Is God Talking to Me?

8/9/2019 Is God Talking to Me?

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Dr. C. Tommy WoodPASTOR


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GOD WANTS TO TALK WITH YOUParable of the Four Soi ls

DID I JUST HEAR GOD TAL K? DR. C. TOMMY WOOD

One of the basic tenets of Scripture is that God has revealed him. That God has madehimself known to us. That God speaks. All through the Bible we see this phrase “ andGod said …” And God said this and God said that and God said this and God said that.God speaks. You were created to have a relationship with God. God made you to loveyou and he wants you to know him a well as he knows you.

In order to know God, in order to have a relationship you ’ ve got to talk to him and he ’ sgot to talk to you. You ’ve got to have a communication. Without communication thereis no relationship.

The problem is communication can be easily misunderstood. Would you agree withthat? With people, much less God!

When Bobbie spoke to me, a, I don ’t always hear and, b, even when I do hear I don ’talways understand. We were married 49 years. It got better but I still didn't alwayshear and I didn't always understand.

Most of you guys who are newlyweds, let me give advice to some of you men. Guys,

you need to understand that there are two things you must understand about women.But nobody knows what they are. So you ’ re going to be in the dark the rest of your life.

I deeply loved my wife. Deeply . But didn't always hear her and I didn't alwaysunderstand her even when I did hear her. So certainly I should expect that in myrelationship to God. However, I will tell you this, it gets easier. It really does. It getseasier over time.

After 49 years of marriage when my wife called she doesn ’ t have to say, “ This is Bobbie.” I knew her voice. She knew my voice. Now after walking with God for a long, longtime, for over 62 years I want you to know: I know his voice. It ’s easier to figure out nowwhether it ’s just me talking to myself or I got an idea off the radio or when it ’s really God.It does get easier, just like in a marriage. I knew my wife ’s voice and she knew my voice.

When the devil gives you an idea, we call that temptation. When God gives you an idea,we call that inspiration.


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When you get an idea, we call that stupidity – just kidding. But people say, has Godever talking to you audibly? No. Why would he need to? He doesn ’ t need to go thoughmy ear. He can go directly to my mind. It ’s just like right now there are radio waves andTV waves going through this air that are there. They ’re real. You can ’t see them. Thereare actually pictures going through the air right now. You can ’t see them but that doesn ’tmean they ’re not real. It ’s real. But if you have a tuner – a radio or TV – and you tunein you can get the message and you can see the picture. The key is tuning in. You ’ vegot to know how to tune in.

This week we ’ re going to look at how do you tune in to hear God speak to you.

I can have the finest Bose radio but if it ’ s not tuned into a channel I ’ m still not going tohear the radio program, no matter how good the equipment is. Most of you don ’tremember this because you ’re not that old, but back in the seventies there was a thingcalled the CB radio craze. The first truckers had these CB radios, Citizen Band radios,in their car. Then people started putting them in their car. They made a bunch of moviesabout it. There were phrases like “Put your pedal to the metal, ” and “Ten four, goodbuddy. ” One of the phrases of the CB craze was “Have you got your ears on? ” Thatmeant are you tuned in? Are you listening?

But it ’ s not actually a new concept. Two thousand years before the CB radio craze Jesussaid something like that. In Luke 8 it says “ He who has ears to h ear, le t h im h ear. ”

What ’ s he saying? He ’ s saying you ’ ve got to be tuned in.

Today we ’ re going to look at a famous story that Jesus told that mentions how to tune

into God. It teaches us how to tune into God and hear God speak to us. But before wedo that I want to just quickly give you three reasons why this is important. You may thinkit’s not important for me to hear from God. Oh yes it is because …

• One, it proves I ’ m in God ’ s family.

It verifies that you ’re a believer. It confirms your relationship to God. If you don ’t haveany communication with God, you don ’t have a relationship with God. You ’ve got tohave communication in order to have a relationship. You talk to him, he talks to you.This is the difference between having a relationship and knowing about somebody.

