Hearing from God by Joshua Honken As we approach the new year, I cant help but think about all

the people that are probably going to make ridiculous New Years resolutions that they cant keep, feel motivated for a couple weeks, and then fall off the wagon and be even deeper in the hole. People tell me that my positivity is contagious. Well, I want to talk to you this morning in preparation for such an event. While losing a few pounds or drinking less beer (or losing a few pounds BY drinking less beer) is good, I think that we might be setting the bar not just too high or too low, but setting it in the wrong place. Maybe we could consider spending more time focusing on our relationship with God. I would venture to say it might impact our ability to follow through on other resolutions. So today I want to talk about how to hear from God, discerning His call, and His will for our lives. In order to discern Gods call on your life, I believe there are certain aspects of our lives and character that need to be in alignment with Gods will. Today I want to talk a little bit about what the Bible says we are called to do and also a little bit about individual calling. Oftentimes, people who are employed or considering employment in ministry have a big story about Gods call on their life. Id like to talk about that too. Here is the thing about all of what I am about to say: God is speaking to us. He is working in us and working on us, and around us. I am not giving you 3 magical points that cause God to start working in your life. He is right now. He already is. I am giving you 3 things that I have found helpful when it comes to bringing me to a place where I am receptive to Gods will. Where I am more aware of Gods blessings. A place where I am more conscious of His urging, His heart, His calling. You need to remember that God is not limited by the things that we are, but we limit Him in our own lives and in the way we respond to events in our lives. God can speak to you quite clearly regardless of your frame of mind if that is what He wishes to do. I am discussing here some good practices for those of us who are seeking the Lord, and even love the Lord deeply, but are wondering where He is in our daily life, and why He doesnt make things a little more clear. Is there anybody here who feels that way?! If you are not one of those people, thats ok. If you are not a follower of Jesus, these things should still apply to your life. Everybody I know likes a humble, wellprepared, willing person more than not. If you truly apply yourself to these three things, and you dont experience change in your spiritual life, I would be surprised. The first thing I think is a prerequisite for hearing from God is humility. What is humility really? I think of this book I read a while back. Humilitas by John Dickson. Humility: once you think you have it, you probably dont. Then again, even if you dont think you have it, you might be right! Both the arrogant and the humble

are unlikely to think of themselves as humble. I remember really liking this book, so I brushed up on it a little, and here is how he defines humility: Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself. (p. 24). He adds humility presupposes your dignity. The one being humble acts from a height, so to speak, as the lowering etymology makes clear [he had just argued that the Greek/Latin. and Hebrew terms mean to put low or to lower yourself. It is impossible to be humble in the real sense without a healthy sense of your own worth and abilities. I think that brings us to the scripture for today: Phil. 2: 1-11 Imitating Christs Humility 2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now that is a pretty big chunk of scripture, but what I really want you to take away was that Paul is really telling us to step up the game from love your neighbor as yourself to putting the interests of others above your own. Christ was the ultimate example of humility. What an amazing God we serve. Now let me give you an example from the other side of the spectrum: I used to say things in boasting that

would prompt my mother to say and so humble too! To which I would respond: I am the king of humility! Well, I have come a little ways since then, but I am certainly not out of the woods yet, and I doubt any of us ever will be. In fact, I often find myself calling Mike saying I am the MASTER! Guess who fixed the minor technical issue at hand! Ill keep working on it. Let me talk to the men here for a minute. Im telling you: I cant build a house or anything, but I am still a fixer. What that means is that when someone tells me a problem, I would rather give them a solution than listen. Ever get in trouble with your wife for that? Thats another sermon. But this goes deeper than that. Solutions are good, and certainly (in most cases, at least) not wrong. What becomes the problem here is when we try to become fully self-sufficient. We bear the weight. We dont give it to God. Now thats not just a manly, macho thing to do. I was picking on us a little bit, because I knew that would be your wifes favorite part of the sermon. The thing is, we all do that. So if we look at the definition I presented earlier, which says that humility is the choice to forgo your status, I think we could all agree that Jesus, as the Son of God, did that. Whether you are young or old, whatever your job is, whatever your strengths are, you are not forgoing much of anything regarding your status compared to what Christ did. If we are able to learn from this, we are that much closer to the heart of God. Humility will draw us nearer to Him. The second thing I think is a prerequisite for hearing from God is preparation. Now I hope you guys dont mind if I use Jesus as an example again after all, He is the coolest man ever! One could look at the ministry of Jesus as a preparatory period, and His death as the culmination of that ministry, by which He defeated sin and death. The temptation in the desert is what really comes to mind. This takes place in Matthew 4:1-11. If that didnt prepare Jesus for what He was going to face, then I dont know what did. The short version is that this was the very beginning of Jesus ministry. He was baptized by John, and then led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. He experienced the same things as a man that we do. He responded with scripture. If I fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, I would be pretty cranky. I personally feel like I might be dead, but I dont really know. I live in America, so I havent encountered that problem But if someone offered me food, itd be hard to say no. If someone offered me the whole world, it would be hard to say no. If someone tried to tell me that God didnt really have the power, when I KNOW that He does, itd be hard not to say, Oh yeah? Watch this! I might be tempted to throw myself off that highest point and have a million angels catch me. Jesus faced all these things, and yet He didnt do that. He didnt put God to the test. He responded with scripture. He went through a grueling process of preparation in order to be in alignment with the will of His heavenly Father, and to complete the work that God had prepared for Him on earth. The question is, what does preparation look like for us. Well I like to think of preparation as an 11-point acronym. Lets begin with P. Just kidding. I think from what I have seen in the scriptures and in my own life, that preparation is simply making yourself available to God regularly. This could be time spent in prayer,

reading of His word, or even in acts of service. In fact, if we look at our lives as a ministry, and as a preparation for the culminating act of worshipping God in heaven for all eternity, I think that puts things in perspective. The last thing I think is a prerequisite for hearing from God is willingness. Gethsemane 36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, Sit here while I go over there and pray. 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. Maybe youve heard the song if You lead me Lord, I will follow, where You lead me Lord, I will go. Maybe not. Well, its not a question of if He is leading us, its a question of whether we are following. Whether we are willing to follow. It would seem to me that unless we are perfect, which we are most certainly not, that there is some level of guidance that we have yet to take advantage of. This may not pertain to guidance regarding individual isolated incidents, but overall, we have more guidance than we can ever put into practice right here in the Bible. So when you think about willingness, dont think about it as a buffet. You dont pick and choose the aspects of it that you are willing to do if you are truly willing. You choose to do that which the Lord asks of you. If you are willing, that is one thing. If you are willing to die, that is another thing entirely. Dying doesnt always mean a physical death. It can mean dying to your earthly desires or to your flesh as we say in Christianese. It may mean holding your tongue when you have a great comeback for that person at work that no one likes. It may mean that you use your tax return to help a family in need instead of putting a down payment on a new car. It may be something big or small, but it is when we dont give in to our own selfish agenda. Lets say we all make it through steps one and two at least with some adequacy. The hardest part is actually going through with it. Hopefully you are humble, submitting to Gods will, putting others before yourself. Hopefully the preparatory period has done its job well. In the case of Jesus, we observe the perfect (and I do not use that word lightly) example of willingness. My hope for you today is that this hits you like a bus. If you are able to take one thing away, remember that Gods will for your life is much better than your will for your life. Let us proceed to seek His will with humility, much preparation, and a willing servants heart.