COMPLETE SERMON NOTES
Godcast – Part 3
Hearing His Voice Through Others
Recap: Most follow the wrong voice because they live in Deception – hearing but not doing (cf. James 1:22).
Worship and the Word saturate our spiritual life (like watering a dying bush)
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“The world has yet to see what God can do with a man wholly committed to him” (encouraging words to D.L. Moody).
Part 2: Hearing His Voice Through Others
Satan’s Plan to distance us from God (from the NIV study bible)
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Doubt: Makes you question God and His goodness
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Discouragement: Makes you look at your problems rather than God
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Diversion: Makes the wrong things seem attractive so that we want them more than the right things
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Defeat: Makes you feel like a failure so that you don’t even try
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Delay: Makes you put off doing something God wants you to do so that it never gets done
The counsel of others can offset this (and the Word and Worship)
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“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Prov. 15:22
How does this work?
Proverbs 12:15 ESV “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Prov. 18:21
The tongue can restore & bring healing, but it can also damage and destroy…
Counsel can bring life to the discouraged and death to the sin in our lives:
A. Sin is deceptive: Blinds, Leads, Deceives, Justifies, Excuses, Prevents, BUT counsel [through God’s Word] can bring clarity.
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I hate this AP. I’m not going to use it anymore.
B. We often make decisions with bias – with what’s best for us (comfortable / convenient).
*Godly counsel usually doesn’t have any vested interest or benefit. They love you and want the best, whereas sin wants to destroy. God leads us through godly counsel for this reason.
*They can look at it in the light of scripture verse the gray area of feelings.
C. Top 3 Deceivers (neurotransmitters are involved; its a high):
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Toxic relationships
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Sexual Sin
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Addiction
KEY: FIND COUNSELORS WHO WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU “NEED” TO HEAR; NOT WHAT YOU “WANT” TO HEAR.
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Do NOT listen to those caught in sin with you.
Proverbs 11:14 ESV “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Proverbs 19:20-21 ESV “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Proverbs 28:26 ESV “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”
COUNSEL is not always about discouraging us away from something, they can also encourage us toward something.
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Examples: 1. Try WCF for 3 months 2. Guest speaker often
Counsel is supplementary to our walk; not controlling. It usually does not have the final say. (cf. The Shepherding Movement.)
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They don’t have all the information; they don’t know the depth of our struggle, or what God maybe doing in our heart.
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Parents often have great advice – pride plugs the ears.
CLOSING: The Parable of the Two Sons
Matthew 21:28-31, “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
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Some of you need to do what the Father wants you to do. You’ve been rejecting counsel. You’ve been rejecting His word. Its time to return to what you know to be right.
CONTEXT IS SALVATION: Which of the two did the father’s will? “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
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Some of you need to repent and accept God’s gracious gift of salvation. You’ve been ignoring, rejecting, and running from Him; it’s time to come home.
Matthew 13:49-50, “This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