I could say I know Tom Cruise. I don ’t really know him but I could say I know Tom Cruise.You say, “What do you mean by that? ” I write him all the time. “Does he write youback? ” No. I call him all the time. “Does he call you back? ” No. “Have you ever talkedto him? ” No. “Then you don ’t really have a relationship. You ’re just a fan. ”


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A lot of people are fans of God but they don ’t have a relationship with God. God wantsyou to be able to communicate. So if you never hear from God in your life, you haveevery reason to doubt that you have a relationship with him. Because if you have arelationship, you communicate with each other on a daily basis. It proves I ’m in God ’s

family.

• Second, it protects me from mistakes.

Here ’s a cool thing. If you actually do listen to God on a daily basis, you ’ll find that he ’sgoing to warn you of some pot holes, some traps, some bends in the road, and you ’lsave yourself a lot of time and energy and frustration and failure if you do it God ’s way.He will warn you in advance of traps.

The Bible says in Proverbs 3:6, “ Lis ten fo r God ’ s vo ice in every th ing you do andeverywh ere you go. He ’ s the one who w i l l keep you on t rack . ” I couldn ’t count thenumber of times that God has spared me from a failure or mistake or a majorembarrassment, when I just got that little word. Sometimes God only says one word tome: Don ’ t . That ’s all he needs to say. Don ’ t or No . Sometimes it ’s, Watch out Sometimes God will save you the time and the money and the energy of going down thewrong path if you will listen to him.

Third, it not only protects me from mistakes,

• It produces success in life.

I’m not talking about the way the world defines success – everybody ’s supposed to be amillionaire and nothing goes wrong in your life. That ’s not success. Success is beingexactly what God made you to be. It ’s the fulfillment, it ’s the meaning and purpose ofliving in the center of God ’s will.

In Psalm 32 the Bible says this, “ I wi l l guid e you a long the bes t pathw ay for you r l i fe.I wi ll adv i se you and w atch over you . ” Circle the phrase “your life. ” I will guide you;God says – he promises – I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. Noticeit’s for your life.

Did you know that there ’s a best pathway for your life but a different pathway foreverybody else ’s life? The reason why we often get in trouble is we ’re trying to followother people ’s pathways. Everybody starts off as original but most of them end up ascarbon copies of somebody else. We start trying to go down somebody else ’s path.


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If you listen to God, you know you have a relationship with him – My sheep hear myvoice, Jesus said. You know that he ’s going to protect you from mistakes and you knowyou ’re going to be on the right path. You ’re going to make fewer errors and you ’re goingto have more success in life being on the path that was meant for you to be on.

How do I hear God speak?

In Luke 8 Jesus tells a very famous story. It ’ s called the Story of the Four Soils, or theParable of the Seed and the Soils. He gives an illustration that everybody wouldunderstand in those days, the illustration of the farmer. He says “ A fa rmer goes ou t tosow seed . ”

When a farmer goes out to plant seed, they didn ’t have planting machines in those daysand he certainly didn ’t plant it one seed at a time and cover it up. That would take toolong to plant one seed at a time in a field. That would take way too long. So farmers, inthe ancient world and still today, they do it in rural areas without machines – theybroadcast seed. They ’ve got a bag of seed and as they walk down the pathway throughthe field, they throw the seed out. This is called broadcasting. It ’s where we get theword for TV broadcasting. It ’s broadly casting the seed. It ’s not narrow casting, oneseed at a time. You ’re broadcasting the seed on the whole field.

Some of that seed falls on rocky soil, some of it falls on the footpath, some of it fallswhere there are weeds, some of it actually falls on the soil that ’s been cultivated andready for growth. Jesus says these four kinds of soil represent four kinds of attitudes Ican have and these attitudes are going to determine whether I actually hear God in my

life or don ’t. So this is a very important story. He says depending on the type of soil,you get four types of response when God speaks.

God is talking to you all the time – all the time. You ’re just not tuned into it. You ’re noton the same channel. The Bible says in this story the farmer represents God, and theseed represents what God wants to say to you. It ’s his Word. The soil represents myheart or my mind. It ’s my attitude and how receptive I am to hearing God.

