Following His Voice

John 10:3-4  “The sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

In previous posts,  I talked about Hearing His Voice (April 1)and Knowing His Voice (April 13) – Now I want to look at what it means to Follow His Voice.

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Have you ever been in a room full of people when the power suddenly goes out and it’s totally black?

First you just stand there, afraid to move, wondering what to do……then you hear a voice.

The person you’re with is on the other side of the room… and you hear them call out your name

“ Over here!  Keep following my voice – come toward my voice – I’ll keep talking and you keep moving toward my voice.”

…because you know that voice, you follow that voice.

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~To hear, we have to be listening.

~To know the voice, we have to be familiar with;

~To follow, we have to trust and we have to step out in faith. 

The trust comes because we’ve spent time getting to know them.

Following His voice is stepping out in faith… it’s an act of our will…a decision …it is walking with Jesus in obedience to His voice, His Word----You can’t follow if you are standing still.

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We have many examples in the Word of people walking with God.

hAdam and Eve walked with God in the garden.

hEnoch walked so close to the Lord that He just walked right into His presence without experiencing death! Gen 5:22-24  “Enoch walked in habitual fellowship with God; and he was not, for God took him home with Him”. 

hDavid wrote many Psalms that are full of examples of walking with God.   Psalm 116:9  “I shall walk before the LORD In the land of the living.”

Everywhere Jesus went, people walked with Him and followed Him.

Matthew 4:18-22  And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them,  and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Matthew 16:24-26  Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself  (forget himself and his own interests) and take up his cross and follow Me (cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living).

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So how do we follow His voice?  How do we walk?

Colossians 2:6-7  “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.  Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him”

Galations 5 tells us we are to walk in the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit in us will lead us…. if we are listening.

2 Cor. 5:7   “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

 Even if we can’t see ahead, we trust Him to lead us.... and we Follow His Voice.

           h He’s already been there.

                       hIn fact, He is there… just waiting for us.

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   What keeps you from:

                   hhearing His voice 

                              hknowing His voice

                                         hfollowing His voice?

What things in your life are drowning out the voice of the shepherd?

                    hcalling your name

                               hcalling you to listen.

Make a commitment to purpose in your heart from now on to:

              h hear His voice,

                            hknow His voice,

                                      hfollow His voice.