Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church.
For over a half a century, the voice of Oswald Lawrence was heard on the
underground transit system in London. He made this simple but needed public
safety announcement warning passengers to mind the gap. Right? They're standing
on the platform, the train's going by, he said mind the gap. And when Oswald
passed away in 2007, his widow Margaret felt heartbroken. She was alone, she was
heartbroken, and she missed Oswald so much that she would, in a way to ease her
pain, she would actually go visit the embankment station, sit on the platform
and listen to her beloved husband's voice say mind the gap. Then one day in
September 2012, she sat down and his voice was gone. In the modernization
process of their systems, the London Underground officials had replaced
Oswald's voice with an electronic recording and Margaret was so
distressed she called in, she contacted the authorities there and she said can
there some way I can get a recording of my husband saying you know mind the gap.
And when the London Underground staff learned of her request, they were moved
by extraordinary act, extraordinary compassion in their hearts and they
began to go through all the red tape of finding the recording and digitizing it
and then sending it back to her and not only did they do that but at that
particular station they also kept his voice. So if you go there today and you
can find the embankment station on the Northern Line in London, you will still
hear Oswald's voice saying mind the gap. That was from 1950 that he did this and
you might say well what's the point of starting your message with this little
story. We all long to hear the voice of someone we love. We really do. We all long
to hear their voice. Someone that we're close to, somebody that we're connected
with, somebody that made a difference in our lives, somebody maybe was there and
is gone. I hear people all the time, I talk with people who have a loved one who
passed away and a lot of them will say to me I will give anything, anything just
for one more time, for one more day, one more minute, one more conversation to
hear their voice and if we know Jesus as Lord and Savior, if you love Jesus as
Lord and Savior, you want to hear his voice. I want to hear his voice. Anybody
with me on that? I want to hear his voice. I want to hear what he's saying to
me. I want to know what he's speaking and in John chapter 9 there's a
discussion that Jesus stirs up that reveals God's heart and how God hears us
and how we can hear him and this discussion starts off with Jesus healing
blind man, a man who was blind from birth. Jesus comes along on a Sabbath day and
he heals this blind man and of course his actions of healing this man on a
Sabbath day describes in the Pharisees who were always trying to refute Jesus,
sends him into religious tizzy of some kind and they begin to use the
Mosaic law, the law of Moses, the law of God and they begin to say well this act
that Jesus did he was working on a Sunday. Now this is super interesting
because the scribes and Pharisees this is the first time anybody was ever healed
a blind man healed from birth and did you ever play a game with somebody
and they make up the rules while they go? Did anybody ever do that right? Did you ever play
with someone they want to win they just make up the rules while they go? Why you
all looking at family members right? There's one in every family. They make the
rules up while they go. That was the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus heals a
man for the first time in all of history a man blind from birth gets healed and
the scribes and Pharisees are like oh no no no Jesus that constitutes work. I guess
they made it up on the spot I don't know right for their own purposes and out of
that a discussion ensues because Jesus comes back to the man he begins to talk
to the man he reveals to the blind man that this healed man he reveals to him
that he is the Messiah and out of that discussion the Pharisees overheard
this conversation where Jesus says he's Messiah and Jesus tells him you know he
begins to tell him if you would only believe you would hear if you would only
believe you would hear and Jesus speaks a parable following of this discussion he
tells the Pharisees story. The Pharisees begin to refute that he's the Messiah
they begin to refute the healing they even they even question the blind man
and the blind man says look I was blind now I see and all I can tell you is this
has to be from God and they threw him out of the temple they threw him out
right and Jesus says if you would only believe it then you would understand and
and in this discussion Jesus immediately begins to tell them his story now I wish
I could do that I wish I was so quick on my feet that we get into the middle of a
discussion and debate like that and I just have a story I could rip off right
to prove my point but that was Jesus and it's in this story we start to find out
about how we're going to hear from God so if you got your Bibles I want to turn
to John chapter 10 this morning we're gonna start off with John chapter 10
verse 1 I'll give you just a moment to get there if you're listening online
this morning it's good to have you online you can go ahead get your Bible
your electronic device or you can just look up at the screens if you're here
and even if you're listening online it'll pop up on the screen but John
chapter 10 verse 1 and Jesus this is the story or this is the parable that he
begins to speak to those Pharisees he says most of surely I say to you he who
does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way the same is
a thief and a robber but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep
to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his
own sheep by name and leads them out and when he brings out his own sheep he goes
before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice yet they will by no
means follow a stranger but will flee from him for they do not know the voice
of a stranger's Jesus used this illustration but they did not the
Pharisees did not understand the things which he spoke to them and as I looked