He says in this story that there are four things that, if I want to hear God speak, I haveto do.

1. If I want to hear God speak to me I must cultivate an open mind.

I’ve got to be receptive. I ’ve got to be willing to hear from God. I ’ve got to be ready andeager and willing to listen. Because the first barrier to hearing God is actually resistance.I’m resistant to it.


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Jesus talks about this in verse 5, “ A fa rmer went ou t to sow h i s seed . As h e wasscat ter ing the seed, som e fel l along the path; i t was t rampled o n, and th e bi rds o fthe air ate i t up . ” What ’s he talking about here?

On a farm and in a field there are footpaths between the rows where the vegetables aregoing to grow. There ’s a footpath that the farmer can walk down. As the farmer walks

on this footpath time after time after time, that soil gets pushed down. It gets compactedand it gets hardened by a lot of traffic going through. Like a lot of minds, if you ’ve got alot of traffic going through your mind, your mind is going to get hardened. It gets pusheddown. He says when he broadcasts the seed, some of the seed falls on the hardenedpath. Any seed scattered there has no chance of taking root because the ground is hard.The seed can ’t penetrate it. It lies on the surface. In fact he says the birds come alongand they see the seed and they just eat it up before it even has the chance to sprout.He says this life is for the birds! When you can ’t hear God, this life is for the birds. It ’snever going to take root in your life.

The first thing you do is you have to be receptive. You have to cultivate an open mind.Jesus gives us the meaning in verse 12 of what he ’s saying. “ Those along the footpathare the ones who hear, [they represent the ones who hear God speak] and then the devilcomes along and takes away the word from their hearts, so they cannot believe and besaved. ”

What ’s he saying there? What does the footpath represent? It represents the first kindof mind I can have. A footpath has two characteristics – it’s hardened and it ’s narrow.

Do you know any minds like that? They ’re hardened and they ’re narrow. They ’re narrowminded and they ’re hard headed. And they won ’t even be open to the possibility; theydon ’t even believe that it ’s possible that God could talk to them. No wonder he neverdoes. Because they ’re hard headed and narrow minded like the foot path.

You ’ ve noticed that the quality of reception on a cell phone varies widely. Can y ou hearme now ? Can you hear me now ? The same is true with you. There ’s a spiritualprinciple there. You must be positioned correctly in order to hear the message. Thereare some places you can be you ’re not going to hear God speak. But you ’ve got to bepositioned correctly so that you can say, can you hear me now? You have to be in theright receptive area, the right receptive mood.

The point is sometimes we never give God a chance to talk to us. Our minds are madeup. We don ’t want God to talk to us. We frankly don ’t want his input. We ’ve made upour minds. We want to do what we want to do, not what God wants us to do. So ourhearts are hardened. We ’re unwilling to listen.


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The hardened soil represents a closed mind. In other words, I don ’t even believe thatGod does talk to people and I don ’t believe that God would ever talk to me. Of coursehe ’s not going to talk to you if that ’s what you believe.

What causes a closed mind? Really. What causes people to not hear God? There arethree mental barriers.

One, pride. If I ’m prideful and I don ’t think I need God in my life, he ’s not going totalk to me. You say I can handle this myself; I can figure it out myself. So I ’m not evenlistening. I ’m not even open to the possibility that God might want to say something tome. I don ’t need his help so I don ’t pray and I don ’t listen. Pride.

Two, fear. Fear is a mental block. A lot of people can ’ t hear God speak becausethey ’ re afraid to hear God speak. If God spoke to me, put a thought in my mind and Iactually listened to it, maybe he ’ d turn me into some kind of religious nut, some kind offanatic and I ’ d be walking around saying “ Praise the Lord! ” all the time. All of a suddenI’ d wear a big hairdo or something and polyester. What if he turns me into some religiousfanatic?

No, he wants to set you free. The more you know God the more natural you become,not the more silly, quirky, weird you become. The more you know God the more naturalyou become. You become what God made you to be.

