Transcript
Speaker: Hey, welcome to Grove Hills podcast. We're excited to have you back with us here today as we continue to talk through and walk through the journey of Christian faith. A couple of regular guys like ourselves out here telling you how to live life, right? Very regular. Very regular. Just call me Joe. Got my man Kyle and my man John here with us. Good to have Kyle back with us after his prayer last weekend. um You know, that whole prayer day may play into this a whole lot. That's right. It's a conversation. i twelve So today we want to turn ourselves to attention to a really important question a lot of people ask, and that is, how do I hear God's voice? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: how How do I know that it's really God speaking to me as opposed to other things, even my own desires that might be talking to me or leading me astray or whatever? As pastors, you hear a lot of people say things like, God told me this, or I felt God saying to me.
Speaker: um and those comments i I don't have a problem with. I think sometimes you have to be careful about the context because truthfully there's a lot of people who... as new believers hear that and they're going wait a minute why am i not hearing this supposed god voice so we want to kind of lay all that on the table today kind of sprinkle through it a little bit and just kind of kind of make it more clear what we mean when we talk about god speaking to us and what we don't mean for people so uh let's start with the obvious question does god still speak to people today yes amen yes well there's your answer folks all right we're done No, I think of the... You've probably heard it, and but you know the guy asks, hey, does God still speak to me? Yeah, just read your Bible. And he's like, no, but does God really speak? He's like, yeah, i read your Bible out loud. Because if you want to hear the voice of God, we have um everything here. right But I think we're talking about something a little different today that's asking, like okay, does God still prompt you and speak to you in ways that lead you? I want to kind of tie off of what you just said, Kyle. I think sometimes they'll reiterate that question as if God's word isn't good enough, like in in the actual written word. And they're like, you know, is God audibly speaking? And I'm like, God audibly spoke yeah through the writers of men that he designed and created for them to speak this word. And and sometimes we just got to be...
Speaker: so satisfied and and full with what God already put in place. so So let's be very clear. I think both these guys are saying this, but we want to be very clear. All three of us believe and assert that God's Word is the primary voice that He still uses today. 2,000 years, timeless, changeless Word of God. It's infallible. It's inerrant. It gives us instructions for how to live this life. So we start there. But that doesn't clean up the confusion for us because we still hear people that we love, respect, and know who who use phrases like, okay, I heard God speaking to me. So um before we move on from the Word, let's be real clear.
Speaker: Whatever we're about to say, this underlying truth is there. God never contradicts what He has said in His Word. God never adds on to His Word. In fact, the very last words of Scripture are beware the man that does that that tries to add or take away from this word so what we're talking about is not someone on the grand scale of a joseph smith who comes along and says here's an additional word or a guy by the name of muhammad and yes i will speak his name in disparity because he's a liar yeah absolutely it comes along and adds on to or takes away from the story of god's word there is a lot of
Speaker: well-meaning people in Christianity who will who will tweak God's Word in favor of something they want to happen, if they start to do that, just be very cautious of that. Back away from that because that's not not what God does, okay? um So we believe that the Holy Spirit really does lead believers, lead followers to hear from Him. And when we say hear, do we mean an audible voice? Hmm.
Speaker: Be still and see if you hear him. um My gut tells me no. um Not that it couldn't happen, not that it wouldn't possibly happen, but I feel like the whole point of the Holy Spirit being in us is so that God doesn't have to do that kind of stuff. I think in instances where I have heard people talk about, I've heard God's voice like it was audible. That's literally what they mean. It was like it was audible because it was so clear in their spirit. you know They really, truly heard from Him. Again, do I think God couldn't do it?
Speaker: Nothing is impossible with God. right Do I believe He does it with any sense of regularity? Not at all. you know Any thoughts you want to add to that? Yeah, so we like... ah We like to create our own version of how we want to hear from God. and I was actually talking to a student one time and they said, well, God hasn't told me that I shouldn't sleep with this person, right? Like they're looking for an answer on whether they should commit a sin or not, right? yeah um I talked to someone the other day and they said, hey, when you get a job, does your job call you every single morning remind you have to wake up at six so that you can be there by eight? And it's like, no.
