Does God still speak? Throughout the Bible God speaks to individuals and to his people. We read those stories with interest and amazement. But does God still speak today? In the coming months all of us are being asked to pray regarding our upcoming building campaign. You'll be asked to pray that we would know and follow God's will as a church, and that we would know and follow God's will for us individually as we participate in this endeavor. But how do we find out what God's will is? If God speaks today, how do we hear what God is saying to us?

For God didn't stop speaking 2000 years ago. God made us to live in a relationship with him, and the simple fact is there is no relationship without communication. God wants to speak to us today.

The problem is communication is often misunderstood. If you've never been misunderstood or misunderstood someone else, then you've never had a relationship. Even in marriage, which should be the most intimate of human relationships, how often do men and women misunderstand each other? I've heard it said that there are two things men need to understand about women.... but nobody knows what they are!

If we struggle to develop solid, healthy communication with our spouses, our families, those we love and spend our lives with, and still we don't always communicate clearly, why should we be surprised that we have communication problems with God? Take young Samuel. Samuel was a young man serving in the temple as an assistant to the priest Eli. He was familiar with the traditions of the priests; he helped in various ways around the temple, and he was very comfortable in the religious routine. But the first two times God called to him, Samuel didn't even recognize that it was God. He thought it was old Eli, the chief priest. It wasn't until the third time Samuel hears the voice calling to him that he responds, according to Eli's advice: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."

Samuel became one of the great prophets of Israel. But it took three tries and someone else's help before Samuel realized that God was trying to speak to him! Job 33:14 says, "God does speak, sometimes one way and sometimes another, even though people may not understand it." This is saying the problem is not that God isn't speaking. The problem is our perception.

Right now the room is filled with radio waves, but you don't hear them because you're not tuned in. There are television shows and cell-phone conversations going through your body right now. You don't see them. You can't hear them. But if you had the right receiver and you tuned it in correctly, or if you had your cell phone, and it was on-which it shouldn't be right now-you'd get the message. You'd get the picture.

Does God still speak? We may not hear God's voice in the middle of the night as Samuel did, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't speak to us today. Communication is part of our relationship with God.

I have to confess: As one of your pastors, I don't have a special, direct hotline that I can just pick up and hear God's voice speaking clearly to me. (That phone is in Jack's office!). I don't get e-mails from God. No telegrams. But at the same time, I believe that God does speak today.

But let me caution you: there are two extremes we need avoid when thinking about how God speaks to us: one is the rationalist; the other is the spiritualist. The rationalist denies that God ever speaks to us personally. He says that if there is a God, He's out there watching from on high, and he doesn't speak to people today. The spiritualist thinks that every impression she gets is a message from God. They're both wrong. The rationalist, who is not even open to the idea of God speaking today, completely misses out on God's counsel, God's care, God's challenges, God's comfort and guidance in the ways of life. On the other hand, the spiritualist, who thinks that every gut feeling he gets is from God, tends to make a lot of dumb, sometimes embarrassing mistakes. They say, "God told me to invest in this," and then they go bankrupt. What happened? God didn't tell them to do that. They just had a gut feeling and acted on it without checking it out first. Somewhere between the rationalist and the spiritualist there is a middle ground where we learn to discern what God may be saying to us.

Today, we're going to identify the three most common ways, and the three most important ways that God speaks to us today:
I.The first one should be rather obvious: God speaks to us through the Bible. This is the number one way God speaks.

2 Timothy 3:16 "The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It is God's way of making us well prepared at every point." In other words the Bible is not just a good collection of wonderful thoughts and ideas of people. Yes, the words in the Bible came to us over many centuries through the lives of many individuals, yet we claim that the Bible is inspired by the Spirit of God. The word inspired literally means in Greek, "God breathed."

What that means is there is no other book in the world that is reliable like this one when it comes to understanding who God is, what God is doing in the world, and what God is saying to us. The Bible is there to guide us, correct us, and encourage us. The Creator of the universe has a wealth of wisdom that he wants to share with you and that He has placed at your fingertips-but it won't do you any good, if you don't open it and learn what's inside.

Inside my car's glove compartment is an owner's manual. The owner's manual contains the instructions from the manufacturer for the proper operation of the car. It tells me how to properly care for my vehicle, how to operate it, and what maintenance it needs. The Bible is more than that, but it is in many ways like an owner's manual for our lives. It gives us instructions from the manufacturer on overcoming obstacles, and on dealing with stress; it gives us guidance for healthy relationships. There are lessons on how to handle our finances. Most importantly, it teaches us about God, and even tells us how we can have a relationship with God that will last forever.

Now some of you are the kind of people, who, when you buy something new, refuse to read the manual or read the directions. You can figure it out yourself. That's fine, if you're talking about a TV or a new stereo. But when it comes to matters of life, death, and eternity, you don't want to mess around.

Psalm 119 says, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." The primary way God makes his will known to us, the number one way God guides us, the number one way God speaks to us is through the pages of Scripture.

The second way is this:
II. God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit.
Well, what does that mean?

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is already at work in your life in many, many ways. In John's gospel Jesus said that he would send a Counselor, the Holy Spirit, to be with his followers. The Bible says that if you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. The Spirit gives you spiritual gifts and empowers you to serve God faithfully. The Spirit encourages you and guides you in your walk with Christ. And in John 14:26 Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit will be your teacher and will bring to your mind all that I have said to you."

