Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Dallas Notes: Hearing God (August 5-6, 2011)

Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God
The recordings are from a conference led by Dallas Willard and Bill Heatley at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham, AL, August 5-6, 2011


Hearing God 1 Dallas
seek the Lord with all your heart and then you will find him
not with half or any other amount
seek God everywhere, seek to hear God everywhere

But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Dt 4.29

Deuteronomy 6:5
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 10:12
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Proverbs 8:17
I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Isaiah 55:6-7
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

1 Chronicles 16:11
Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13


Mt 6. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Mt 7.7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

http://www.openbible.info/topics/seeking_god

when you turn your kingdom back into God's Kingdom, you get a situation like Ps 23
the Lord is my Shepherd (I'm under someone else)
I shall not want (lack anything)
seek first the KoG and His righteousness and everything else will be added
He makes me lie down in green pastures
a sheep lying down is full
He leads me beside still waters
sheep like to to drink from still waters, not running waters, so a sheep led beside still waters is not thirsty
and Jesus said 'the water I give, they will never thirst again. it will be a well springing up to eternal life.'
Ps 23 is a picture of a person who has taken their kingdom back under the KoG, a picture of the with-God life
abundance and righteousness
Word comes to us through Bible, fellowship and personally

  • rela'p
    • communication
      • hearing

life lived in the Spirit. mind turned to Trinity
Word can fill our lives if we want it, but we have to want it, seek it
if we don't, God will allow us to live the with-me life, the source of all our troubles
as we seek, increasingly everything we do will be accompanied

most of what God will tell us is not directions what to do, but light on what is going on in us and around us, what is moving other peopl
then we will know more and more what to do, many times without asking
real relationships have communication, sharing, learning, fellowship

WWJD?
in most cases, you should always know.
after 55 years of marriage, I don't need to ask what she wants and likes, by and large

and God especially will speak to us so we can know Him better
as we know Him, he speaks in our hearts

Hearing God 2 Bill Heatley
What is work for?
What is the purpose of work as God intended it?
Work is about answering prayers
like the air traffic controller
Larissa's prayer for daily bread
[what prayers does my job answer?
how do I include God in my work?]
conversational, interactive relationship as described in Hearing God on the job
how would Jesus do my job if He were I?
how has God gifted you?
God wants to use me where I am. He will work with me to meet the needs that need to be met.
He will bring people around you with the necessary gifts
1. What am I good at?
[interacting with ideas in relationships. eg teaching sunday school
I did a great job with the CallCom]
2. What brings me joy?
Ministry: what God has given to me to do in my life. My purpose.
I enjoy it. I say no to other things to say yes to it.
[teaching?]
check: disposition, personality, giftedness, where you see God working in your life.
look back over career: what were occasions were the outcome was beyond what you could expect?
[we had a great CallCom experience]
Constant communication
1. prayer
2. listening and hearing
[3. NOT breaking fellowship]
When did God speak to you? What was it like? How did it work?
[Be single
Marry Christine
Pastor Fred
Recent answers to prayer in context of seeking God]

['Take' God with me to work. Father, please go with me. Guide me. Help me to see where you are at work in my work and to join you there.]


Hearing God 3
the parable of the sower applies to all of us all the time
eg, we get distracted and lose track of God's Word


5
Daily Kingdom access. Knowing if God has something to say, He will say it and we will hear it.


8 -- Q&A
prayer is a power-sharing relationship for recovering sinners

what gets measured is what gets done. what are you measuring?
instead on ABC: Attendance, Buildings, Cash
move on to D: Discipleship
take ABC expectations off of pastor
be the individual in your church who, through your transformed life, becomes a church withtin a church. people ask why you're so different. have them come under your instruction.
pastor: I want you to invest as much of your time in d'ship as you can. how can I help you do that?
be a brother to him. care about his d'ship. take iron yoke off his neck.
it's going to begin with you and it will stretch you beyond yourself
responsible for children and helping wife and disciples in the church who look to me

be cautious. don't announce the revolution. this is revolution.
shift basis of gatherings from performance to d'ship
Kirkegaard: people think they're the critic, the pastor is the performer and God is the prompter
rather: people are performer, pastor is prompter and God is critic
be patient but persistent. you'll get there b/c God will bless you
'as you go make disciples' is the greatest church growth program in history. nothing else has come close.
it will work. you don't need a budget, another degree or a building
you just need to set it before you as your goal and it will explode
being disciples will cure every problem you have in church
read 'The Great Omission'

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