This week I have posted one of my sermons. If you would prefer to watch it on video, I have provided a link. The video picks up after paragraph #4. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/QVzLxehEXKQ
Good morning, it is an honor and a blessing to come before you in this House of Prayer. I am glad that you are here today and I hope you know how much the Lord loves you! Can you hear me okay? Good, it is important to be able to hear well. I talked to my doctor about that very thing not long ago. Now, I didn’t tell him about problems that I was having, I mentioned some concerns I have had about my wife. See, we have been married for a while and I told the doctor it seems to me like she is losing her hearing. So, the doctor gave me a test I to give her when I got home. He said talk to her from across the house and see if she hears you. If she doesn’t answer, move closer and try again. He said to keep moving closer and closer until she responds. So that’s what I did. I got home and she was in the kitchen washing some dishes. I went to the back of the house and I said, “Hey Honey, you got a minute? I want to ask you a question.” No response. I moved closer. Same question – again no response. I tried it several times, moving closer and closer – still no answer. My heart grew heavy. Finally, I was right up behind her and I said, “Hey honey, got a minute?” And she whips around and says, “For the tenth time, yes! What is it?” See, she heard me. She had been responding and speaking to me all along; the problem was not with her – the problem was with me! I was not hearing what she was saying.
I think that happens to us in our spiritual lives sometimes too. We think that the Lord doesn’t hear us. We think that He is not responding to us. We think that the Lord has shut off communication. Some people even assume that the Lord no longer speaks. The Bible lets us know that is a wrong assumption. Jesus said in John 10:27-28.
John 10:27 My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My Hand.
That’s good stuff. I love the Gospel of John. It shows us God’s clear desire to speak to us and to reveal Himself to a lost world through Jesus Christ His Son. It is through John’s gospel in chapter 3 that we learn that God so loves the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have everlasting life. God sent His Son to proclaim this message. During His earthly ministry when He was proclaiming that message, Jesus received various types of reactions just like He does today. Some believed, some weren’t sure and there were many others who refused to accept His claim to be the Son of God. Jesus addresses all of these people in John chapter 10. Jesus tells a parable about sheep and shepherds. It is a parable designed to show the dependence the sheep have for their shepherd. Following the parable, Jesus announces in verse 14, “I am the Good Shepherd, I know My own and My own know me.” In fact, Jesus goes on to say, “Not only do they know Me, they hear My voice and they follow Me.”
When I read this passage, I think about how awesome it is that Christ wants to be our Shepherd. David said in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” David knew that the Lord wants to meet all of our needs. It’s true, the Lord desires to take care of us and guide us because He sees us as His sheep. As I look at these verses it occurs to me that if we, as His sheep want to be protected, blessed, and taken care of, we need to follow the Good Shepherd. That means the sheep must learn to hear and recognize His Voice. I have been asked many times if God still speaks. The answer to that question is, “Yes He does!” The Lord still speaks because He still desires to bless His Sheep; He wants us to follow Him. He is able to bless you as you hear Him and respond to His Voice. So I want to share a message today entitled, “God Still Speaks.”
The Lord Still Speaks
1. By His Spirit.
The first truth that we need to acknowledge is God speaks by the power of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 16 Jesus spoke to the disciples about His impending departure and how they were to carry on His ministry without Him. This troubled them greatly, but Jesus told them they would not face that time alone. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. He said in John 16:13:
John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 “He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.
It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that God speaks to us. The Greek word for Holy Spirit is paraclete. (Not Parakeet…My brother, sister and I had a parakeet when we were kids growing up and all that bird could say was “don’t, stop, I’m telling”) I’m not saying parakeet I’m saying paraclete. Paraclete means “one who comes alongside to offer help”. The Holy Spirit offers help. What kind of help? Whatever kind you need! For one thing, we need help understanding that we need Christ. We like to think that because we aren’t as bad as some people that we aren’t that bad at all. The truth is that any sin, one sin, a little sin separates us from the Holy and righteous God. If we die in our sin we are separated from God for eternity! See it doesn’t matter if you aren’t as bad as someone else; you aren’t as good as God! The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and calls us into a lifesaving relationship with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is used by God to lead us and guide us. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is the Helper, the Teacher, the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and abides in ALL believers. Because He comes from the Father and abides in all believers the Holy Spirit is able to disclose to us the things of God.
