The Hearing God Course at Gateway South Austin is a journey that will help you grow and deepen your relationship with God and discover His voice.
God is not silent.
The primary obstacle to hearing Him is not His unwillingness to speak, but our unwillingness to listen – due to distractions or not liking what we hear.
Hearing God begins not with technique, but surrender.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” —John 10:27
How do we become His sheep?
How do we discern His voice?
How do we follow Him?
How do we become His sheep?
Through a relationship with God through Jesus.
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. – John 17:3
You can come to know God as the loving Father, the One who is closer than a brother, the One who can meet the deepest longings of your heart, the One who has a beautiful plan for your life as you walk with Him!
How to begin a relationship with God:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. – Romans 10:9-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
– Ephesians 2:8-10
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. – John 1:12
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:1
How do we discern His voice?
Remove Distractions, Listen, and Look for the Clues God Gives:
Supernatural Clues:
Seeking God (Prayer)
Seeking God (The Bible)
Spirit of God
Signs
External Clues:
Sage counsel
Circumstances
Internal Clues:
Significance
Seeking God Through Prayer
Prayer is not how we get God to do our will; it’s how God reshapes our will. Many of us pray for clarity when God is inviting us to release control.
God says “yes,” “not yet,” or “no.”
“We can be sure our prayers are answered precisely in the way we would want them to be answered if we knew everything God knows.”
― Tim Keller
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
A.C.T.S.
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication
This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” – Jesus in Matthew 6:9-13
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20
How do we follow Him?
Trust and Obey
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” – Matthew 13:23
To become fruitful we hear and obey what we hear. (See Fruitful: Becoming Who God Created You to Be)
The four soils teach us the following:
- The Rocky Path: A hardened heart -> Receptivity
- The Shallow Soil: A shallow faith -> Tenacity
- The Path with Thorns: A distracted person -> Intentionality
- The Rich and Fertile Soil: The fruitful life -> Proactivity
Discussion Questions:
- When is a time in your life when you saw God answer prayer?
- When you’re facing a big decision, what’s your natural tendency—research, asking people, praying, avoiding it, or something else?
- What does it look like for you personally to move from “telling God what you want” to truly listening?
- Is there something right now you sense God may be inviting you to let go of? What makes that hard?
- This week, how could you create even a small space for receptive prayer rather than rushed prayer?
- How would you like for us to be praying for you during this series?