Pride will close my mind, fear will close my mind and here ’ s a third one.

Three, bitterness. When I am holding on to a hurt, when I am holding on toresentment, when I ’m holding on to a grudge, then I ’m not going to be listening to God,because my heart is hardened. Things have happened in your life that have hurt you.I’m sorry. But if you ’re holding on to hurt, whenever you hold on to hurt, here ’s whathappens. Your heart grows hard and it grows cold and you become defensive. Evendefensive to God ’s love. Why did God allow this to happen? You get very defensiveand you close your mind and you close your heart.

Some of you have been hurt very badly this week. Some of you were hurt badly yearsand years ago. But you ’re still holding on to it. I want to tell you, as your pastor wholoves you and who cares for you and wants what ’s best for you, you ’ve got to let it go.Not for their sake but for your sake. The resentment is killing you . You ’re not hurtingthe person who you ’re resentful against, who you ’re holding a grudge against. You ’renot hurting them at all. You are hurting yourself. It is a self-inflicted wound. And you ’reallowing people from your past to continue to hurt you today. That ’s dumb. You need


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to let it go. Not because they deserve it. You don ’t deserve to be forgiven for all thestuff that you ’ve done. You need to let it go because you can ’t get on with your life.When you forgive somebody, you ’re the one who is liberated, not them. You ’re the onewho ’s liberated. If you hold on to it, your heart gets harder and harder and harder.You ’ve got a hard, closed mind and a hard heart. A bitter life is a wasted life. As Jesussaid, the birds come along and eat the seed. It ’s for the birds.

Here ’s the smart response. James 1 says this, “ Get rid of all the filth and evil in yourlives, [that means maybe you ought to turn off the TV, maybe there ’s some stuff youshouldn ’t be watching or reading. Get rid of the filth and evil in your lives – that ’s goingto trample it down and make your heart hard] and humbly accept the message that Godhas planted [there ’s that word “planted ”] in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save

your soul. ”

Circle the phrase “ humbly accept. ” This is the key. I say, Lord, I tried to figure it out onmy own but I kept hitting a wall. I don ’t like the way I ’m going in life. I ’m going with yourplan not my plan. I ’m going to listen to you. I must cultivate an open mind.

2. The second way to hear God is I must take time to listen.

I cultivate an open mind. I allocate time to listen. I take time, make time to listen. I haveto slow down and make time, be quiet, so I can hear him.

Why? Because the second barrier to you hearing from God is hurry. When you ’re in ahurry you cannot hear God.

If I fly over the country of France, I miss all the details. If I take a train through France,I’ll see a little bit more of the details. If I go even slower and drive through France in acar, I ’ll see a lot more details. If I actually walk through France, I would see a lot moredetails.

You miss the details of life when you ’re in a hurry. You miss. You are missing so muchby being in a hurry. What you need to do is you need to pull back on the rpm ’s. Youneed to slow down. When you slow down, you ’re going to hear God. I ’ve got to maketime to hear him. I can ’t always be in a hurry.

When we ’re in a hurry, God gets shuffled; God gets short changed. We skim in all therelationships. We skim. I don ’t have time to be alone with God today. I don ’t have timeto sit down and be quiet and read the Bible, talk to him for a minute and listen. So muchof the time it ’s, Lord, I need you to tell me what to do, but do it in a hurry. Speak, but


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speak quickly. God says, No. You ’ve got to slow down. You ’ve got to turn down therpm ’s.

Luke 8:6 is the second kind of soil he says about this farmer who ’ s sowing seed, “ Otherseed fe ll on sha l low s o i l wi th under ly ing roc k . Th is seed began to g row , bu t soo ni t wi the red and d ied fo r l ack o f mo is tu re . ” This is the shallow soil or rocky soil.

