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Pastor Jonathon Lee originally presented
this workshop on August 3, 2002 at the WCCCC Summer Workshops.
Listening to God's Voice
Does God still speak? How could we listen to His voice and follow? Is
knowing God’s will for our lives obscure or obvious? It’s important but
not necessary difficult to discern His voice. In this workshop, we will
look at Biblical basis for listening God’s voice and the joy of obeying
His will.
Pastor Jonathan Lee was born and raised in San
Francisco. He graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Psychology and
Social Welfare and earned his M.Div. from Talbot Theological Seminary.
Jonathan has ministered in Chinese and Asian American churches in the Bay
Area for many years. He is presently the Associate Pastor at First
Presbyterian Church of Milpitas. With a heart for missions, Rev. Lee
dreams of serving in Japan. He is now living with his wife Sarah and son
Christopher in Fremont.
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I. Some Primary
Basics (that are not so easy to understand)
A. There is a difference between:
God’s sovereign will and God’s moral will
B. There is a difference in discovering:
God’s general will and God’s specific will
C. There needs to be a delineation of:
God’s revealed will and God’s veiled will
II. Some
Presuppositions:
A. God wants us to know Him
(I Jn. 5:20, Rom. 1:19-20, Phil. 3:8)
B. God wants us to know His purposes
(Isa. 46:9-10)
C. God wants us to know His plans for us
(Jer. 29:11-13)
III. Some Perspective: The Big Picture
A. God’s Glory (1 Cor. 10:31)
B. Top Line - Bottom Line (Genesis 12:1-3)
C. The Great Commandment and the Great Commission
(Mt. 22:37-38, Mt. 28:18-20)
D. What is God’s Plan for me?
Salvation (2 Pet. 3:9, 1 John 3:23)
Spirit filled (Eph. 5:17-18)
Sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3)
Submission (1 Pet. 2:13-15)
Suffering (1 Pet. 4:19)
E. He makes His will obvious, we
make His will obscure.
F. Don’t look at the Word through the world, but the
world through the Word.
G. The traditional alternative:
- Word
- Spirit (inner witness)
- Common Sense
- Conscience
- Circumstances
- Counselors
- Peace of God
- Personal Desire
- Special Guidance (voice, vision,
visitation)
NOTE: It is very difficult to have all
the signs line up in one direction!
IV. Some Principles:
A. Principle of Revelation (Acts 22:14-15)
B. Principle of Relationship
(John 10:27, John 15:15, Gen. 18:17-19)
C. Principle of Renewal (Romans 12:1-2)
D. Principle of Responsibility (Mark 4:24-25)
E. Principle of Right “alignment” (1Thessalonians 5:23)
God’s voice “filtered out”
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pre-Christian |
“spiritually out of alignment”
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“spiritually aligned” |
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BODY |
SOUL |
SPIRIT |
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SOUL |
SPIRIT |
SOUL |
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SPIRIT (dead) |
BODY |
BODY |
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