Acts 10:1-6 – How Can I Hear God? – Bible study

Acts 10:1-6, 9-16 Acts 13:1-3 How Can I Hear God? The title of the message is "How Can I Hear God?" but another question should be answered first, namely "Can I Hear God?" All three of the accounts we have read tonight demonstrate one thing; namely, people can hear God. The Bible is filled with people who heard the voice of God speaking to them. Adam, Noah, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, John the Baptist, Peter, John, and many others. Perhaps you are like someone I once spoke to who said, "I know those in the Bible heard God, but can I? Is God still speaking to people today? I affirmed He is. While I am no model, I tell you often that I must hear from God to preach. I have no ability to speak except what God gives to me. Yet, many others here today can testify that they have heard God. If you have ever been convicted and wounded over your sin, you heard from God. If you have been saved, you have heard from God. If you have ever felt God called you to task or ministry, you have heard from God. Yea, so many can testify that they have heard from God. But we will now be even more specific. Can we hear from God on a regular basis? Can we hear from God when we read the Bible? When we are lonely? When we need guidance? Can we hear from God in a conversational way? Again I say YES. This evening and perhaps for a while, I would like to give some thoughts on what is necessary to hear from God. I. To hear from God, you must begin your own personal, spiritual quest. A. To hear God is not a privilege that all who claim the name Christian will have. All Christians can but all Christians will not. 1. Hearing God is not a right given. It is a privilege earned. 2. We will not have this privilege if we do not walk the walk, talk the talk, and live the life. 3. I will tell you what this means in the remainder of the message, but understand that just wanting to hear from God does not mean that we will from God. B. Also understand that this privilege does not come by riding the coat tails of other Christians who hear from God. 1. You could be in the company of the Apostles Paul, Peter, and John as they were hearing the voice of God and you might not hear anything at all. 2. Paul gave an account of his salvation. Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. 3. Later, Paul retold the account slightly different. Acts 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. (a) Note: In Acts 9 they heard a voice. (b) In Acts 22, they heard not the voice. 4. Is this a contradiction? (a) I dont think so. (b) Paul meant that these others heard sounds, maybe even the sound of a voice, but they could not comprehend what it was they were hearing or what the voice said. 5. Being in proximity to someone who hears from God does not mean you will understand or even hear Gods voice. 6. To hear Gods voice is every Christians personal quest. a. Your pastor, your church, your parentsit does not matter who else hears from God. b. If you want to hear from God, you must seek Him with all of your heart, soul, and life. C. To hear from God must be your desire, your objective, your heart throb. You and only you are responsible for accomplishing this quest. II. To hear from God, you must draw near to God. A. No one hears God from a distance. They must be close to God. 1. James tells us how this works. James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 2. As we draw closer to God, He draws closer to us. a. To be far from God is emblematic language. b. It means we must be detached from this world and closely attached to God. c. To be close to God means we cannot be living to self and sin. d. If we are, we need not to expect God to speak to us. B. In that verse, James tells us HOW to draw near to God. 1. He lists actions for us to do. a. Cleanse your hands, sinners. (Wash your hands of sin.) b. Purify your hearts, double-minded. (Make your mind single. Focus it on Christ.) 2. But notice the big picture. a. Our actions play a part in determining how close or how far from God we are. b. Hence, (1) To hear from God, we must draw near to God. (2) To draw near to God, we must walk the walk. c. But there is more to consider about drawing close to God. 3. The walk we live is determined by the heart we have. a. Jesus Himself told us what the greatest commandment is. Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. b. If we want our walk to be right, we must first love Him with all of our heart and let that love transform our life. 4. So far we have three steps if we want to hear from God. a. To hear from God, we must draw near to God. b. To draw near to God, we must do the right actions. c. To do the right actions, we must love God with all of our hearts. 5. We can keep this going by asking more questions. a. For example, "What kind of actions will we do if we love God with all of our hearts?" b. But what we should see by now is that to get close enough to God to hear Him means we must put all that the Bible teaches us to work in our lives. C. If these things do not appeal to you, you will not hear from God for you do not love Him with all of your heart. 1. Remember, a right heart will bring the right actions. Wrong actions prove a wrong heart. 2. The place to start is not by doing the right actions, but by developing the right heart. 3. If you want to develop the right heart, draw near to God by: (a) Thinking on Him. (b) Meditating on how much He gave for you. (c) Considering the love that He has proven He has for you. (d) Grow appreciation, devotion, gratitude, admiration, thankfulness. (e) In short, love Him. 4. Loving Him will bring the right actions. 5. The right actions will bring you close to Him. 6. Being close to Him will let you hear Him. III. To hear from God, you must wait on God. A. You cannot be in a hurry and hear from God. 1. God will not be rushed. 2. God is not on any mans chain to be pulled when they are ready. B. Even the giants of the faith had to wait on God to hear Him speak. 1. Luke described an occasion when the Apostle Paul was on a ship in a terrible storm for many days. Acts 27:21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. 22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any mans life among you, but of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, 24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. 2. Why was Paul gone such a long time? I believe he was waiting to hear from God. C. Again, Paul himself recorded having an affliction of the flesh. 2Cor 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 1. Why did Paul have to seek the Lord three different times for this thing? 2. Because God made him wait. 3. If Paul had to pray about something three times, you and I might expect to have to pray about it many more times. Can I hear from God? Yes, you and I can, but it will cost something. It will cost a permanent change in our priorities, our goals, our ambitions, our desires, our loves–in our life, but what if we do not make such a change. Then we will have disobeyed the first and the most important of all commandments. What does that say about us?