Let me explain to you: In the nation of Israel, the land of Israel, much of Israel has a verythin layer of topsoil on top of a bedrock of limestone. So unless they break up thatlimestone or put on more topsoil, the roots aren ’t going to go down deep. And withoutroots, when the heat ’s on, the plants die. We understand this in Southern California,because during the springtime all the hills turn green once there is water. All the hillsturn green and all the California grasses bloom and it ’s real pretty. You have thewildflowers, the poppies and all that kind of stuff. But the moment the rains stop, thehills turn brown in Southern California. Why? Because the grass has no roots. It can ’tgo down deep enough to get water from the under well springs that are down deeper.When you don ’t have roots, when you ’re shallow soil, when you have shallow soil onhard rock, it initially sprouts up great and it looks good but it doesn ’t last and it withersquickly. Most plants wither when the heat ’s on, because they don ’t have roots.

This is what Jesus says about this in verse 13, “ The rocky so i l [the soil with rockunderneath it. It ’ s not talking about soil with a bunch of little rocks but soil with a bedrock]represen t s those wh o h ear the message wi th joy. But l ike young p lan t s in suchso i l , the i r roo t s do n ’ t go very deep. They bel ieve for a wh i le , bu t they wi l t whenthe ho t winds o f t es t ing b low . ”

The shallow soil represents a superficial mind. The hard soil represents a closed mind – I don ’t even want to hear God. The shallow soil represents a superficial mind – it’s notvery deep.

A lot of times we hear God ’s Word and we get excited about it but we don ’t allow it tochange us. We act superficially. We react emotionally. We ’re moved impulsively. Butwe don ’t take the time to let it sink in.

I couldn ’t count the number of times in the last thirty years I ’ve been out on the patio aftera service and somebody will come up to me in tears and say, “Pastor Tommy, thatmessage really touched me. It really, really touched me. ” But over the next month youdon ’t see any change in their life. In fact you may never see them again. They ’retouched but they ’re not transformed. They ’re emotionally moved. They ’ve got a quiverin their liver. That was really good. But as soon as the emotion is gone, nothing happens


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because they don ’t allow the Word of God to penetrate the bedrock of their personality.They come for the movement, they come for the emotion, they come for the joy.

Notice it says the rocky soil represents those who hear the message with joy. Circle“with joy. ” They ’re thrilled but they ’re not transformed. They walk out the door andimmediately forget it.

Which is, by the way, why we have these hand out notes at Life Community Church. I ’vetold you many times, the United States Air-force did a study and discovered that weforget ninety to ninety-five percent of everything we hear within seventy-two hours. Thatmeans if you ’ve heard every message that I ’ve preached at Life Community Church overtwo years, you ’ll only remember five percent. That makes me want to slit my wrists.When I think of all the preparation that I ’ve done and all the Bible teaching that I ’ve donefor two years and you remember almost none of it, maybe five percent. You don ’tremember anything. That ’s why we pass out notes. Because the shortest pencil islonger than the longest memory. If you write it down, you can take it home, and you canput it up on your refrigerator and look at it during the week. Or you can put it on yourbathroom mirror and look at it during the week. You can laminate it and put it in theshower and look at it! You can put it in the visor of your car and pull it down and look atit during the week when you ’re at a stop light. You ’ll remember it longer if you actuallytake notes.

You may not be taking notes and you ’re sitting there looking really spiritual. Buteverything I ’m saying is going in one ear and out the other. And before you get in yourcar you ’ve already forgotten most everything I ’ve said. That ’s the shallow soil. It ’s

superficial. Superficial mind.

Notice it says “shallow roots. ” It says they believe for a while then when the heat comeson, you dry up and blow away.

I don ’t want you to be that way. You don ’t want to be that way. You want to be a deepperson not a shallow person. You want to be a person with spiritual roots. You don ’twant to be some shallow woman or shallow man. You want to have deep roots so thatwhen recession comes and it lasts for several years you ’re able to keep bearing fruit andbeing green. When the rough winds come and somebody in your family gets sick orsomebody dies, it doesn ’t blow you away because you ’ve got roots. You ’re able to staywith it. That ’s why you ’ve got to take time.