Speaker: It's because the instructions were made clear to begin with. And so the instructions are made clear to begin with with God's word. And so we don't have to hear the command again hey, don't sleep with someone before you're married in order to know that that's from God. Right. We have it in his word. When it's talking about hearing his voice, um Jesus says that.
Speaker: My sheep know who I am and they hear my voice. And so we could go, hey, I'm looking for the voice of Jesus to speak. and The voice voice of Jesus has spoken. It's written down in his word.
Speaker: And when you know it well enough, when you're dealing with a situation in this world, your the Holy Spirit prompts you to those things. And you realize that the Lord is showing you not to do something or to do something based on his voice. Yeah. I was telling you guys earlier, i was thinking about the I am statements. that You know, I am the bread of life. I am the good shepherd. am, you know, so on and so forth. The more you know about who God is, then you get a concept of, man, this doesn't look like God. So whenever people say the harebrained things like, oh...
Speaker: God gave me this pass to go do this thing. No, God didn't give you any pass. If it contradicts his word, then it's not God. So we have to really have almost a filter process of how we understand. And and is it our emotions desiring this and playing it off as God? Or is it really God? Yeah.
Speaker: I've said going all the way back to when I was in student ministry, I've said to many people, I feel like there's gonna be a lot of Christ followers who are gonna have to get to heaven and apologize to God for things that they blamed Him for sure Absolutely. God told me to do this. Well, no, God didn't tell you to do that. That was a bad spaghetti. Yeah. You know, yeah whatever the case may be. um I think it's a safer way to approach it to say, I feel like the Lord's leading me to do something. i feel like the Holy Spirit's leading me to do something. But when you start speaking in terms of God said to me, you're you're stepping into some very rare air, some very rare territory. Again, Not that it doesn't happen. I believe with all my heart it does.
Speaker: and God speaks to people. But um when you start when you start laying things at His feet and saying it's His responsibility, that's some very dangerous territory to get out of. I would say some of the safest place to use those is after the event is over and you can look back at what you were led through, right? I've said it plenty of times that Kelly and I felt like the Lord led us out of California and to Tennessee. Now, as ah as a human being, I have the freedom to move anywhere I want.
Speaker: right I could move to New York today, right, if I wanted to. But looking back and being prompted in different areas, seeing different things closed, doors closed and doors open, Kelly and I could look back now and say, yeah, the lord the Lord was asking us to do something very specific at that time.
Speaker: Did we hear him say anything? Were we prompted by an audible voice? No, right? But it's the same idea. You probably have it in your family if you were doing something and someone might say, man, if Uncle Ned knew we were doing this, he'd be turning over in his grave, yeah right? Because everybody knew Uncle Ned so well that you know that he would either disapprove of this or approve of this. no And that's the idea of when we're doing something. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: When we know, when we know God so well and know his word so well, we know what his response is going to be. And that would be more so of hearing the Lord in that situation. So tell me if you've ever heard this, talking about looking back and after the fact, I've had lots of believers who would swear going into an event or into a decision going, God's told me this, God's told me this. They get past and it turns into this.
Speaker: Disaster is cast is training. Yeah, and they go I believe God led me there to take me through a season of difficulty. I'm like that yeah That's like hedging your bets. That's like saying well i'll really put my trust in God, but now that it's after okay, maybe God was doing something else Again, not that that couldn't happen, but most of the time I would say it's because you blame God for something God never wanted to be a part of. yeah And sometimes it's things like me and my fiance living together for a few weeks before we get married. it's not really a big deal. God told me it's okay. No, not not so much. No. I think a a thing that we all would advocate, whether it's a young adult praying for their their career choice or a young person praying through the friendships they have or whatever, that whatever we want to, again, lay at God's feet as instructions from Him, we should test those spirits. That's what the Bible says. so You got 1 John 4. Can you read that? 1 John 4. 1 John 4. Uh-huh.
Speaker: john chapter four 1 John 4, verse 1. I think this verse is one that every Christian should kind of put in their stockpile, just kind of remember in these moments, because I do think that we should not just take that gut feeling without checking. What did you say, 1 4, verse 1.
