“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”  [Genesis 2:3]

Since the dawn of creation God has been speaking and creation has been listening.  In the Genesis story he spoke the universe into existence, he spoke light out of darkness and into the dust he breathed and all forms of life were formed.

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” [Genesis 2:7] 

So the question that we need to be asking isn’t, “Does God Still Speak”, rather the question we should be asking is, “Are we listening.”  We are going to explore many ways the Bible tells us that God Speaks.  Then we are are going to ask the question of all of you, “Are you listening?” From a place of listening, we can discern together what God may be speaking to us, his children.  While knowing, as crazy as it seems, God speaks to us however he wants.

• Sometimes God Speaks audibly.  [Matthew 23:17]. “And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  I don’t know what else to say about that, but it happens.  Sometimes God Speaks audibly to His people.
• God Speaks through His Spirit.  [John 16:13]. ““I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”  Jesus spoke directly to His disciples and Jesus is still speaking to His disciples, now, through His Spirit.  Do you know how the Spirit Speaks?  In truth.
• God Speaks through creation. [Psalm 19:1-2] “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech…”  We are without excuse, for what can be known about God speaks in creation itself.  Even in human communication, 93% of our communication is non-verbal.  55% is movement, 38% is tone and only 7% are words.  Creation speaks, do we hear it?
• God Speaks through Scripture.  [2 Timothy 3:16,17]  “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  So from the dust of creation and God’s breath, Scripture is brought to life.  Are you listening?
• God Speaks through His people.  [Luke 16:29, 31] “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them…  ‘He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” God speaks through His people and we need to hear Gods voice in theirs. But not every word people speaks is of God, so how do we hear Gods voice in His people?
• God Speaks in Crisis.  [Acts 27:22-25]  “But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost…Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar… So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.'”  Sometimes clarity comes through crisis.  Like pressure forming a diamond, so too, in crisis God Speaks and forms in us a faith more precious than gold.
• God Speaks through a donkey.  [Numbers 22:28] “Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”  Listen, you’re gonna have to read the story yourself about Balaam and the talking donkey.  All I’m saying is it happened and we have to be open to the unconventional ways that God Speaks to us.  Can you think of some unconventional ways God has spoken to you and others?

Are we listening?  God has called HIs people through generations to hear and obey as in [Deuteronomy 6:3] “Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you..”  We need desperately to head Gods voice obey His commands.  For if we are not hearing His voice, we are hearing someone else’s voice and that leads to trouble.  Stay alert and let’s learn how to hear His voice.  Read through the questions below and respond what you are hearing.