How do you develop roots? How do you develop spiritual roots?


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Two ways. A daily time with God and a weekly small group with other believers. Thesetwo things. You ’ve got to spend time alone with God and you ’ve got to spend time withother believers. That ’s why I talk about this over and over and over. It ’s the two waysyou build roots.

If you ’re not spending time with God on a daily basis you ’re going to dry up and blowaway when the pressure is on, when the heat is on in your life. You won ’t be able tohandle it. That daily time with God. You sit down and you be quiet. You read a little bitof the Bible and you talk to God. Maybe read a little in a Christian book or something.And you listen. Maybe play some music. If you like to journal, do that. We have awhole class on this – Class 201. Maybe you ’ve forgotten how to do it. You could goback and take Class 201 again. But you ’ve got to make time to listen and let it sink in.

Then you ’ve got to have a weekly small group. Because in that small group, the one I ’min right now I ’ve been in eight or nine years, God speaks to me through those people.He does all the time. Because nobody has a complete perspective on life. I don ’t andyou don ’t. Every one of us has blinders on. I can see things in your life you can ’t see.You can see things in my life that I can ’t see. That ’s why we need each other. I learnfrom the people in my small group. If you ’re not in a small group you don ’t get thatencouragement.

The Bible says this: “ Don ’ t give up the habit of meeting together; instead, let usencourage one another. ” The reason why the Daniel Plan is going to work for many ofyou is because you ’re in a small group where everybody is encouraging each other. Weall need at-a-boys. We all need encouragement. If you ’re trying to do the Daniel Planand get healthy on your own, frankly I don ’t expect you to last. I don ’t. I’ve just seen ittoo many times in my own life and in thousands of other people ’s lives that we need thesupport in a group to make this thing work.

3. The third thing we have to do in order to hear God is, if you want to hear God, if Iwant to hear God, I must eliminate the distractions.

The fuzz that ’s on the line that I can ’t hear God clearly. You can ’t hear God if your mindis crowded with other things, with other thoughts, with other concerns. Particularlyworries, plans, activities. If you ’re always listening to the radio, always listening to TV,when God calls you the circuits are busy. It ’s kind of like on Mother ’s Day when you tryto call your mom and you can ’t get through because all the lines are busy. God can ’t getthrough to you because your mind is preoccupied all the time. You ’re worried about


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something all the time, you ’re thinking about something all the time. You ’ve got toeliminate the distractions.

Jesus says this in verse 7, “ Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it andstrangled it. ”

Notice here ’s the third kind of soil. This is the soil with weeds in it. The soil, God speaks,it actually gets planted and it actually begins to grow. But as it begins to grow, otherweeds begin to grow up around it and the weeds begin to choke out the life of thevegetable or the plant that was planted. So it never bears fruit.

Here ’s what Jesus says is the meaning of this. Verse 14 “ The seed that fell amongweeds stands for those who hear, [they hear God talk to them like in church or the Bibleor somewhere] but as they go on their way, they are choked by life ’ s worries, riches, and

pleasures, and they don ’ t mature. ” They never grow.

This verse is full of truth. First circle the phrase “as they go. ” It says “as they go they ’rechoked by the weeds. ” Let me ask you a question: Are you always on the go? If you ’realways on the go you ’re not going to hear God. The Bible says “ Be still and know that Iam God. ” Sit down and shut up. Just be quiet. Be still. If you ’re always on the go you ’regoing to be distracted by other things. Busyness is the third barrier to hearing God. Thefirst is resistance, the second is being in a hurry, and the third is busyness. When I ’malways on the go, I can ’t hear God. I ’m going to miss a lot of what he wants to say.

I used to have a sign in my office that said “Beware of the barrenness of a busy life. ”

You get so distracted you can ’t hear God.

Notice it says “they are choked. ” That word in Greek literally means “stressed out. ” Imeans pulled in different directions. You know what that means because you ’re pulledin different directions all the time. It says they ’re pulled in different directions, they ’restressed out. Their life is choked. The life of you is choked out of you. That ’s why you ’retired all the time, because you ’re being pulled in different directions.