at this passage as I read this story as I read the parable that Jesus spoke I
realized something people only listen to something they believe in you know that
they only listen to somebody that they believe in if you don't personally
believe in someone you're not really going to listen to them you might hear
them out you might listen to the words that are flowing out of their mouth but
if you don't believe in them you're not going to really listen to them it doesn't
matter who it is it doesn't matter what credentials they might carry it doesn't
matter who recommends them to you or doesn't recommend them to you it doesn't
if you doubt their motives if you doubt what their reputation is if you doubt
them as a person for any reason at all we won't listen to them right we just
blow off what they say that you know and you've got people like that in your life
if you don't believe in them they'll they'll talk right and it goes in one
ear and where out the other or maybe not it might not even make it out the other
ear it might hit this one and just bounce right back off we don't we don't
believe and these Pharisees they didn't believe we'll blow it off and we'll blow
it off even if we don't believe we'll blow it off even if it's Jesus even if
it's God speaking to us right even even if it's complete truth even if your
disbelief in Jesus is invalid the Pharisees disbelieved Jesus they did not
believe in him and it was not valid Jesus proved that he was the Messiah over
and over and over in front of the Pharisees who should have all people the
first season scribe should have recognized who Jesus was he did miracles
in front of them they watched as he healed the blind they watched as he as
he the lame were received he you know restored they watched as he healed
leprosy they watched as Jesus raised people from the dead they watched as he
fulfilled prophecy they listened while he spoke and he preached the Word of God
with such wisdom that nobody could refute him and still they did not believe
in him and because they did not believe him they wouldn't listen they simply
wouldn't hear him they couldn't get past their own religiosity they couldn't get
past their their own idea that they were the experts in religion and they were
the only ones that anybody can listen they couldn't get past any of it they
couldn't get past their bias their jealousy none of it they're they refused
to listen their disbelief in Jesus was not valid so the same thing can happen
to us the same thing can take place with us and with Christ right in our
relationship with Christ it's sometimes we don't believe in Jesus for a number
of invalid reasons we refuse to hear him right it sometimes with even even with
Christ it goes one in one ear and out the other and we can have these things
that will affect us that will cause us to disbelieve Jesus and we just don't
listen to him about that particular thing or maybe anything right if you had
a bad experience with someone sometimes if you had a bad experience with
someone somebody who was a Christian and somehow we pulled Jesus into that
whole thing we don't look at the person that was the problem we don't put it
there we just kind of lump it all together right you ever do that you may
Christian I've heard people say so that well that's why Christians or art I
don't want anything to do with any of it right anybody ever that anybody with me
on it anybody ever say that you're not gonna raise your hand I know okay right
they'll say those kind of things it's an invalid reason right so maybe if you've
had a bad experience it with anything that's religious in nature you start to
superimpose that on Jesus you start to take that experience and you superimpose
it on Jesus and it's an invalid reason and you'll stop listening you won't hear
him anymore right some people start to somebody you'll hear somebody on the
internet and they're starting to bash the Bible and and they're not and they're
given their reasons why the Bible is not true and you don't go research you don't
go look you don't try to find out the truth you just kind of jump on board
because something tickled your ears with it and then and then you won't listen
you won't hear Jesus these are invalid reasons right just like the Pharisees
that we just simply tuned Jesus out we won't listen sometimes we won't even
hear him sometimes we begin to push away the Holy Spirit we'll push the Holy
Spirit back we begin to agree do you know you can grieve the Holy Spirit but
what you do and what you say the word of God says you can grieve the Holy Spirit
and you'll begin to push them away you all know what I'm talking about we've
all done this in our heads we've all done this in our minds in some way right
you've done it with someone and you can do it very quickly if you begin to lose
trust in them you won't listen even if they're right now I'm going to use an
example sometimes this happens if you've got somebody that's working on your car
you go to a garage and there's a mechanic there right and and you got a
problem with the car and you got to take the car back two three times right you
start to say you start you start to not believe them right you start to think
they're not telling you the truth now it can be because I used to work on
mechanical that you'll think there can be problems that happen in a row there
are things that can pop up but you know you start to distrust them now you don't
got any valid proof because you don't know anything about a car all right
you're not home researching everything about an electrical system on a car or
the mechanics of a car or you know or you know anything about compression or
anything along those lines but you've gone back two or three times now and
you and you got a mechanics calm right and you read a couple articles how many
have done that before all right yeah me too I get on YouTube whatever you know
and all of a sudden I'm the expert at what it is and if that happens it can't
it's not necessarily a valid reason they're still telling you the truth
about something and and we will discount what they're saying and after a while
you won't even listen to them you'd be like where they get certification from
they probably bought it on the internet 50 bucks right and you're a certified