Speaker: All right. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Yes. yeah So test the spirits. What does that mean? Is this really something that God would advocate? Does his word align with this? Do people around me who are friends, who are mature Christian friends, do they affirm the feeling I'm getting? There's a lot of ways to test the spirits. One of them is if especially if you're dealing with a person who's told you something go back and look at their track record are they and they have a good record of being reliable with those kinds of statements or is most of their stuff yeah shaky yeah shaky unproven those kinds of things so anyway i think testing the spirits is an important part of listening for god um
Speaker: there's There's all these different tests we throw out there. Does it agree with scripture? Do our front do my counselors, the people around me who I look to as mentors or are you know just accountability. Do they affirm those kinds of things? no There's ways to watch out for it, but I think you have to emphasize this reality that when we say God told me, sometimes what we're really saying is this is what i really, really want to happen. okay all right, next thing I want to throw out here, hearing God requires you to learn to listen.
Speaker: what What does that mean, to learn to listen? How do you learn to listen for God's voice? Sometimes ah we allow our circumstances to speak into the relationships that we have. And I call it this fancy word, presuppositions. Like we we go to the wrong starting places.
Speaker: So some people will have a starting place of viewing something i like that because mom told me so or dad told me so. Well, last time I checked, even my own parents, as much as I love them, they are imperfect. But I have to go to the perfect standard. We love you, Mr. and Mrs. Ballard. Yes. right Thomas. They will be watching this. They will be critiquing me. But we go to the word. We go to the right place so we start and have a good view of yeah these things. Yeah. So we can't go to these, I guess, skewed sources and really get a good glimpse of how we should view ah some of these different relationships. um
Speaker: Be still and know that I am God. There's a lot of scripture verses that um prompt us to rest, take time. And if you're not resting and taking time and sitting in quiet and sitting in stillness, It's unlikely that you're even going to hear from God, period.
Speaker: And so we like to go go, go, go, go and ask the questions on the go. Lord, what do you think of this? Oh, too late. I made the decision. when When oftentimes he's told us numerous times to reel back, slow down, take Sabbath, rest.
Speaker: And it's in those moments that it's he'll likely speak to you. um You think of the fire and he wasn't in the fire. You think of the wind and the storm and he wasn't in storm. yeah He was in a still small voice.
Speaker: Yeah. You know, a lot of people come to us and ask this question, why can't I hear God? And it goes back to what you're saying. We're often just not still enough. There's constant noise in our lives. yeah These calendars on the wall remind us how busy our lives are. as we sit here in our conference. right here's Here's a good example, and I've said it probably 10 times, even a few times on this podcast. ah But when we do student life events, we take the kids' phones away from them. feel Like if it's a fall camp or Student Life Missions Week,
Speaker: And oftentimes we'll hear, man, I haven't heard from the Lord this much since last event or since the last time my phone was away from me. And it's just like a clear indication that when we have the phone in our hand distracting us, we're going to feel it. We're going to scroll something. We're going to text somebody. We're going to check an email. Yeah. um But without access to that, it allows you to sit in quiet and sit in peace and then hear.
Speaker: yeah Our culture fights for the response, not the understanding. We fight to, it hey, I got to have my piece said. I've got to, I want to, social media. I want to get my thing said. Man, how many likes am I going to get? And so we're never satisfied with just listening. And we've had generation after generation that they idolize this, man, did you say the the word that got the most ah pub or listening? And so for us to look in God's Word and see where listening is so paramount, it's it's a paradigm shift for us. And it's really trying to extract and remove the things that God says is going to be a separator between us and Him. yeah In addition to just being silent, I think it's also important that you practice the habit of listening to God. And it starts again with Scripture. that For us, everything comes back to Scripture. The more you're in Scripture, the more you're taking the time to really read it, study it, talk about it with other people, the more you begin to distinctly hear His voice. uh one of my favorite stories from growing up ah um i probably have shared it on here before but i'll say it again because it's my favorite uh growing up playing sports in south georgia um depending on what sport i was playing i was playing in front of you know anywhere from a couple hundred people sometimes a couple thousand people it made no difference where i was on the field when my dad spoke from the sands i could hear his voice
Speaker: Why? Because for 17 years of my life, I had heard my dad speak and I knew when his voice was speaking and didn't make any difference what the environment or how big the noise was around him. I could hear my dad's voice and know who it was. And that's exactly what happens with scripture. As we continue to read it and digest it and let it become part of who we are.
