Sun. 20/4/2014
Quarter’s Theme: THE HOLY SPIRIT
Unit 2 Theme: The Exploits Of The Holy Spirit (Lessons 4-8)
SOUL WINNERS CROWN COMPETITION MONTHS
20/4/2014 LESSON 8
HEARING GOD’S VOICE
Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 1, 32
Devotional Reading: 1 SAMUEL 3:1-10
Topic For Adults
DEVELOP GOOD LISTENING CULTURE
Topic For Youths
GET BEHIND ME SATAN
Scripture Lesson
2 TIM. 3:15-17; HEB. 1:1-2; JN. 10:1-6; 16:5-15
Memory verse: 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. (Jn. 16:13) NKJV
DAILY BIBLE READING
He Will Speak Only What He Hears
Jn. 16:8-15
Jesus could not empty all the words that God gave to Him to speak to people. He told His disciples that there were still so much to tell them but that they could not bear them then. He therefore promised them that when the Holy Spirit comes, He would guide them into all truth and He would receive those information from Jesus and tell them. That means, as a Christian, if you don’t have the Holy Spirit in your life, there is no way you can understand and do all of God’s will. And for those who have the Holy Spirit, do you listen to Him and do what He asks you do to?
Point of Emphasis: The Holy Spirit will tell you things to come.
Prayer Point: Holy Spirit, always tell me what I need to know and what I need to do.
BACKGROUND
It is the plan of God to communicate His will to men right from the time of creation.
All through the generations and dispensations, God has spoken to people and led
them. However, the problem of many Christians is the inability to hear from God or discern His leading and guidance. This lesson traces various ways through which God speaks to His people; and the conditions for hearing His voice.
NOTES ON THE TEXT
I. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE BIBLE – 2 TIM. 3:15-17
The Bible is the word of God and God’s Special Book. It is not like any literary work but it is a supernatural book. It was written by many different people who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It contains records of God’s dealing with men from one generation to the other. The Bible or Holy Scriptures is made to make those who hear God’s voice wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. There is virtually no aspect of life that the Bible does not have God’s mind revealed.
The role of the Holy Spirit in the writing of the Bible is very important. The Holy Spirit inspired, revealed to and directed those men whom God used to pen down His Word, in all aspects and processes of writing and compilation. Today, believers and unbelievers alike, hear the inaudible voice of God through the written word of God as they read or hear the Bible being preached through various media. As a matter of fact, the written word of God is given to believers as their source of guidance for living. It is the standard for testing everything else that claims to be true. We can hear God’s voice today through the Bible on any and every matter.
II. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE PROPHETS AND JESUS – HEB. 1:1-2
The writer of Hebrews divides history into two segments or age: before Christ and after Christ. He calls the time before Christ “long ago”. During that time, God used Prophets to reveal His messages to the people. For example, God spoke to Isaiah in visions (Isa. 6), to Jacob in dream (Gen. 28:10-22), to Abraham and Moses personally (Gen. 18; Exo. 31: 18), God taught Jeremiah through object lessons (Jer. 13) and had taught the people through a Prophet’s marriage (Hos. 1-3), through pillar of cloud and fire (Exo. 13:21) etc.
The same God who spoke through the Prophets is now speaking through His Son, Jesus Christ, who completed and fulfilled the message that was originally brought by the Prophets and forefathers in these last days. “These last days” refers to the final dispensation under which the affairs of the world will be wound up. When Jesus came, He also told the world so many things that He received from the Father.
However, what the Prophets heard from and said about God and that of Jesus, have been put together in the Bible and today we can hear God’s voice through His written word.
III. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT – JN. 16:5-15
In the second part, we saw that Jesus is the final or end of revelation of God to men. One would think that all that God has to say to believers has been said by Jesus. But when Jesus was about to wind up His ministry on earth, He declared to the disciples that He still had so many things to say to them but that they could not then bear them. This might be because they were still full of Jewish prejudices and were not prepared for a full development of His plans (v. 12).
The question then is, how would they be able to know those other things that God has in stock for them? Jesus told the disciples that when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide them into all truth. The Holy Spirit is the true guide for all believers. The disciples were not given power to predict the future but the Spirit would give them insight into the future. The Holy Spirit’s guidance is trustworthy because He will not speak of His own authority but will speak whatever He hears from Jesus and the Father. Whatever He says will be to glorify the Father and Jesus and none will contradict the revealed word of God.
IV. CONDITIONS FOR HEARING GOD’S VOICE – JN. 10:1-6
Many believers find it difficult to hear God’s voice and to distinguish it from other voices. The reason for this is lack of genuine and personal intimacy with God. If some people have been living together for quite sometime and have intimacy together, it will not be difficult to pick and recognise the voice of the other person from afar or from among many voices without even seeing the person personally. The same is true about our relationship with God.
Jesus used the parable of the good shepherd to drive home intimacy as the first necessary condition to hearing God’s voice. Because of the intimacy between the shepherd and the sheep, the latter hears the former immediately he enters the sheepfold and the sheep will follow and because they recognise him, even if a stranger comes wanting to deceive them they will not follow the stranger.
The second condition is to allow the Holy Spirit to direct and guide you. The Bible says as many that are led by the Spirit, they are the Sons of God. If God reveals anything to us and we are not sure, the Holy Spirit will bear witness to our heart as to the authenticity or otherwise of any thought that comes into our heart (Rom. 8:14,16). Remember that the Holy Spirit does speak as we saw in our first lesson (Acts 8:29; 10:19; 13:2; Rev. 2:7 etc)
CONCLUSION
God as a Father wants to speak to His children and wants His children to speak to Him. But it is a pity that as God is speaking to us, many of us do not hear Him and this is the cause of many of the problems and difficulties that many of us have today. This is because when God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit to warn us about the impending dangers, many don’t hear and go ahead to fall into the danger. But we can hear God’s voice if we will forge a close relationship with Him and with the Holy Spirit.
QUESTIONS
1. Does God still speak to His people today? Give reasons for your answer.
2. What are some of the channels of God’s communication mentioned in this lesson?
3. Is it possible to hear God’s voice today? Why or why not?
4. Mention some conditions that can assist believers to hear God’s voice regularly.
For Audio Version, please click the link below.
http://hu.lk/56qqmdonzqtc
French
DIMANCHE 20/04/2014
IL DIRA SEULEMENT CE QU’IL AURA ENTENDU
JEAN 16:8-15
Jésus ne pouvait pas exaucer toutes les paroles que Dieu lui donna pour (parler à) son peuple. Il dit à ses disciples qu’il y avait encore beaucoup à leur dire mais qu’ils ne pouvaient pas les porter maintenant. Il leur promit donc que quand le Saint-Esprit viendra, il les guidera dans toute la vérité et qu’il recevra les informations de Dieu et leur en fera part. Ce qui veut dire qu’en tant que chrétien, si tu n’as pas le Saint-Esprit dans ta vie, il n y a aucun moyen par lequel tu puisses comprendre et faire toute la volonté de Dieu. Et pour ceux qui ont le Saint-Esprit, l’écoutez-le vous et faites-vous ce qu’il vous demande de faire ?
Point essentiel : Le Saint-Esprit vous dira les choses à venir.
Axe de prière : Saint-Esprit, dis-moi toujours ce dont j’ai besoin de savoir et de faire.