If the Holy Spirit is our teacher, as Jesus said, and brings things to our minds, as Jesus said, it means that God speaks to us through the Spirit. How does he do that? The Scripture says he brings things to mind. He stirs up ideas, and thoughts within us. He gives us impressions.

Sometimes God brings a particular person to mind as a reminder to pray for that person. Often I hear people say as they make an important decision, "I have a real sense of peace about it." Or they'll say the opposite: "I'm just not at ease with this." Sometimes, that's not just your own gut-feeling. It's God Spirit within you nudging you and guiding you.

Again, that's not to say that every impression or gut-feeling we get is a message from God. Of course not. We get impressions and wierd ideas from all kinds of places. But that doesn't mean God doesn't sometimes speak to our hearts and minds in powerful and personal ways. There are ways to discern whether an impression we have is from God or not. The point is God does offer us guidance and direction in our lives through the leading of the Holy Spirit. It's just a question of how well we're tuned in.

Samuel wasn't tuned in at first. Remember it wasn't till the third try that Samuel even realized that God was trying to speak. But Samuel's words in verse 10 offer a great example for us of how to tune in to what God is saying: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."

What a great prayer! This verse really spoke to me as I prepared this sermon. God was speaking to me this week. So often I come to God with a laundry list of requests that I rattle off and then go about my day, feeling good that I've communed with God. But how often do I take five minutes to be still and listen for what God might be saying to me? In our age of constant communication and gadgetry, being still and silent is difficult. I would suggest we each take some time this week, find a quiet spot away from your Crackberry and other distractions, and pray this prayer: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." And open up your Bible. And see what happens. God may not always speak to you in a clear way, but we'll never hear God speak if we aren't listening.

God speaks to us primarily and most authoritatively through the words of the Bible. God speaks to us inwardly through his Holy Spirit.

A third way God speaks to us today is this:
III. God speaks to us through Other Christians

Have you ever sat in a worship service, and maybe it was through the sermon, or maybe it was through the music, but suddenly it felt like God was speaking directly to you? Maybe he was. At that very moment God was speaking through the voice of a preacher or the voices of a choir to say something to you, to remind you of his grace or love. God often uses other people to share His word with us.

Have you ever gone to a Christian friend for advice, or just to talk something over, and something he or she said just clicked in your mind or suddenly brought clarity to what you'd been thinking about? That probably wasn't just good advice; God may have been saying something to you through that person. What's more amazing is that as a Christian God has likely used you to speak to someone in the same way.

Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise." God's counsel often comes to us through the words of another believer. It was Eli who helped Samuel to recognize that God was speaking to him. God spoke through the prophets to guide and correct his people over the centuries. God spoke through John the Baptist to prepare the way for Christ to come. God spoke through Paul to proclaim Christ throughout the Roman Empire. God often works through other people to share his word with us.

That's why it's so important to be active in a church, to attend worship, to be in a Bible Study. God did not create us to be Lone Ranger Christians. He gave us this wonderful church family so we can share God's word with each other, learn from each other, and give wise counsel to each other as we follow Jesus Christ together.

As we move forward into an ambitious building program for this church to equip us for the next 50 years of ministry, that's why we're asking all of us to pray together and talk together and counsel one another to make sure we're accurately hearing what God is saying to us as we move forward in faith.

God speaks to us through Scripture, through the Holy Spirit, and through other Christians. There are many other ways God speaks, but these are the three big ones.

When I was working in banking my first couple of years after college, God spoke to me through an associate pastor at my church, a man named Paul Suzuki. I was involved in several ways with my church; I was leading a Bible Study for young adults, and I was on the worship committee. And I remember Paul saying to me, "Mark, you really ought to consider the ministry." At first, I shrugged it off. I thought, no way. There were a dozen things I would have considered first. But Paul kept mentioning to me that I really should consider the ministry, and the idea began to percolate in my mind. I knew that the things I did in the church were much more enjoyable and important to me than my work at the bank. And what that pastor said began to resonate with what I felt inside: The inner voice of God's Spirit and the counsel of another Christian began to come together. And so I checked this out with some other Christians, in my small group Bible Study. "What would you think if I were to go into the ministry?" And the universal reply was, "We'd thought you were going to do that for a long time!" Even when I talked with my parents about this, my dad's response was, the first thing out of his mouth, "I'm not surprised." Somehow, I was the last person to figure out that God was calling me to ordained ministry.

The second thing my dad said was that it wasn't going to be lucrative. But I had figured that part out.

I discovered God's call to ministry not because I was so pious and I'd set this big goal to be a Presbyterian pastor. I discovered God's call because God spoke to me in a very ordinary way through another Christian. He spoke to me through the inner leadings and tugging of the Holy Spirit. He spoke to me through the pages of Scripture that spoke of God's grace and God's purposes and God's call in my life.

And when those three voices came together: Godly Counsel, Scripture, and the Holy Spirit, I knew that God was speaking. And I knew what God was calling me to do.

Today, I believe God is calling us-as individuals, and as people of the Village Church-to tune out the noise and messages that are around us every day, and tune in to what God is saying to us.

For there are a lot of mixed-up messages out there in the world. There are a lot of mixed-up messages in our culture; there are a lot of mixed-up messages on the airwaves; our children and grandchildren at their schools and among their friends are hearing all kinds of messages and voices telling them what they should act like and what they should look like and what they should be doing.

Amid all of the voices around us, are you tuned into the right voice? Are you tuned into the voice of the one who made you, the one who loves you, the one who gave his life for you?

God does still speak. Are you listening?

Amen.

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