mechanic right they have that for pastoring by the way 50 bucks you can be
a pastor I it's true right it's okay have you ever you know have you ever have
you ever watched people have you ever scratched your head and wondered why why
can't they see Jesus is anybody I've done that I've gotten with people and I'm
like why can't they see Jesus you know he's so amazing why can't they see the
love of God why can't they see the light of God why can't they see the
transformation that takes place in people why can't they do why can't they
see this and you're talking to them and they'll sit and listen to something and
nothing and sometimes the problem is what I'm talking about sometimes there's
an invalid messed up reason why they're not hearing Jesus why they're not
hearing the Holy Spirit what there's something that they've got back there in
the past and sometimes we're so busy telling them the truth about God maybe
we just need to stop and ask them what they believe about God right sometimes
we're speaking to them and we're telling them the truth about God and we need to
stop and ask them what they believe about God because what you believe about
God determines everything of how much you will hear God amen you tracking with
me y'all looking at me like I got three heads I'm a little scared this morning
all right say amen if you got some of that here thank you
Jesus calls the Pharisees and scribes out on their disbelief he did that on a
regular basis in Matthew 23 23 said what do you scribes and Pharisees
hypocrites for you pay tithe the mint and Annas and Kuman which is you know a
small thing and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and
mercy and faith these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone
and he calls them blind guides in other places he says your ears are deaf you
strain it and at and swallow a camel they didn't listen because they didn't
believe they didn't believe no matter what he did what he said can I give you
some good news now I know that seems like some tough stuff but can I give you
some good news we can hear Jesus and he can hear us if we believe in him do you
know that we can hear Jesus that's what he was telling the Pharisees when he was
talking to them about the Good Shepherd and the sheep he was telling them we can
hear Jesus and Jesus can hear us the God of the universe can speak to us and we
can hear him and and if you take a look at this scripture I think the Pharisees
totally missed this when Jesus was telling the story I think he told the
story and again their ears just closed off but in John 10 1 let me reread this
most assuredly I say to you he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but
climbs up some other way the same as a thief and a robber but he who enters by
the door is the shepherd of the sheep to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep
hear his voice say his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads
them out and when he brings out his own sheep he goes before them and the sheep
follow him for they know his voice he's talking to those Pharisees he's telling
them you can know the voice of God you can hear the voice of God let me relieve
any doubt that you might have as a follower of Jesus sometimes we think you
know that we don't hear God the Father speaks Jesus speaks and the Holy Spirit
speaks it doesn't matter where you're at in your in your faith journey it doesn't
matter if you just started following Jesus or you know your second day in
first day in or 3,000 days in if you're a first year second year ten years you
might develop your hearing a little bit hearing God but you can hear Christ
you can hear the Holy Spirit you can hear God speaking to you is probably the
second great second probably number two on the list of questions that I get
asked as a pastor how do I hear God how do I know God's speaking to me I get
asked that a lot there's a probably a question is before that that I would say
is number one but this is probably number two how can I hear God right can I
give you the first part of that already gave it to you first of all you need to
believe in him 100% you need you need to believe in God because until you believe
in him you're not gonna hear him there's other scripture than that I don't got
time to unfold that completely we could spend the next hour unfolding that but
you need to believe him then you'll hear him the second part is that you need to
be convinced that you can hear him and that he is hearing you you need to not
doubt that it's important that we don't doubt that we can hear God if you if you
don't get yourself convinced of that what will happen is you'll pray you'll
pray and God won't answer right away and you'll be convinced that you can't hear
God I've had a lot of people tell me this well God just doesn't speak to me
yeah he does he doesn't just like there's not chosen ones let me can I
clear that up right now all right there are not special ones some of you come
on put your halos on right some of us don't have brighter halos than others and
God says you know I think I'm gonna talk to them but you not so much God doesn't
do that he's no respecter of persons he I'm not any more special than you and
vice versa right he doesn't say hey I'm just gonna talk to this one but I'm not
gonna talk to that one come on how many would like how many want to serve a God
that does that right he doesn't do that he doesn't do that but we get convinced
in our heads in our hearts that God doesn't want to talk to us it there
might be a delay and we might start off with some doubt going into that and if
it doesn't sound just like we think it's going to doesn't look just like we're
going to right then we back off and we say God and we don't even try we don't
even try to listen for God be convinced just know that this happens and listen
God communicates in different ways it's not like you and I speaking you might
hear the audible voice of God I've very know very few people that have I've heard
that very few occasions where somebody's you know audibly heard the voice of God
speaking in their life it can happen but it's rare but God speaks in all kinds of
