Sermon Title: Can You hear Me Now

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Sermon Title Can You hear Me Now? Part Two In
The Series, Hearing Gods Voice Key Text 1
Samuel 31-20 John 103 Josef A. Howard
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Introduction Why do I want to know/recognize
the voice of God? Matt. 44 Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The word
"proceedeth" means something that happened in the
past, is happening in the present, and will
continue in the future.
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There are several challenges in knowing Gods
voice and his will. The Bible reveals that there
are many voices in the world clamoring for
attention (I Cor. l4l0). What are these voices
in the world? 1) Man/Woman 2) Satan 3)
Reasoning 4) Conscience 5) God
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1) THE VOICE OF MAN/WOMANThe voice of man/woman
is an audible voice of another human being and is
easy to recognize. Sometimes, this voice may give
wise advice, but anytime it conflicts with the
voice of God. Then Peter the Apostles answered
and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
(Acts 529)
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2) THE VOICE OF SATAN Satan has a voice (Read
Gen 3l,4,5). Satans voice lies, deceives, and
always attempts to lead us away from God. Also
read the temptation of Jesus in Matt. 4l-l3 and
Satans conversation with God in Job l7, l2
2l, 6. Evil spirits (demons) also have voices
See Acts 87 and Luke 433-34.
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3) The Voice of Your Reasoning - (Acts 281-6 and
Mark 26-8) With this, we rationally consider
all options, blessings and curses, obstacles,
situations, consequences, advantages and
disadvantages, profits versus losses, etc. You
deliberate and think things through, and
afterwards, make your decision. Caution If the
answer of your mind contradicts God then you must
abandon the voice of your reasoning.
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4) The Voice of Your Conscience -(Acts 2416
Heb. 1022)Your conscience is the place where
you recognize the difference between what is
right and wrong. Your conscience is going to
fall into one of the four categories (a) A good
conscience, (I Tim. 15 ). (b) A weak
conscience, (I Corinth. 87).(c) A seared
conscience, (I Tim. 42) (d) A evil conscience,
(Hebrews 1022).
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5) THE VOICE OF GOD Jesus said believers could
know the voice of God and distinguish it from
"strange" voices (See John 103-5)Believers
are compared to sheep. It is the characteristic
of sheep not to know where they are going. They
must be led. Jesus said He was the shepherd or
leader of the sheep. I will hear what the Lord
will speak (Psalms 858)
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God speaks even today, but some times we have
problem hearing or we are playing the blame game
or we are too far away to hear. Illus A man
was having difficulty communicating with his wife
and concluded that she was becoming hard of
hearing. Hence, he decided to conduct a test.
The problem may not be with God not speaking but
with us not being in the right place for him to
speak.
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A. For God to speak, we must be after his
business. Verse one, Samuel was a young man
Samuel was obedient to God by serving his
prophet. He knew that his birth was a miracle.
He saw that God had set him apart for a purpose.
He also saw that the Man of God was not perfect
but, he served anyhow.
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B. For God to speak, we must be ready to
hear/listen. (v.1-8) Verse 1. the word of the
LORD was rare in those days there was no
widespread revelation. Gods people were
corrupt and disobedient. Illus. The Black Preach
and the same sermon. Read from verse two to
seven. God will not speak when there are noises.
He wants our undivided attention.
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C. For God to speak, we must be ready to obey.
(verses 11-14) What Samuel heard was very
unsettling however, He obeyed. God wants us to
obey even if it contradicts Man, Satan,
Reasoning, or Conscious. He has given us a spirit
of boldness. We need to be resolute in our
obedience even til death.
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• AND SO WHAT?
• Know that there are many voices.
• Test the voices to see if they do not contradict
  God.
• Ideally, God will not speak to those who are not
  after his business.
• God will not speak to those who will not listen.
• Ideally, He will not speak to those who will not
  obey.
• Seek to hear the voice of God so that you can
  obey him in all matters pertaining to life and
  godliness.