our life, in our world, in our walk with God, our relationship with him, to hear his voice.
[00:14:16] Here's what often happens when I make space in my day to talk to God. As I'm reading the Word, as I'm just sitting quietly, maybe praying in tongues, just sets my heart on my communication and my relationship with God.
[00:14:34] Often Holy Spirit will reveal and convict me of sin in my life, thoughts, attitudes.
[00:14:43] Maybe there's unforgiveness towards someone. Maybe there's an offense that I'm carrying.
[00:14:48] Why? Because God wants me to deal with those things.
[00:14:54] But what I often find and what I think we need to understand is that God often, in those moments, speaks to us not just about our walk with him, but he'll speak to us about others.
[00:15:10] I love that we are a part of a body we are part of a family now. For some of us, we don't have children.
[00:15:20] Maybe we feel like we're alone and we're on our own. But God says, I want to put the lonely in family.
[00:15:28] So when we give our lives to Christ, it's not just a personal salvation. It's a community. It's a family that we become a part of.
[00:15:39] I bring an important part to the body of Christ.
[00:15:44] I like to think of my role and responsibility as the little nail on the little pinky finger of the body of Christ. I got to do my bit as the little nail on the pinky finger.
[00:15:57] Some are seen, some are unseen.
[00:16:00] I don't even know exactly what the pancreas does, but it's good, it's needed, it's important.
[00:16:06] And I can tell you when something's not functioning right, the whole body feels it, and we should feel it.
[00:16:14] So what often happens is as I've made a commitment to have a number of people in my life. I can't have 100 or 200 or 300 people in my life, but I've got a small group of people in my life that I'm watching out for, I'm caring for, I'm thinking about, I'm praying for on a regular basis.
[00:16:35] And so when I'm alone with God and I say, God, what are you wanting to say to me?
[00:16:40] More often than not, I'll hear something for someone else because God wants his body to be strengthened.
[00:16:49] You know, the amount of times I've received a word from someone who was praying for me when they met with God, it's just encouraged me so much to be able to hear a word and say. I think I could encourage someone with this. Now my challenge is I think it often and I don't follow through with it enough.
[00:17:08] So I think I really want to bless that person. I just want to encourage them. I want to give them a scripture. And then you get on with your day and it's busy.
[00:17:16] But we got to take those moments that we're listening and hearing from God that actually he wants to speak to other people as well through us.
[00:17:26] Now, that changes the way we meet with God now, because now I'm not meeting just for me. I'm meeting for his body.
[00:17:35] I want to hear his voice for.
[00:17:37] For you, for others.
[00:17:40] Which means it's really important that each of us find our crew, find our family, get involved in a life group connected outside of church on a Sunday, because it could be very easy for us to come in every Sunday, sit Worship, receive the word, have a conversation or two.
[00:18:00] But are you known by somebody? Does somebody know your story? Do they know what's going on in your life? Do they know where you're at in your journey with God?
[00:18:10] Our heart and our desire is that all of us would have a small group of people that we could walk that journey with.
[00:18:19] Let's see if I can reveal the age of some of us.
[00:18:22] Anyone still got a transistor radio that they use with the little dial?
[00:18:27] Come on. Fantastic. Come on. There's a few builders on the work site that have got their transistor radio. Now, for some of you who are under a particular age, I won't say what it is. We don't want to divide the congregation.
[00:18:39] But believe it or not, you have to tune stations in on these. It's not just streamed live.
[00:18:45] And so you've got to get this frequency. Right. And if it's slightly out to the left or to the right, you're going to hear the static and it's not quite tuning in. Right. And you just got to adjust it a little bit and a little bit more, a little bit more, and there it is with clarity.
[00:19:00] I believe our walk with God is a constant fine tuning of the frequency to hear his voice.
[00:19:09] And so maybe that tuning into his voice might be.
[00:19:13] Actually, Mike, there's offence in your heart towards somebody. All right, okay, I'll deal with that. Maybe there's unforgiveness. Okay, I'll deal with that.
[00:19:21] Mike, you're distracted. You've got everything else going on in your mind except being here with me. Okay, I'll adjust that dial and tune in to here. God's voice and the last thought. And I'm going to close with this and invite the team to come. We're going to continue to worship and hear from our kids this morning.
[00:19:40] But the third thought this morning is that God's voice always aligns with His Word.
[00:19:46] God's voice always aligns with His Word.
[00:19:51] I've heard people say to me, God told me, or God said, But when they proceeded to tell me what God said to them, it didn't line up with what the word of God says.