other ways he communicates in a thousand different ways around us and how many
know you can speak to in different ways right I just spoke to you right now
right come on some body language right you can get spoke to out even words God
is a God of the universe can speak and he does this and I really just wanted to
take a little time and unfold that and the Word of God really you need to be
convinced of this and I cannot give you just John 10 5 because I kind of want to
drive this home a little he said yet they will by no means follow a stranger
but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of a stranger I'm so
convinced and you need to be so convinced that you can hear God that
you'll know when it's the voice of God and you'll know when it's a stranger
speaking in your heart in your spirit in your head amen even when you you can be
even to begin to differentiate when it's God and when it's you never get that
confused all right God's issue or is this me just thinking right you can know
his voice you you can develop in your own spirit stranger danger I call sure
how many know what that is you ever teach a kid stranger danger right you
tell them right if this is an unfamiliar voice in your coming to you if you hear
somebody talking to you you tell little kids this all the time if there's an
unfamiliar face if it's an unfamiliar voice speaking in your ear you need it
you tell your kids don't listen to them all right they're telling you to get in
the car they're telling you they got some candy if they're telling you walk
with me down the street if they're telling you don't listen to them it's a
stranger danger you get the same thing you can develop spiritually you can know
when it's God and when it's not God you can you can understand when it's a
stranger's voice when it doesn't line up with what God's saying and a lot of
people get convinced that that can't happen you know we get convinced that
that we're just not gonna hear him and it's important to hear God this morning
I wanted to do a little exercise I'm going out on a limb here I'm gonna do
something a little bit different but I'm gonna ask you to do something I want you
to kind of look to the screens right now and I'm gonna give you a verse of
scriptures John 15 5 and very familiar piece of scripture and I want you to one
of the one of the great ways to hear God speak to you one of the great ways to
hear the voice of God in your life is through scripture in matter of fact I
recommend that above all and the first part because you're not gonna get it
wrong if it's out of scripture if you're hearing what God says that what he's
speaking to you out of scripture right you're gonna get it right and even if
you hear something that's outside of scripture a revelation of some kind
guess where you should always go back and check the Word of God right so but
this is an amazing place to start and a lot of times God's speaking to somebody
when they're reading scripture they don't even realize it so I want you I
want you just take a little time I'm gonna read this out loud and here's what
I want you to do we're gonna pray before we read it and I've done this many many
times with bigger or with smaller group settings where there's a group of
people and there might be eight and they might be ten of them and what we do is
we take the verse description I said here's what we're gonna do we're gonna
pray before we read the Word of God and then I'm gonna I'm gonna believe that
the Holy Spirit is gonna speak to you and one thing is gonna leap out of that
verse to you all right there's one thing it's just gonna stand out and it's just
gonna begin to speak to you now a lot of people like oh it's just me thinking
no I've read verses of scripture a thousand times you know the same verse
of scripture and all of a sudden something jumps and leaps off the page
over here all of a sudden and the idea begins to come in and the Holy Spirit
begins to speak and a lot of people discount that that's you beginning to
hear the Holy Spirit in your life amen so we're gonna do that together and a
lot of times I've done this in groups and then what we'll do is what I have
eight or ten of them I can't do with all you because it take all morning but what
we do is we do with eight or ten of them and they begin to read I let them
read the verse and they begin to think about and I have them write it down and
then we go across the group and we say what did what leapt out at you in that
scripture and it's incredible it's incredible to listen with to the
nuances and the things that God speaks to them out of the scripture and this is
something you can do all the time this is a way you begin to develop and you're
hearing to hear God to hear the Father and the Holy Spirit some of you are
doubting me but I'm telling you it's gonna happen all right let's read his
verse I'm gonna read it I'm the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and
I and him bears much fruit for without me we can do you can do nothing if
anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered and
they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned if you abide in
me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done
for you by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be
my disciples let's pray father Lord they just read your word Lord they looked God
to the written word the truth the light and life of God and Lord I pray right
now God as they relook at this scripture guys make sure you put that back up
there as they will look at this scriptures they look at this verse God I
pray that you speak something into their spirit God I pray that just if it's one
word that jumps out Lord God I pray Lord that they'll sense that it's you and
Lord God that you're showing them something and you're speaking something
to them Lord we just give you praise and glory in Jesus name and amen now you
might be listening online they'll have that verse up online you might be
looking here but is there something that jumps out is there something that
speaks to you is there something that grabs you and a phrase that gets a hold
of you because this is what the Holy Spirit does is you read God's word see
the people of God who believe in God hear God do you know that the word of