Then he says there are three things that choke out hearing God.

First, he says worry. Worries are weeds. You ’re so busy with the problems andpressures of daily living you ’re not hearing God.

Then he says riches. You can be so busy trying to pay your bills, so busy trying toget out of debt, so busy trying to make more, so busy making a living you don ’t make alife.


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yelled at me. But God whispers to me all the time. But I can ’t hear God ’s whisper unlessI’m quiet.

4. If I want to hear God speak I must cooperate with what he says.

I must just obey him. I must do what he tells me to do. I cultivate an open mind. I

allocate time to listen. I eliminate distractions and I cooperate with what he says.Whatever he tells me to do I do it.

Here is the very important key: God speaks to people who decide in advance they ’regoing to do what he tells them to do, even before he tells them. It ’s saying yes to God.God, I don ’t know what you want me to do in my life. If you want me to move, I ’ll move.If you want me to go to school, I ’ll go to school. If you want me to get married, I ’ll getmarried. If you want me to leave this job, I ’ll leave this job. I ’m telling you in advance,my answer to whatever you tell me is Yes . Before you even tell me, my answer iswhatever you want me to do I will do it.

That ’s the person God speaks to. If you say, “God, tell me what you want me to do, andthen I ’ll decide if I like your plan or mine. ” God isn ’t going to waste his breath on you.God doesn ’t give you his will and his Word so you can debate it. So if you say, God, youtell me if you want me to get this new job or not take that job, then I ’ll decide. God says,no. You go ahead and decide on your own. If you ’re making the decision, you decideon your own.

What you must do is in advance say, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God,

I’m saying yes to you. I ’m writing my name on a blank check and I ’m handing you thecheck and you fill it in. You tell me what you want me to do and I ’m telling you in advance,I’m going to do it. I ’m saying, yes, Lord.

That ’s the good soil. That ’s the receptive soil. That ’s co-operating with what he says.

Verse 15, “ The see tha t f el l in goo d s o i l s t ands fo r tho se wh o h ear the messageand re ta in i t in a good and o bedient hear t , and they pers is t unt i l they bear f rui t . ”

This is the fourth kind of soil. I want you to circle four things.

Good soil means I hear it. Circle “hear. ” I “retain ” it. That means I remember what Godtold me. That means you ’re going to have to write it down because if you don ’t write itdown you ’re not going to remember what God told you. I hear it and I retain it. Iremember it. I “obey ” it. Obedience. Then I “persist ” until I bear fruit.


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This is the good soil. And the good soil represents a willing mind.

When I used to study this parable of Jesus I used to think it was talking about four kindsof people. That there were resistant people and that there were busy people and therewere preoccupied people and there were shallow people and then there were goodpeople.

No. I don ’ t believe that any more. What this represents is four attitudes and I can haveall four attitudes in the same day. You can be in all four of these positions on the sameday. At one moment you go, “ God, I don ’ t want to hear you because I know what you ’ regoing to say. And I don ’ t want to hear it. ” And the next one you say, “ Lord, tell mequick. ” And you hear it and think that ’ s good. You hear it but then immediately don ’t doanything about it. The third one is “That ’s really good, ” and the fruit starts to bear in yourlife. And then you get busy with your job. Or you get busy with your boyfriend orgirlfriend. Or you get busy with school. Or you get busy with your kids. And you forgetwhat God is doing in your life. And the weeds grow up. Then sometimes I can just feel,“God, whatever you want. I ’m totally open to you. Whatever you want in my life I wantto do it your way. Because that will be fewer mistakes, it shows I ’m in the family and itleads me on to success. ”

How do you bear fruit? God wants you to bear fruit. That ’s what Decade of Destiny isall about. Bearing fruit is another term, the Bible term for being successful. God wantsyou to be fruitful in your business, in your family, in your friendships, in your relationshipsto God and to others, in your health. We ’re looking at these seven areas of fruitfulness.Physical health, relational health, financial health, spiritual health, emotional health,

mental health, vocational health – your job. We ’re going to take each one of these at atime over the next three years. Right now we ’re working on the physical to get yourenergy level up so you will have the energy to change in all the other areas.