When we say the Holy Spirit discloses the things of God, it means He opens them up to us. He gives us access to the thoughts and desires of God. Through this disclosure, the Holy Spirit speaks to us. He doesn’t speak the thoughts of selfish little kids fussing and fighting – words echoed by a parakeet – no! He speaks the words of THE Paraclete. He comes alongside to speak words of help, words of comfort, and words of truth. He speaks the will and the wisdom of the Father! He speaks the things of God. Yes! God still speaks. He does it by the power of the Holy Spirit and #2; He speaks primarily through His Word.
God Still Speaks
1. By His Spirit.
2. Through His Word.
Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16
2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
We are so blessed to have access to God’s word in the bible. As Paul said in his second letter to Timothy, all scripture is inspired by God. A literal translation of the Greek word “theopneustos” is used by the NIV which says, “All scripture is God-breathed.” That means that all of the words in the bible emanated from God. When the men who wrote the various books of the bible picked up a pen to write, they were writing at the direction and inspiration of God. When we read the bible we may see different styles of writing and different personalities of those who wrote, but whatever passage we read, we are seeing words from one author. We are reading the words of the Living God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Creator of the Universe, the words of Him who called all things into existence.
Sometimes people say, “I wish God would speak to me.” My response is, “He has! He has given you His word!” Pick up His book! It’s the #1 best seller of all time! He’s got something to say to you. Whatever your situation is, God will speak to you about it. Any problem, any obstacle, any hindrance and any fear you may have has already been addressed by God in this book. My 5 year old granddaughter Avery sings a song, “The BIBLE – that’s the book for me! I stand alone on the word of God, the BIBLE!” The words of Holy Scripture, the words of the Bible, of God disclose to us God’s will. God speaks by His Spirit, through His word and # 3; God speaks through His People.
God Still Speaks
1. By His Spirit.
2. Through His Word.
3. Through His People.
After His glorious resurrection and His victory over death, Jesus commissioned His disciples to go forth and carry His message. He said to them in John 20:21
John 20:21 “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
The Lord calls on His people to speak on His behalf. In chapter 37 of Ezekiel, the Spirit of the Lord carried Ezekiel out to a valley filled with dry bones. God asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel answered, “Oh Lord, only You know.” Then God commanded Ezekiel to speak to the bones. Ezekiel spoke on God’s behalf just as God commanded. Then God’s spirit came upon the bones and caused the bones to come back together and to come alive and form an exceedingly great army. God then sent Ezekiel to go and speak to the people just as he had spoken to those dry bones. Now catch this; God chose to speak through Ezekiel even though God could have spoken directly to the bones and to the people all by Himself. It pleases God to speak through His people. That’s not just Old Testament theology. Jesus said, “As the Father sent Me, I am sending you.”
As believers we are called not just to be vessels of righteousness but to also be voices of righteousness. Just as Christ came and spoke words of life, words of salvation, words of comfort and words of grace, we are to go forth and speak those same words. And I have to tell you, there are people in our neighborhoods, in our work places, in our schools, in our families and in our spheres of influence that desperately need to hear His words. Paul reminds us of this fact in Romans 10:13 – 15.
Rom 10:13 for “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
You say, “I’m not a preacher.” And I say, “Yes you are!” We all preach something by the way we live and how we walk and talk. If you have placed your faith and trust in Christ as your Savior, you have been sent to share the good news with somebody! The Lord is sending you to speak words of mercy, words of comfort, words of grace and words of salvation. He is sending you to speak words that can make an eternal difference in someone’s life. He is sending you, because God speaks through His People! God speaks by the Holy Spirit, His word, His People and through OUR CIRCUMSTANCE.