Speaker: then suddenly that voice of the Holy Spirit is trying to direct us and convict us and do all those things becomes a little more recognizable. for us I'll be very honest. When I'm having my quiet time, a lot of times the voices are louder than what I'm supposed to be listening to. And that's the calendar, what I'm supposed to do for the day.
Speaker: Is this quiet time going to be over in 15 minutes because that's when I start got to start getting ready, all those types of things. And I allow those things into that space. And oftentimes it defeats the purpose of sitting down, trying to rest. There's a reason why we call it quiet time, too. That's right. I don't know who the genius was who came up with the word, but it's exactly what it's supposed to be. That doesn't mean you can't have music. It doesn't mean that you can't listen to a devotional or something on the you know your podcast or whatever. It just simply means as much as possible, your mind is supposed to be stilled so that when that voice does come, and you're able to hear it without all distractions. So...
Speaker: God's voice is is clearest in those moments where our mind is still before him. All right, last thing we'll talk about here in just a little bit. um Sometimes silence is part of God's leading us. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Think about that for just a second. Sometimes God's silence is him leading us. i think it was a couple of weeks ago when we were on the podcast, we were talking about that reality with Abraham and Moses and those guys, how yeah we flipped the page and it looks like God's speaking to him again and again. It's almost like every day. But most of the time, like in Abraham's story, it's 10 years, 20 years in between those occasions where he came and spoke to him. Was God still working? Absolutely. he he was doing everything he needed to to direct his life.
Speaker: didn't mean that Abraham had to hear from him in that moment. I get a lot a lot from the students. I'm in my quiet time. I'm praying. I'm not hearing from the Lord, or I don't feel a close, or I don't feel the relationship. And those are hard times. Those those are trying times because you're like, man, i I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, but I'm not feeling anything in return. And I think that's the key is that we're expecting um there to be some type of rampant change in our life when he's asking us for obedience. And in time, that change is going to be seen. um If you practice the guitar 30 minutes a day for a year,
Speaker: at the year mark, you're going to be a pretty good guitar player, right? And so you're not anticipating that one, that first day picking up the scripture and just having this rapid change in your life. But the obedience of following him and listening to him is going to pay off.
Speaker: Let's look at the analogy kind of to that same point. ah people are talking about the championships. They want the championships. They want the they want the spotlight. But I'll i'll turn it you know to a non-spiritual illustration. A favorite basketball player of mine, Kobe Bryant, he had an interview and won multiple championships, top of the game.
Speaker: He said, you have to fall in love with the process. He said, by the time that all these championships are done and all the confetti gets thrown on the floor, he said, if you don't love it,
Speaker: you'll lose out real quick. yeah And he said, i fell in love with the process. He got up at three o'clock in the morning and got to work. He got to do the things, you know, the grind of training. That's the same thing in our spiritual life. We have to fall in love. The process, the obedience,
Speaker: it should be enough. But no, people are like, man, no, I didn't i didn't get the numbers. I didn't get this. i didn't But faithful obedience, the the song, trust and obey. yeah We do that. God is going to see us through to the end. And and we just have to be satisfied in that. When we when we're saved, we're guaranteed a victory. yeah That victory doesn't always play out here on earth. yeah um In fact, a lot of times it's the opposite, right? He says that we're going to face trials. He says that will be persecuted because of his name and those things. And so um stick with it because there's a reward. There is ah there is ah a victory. It's beauty. um Beauty in the process. It's on the other side of heaven, though.
Speaker: John and Kyle and I get the pleasure of being kind of like chaplains for the football team here, local high school football team. And Wyatt. And Wyatt. yeah Yeah, and Wyatt in this year. Excited to have him join Right around the corner. yeah um The coach, Coach Palmer, don't know if you're listening to our podcast, but coaches should be. So somebody like my connect Coach Palmer to some podcast. All right, Coach.
Speaker: He comes up with a word every week, which is our chapel service focus. It's a focus for the guys. This week's word is diligence. What a powerful word and powerful reminder to us. Diligence is a long, faithful pattern of obedience in the same direction.
Speaker: Even though you don't always see the results. You don't always see the and get the accolades that come with it, all that kind of stuff. So for for someone who's really truly following Jesus... There are moments in the very darkness of where you live where the only thing you can do is keep doing the right thing the right way until you're told differently. yeah um For an offensive lineman, it means you just keep blocking the guy in front of You keep doing what you got to do. For the housewife, it means you just keep raising your kids the way you know to raise them and praying over them, those kinds of things.
