October 7, 2014October 7, 2014
by in Guest Ministers
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Voices, by Rev Akin Bola-John

Voices, by Rev Akin Bola-John
There are many voices that are speaking in the world. We hear many voices in our lives. We hear voices day and night. We are created to hear voices. May your ears not be blocked in Jesus name. May you hear voices. May you hear the correct voice, because there are many voices speaking today.

If you read Genesis 3:8 the Bible says Adam heard the voice of the Lord in the garden while he was walking and He called out to him “Adam,Adam where are you?”

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

1 Kings 19:12: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. Elijah heard the voice of the Lord by a still small voice.

John 5:25 says: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

May you hear the correct voice in Jesus name.

The Bible reveals to us that God speaks and there are voices also. And we human beings we hear voices. The unfortunate thing is that many of us are hearing the wrong one and when we hear the right one we dont obey it.

Psalm 29:3-9: The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

When that voice speak so powerfully to your life, you will never remain the same.

I said earlier on that there are many voices speaking and craving for our attention. Today, as human beings, eitther you are young or old, black or white, there are voices that we hear in our lives.

THE PURPOSES OF THE VOICES WE HEAR

  1. To counsel us:-
  2. To advise
  3. To lead us
  4. Direct our lives
  5. Dominate our lives and make us to do what they want us to do

There are voices that speak within and without you. There are voices that speak around you and even inside you. These voice may be loud, may be quiet or may be your dreams. And it may be your heart. Or it can be through books. Or through lectures, through plays or through music. It can speak to your ears or it may be advises that it is giving to you.

Our parents speak to us. God also speaks to us. We hear different voices.

There are different types of voices.

FACTS ABOUT VOICES

  1. The voice you listen to will determine your destiny and your destination in life. Where you are today is the obedience to the voices you have been listening to. Whats is happening in your life or the state you find yourself is the result of the open ears you gave to the voices that spoke to you.
  2. The voices you hear will either bring prosperity or destruction into your life. We all hear voices. Either physical or spiritual voices. The one you listen to and you obey is your personal choice. No one will force you to obey particular voices. You can hear so many voices, but the choice to obey is yours.
  3. Your ears must be open to hear. The bible talk of people whose ears have been blocked. They do not hear. They have eyes but do not see. They have heart but do not know. May that not be your portion in Jesus name.
  4. You need to get to a level in your life that you need to discern which voices you should listen to and the one you should not. Some people are spoke to in their dreams. And there have been testimonies of people who listened to voices telling them to do evil things. The evil these people did, they did not want to do, but there were certain voices that compelled them to do it.

So we need to pray. Because there are voices you are hearing, that you should not hear, and voices you shoud hear that you are not hearing.

WHAT ARE THE VOICE WE HEAR TODAY?

  1. The voice of the world. The world speaks to us. It beckons to us to come over and believe there is no God or Jesus Christ. It tells us rreligion is the opium of the people. The voice of the world uses the canal mind to communicate. Unfortunately, many obey this voice.
  2. The voice of friends. Friends want to lure us to follow their ways so that we can be like them. Voices that tell us “Do not be different, do not be the odd man out. Join us” Prov. 1:10
  3. Voice of success. These are those who have succeeded in the world. They have ephemeral success in fashion, cars, houses etc They speak to us and tell us “Join us and do what we have done to achieve success”.
  4. Voice of prophets. There are some people who can never do anything in life until they hear from prophets. There are some people who follow dreams. May your dream not destroy you in Jesus name. So many people have been destroyed by prophets. There are some voices that speak to us that are not suitable for us. You need to check the voices that you listen to.
  5. Voice of the flesh. What is called feeling is the voice of the flesh. It tells us when to get angry, when to chase after things of the world etc
  6. Voice of fear. Fear ‘do speak’ to human beings. When you suddenly have panic inside you. This is voice of fear. The voices in your head saying you will die, you will get injured etc are of fear. Fear brings things that are not real to appear real. So many people can never rise up in life because they listen to the voice of fear. Fear of today! Fear of tomorrow! Fear within! Fear on the outside.
  7. Voice of spirits. Do not confuse this with spirit of God. No. This is voice of SPIRITS. There are people who have dabbled into occultism, spiritualism etc There are people who have covenanted their bodies and souls, so they hear voices from the spirits. Unfortunately we have people in church who are full of these, but we do not preach, pray or talk about this. (Acts 16:16-17). There are many people saying the right things in church but their spirits are wrong.

TYPES OF VOICES TO HEAR

  1. You must hear the voice of the Word of God. When His word come to you or when you read His word, you must hear and obey. (Psalm 138:2-3). When the word speaks to you, either in sermon, teaching or reading, you must hear the voice and align your life according to that voice.
  2. You must listen to the voice of God. God speaks to us through His spirit. He tells us what is good and what is bad. He guides and directs us. Unfortunately, many of us do not hear the voice of God. Other voices have drowned out the voice of God. You must listen to the voice when correcting, rebuking or condemning areas in your life. Listen and learn to obey. But when you do not listen, you miss it. The Psalmist said power belongs to God (Psalm 62:11). God is not a talkative. If He speaks to you and you do not listen He stops speaking to you.
  3. You must listen to the voice of Godly leaders. When God place leaders over you in the form of parents or pastor, you must listen to them. You must listen to Godly counsel because they are strategically placed in our lives to advise us.

I pray for you as you read this that your ear will open and God will block all negative voices in your ears in Jesus name.

In conclusion, Revelations 3:20 says Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. He is always standing at the door of our hearts.

God speaks in many ways to us. Either to correct, to warn, to encourage, to motivate, to inspire us and to make our lives better. But the tragedy is we don not have ears to hear. He speaks to His people. He speaks to His church. He speaks to the leaders.

Even many times our hearts speak to us. He tells us sometimes what we are doing is right or wrong. But we ignore these.

May you hear His voice always in Jesus name.

I do not know where God has been speaking to you and you turn a deaf ear, Most of our sufferings in life is based on turning deaf ears to voice of God. It is either when He speaks we never hear or we just disobey. Even in some cases certain people hear His voice before and at a point they started hearing the strange voices. And they drowned out the voice of God.

What has God been saying to you? Either through His word, teaching or counsel? Have you been obeying Him?

Pray today to the Almighty Father that it is His voice that you want to hear and obey all the time. And that He should block out all the negative voices in your ears.

Sermon delivered by Rev Akin Bola-John, International Church Growth Ministries, on October 5th, 2014