God Still Speaks
1. By His Spirit.
2. Through His Word.
3. Through His People.
4. Through our circumstance.
The bible says in Proverbs 16:9,
Prov 16:9 The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.
There are so many times that we do our planning and our strategizing and we think we have it all figured out. Sometimes we are so intent on carrying out our plans or having things go our way, we don’t place ourselves in a position to listen to God. Because our vision can become so limited, God has no other option but to speak to us and disclose His will to us except by directing our circumstance. He causes situations to arise in our lives that place us where He wants us to be, not where we want us to be.
In the Old Testament there was a young man named Joseph. Joseph was a godly young man who did his best to live a righteous life that honored God. Joseph was given a vision by God that one day, he would be in a position of authority over his older brothers and they would bow down before him. Joseph promptly went out and told his brothers about this and they got so upset they threw Joseph in a pit and sold him into slavery. Joseph was carried off to be a slave in the pagan land of Egypt. In Egypt Joseph was thrown in prison for a couple of years, but eventually he was elevated to a position of authority. Twenty years later when a famine threatens to starve his family, his brothers come and they end up bowing down before Joseph just as God had said. As the story unfolds, Joseph was able to forgive his brothers because he saw that God was in charge of his circumstances. Joseph told his brothers, “What you meant for evil, God used for good.”
My opinion is that God knew that Joseph, godly, righteous Joseph would have never considered going to live in Egypt; which was a land of pagans. Joseph would have thought that he must be hearing wrong, so God orchestrated events and allowed Joseph to be sold in to slavery so He could get him in Egypt. God speaks to us, leads us and directs us by events in our lives because sometimes that is the only way He can get us to where He wants us to be. God speaks by the Holy Spirit, through His Word, through His people, through our circumstance, and my last point today, TO OUR SPIRIT.
God Still Speaks
1. By His Spirit.
2. Through His Word.
3. Through His People.
4. Through our circumstance.
5. To our spirit.
David said in Psalm 16:7 :
PS 16:7 I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
God speaks to us in many ways. He even speaks to our spirit, through that still quiet voice, through burdens He lays on our hearts and He even speaks to our spirit through dreams and visions. Please understand that all of those ways will always line up with His word. Oh my goodness the Lord desires to speak to us and that means that we must be willing to receive His counsel. We need to engage ourselves in the prayerful study of His word, we must be willing to listen to those that He sends to speak to us, we must spend time considering how we see Him moving in our circumstances and we must have a quiet time where we just listen to the Lord speaking to our spirit.
I want to share with you a personal testimony of some ways that the Lord has spoken to me. My wife and I were married in 1985. At that time I met her grandparents, who we affectionately referred to as Nana and Grandpa. Nana was a very loving, compassionate lady and she loved to serve others. That was a good thing because the man she married loved to be served! Grandpa was born to a poor family and worked very hard all of his life. He was still running his own loan business well into his 80’s. In the first few years of our marriage, I felt like I got to know Grandpa pretty well. I remember one night down in Harlingen, Texas sitting around the kitchen table with Nana and Grandpa and Marta and the topic of heaven came up. During the conversation, Nana expressed that she knew she was going to heaven because she had placed her trust in Christ many years before.
As we rejoiced in that, my attention turned to Grandpa who seemed to be fidgeting in his chair. I asked him if he had placed his faith in Christ. He fidgeted some more and passed his hand through the air indicating that he did not want to talk about such things. I left it off with a simple statement of “maybe we can talk about it some other time.” I remember leaving the table that night with a resolve in my heart to pray for him and speak with him again about the blessings that Christ offers us. As I thought about the fact that someone his age rarely changes their mind over anything God spoke to me through His Word. I remembered the parable in Matthew 20 about the laborer who came in at the last hour and yet still received the same wage as those who had worked all day long for the Master. I remembered 2 Peter 3:9 that says “God is patient and long suffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Over the next couple of years, I brought up the subject of faith a few times and I was always met with a polite but firm shake of the head and a passing of the hand.