God expects you to bear fruit. He wants you to be successful in these areas. How doyou bear fruit when God tells you something? Here ’s the key. You tell somebody else.You pass it on. When God tells you something, the quickest way to get it in your life istell somebody else something you just learned. If you get an idea, you get an inspiration,you get a truth from your quiet time or your small group, tell somebody else. In a Biblestudy the person who always grows the most is the one who is the teacher. Because bypassing it on you grow even more.

“ They l is ten to God ’ s wo rds and c l ing to them and s tead i ly sp read them to o therswho a l so soon be l i eve . ” Circle “spread them to others. ” God wants you to pass on toothers what you learn.


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We ’ re moving into springtime. It ’ s about six weeks till Easter. During springtime peopleare more open to coming to church than any other time. Football is over and people aremore open to coming. I hope you ’ re planning right now who you ’ re going to bring duringthe next few weeks and bring on Easter. Don ’ t come by yourself. Bring somebody toEaster.

Do you remember few years ago, those Chilean miners who got trapped in that hole inthat mine? Remember that story? There was a part of the story that never got told.During that whole month those miners were in the bottom of that mine for a full month,in the dark; there was one guy who was a Christian believer. And one at a time peoplebegan to come to him and he began to share the good news. He began to pass it on toother people. During that month while they were in the ground, twenty-two of thoseminers gave their lives to Christ. They were saved, became believers in Jesus Christ.It is an amazing story.

. What if we were to do a spiritual brain scan on your brain? And we were able to put itup on these screens or any of the places our TV cam on all of the screens. And it couldshow what kind of mind you have: a closed mind, a resistant mind, a hurried mind, apreoccupied mind, a shallow mind. What would it show? What kind of soil would yourmind reveal spiritually?

Are you resistant? Have you been closed to God? Your wife has been a Christian foryears, or your husband has been a Christian for years, and you, just out of your ownpride, refuse to let that seed be planted. And it ’s hard and it ’s trampled down. And it ’sa closed mind. You ’re not open minded. You ’re not even open to the possibility of letting

God plant the seed in your mind.

I want to tell you this. God loves you too much to let you stay that way. So he ’ s goingto soften the soil. If you have a hard heart toward God or a hard mind toward God hewill soften the soil.

How does God turn hard soil into soft soil? I hate to tell you this but he sends a storm.He sends rain. The rain comes and it softens.

I want you to be able to avoid that pain. Because he loves you too much to let you gothrough life with a hard heart and a closed mind. He will send a storm at some point inyour life to soften that so the seed can get in.

I suggest you open your heart and your mind to Christ today.


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How about the superficial mind? You say, I ’d love to go to church but I ’m always in ahurry. God ’s not the top priority of my mind. I love the Lord but I ’m living for other things.I don ’t really know the Bible, have a quiet time. I ’m not in a small group. You don ’t haveany roots. When the heat is on you ’re going to wilt. When the tough times come, andthey do come, you ’re going to wilt.

How about a preoccupied mind? You ’re always thinking about everything else. You ’retoo busy for God. So much noise is going on in your life. And the weeds are growingup and they ’re choking your life out.

I don ’ t know what the weeds are in your life. It could be a relationship that ’s choking outyour spiritual life. It could be money. It could be a dream or a goal that ’s choking outyour spiritual life. If you ’re tired of living like that and you want to open your life up, youwant to hear God speak to you, now is the time.

FOR A BETTER MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE, WE HAVE A WEBPAGE FOR THISSERMON AVAILABLE. CLICK HERE:

http://www.lifecommunitychurch.us/is-god-talking-to-me-020115.html

http://www.lifecommunitychurch.us/is-god-talking-to-me-020115.htmlhttp://www.lifecommunitychurch.us/is-god-talking-to-me-020115.html


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Is God Talking to Me?