Last week I addressed misconceptions about sheep and talked about their relationship with their shepherd. Today I am looking at misconceptions about God and His relationship with His followers, the \u201csheep\u201d Jesus is actually talking about in John 10:27, \u201cMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.\u201d After 23 years of taking \u201cFree Prayer\u201d to the roadside, Karen and I have found that a great many people are full of wrong beliefs about God and His character. When we share the truth about Him, they are thrilled to find out that He is good, that He knows all about them and loves them, that He wants to be a part of their lives to bring about the best for them, that He wants them to live with Him in heaven forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How\u00a0do people form\u00a0wrong beliefs about God? That He is condemning, punishing,\u00a0untrustworthy, unknowable, unreliable, indifferent? Not from the Bible, not from someone who knows the Lord intimately!\u00a0You can\u2019t find out what\u00a0God is\u00a0like by listening to someone who doesn\u2019t know Him.\u00a0The book of Job is a\u00a0perfect example!\u00a0Many people base their theology on\u00a0what\u00a0Job DIDN\u2019T\u00a0know about God. They believe\u00a0that when bad things happen, God caused\u00a0them.\u00a0You\u2019ve probably heard, and maybe even said yourself, \u201cThe Lord gives and the Lord takes away,\u201d\u00a0referring to\u00a0Job 1:21.\u00a0Do\u00a0you know\u00a0that God\u00a0never\u00a0said that? Job said it!\u00a0It conveys\u00a0the\u00a0sense that God\u00a0will do whatever He wants to, that He\u00a0set up Job and so, He\u00a0may very well\u00a0set you up\u00a0too! But\u00a0how often\u00a0do you hear\u00a0someone quote\u00a0Job\u00a042:5-6\u00a0in which he repents to God?\u00a0The Message\u00a0reads, \u201cI\u00a0[Job]\u00a0admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand\u2014from my own eyes and ears! I\u2019m sorry\u2014forgive me. I\u2019ll never do that again, I promise! I\u2019ll never again\u00a0live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.\u201d At the end of the book, Job\u00a0admits he spoke out of ignorance,\u00a0repeating\u00a0and believing things he\u2019d only heard about\u00a0God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe many people today know more about the sounds of their cars than they know about the sound of God\u2019s voice. People hear a sound in their car and know immediately something is wrong! If you don\u2019t know God\u2019s voice, you can easily be deceived into believing something that isn\u2019t true. A woman came up to me once after I finished preaching, a visitor to our church, and said, \u201cPastor, your sermon was in error.\u201d I asked her how? She said, \u201cYou mentioned Satan and my pastor says that Satan is never mentioned in the Bible, so you are in error.\u201d I showed her in Genesis where it says that Satan fell like lightning. Then I showed her where Satan tempted Jesus on the temple roof, then took her to Revelation where Satan accuses us before God\u2019s throne. You would think afterwards, she would be mad at her pastor. But instead, she got mad at me! We must read the Bible for ourselves and false teachers will be no match for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we\u00a0often\u00a0hear, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t speak to\u00a0me\u00a0and\u00a0I can\u2019t hear His voice!\u201d\u00a0The truth is we can all hear His voice if we will read the Bible.\u00a0The Bible is\u00a0God\u2019s Word!\u00a0Hebrews 1:1-2 says that in the past (the Old Testament), God spoke through prophets but\u00a0since\u00a0He sent His Son Jesus into the world,\u00a0God speaks through\u00a0Jesus!\u00a0When we read\u00a0the words of Jesus in the New Testament, we can \u201chear\u201d God\u2019s voice and God\u2019s heart and know what God is truly like.\u00a0How can you know\u00a0God\u2019s\u00a0character and\u00a0thoughts unless you read His book?\u00a0How will you recognize if\u00a0it\u2019s Him or someone else\u00a0speaking to\u00a0you?\u00a0If someone\u00a0says, \u201cGod told me to kill my neighbor!\u201d would you believe him? Of course not! The 6th<\/sup>\u00a0Commandment\u00a0spoken to Moses,\u00a0\u201cThou shalt not kill,\u201d still speak to us today. God never violates His Word or principles. That \u201cvoice\u201d does not belong to God.\u00a0The more of the Bible you have inside of you, the less you can\u00a0be\u00a0deceived or misled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sheep who know Jesus and belong to Him, the Good Shepherd, have an intimate relationship with Him. So familiar with His voice, His words and how He speaks to them, that even if a different voice, a stranger, calls to them, they won\u2019t follow him (John 10:5)\u2014they will only respond the One who always lovingly leads them on the right path. So what am I trying to say? If you don\u2019t know His voice, you don\u2019t know Him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n -Emil Liko 8\/7\/26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week I addressed misconceptions about sheep and talked about their relationship with their shepherd. Today I am looking at misconceptions about God and His relationship with His followers, the \u201csheep\u201d Jesus is actually talking about in John 10:27, \u201cMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.\u201d After 23 years of taking \u201cFree Prayer\u201d to the roadside, Karen and I have found that a great many people are full of wrong beliefs about God and His … Continue reading Do My Sheep Know My Voice?<\/span>