A couple of more years passed and I received a call one day at work from my wife Marta about Grandpa. He was about 89 years old at that time as best I recall. He had been loading bricks into the back of a hatchback in his driveway when the car began to roll down the driveway. Grandpa tried to stop the car and he slipped and became pinned under the back tire. He was stuck under that car in the hot August sun all afternoon before a neighbor found him. An ambulance took him to the hospital and he was placed in ICU. His kidneys were shutting down and his heart was very weak. The prognosis was not good.
I got the call as I was leaving work. I still remember my walk through the parking lot that day. I think I prayed harder that day than I had ever prayed before. I asked God not to let Grandpa die. I confessed that I hadn’t been as diligent about witnessing to Grandpa and praying for him as I should have been. As I prayed, God spoke to my spirit. He gave me a sense of peace and I just knew that Grandpa was going to come out of that hospital. We got a phone call within the next 24 hours saying that the doctors were amazed at the recovery that Grandpa was making. They talked about how Grandpa just wasn’t ready to give up but I knew it was because God just wasn’t ready to give up on Grandpa! Grandpa did so good they sent him home in just a few days. I thanked God for healing Grandpa and I asked God to provide me with more opportunities to visit with him. Because of the health scare Grandpa and Nana soon moved to San Antonio to be closer to family members who lived there who could watch over them.
During the upcoming months, my job situation became pretty unbearable. Things were so bad that I did something I never thought I would do. I applied for a job in the claims department. I got a job as a claims rep in the Austin area and within a couple of months they transferred me from the office in Austin to one in San Antonio. God was speaking through my circumstances. He made a way for me to see Grandpa on a regular basis. As I drove to San Antonio several times a week, I made regular trips to see Nana and Grandpa. Nana fed me and Grandpa helped me practice my Spanish and from time to time and I had opportunities to talk about Christ.
After a few years in San Antonio, Nana passed away. Now when I visited it was just me and Grandpa at the table. After a while Grandpa got sick. When I visited him in the hospital he confided in me that he was worried about Nana and I tried to encourage him. I told him that because Nana had asked for forgiveness and placed her trust in Christ she was in heaven. I asked him if he had ever confessed his need for forgiveness and his need for a savior. Once again, there was the shaking of the head and the passing of the hand. I went home that day feeling very much discouraged. I remember that it was a Thursday. I prayed and once again, I prayed hard. I told God that He needed to send somebody else. I told Him that I wasn’t making any progress. I prayed that somebody would meet Grandpa in the hospital and share the gospel with him in such a way that it would move Grandpa to ask Christ into his heart.
That next Monday morning, I had the day off and I was at home in Austin. About 9:00 am I got a call from my mother-in-law, Nana Carole. God spoke to me through her. She told me that she had been praying during her devotional time and God impressed upon her to call me and tell me to go and see Grandpa. I told her that it was my day off and that I was going to be in San Antonio the next day. She said, “You are supposed to go today.” I got in the car and headed to San Antonio. When I got to the hospital Grandpa was being released to go home. Before he left I was able to share with him. This time there was no shaking of the head or passing of the hand. There in that hospital, a man well in his 90’s prayed for forgiveness and asked Jesus Christ to be His Savior.
During those years, God spoke; He spoke loud and clear. God spoke through the power of the Holy Spirit, His word, His people and He spoke through circumstances. He spoke so that someone could come into a personal, lifesaving relationship with His Son. He spoke so that someone would receive eternal life. God still speaks today. It is never a question of whether or not He is still speaking. The only question is, “Are we still listening?”
John 10:27 My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My Hand.
I believe that if you listen, you will hear Him speaking to you, you will know that He still offers, grace, comfort and He still extends His Hand offering eternal life. Are you listening?
Let us pray for the ability to better recognize His Voice and to respond obediently when He speaks. Amen
God has your back! 