[00:20:06] Sometimes we can attribute something to God, when actually it might just be my flesh, might be my internal thoughts rather than God's voice. So when we are thinking about God, is this you speaking?
[00:20:24] We need to work out whether it aligns with God's Word, because God's word is Jesus personified.
[00:20:36] John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God.
[00:20:42] So Jesus is the Word.
[00:20:45] So every time we open the Word of God, every time we make a decision to read the Word, we are connecting directly with God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Word that is spoken by the Father, lived out through the Son.
[00:21:03] The Word is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path.
[00:21:08] And so as we are praying and as we are listening and saying, God, is that you? What are you saying? We need to be responding in such a way that says, does this line up with your. Your Word? Is it true?
[00:21:20] John 16:13. But when he, the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
[00:21:27] God's voice will never contradict His Word.
[00:21:32] If you sense God saying something to you, but it contradicts Scripture, it's not God's voice.
[00:21:38] God doesn't lie. It's not confusing.
[00:21:42] You know, one of the things that we wrestle with sometimes is when something potentially is different to what God says in the law that we follow. But those are small and very, very minor.
[00:21:57] See, we're told in Scripture that we're to submit to the governing authorities above us, and so therefore the law we are to follow.
[00:22:06] Do you ever feel like God's telling you to break the law? He's not.
[00:22:10] Unless, of course, it contradicts his holy law and way of living. But like I said, there aren't many of those moments.
[00:22:19] When we live in our relationship with God, we also live in relationship with other people. Loving the Lord, your God with your heart, soul, mind and strength means that we love people and we treat people as though they are ourselves.
[00:22:33] Often people will come to me for wisdom and counsel.
[00:22:37] Do you know, I'm very cautious really to say what I think because, number one, I don't really know that much, but I know a little bit of what the Word of God says. And so every time we have these conversations, we'll always open in prayer. And I'd encourage you to do that when you're talking with friends, certainly if you've both got a faith or maybe they don't, but maybe you've built a relationship in such a way that you could have that conversation and say, would you mind if we pray?
[00:23:08] Because every time we pray, we are inviting God's wisdom into the situation.
[00:23:13] It's me saying, I know. I don't know everything.
[00:23:16] God, I need your help and I need your wisdom.
[00:23:20] So often in these conversations, it'll go something like this, well, what do we know about the Word of God? And what does the Word of God say in this situation.
[00:23:31] And as we look at the Word of God, we realize that there is an answer for every single problem we face.
[00:23:40] I remember a few years ago one of our youth back in New Zealand said, I think the Bible needs an update, needs an upgrade. Maybe a Bible 2.0.
[00:23:52] No it doesn't.
[00:23:54] It was just another conversation that convinced me that every generation wants to find new ways of sinning.
[00:24:01] Can I get an amen?
[00:24:04] And look, I mean it's been going on for centuries. Paul recognized this in Romans. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. We read in Romans chapter one.
[00:24:15] We're wanting to find ways to convince ourselves of the sin that we want to live within.
[00:24:23] But God's truth doesn't need an upgrade, it doesn't need a rewrite.
[00:24:30] What we need to do is we need to realign ourselves with the Word of God.
[00:24:36] If you're not sure what to pray, here's my encouragement.
[00:24:40] Open the Word of God and just pray through the Word of God.
[00:24:46] Find Jesus teaching and pray that you would live a life that Jesus lived in that same way.
[00:24:56] I remember talking with a young couple who were living together. They said, well, we're practically married.
[00:25:01] I said, are you married? Because in the law that we live under, it requires a relationship that's a husband and wife and there's a witness and there's an agreement that you will live together, a binding agreement.
[00:25:17] They said, oh, we don't need that because we love one another.
[00:25:23] Yes, but the Bible says that God will put his hand of blessing on a covenant relationship of a man and a woman.
[00:25:33] God puts together. Let no man separate. That's God's heart for relationship. And that's not judgment and condemnation. It's just God's best if you are in a relationship is to be in that married relationship.
[00:25:47] And I want to encourage you if you find yourself in that place, maybe you've been living together and why don't you just say God, why don't we make this a relationship where you put your hand of blessing upon it in that covenant relationship and it could happen. Look, we have done marriages for nothing.
[00:26:08] Like number one, it costs nothing for my services.
[00:26:12] Number nothing for this building.
[00:26:14] Invite a few friends, bring a plate of food each, and we can have a wedding.
[00:26:20] I think sometimes we feel like we're going to have this immaculate 20,000 pound wedding. We don't.
