Sermon Tone Analysis
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The last few weeks, we’ve been talking about how hearing God’s voice and
deeply listening to Him should be the foundation for all we do and the way we
walk out our salvation.
As we looked at Luke 10:42, Jesus said that one thing is
needed, and it’s to focus deeply on what God is saying, on His voice, so we can
walk out His will.
I’ll quote Jack Hayford: “To learn about God may bring
intellectual (head knowledge) through information, but to hear God’s voice will
bring experiential knowledge through transformation.1”
In other words, we can learn a lot about God and understand much about His
ways and His works, but if we aren’t hearing Him deeply; if we don’t have a
relationship with Him where He gets to talk to us, and we’ll listen with an open
heart and a willingness to follow Him, we’ll be transformed into His likeness, and
we’ll grow into His image.
Romans 8:29 NIV For those God foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters.
God foreknew (or knew ahead of time) everything that would happen before
He even created anything.
He knew humans would sin.
He knew He would need to
send His Son Jesus to rescue us, but He also knew a huge number of people would
respond to His call and come to salvation.
He was able to look forward throughout
all of history and see who would repent and believe.
He knew how weak and frail
we are, He knew what temptations and trials we would go through, and He knew
we would come to Him damaged, in need of much healing and discipline.
So God decided that He would use all the events of our lives, even the
negative, painful, and difficult ones, to transform us until we looked exactly like
His Son Jesus in character, attitude, and conduct.
1
Hayford, Jack.
Living the Spirit-Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship P34.
Baker Publishing Group, 2017.
Listening with Purpose | 1
He committed Himself to be so persistent and consistent in our training that
as time passed and we listened to His voice, we’d learn how to think, react, and
serve just like Jesus would.
Of course, there will still be a lot left to refine when we
get to heaven, but God loved us and decided He would start this process the very
moment we choose to come to Him.
You see, God created us for a relationship with Him.
He designed us and
made us in His image because He wanted to interact with us as friends.
John 15:15
NKJV No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his
master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My
Father I have made known to you.
And God did this, made us capable of being His friends because His great
loving heart wanted a bigger family.
It’s not because He needed us, because God
has no needs.
He simply desired to share His love with more and more people.
God’s most essential characteristic is love, and love rejoices to love more, to
delight in the unique beauty of each person, and let them delight in Him.2
But all of this is dependent on hearing God’s voice.
Which is actually how
we started our walk with Jesus in the first place.
Most of us can remember hearing
from God somehow when we came to Him.
It may have been through
circumstances; it may have been through an internal, overwhelming sense of need
for God; it may have been through failure or discouragement.
Maybe we heard
God through a person, through something on TV or radio, or through a dream or
vision.
But we started our journey with the Lord by hearing from Him. Hearing
God’s voice is how we began our relationship with Him, and it’s how we continue
to walk with Him.3
2
3
Schell, Steve.
Study Verse by Verse with Dr. Steve Schell: The Book of Romans, P87.
Federal Way, Washingtom, Life Lessons Publishing, 2015.
Hayford, Jack.
Living the Spirit-Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship P35.
Baker Publishing Group, 2017.
Listening with Purpose | 2
C.S. Lewis wrote, “the real problem of the Christian life comes where
people do not usually look for it.
It comes the very moment you wake up each
morning.
All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.
And
the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to
that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger,
quieter life come flowing in.
And so on, all day.”4
What may be the most difficult
part of the Christian life is shoving away all the other voices in our heads so we
can hear the voice of Jesus Himself.
Every single time the phrase ‘he who has ears to hear, let him hear,’ occurs
in the Bible, it’s Jesus talking.
Mark 4:9 NKJV And He said to them, “He who
has ears to hear, let him hear!”
It’s not just a nice saying or a casual expression or a proverb.
It’s the Divine
Son of God saying, don’t ever close your heart or ears to what I’m speaking and
your need to be taught by Me.
My voice is the key to growth, fruitfulness, and the
outflow of God’s blessing in Your life.”
His is the power; ours is the blessing.
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