Grace Community Church, Arlington, TX
03.10.24 Jesus Listens & Obeys: Part 2
Locations & Times
Grace Community Church, Arlington, TX
801 W Bardin Rd, Arlington, TX 76017, USA
Sunday 9:30 AM
Sunday 11:00 AM
Developing a Conversational Relationship with God
The way that Jesus did ministry is a model, for how we are to do ministry. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Jesus listened to the Father and did what the Father told Him to do.
And just as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. So, how do we do that?
1. The first step is what does the Bible say about it.
2. The next step is to consider which decision most glorifies Christ.
3. The third step is those who make Godly decisions will make wise decisions.
4. The fourth step is to ask, “What would love do?”
5. The fifth step is to consider how God’s divine providence is impacting your decision.
6. The last step is listening to God’s voice through the direct and personal guidance of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:14; Ps 32:8).
2. The next step is to consider which decision most glorifies Christ.
3. The third step is those who make Godly decisions will make wise decisions.
4. The fourth step is to ask, “What would love do?”
5. The fifth step is to consider how God’s divine providence is impacting your decision.
6. The last step is listening to God’s voice through the direct and personal guidance of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:14; Ps 32:8).
How do we do that?
1. The first thing that must happen to us if we are going to develop a conversation relationship with God, we must be born again!!
2. The second thing that we must do in order to develop a conversational relationship with God is to be quick to confess any sin as soon as it comes to mind.
2. The second thing that we must do in order to develop a conversational relationship with God is to be quick to confess any sin as soon as it comes to mind.
And then, in verse 8, God takes the pen in his own hand and promises not only protection but instruction and counsel for how we should live from day to day:
And then God goes on to say…
Don’t be that way. Don’t be stubborn and obstinate in having your own way and not humbling yourself and confessing your sin. Don’t be like that.
3. The third thing that we must do in order to develop a conversational relationship with God is change the way we think.
Jesus said, “My Sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (Jn 10:27).
We are His sheep, and we exist for His purposes. So, begin to ask that question on a regular basis…
“What are you doing here Lord, and how can you use me to help?”
We are His sheep, and we exist for His purposes. So, begin to ask that question on a regular basis…
“What are you doing here Lord, and how can you use me to help?”
4. The Fourth thing that we must do is learn to listen to His still small voice that usually comes to us as Impressions of the Spirit.
God can speak directly to your spirit without going through the normal process of your physical hearing or seeing.
After Jesus rose from the dead. He joined a couple of His disciples on the road to Emmaus who did not initially recognize them. After He left them, they said,
What were they saying to one another? They were recalling that His words had always affected their heart, their inward life, in a peculiar way.
So, how do we learn to hear His still small voice, those impressions of the Spirit?
The quality of God’s voice is more a matter of the weight or impact an impression makes on our consciousness.
The quality of God’s voice is more a matter of the weight or impact an impression makes on our consciousness.
The truth is that God often times speaks to us through our thoughts.
5. The fifth thing we must do if we are going to develop a conversational relationship with God is we must pay attention to our Surrounding Circumstances.
God speaks through circumstances as well. Such as Jonah, who failed to heed God’s direction and found himself in the belly of a whale.
Wouldn’t you say that God was speaking to Jonah through those circumstances
When we ask God to speak to us, then we should pay special attention both to what is going on within us and what is going on around us.