Can You Hear Me?

One of the basic claims we have as Christians is that God is alive and He wants to have a relationship with us. In fact our salvation is based on the relationship we have with God. But we can’t have a relationship with someone without communication. In order to have a relationship with someone we must speak to them, we must listen to them and they must speak and listen to us.

Last Sunday we talked about our communication with God. Not just talking to God in prayer but actually having God speak back to us. Actually hearing and receiving God’s plans for our lives. Receiving His guidance concerning specific decisions we need to make so we make wise choices. God speaking to us is one of the special blessings we have as one of God’s kids that we need to take advantage of today. Jesus had something to say about hearing God’s voice and it’s found in John chapter 10…

Jesus said in John 10:27,
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Since Jesus said in verse 27 that we believers can know His voice and follow that voice, the question we should be asking is, “How can I know the voice of God?” Knowing the voice of God results in finding the will of God and God wants you to know His will.

Jesus said in Matthew 4:4,
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

The word “proceeds” in this verse is talking about something that’s continuing. It means something that happened in the past, is happening in the present, and will continue in the future. God speaks to communicate His will to mankind. That’s why it’s important to know the voice of God.

In John 10:3-5 Jesus said believers could know the voice of God and distinguish it from “strange” voices that give wrong guidance. In the scriptures believers are compared to sheep. Many times sheep not to know where they are going so they need to be led. Jesus said He was the shepherd or leader of the sheep. He said His sheep know His voice and follow Him instead of the "strange" voices.

Psalms 85:8
I will hear what God the LORD will speak...

Psalms 85:8 (Amp)
I will listen with expectancy to what God the Lord will say…

Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit said in John 16:13,
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Today God speaks to us in so many different ways. We really can’t lock Him into only one way. But most often how we are going to hear the voice of the Lord is by the Holy Spirit that dwells and abides in every believer. It is by the Spirit. God is a spirit and God ministers to us through the Holy Spirit so we can still hear that tender voice of the Lord. Most of the time it’s going to be a strong impression that just seams to come out of know where. You may be driving down the street or walking some where and all of a sudden there’s just a strong impression where you just know you need to do this or need to do that.

Every one is different and the Lord knows just what is right for you. He knows just how to get your attention and how to speak to you. If you’re a believer, I can guarantee that the Lord has spoken to you in one way or another. It may not be with words but like I said before it may be a strong impression to do one thing or another. Have you ever had a thought and it just kind of came from know where and you may of thought, “Why did I think that”? But once you considered that thought, it was wisdom for that situation. Many times the Lord is speaking and people are just no recognizing that it’s the Lord speaking into their life. We can lean to recognize the voice of the Lord just like a little baby learns to recognize the voice of their parents.

Many times when the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit, it will come to us in a different manner than we would speak to ourselves or speak to someone else. I think God does that so He can get our attention. So we will know it’s not ourselves speaking. God has many ways of speaking into the lives of His people but what need to see that God can speak in a small quiet voice in our heart.

Jesus said in John 10:27
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

We just need to find out how God by His Spirit speaks to each one of us. God wants to speak into your life today. He wants you to be able to hear Him. He will do what ever is necessary to help you understand what He wants to tell you. What we need to do is trust Him, we need to listen because God is speaking, and know that God wants to speak into our life.

My Favorite Person To Talk About

Last Sunday I felt the Lord leading me to bring a message on one of my favorite people to speak about and that is Jesus.

I talked about how we can have the wrong idea about many different things. We can be wrong about people, we can be wrong about science, we can be wrong about pizza toppings, we can even be wrong about what brand of deodorant we should buy, and that could really stink!

But there is one person that we must make sure we have the right ideas about and that is Jesus. Because if we have the wrong ideas about Jesus, we'll pay for that error for eternity.

Then to make sure we had the right ideas about Jesus, we looked at what the bible had to say. And we found the bible says that Jesus is:

1. Jesus is the divine Son of God.

He is God in the flesh. He is part of that wonderful mystery known as the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God in three Persons. Jesus is God in the flesh.

2. Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice.

He shed His blood on the cross. And because He was perfect – He never sinned – He was the only one qualified to bring forgiveness for our sins. The sinless, perfect, Lamb of God laid down His life because we sinned. Without the sacrifice of Jesus, we would have to die for our own sins. And there would be no hope of heaven for any of us.

3. Jesus rose again from the dead.

One of the proofs of Jesus’ divinity is the fact that He rose from the grave, just as He said He would. He rose physically – with a body that bore the scars. He didn’t just rise “spiritually” like a ghost or just in the hearts and minds of His disciples. The grave is still empty and there is still no body. His resurrection proved His power over death and the grave, giving you and me hope that when we die as believers in Jesus, we will be raised to be in heaven with Christ for all of eternity. Because of Christ’s resurrection, life doesn’t end at the grave. It continues forever in the presence of God.

4. Jesus will return to judge all people.

The Bible says that Jesus will return, and when He does, two main things will happen. He will gather His people to Himself and He will judge those who have rejected Him. And those who have refused Him on this earth will find out that their standard of whether Jesus should judge them doesn’t count. What counts is what Jesus says the standard is and Jesus’ standard is faith in Him.

Next we looked at our part as believers in all of this:

1. We need to make sure our faith is in the Jesus of the scriptures which is the Son of God. The Bible should be our primary source of information about Jesus. The eyewitness testimony of His followers. We also have first hand quotes from Jesus recorded by those who heard them.

We need to be like the folks in Berea when Paul came to them with the message of Jesus.

Acts 17:11 (New Living Bible)
11And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to check up on Paul and Silas, to see if they were really teaching the truth.

They didn’t just suck it all up from Paul. They checked it out.

2. We need to proclaim the Jesus of the scriptures to others. Talk to others about the Jesus of the Bible, and defend Him against the misunderstandings and wrong ideas others have about Him. When we hear others talking about Jesus and their getting it wrong, we need to gently but firmly tell them what the Bible says about Jesus. We don’t need to be rude, but truth needs to be proclaimed. It’s too important for people to walk away with a wrong idea about Jesus. It could cost them their very soul.

So now it's up to each of us as believers to make sure we are serving the Jesus that the bible talks about. Because missing out on who Jesus really is means the possibility of putting our faith in something false, and that will literally effect where spend eternity.

And if your reading this and your not a believer in Jesus, I encourage you to check out the Jesus I've been talking about in the bible and then fill that void in your heart by asking Jesus to come in and be your Lord. I know He will and I can tell you by personal experience, it will be the best decision you will ever make.

Resurrection and Restoration

Last Sunday was wonderful as we gathered for our Easter service at Destiny Church. Once again we remembered the real reason for Easter, the resurrection or our Lord Jesus from the dead! (John 20:1-7)

Some people have some different ideas about Easter. What counts is what the Bible has to say about it? What really happened that first Easter morning?

Last Sunday we not only looked at what the bible has to say about Easter, we also looked at why it's important for Christians, and why Easter is important for the world?

We also looked at Mark 16 verse 6 and 7 where the angel said to the ladies that came to the tomb:
“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

We noticed how the angel specifically mentioned Peter by name so that he could be restored after he denied Jesus 3 times, and how Jesus wants to restore each of us into a right relationship with Him like He did Peter.