[00:26:28] And I'll tell you what, if anyone said we want to get married, let's make it happen.
[00:26:34] It's easier than you think.
[00:26:36] Let's get under that blessing of God's covenant of marriage.
[00:26:41] And I can promise you, you will see a difference in your relationship as you honour God in that place. Maybe you can come and talk to me. If that's you.
[00:26:50] Maybe the band can join me now. We're going to sing a song.
[00:26:54] One of the most exciting statistics from the quiet revival, we've shared some of this over the last month or two, is that there is an age group of 18 to 35 year olds who are actively coming back to church three times more than six years ago, four times more in some of those age groups.
[00:27:13] But what is fascinating is so many of them are going to find Bibles. They want Bibles.
[00:27:21] It's almost as though there is a generation that has said, oh, I've tasted everything the world has offered me and it's not what it promised.
[00:27:33] I truly believe. It's like that story of the Emperor's new clothes.
[00:27:38] Everybody just believed the lie, that there's only special people could see the truth and the reality.
[00:27:45] And there's some kids this, yeah, Bruce got no clothes on.
[00:27:50] I think that's what's happening with the lies, the. The ideology that's being pushed upon our generations.
[00:28:00] I think there's a group of people that are saying that's not true, but they're looking for truth. Where will you find truth? You find truth in the word of God.
[00:28:12] You find truth in biblical community.
[00:28:16] See, when I don't have enough knowledge and wisdom and understanding, I go to people who will help me, who speak life and truth into me.
[00:28:28] A compass always points north no matter where you stand.
[00:28:33] The word of God is our true north.
[00:28:36] We live in such a way that we would just turn back.
[00:28:43] You know, when I'm out of line with the word of God, I don't draw a line and say, this is where I want to live my life. I'm not going to camp here.
[00:28:52] Hopefully I've got people in my world that will go, mike, you're out of line, you're out of alignment with the Word of God will encourage me to find my truth and my roots back in God again.
[00:29:06] So how do we confirm what the Bible we believe God is saying?
[00:29:11] We check the Bible. Does it line up with God's word?
[00:29:15] Check the fruit.
[00:29:17] What's it producing?
[00:29:20] The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.
[00:29:26] Are we seeing a production of those things in our lives and the people that are in our lives?
[00:29:32] Check in with your faith, family.
[00:29:35] Who are the voices that are speaking into your life?
[00:29:39] Encouraging you, lifting you up, adding value to you.
[00:29:46] Say, mike, you can be better, you can be sharper, you can be kinder.
[00:29:57] Maybe it's the journaling of your prayers.
[00:30:00] Because as we're speaking, God will often say, wait.
[00:30:06] Got a friend at the moment who's in that wait period.
[00:30:11] I'm okay with the yes.
[00:30:13] I'm also okay with the no. Not quite so much with the no. I prefer the yes answers from God. But sometimes he says no. And I can accept that.
[00:30:21] What I struggle with, and maybe all of us struggle with, is when he says wait.
[00:30:30] But God's word also says, they that wait upon the Lord, show in you their strength.
[00:30:37] Wait patiently for the Lord to act.
[00:30:41] Because I've found in the waiting, that's where the growth is.
[00:30:49] But don't wait alone.
[00:30:52] Wait with others.
[00:30:54] Let other people know.
[00:30:56] Share that story with them so that they can wait with you.
[00:31:02] As we were going through the journey of waiting for children, which was our story, it was the deep, dark valley that as a family, we walked through.
[00:31:12] As we were waiting, we had people waiting with us.
[00:31:17] Now, on the other side of it, we now have people. We are in their waiting room with them.
[00:31:26] I often get photos.
[00:31:29] We'd often give books away.
[00:31:32] Some of the books that I've written, and I'd give them in faith, saying, you're going to read this to your children one day.
[00:31:38] We got a photo just a few weeks ago, I think Amy shared it of a family expecting a child after many years of waiting.
[00:31:47] They show me the picture of the book and the booties, the baby's clothing, saying, baby's coming.
[00:31:56] But we can be in that waiting room with others.
[00:32:01] So how do we hear God through prayer?
[00:32:04] Well, God desires to speak to his children.
[00:32:08] God often speaks in the stillness.
[00:32:12] And God's voice will always align with the Word.
[00:32:16] We don't have to be anyone special to hear God's voice.
[00:32:23] Well, actually we do, because we are special because we're his, but we can hear his voice because we are as sheep who know the shepherd's voice.