Speaker: For the businessman who's trying to make a decision or direction, keep doing the right thing the right way all the time, even though nobody's looking. And I promise you at some point God will come and show you, okay, here's where and you need to make a diversion. Here's where you need to go. All right. A couple will real rapid fire questions. Okay. You ready? Here we go. Can God speak through other people? Yes.
Speaker: Yes. Okay. Can God speak through your circumstances? Oh, yes. What about dreams? Yes. Yes. What about a feeling of peace?
Speaker: Yes. He does give that. What if I'm afraid I will miss God's will? What should I do? Oh, now we're talking like deep... 30 minute question here. I think God's will. So here's what we're talking about. We're not even talking about something that's wrong, something that's vehemently against God. So if we're looking at God's will, we're probably looking at things that are, you know, most of the time, want to preface that we're looking at things that are maybe good, better or best. So when we're looking at that, it's very understandable where God says, yeah, that's not even close to my will. That's just against everything that I am. But as as we listen to God's will, um we've got to understand that in following that, there is a liberty to mess up. That it's okay to not get it perfect every time. He understands that. He's expecting that probably.
Speaker: But we have to know that God can speak through that and God can use those things even in the if the plan B, plan C choice is made on our behalf. But yeah, God can speak through that. I think all three of us are very familiar with students in the time of deciding college, right? You were young adults, you were a youth pastor, I'm currently a youth pastor. And and that student stresses so much up in their head about where they're going to go. Yeah. And there's nothing wrong about making those decisions as long as you're prayerfully making them decisions. You're in God's word and nothing is against what scripture says. And so you can't really mess that decision up. As long as you're following and obeying him,
Speaker: ah you're free to make that that choice. Now you've got to you know consider financial responsibility and all that kind of stuff. um But God's going to use you in whatever decision you make in regards to those types of things. And so, ah yeah, there's there's there's specifics to his will that are according to his his scripture. yeah Good word. All right, so let me throw it down to a simple version. If you're just taking notes and you want to okay, how do I hear God? Number one, open his word, stay in his word, do not divert from his word. Number two, pray and ask for his spirit to give you guidance. His spirit's the one that's going to interpret the word for you. He's also going to leave the impressions on your heart that you need for direction in your life. Listen, actively listen.
Speaker: Seek that that voice from him, whether it's through his word or through friends or through circumstances, whatever. Seek wisdom and counsel from other people around you. If you get a nudge that you think you're supposed to do something, don't be afraid to go to those who are older, wiser, or more mature than you.
Speaker: Test what you sense against God's Word. Make sure it does line up. And then go and obey what you know to be true. If you keep doing that. don't Don't make it more complex than it has to be. Here's the key. i think for me, this is ah in a nutshell, what we really need to understand, need to know is that um when we talk about hearing from God, it's not so much about learning to hear Him better.
Speaker: It's about learning to know him more. um and The more I've gotten to know these two guys, I can kind of predict a lot about them when we have conversations. i can, know, okay, this is where John's gonna be. This is how Kyle's gonna respond.
Speaker: There are times that we've had things come up at the church and somebody will say, well, some nice young man came and helped me. like, that's Kyle. Or this really sweet guy. And I'm like, that's John. don't even have to know because the more I know these guys, the more I know who they are and what they're like, their character. This is how it works with God. The more you know him, the easier it will be for you to recognize the impressions he's placing on your heart. And it might scare you to know that your boss knows you that way. Well, we know you too. That's true. Hey, we're glad you joined us today. Hope it's been a helpful conversation that maybe it's kind of enlightened you a little bit on some the questions you may have in your heart. If you do have other questions, we welcome those. We would love the opportunity to tangle them, untangle them, whatever you want us to do, to get in the Word with you and find the answers to the things that...
Speaker: They kind of cause you to scratch your head and ask, you know, what do I do next in my life? yeah So come join us back next week. if If you're in the area, we'd love for you to come and worship with our church family. We're only 76 days away, I think, from occupying our new building. Praise the Lord. And otherwise, we would hope for you to come back and join us and be a part of our conversation every week.
Speaker: Have a great week. Bye.
