We begin a new year, we wanted to take the next 3 weeks to challenge one another to get ‘tuned in’ to hearing from God. To encourage one another to live out a proactive pursuit of hearing from God – to learn how to attune our ears and hearts – to Listen Closely to the whispers of His truth, His voice, His words that he has for each of us. Here's 2 books that I (Jack) found helpful:
Whisper, by Mark Batterson
Hearing God, by Dallas Willard

Remember:
to LISTEN = WE MUST PAY ATTENTION (and anything involving ‘pay’ has a cost to it)

Hearing:
The outer ear functions like a funnel, catching sound. After traveling through the ear canal and hitting the eardrum, the vibrations bump into 3 of the tiniest bones in our body: the hammer, anvil and stirrup. After sound waves travel past the eardrum, the 3 tiny bones to the middle ear, the vibrations spiral through a snail shaped tube called the cochlea, which contains thousands of microscopic hair cells that amplify the sound along the way. From there the eighth cranial nerve transmits the impulses like Morse code to the auditory cortex, where pitch, volume, tone, distance, direction and meaning are all translated into actionable information.
=you experience a miracle every time you hear a bird sing, someone speak to you and music is played.

The four words God spoke to begin it all – "let there be light" are still creating.

If God can do that with 4 words, imagine what He can do as He speaks into our lives: IMAGINE
=how he can create, heal, help, repair and restore you as he whispers into your heart.
=how he can comfort, empower, transform and bring change about in you as he speaks into your life.

Jesus had a popular phrase he often used when he was teaching:
'Whoever has ears, let them hear’ (Jesus said this 6 times in gospels and 8 times in book of Revelation)
When Jesus said, “whoever has ears, let him hear.” It was an exhortation to listen not only once, but twice! It’s in the gap between the first hearing and the second hearing where we discern the promptings of the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Hearing from God isn’t just about hearing information about God, but hearing relationally from the ONE we’re saved through, connected to and forever loved by!

QUOTE:
“In our attempts to understand how God speaks to us and guides us, we must above all hold on to the fact that this is to be sought only as a part of a certain kind of life, a life of loving fellowship with the King. …We must therefore make it our primary goal not just to hear the voice of God, but to be mature people in a loving relationship with him. Only in this way will we hear him rightly.” -Dallas Willard (Hearing God...developing a conversational relationship with God)

*it’s one thing for an unknown stranger to stand in front of a group of unknown people to communicate some information.
**it’s an entirely different thing for a loving Father to whisper into their child’s ear information/instruction connected within their deep, loving & secure relationship.

This notion that God communicates best and most in a still whisper is not to try and be mysterious, but rather to draw us closer. Some of the most intimate and powerful words we ever speak are in whispers, the same is true with God. Sure, God can use his outside voice, but He speaks most with a whisper deep within us.

God speaks more clearly to those who are mulling over his Word consistently.
...to hear FROM God, we must abide WITH God.

After 10 years of research, LifeWay states 2 things about spiritual maturity:
1. Bible engagement is the #1 spiritual discipline for growth
2. Bible engagement affects every other discipline. People who engage the Bible: serve more, give more, go more, & evangelize more.

Friends the predominant ways God will nudge your heart is through His Word (the Scriptures) and The Word (Jesus).
Listen Closely – Tune In and lean in, to the whispers of God. What He conveys, won’t contradict His Scriptures; the Scriptures will always confirm His truth & His leading.

NEED PRAYER? ....we've got some of our prayer team and pastors available following service to pray with you. You can also submit your prayer request via our app. We look forward to partnering with you in prayer.

IF YOU'RE NEW: we throw a 10-minute party immediately following the service in the back corner of the room, if you're new, we'd love to meet you and welcome you!