 Does God still speak and if so, how? An issue that gets discussed amongst various different Christians Whether they be Pentecostal charismatic where they'd be more on the conservative side is this issue of does God speak? Does he still speak and if so, how does he speak? One of the passages that you'll see being brought up from time to time is going to come from John 10 Throughout John 10 Jesus is talking about his sheep and how his sheep hear his voice And he makes a statement in John chapter 10 verse 16. He says I have sheep other sheep Which are not of this fall speaking of obviously Gentiles and he says I must bring them also and look what he says He says they will hear my voice and he also goes on to say later on in the chapter that my sheep hear my voice The question is what does that mean to hear his voice? Does this mean that we will hear outwardly the voice of God? Does it refer to maybe an inward impression mental impression? Or does it mean that we will be that we will hear or understand being led by some sort of events that are out there now? The John 10 passage is a passage that's used to show that we will hear from God But proponents on the other side will go to Hebrews chapter 1 and let's look what it says This is the passage they will use sometimes to state that we don't hear from God Audibly anymore we only hear through his word So he says in Hebrews 1 1 God after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways In these last days has spoken to us in his son Now the question that begs asking is what does that mean? Does that passage say that he will only speak to us now in his word? Obviously, there's different ways that God can speak Will he speak to us audibly can he speak to us audibly? Well, obviously if he wants to speak to anyone audibly he can and he will it needs to be understood though When we look at the Bible the times that we see God speaking audibly to someone there's been there's been quite a few But this was over Approximately 4,000 years and so when we look at it, it's not that this was the norm This is really more of the exception rather than the norm and then typically when he spoke to someone audibly There were for two things that were happening there one obviously it was audibly then however God speaks It is to be taken authoritatively Whether it's written or comes from him directly and so when he speaks audibly to let's say a prophet or one of the leaders Then they are to take that word and to use it in leading the people Which is one of the reasons why we probably don't need that type of audible speaking today because we have our Instructions on how we ought to be governed by his word But then there are also times where God has spoken to someone audibly Individually and that had more to do with what they need to do individually in other words Go this way or go that way do this or do that don't do this don't do that And so again the question is does God speak that way or does he only speak to us through his word? Does he lead us? And I think that anyone who even holds to the view that God no longer speaks audibly that he speaks primarily through his word Will not negate the fact that God also leads us a spiritual or even a mental impression a leading by the scriptures Before we get back to this issue of how he speaks either outwardly or through the word Let's go to a passage and see How God says that he's going to do things This is this prayer of how we ought to pray when they ask Lord teaches how to pray and notice is give us each Day our daily bread which has to entail something that's going to grow us and move us But then look what he says he says at the end and lead us not into temptation The question is what does that mean to lead us? How so does that only mean in a spiritual sense? It's only mean by some sort of mental or spiritual impression the Lord is tugging at our heart or moving us now It should be stated that Those of us who are believers who have the spirit of us we will be led by God The question is how and does that entail us hearing from him? And if so is the hearing audibly because we find in 814 of Romans that those who are led by the spirit Those are the son of the God, but what does that mean? So let's go back to Hebrews 1 and let's go ahead and clarify something that's there already That is that when we read this passage this passage does not say he will only speak to us in his written word That's not what it's talking about The reason why we can say that comfortably is because when this was written They didn't have the written word. They didn't have all the all the locales all of the believers who would have heard this They didn't have the written word We're still talking about Before the close of the canon and even at the close of the canon everyone did not have a Bible And so it'd be hard to state that this is referring to the word because when it said Everyone did not have the written word So how would they who don't have the word? How would they hear from the word of God? How would they know what's being spoken which brings us back to our dilemma? I think we all would agree that God certainly speaks through his word primarily to get an instruction on what's happening The authoritative word that we have from him the God breed word that is Without question our final authority when we compare what we think or how we feel Any sort of movement any sort of direction then we go and compare with the scriptures John says to test all things that that not all spirits come from God and so to test them How do we do so by the word of God? And then I think that everyone would also agree that there's obviously some sort of inward Impression through the spirit of us to do things in division because the word of God While it's efficient it does not give us instructions on our living Individually in some cases in some cases when we're praying Lord, how do we go? Which direction should we take? Maybe it is over a job. Maybe it is over moving to a city Maybe it isn't how to respond to a particular incident Well, we may not find that in the scriptures And so that's where the prayer the praying comes in and we wait for the Lord to lead us But also through other people so sometimes events God may use certain events to speak to us I can promise you if you're driving down the street and you're thinking that you're going this way and a tree falls that way or The road the bridge claps I can promise you you're no longer going that way You're gonna have a detour that happens. God does use events sometimes natural events as well or Through other people through other godly men and women who can offer counsel Which can also be how God can speak to us But then back to this burning question though, will he speak to us audibly? The reason why you see a lot of pushback from people saying that no he will not speak audibly is because there are so many People who have stated the Lord told me God has said this and remember when you say God has said this or the Lord told me this it's still with the same authority as if it was written down Even though even though it may not be written down and even though it's just for you when you say God said God's word does not diminish in importance or power And so when we say so we need to be very careful as a matter of fact I would caution anyone to be careful from using that phrase as often as as much as you possibly can Because you do not want to invoke his name when he did not do so now Does that mean that he he can speak audibly or that he will not the fact of the matter is we just don't know Could he sure does he we don't know we do know this though He didn't do it as often as people today say so because he didn't do it that often in the Bible And we're talking about over a period of time and this was done for and through specific people for specific purposes Such as with Moses where he's leading the children of Israel out if it's through Hagar He's speaking directly to Hagar He has something for her to do if he's speaking to Joshua if he's speaking to get it if he's speaking to Sam Whomever he might be speaking to Then it's for a specific reason for a bigger purpose We really don't see him speaking to someone just for the sake of them Feeling good about themselves or them getting a job or them finding the right husband or them getting a financial increase We don't see God doing that we see it for a bigger purpose Now I would caution that my friends on the more conservative side Not to have a knee-jerk response to those people who abuse and In many cases lie and say the Lord said this Don't have a knee-jerk response and say well since they are abusing it since this can't be of God that will foreclose The possibility of it happening anywhere else If God happens to speak one I'm I think I'm of the camp that if he does Will know have I heard it before no, I have not have I heard him speak to me not necessarily in the audible fashion But do I believe there's some things that he's impressed on me and I would say that's him Leading me that's him speaking to me because when we say speaking it doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be audibly It can be spoken or he can speak to us in and through our spirit And then he can verify it if it is the right way to do it sometimes in the scriptures Sometimes through other people giving counsel Ultimately, we know it's him because of the result of it and then from our friends on the other side who believe that God does still speak Audibly I would caution you to understand that he does not do that a lot often Especially as often as we hear people saying when you in most cases when you hear people saying that God told me It's probably a good bet to believe or to discount what they're saying and to say that no I'm pretty sure that's not it Especially for what the purpose is often times. It's something trivial not maybe not to them But in the Iran scheme of things that God told me that the and oftentimes it's when the God tells me it's something vague It or something that we already know what God is not going to tell you the exact same thing He's already told us in scriptures. So what's the final conclusion? We really don't know but again as we understand from the scriptures, which is our final authority We should try all things by the word of God Test and see if it's of the word of God if it's something that really can't be found in the word of God Well, then you keep praying on it you keep praying on it find counsel If you say if you want to tell someone this is what God has said I can promise you There can be some consequences for you saying so and God did not speak do not presume to speak for God when God has Not spoken Hey, man