God says that this is foolishness to those who are outside the faith they
read this and this is complete foolishness to them but to us it is life
to us it is a wellspring and God will begin to speak that thing to you and
we're gonna close in just a moment and and when this is all over I want you if
you got somebody close to you I want you to tell them what God spoke to you I
want you to what stood out what did you what just kind of caught your heart as
you began to look at that verse see these are the ways we begin to start to
hear God it's incredible because as you step through and do that it becomes more
and more evident and and there'll be times you'll read these verses and
they'll stick and they'll lodge in your mind the word of God says the Holy
Spirit will bring them to your members you'll be out and you'll be doing
something and I always know it's God because I'm usually I'm me in particular
I don't know about you some of you can really multitask I can't I'll have one
thing I'm working on one thing I'm so focused and all of a sudden the Holy
Spirit will interrupt me and I know it's him because I usually don't like getting
interrupted and I'll just be focused on that one thing and all of a sudden this
thing breathes into my spirit and I see something and God spoke in a moment some
of you are looking for revelation some of you are in the middle of decisions
some of you are searching something and you need to hear God this is a great way
to begin to do that you spend time in the scripture let me give you one more
scripture and I'm gonna use this Eric we're gonna pretend you're Jesus okay you
sit on the short stool because I think Jesus is tall I don't know I can't
confirm that okay listen to this last person and we're gonna close revelation
320 says this behold this is Jesus speaking I stand at the door knock if
anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and dine with him and he
with me to him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on the throne as I
also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne he who has an ear
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches this is in Revelation Jesus
said if you knock if you seek he said he'll open the door and he'll come in
and dine with you if Eric and I went out to lunch he's Jesus okay do you know we
would talk Jesus won't come in and just sit across from the table he'll talk
he'll speak with you he said not only will we dine not only will we talk but
he says that just like the father put me on the throne with him one day you will
be on the throne with him and rule and reign that means you'll come into his
kingdom there's a closeness there God wants to speak to you he wants to speak
to you if you're listening today he wants to talk to you he'll do that
through scripture something will stand out it doesn't matter if you're young or
old or somewhere in between doesn't matter if you have a if you went to Bible
college or didn't go to Bible college his work he wants to speak he wants to
speak you ready for God to speak to you this morning I am every day I need him
every day the longer I live the more I realize I don't have the answers for
life I really don't I've got some experience I draw on that sometimes but
I don't have the answers I don't know what's out in front of me there's so
many things that are new I realize that that even some of the answers I have or
the experience I have is so antiquated at this point I need him I need him you
need him I'm gonna ask you to bow your heads one more time Lord you see each
person who's here this morning God you know we need your voice Lord we need to
hear you we need to know that you're speaking to us God we need to walk
through and God we need to be taught or we need to be instructed Lord at times
we even need to be inspired God at times we need encouraged times we need to lift
it up and Lord you speak what no one can ever speak into somebody's heart and
life and Lord I believe that's true this morning and God I ask that right now
that you would minister in touch to this group Lord as they look to you God as
they go into the word this week Lord I pray that they'll stop and pray before
or after they read the scriptures and Lord God that you'll speak in their lives
God if they read just one verse the entire week would speak to them out of
that verse give them the truth Lord apply it to their life Holy Spirit guide
them help them remember it Lord ask this in Jesus name amen I'm gonna ask if you'd
stand Zach if you just play last thing you're gonna do this morning if you're
comfortable and you know the person beside you if God spoke to something out
of that verse to you now I don't want you to do it if he didn't okay I don't
ask people to try to make things up or anything along those lines but if
something stood out to you that just as a witness to God's power and how he does
speak is something in that scripture stood out to you and you feel like God
kind of pulled that out just for you I want you to tell the person beside you
Zach's gonna play go ahead you can do it right now I want you to lean over you
can whisper it in their ear you can tell them what did God give you out of that
verse what did he tell you
I see conversations people speak
pretty amazing huh pretty amazing what God will do and by the way if you didn't
get don't get discouraged I've gone through long seasons where I haven't
heard God and then all sudden it's like a water fountain actually it's more like
a fire hydrant he wants to speak to his people and usually the blockage with
that is me not him actually it always is he always wants to speak he always wants
to speak it's incredible what God will do hear his voice I got listen I'm a
pastor I have no corner market on this all right it's not man please don't
think that way we are all the same at the foot of the cross man it's true
every benefit that's in his word is for me and for you
thank you for tuning in to this message from life house church we pray that you
were impacted powerfully by this message if you have been personally affected by
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people every day visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com