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Aug 31, 2025

Knowing the Voice of the Spirit

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Holy Spirit in Acts

Keywords: message, word, holy spirit, suffering, guidance, speak, will of god, voice

Summary:

The Holy Spirit is a very verbal spirit. He loves to speak. But what does He like to talk about and how does he do that with us. This message looks at that issue primarily from the book of Acts

Detail:

Knowing the Voice of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit in Acts

August 31, 2025

INTRO:

  • Today we’ll be concluding our (spread out) series about the Holy Spirit from the book of Acts. (We’ll be launching into a series in 1st Corinthians next week.)
  • Go way back to June 1 in this series, we saw from Acts (and both the O. and N.T. passages) how deeply intertwined the H.S. is with creating, sustaining, and using the word of God to communicate with us. REMINDER:  we’ll be offering a 10-12 week course this school year that will go in-depth on how to correctly and life-givingly read and study any passage of the Bible.  Stay tuned!
  • The Scriptures are filled with instances of people receiving direction, messages, guidance, commands and counsel on very specific and sometimes personal things from the H. S. I don’t know about you but I long for that kind of ongoing relationship with the H.S.—one where I may hear Him prompt me to do something, say something, go somewhere on any given day or moment. 
  • But I’ve also seen plenty of abuses of when people claimed to have heard the H.S. tell them to do or say something and there are plenty of reasons to question the authenticity of that.
    • How many have had someone who was romantically interested in you tell you, “God told me I’m going to marry you”? (“Oh yah?  Well He hasn’t told me!”)
    • Or, “I’ve got a word from the Lord for you.” I believe God has and probably still does give messages to us through other people.  But that doesn’t mean I should necessarily follow what they think should be done with that message…as we will see this morning from Acts.

So today I’d like us to see what the H.S. likes to speak to us about,  and, in the process, how He speaks about those things.  My hope is that we will hunger more to hear the Spirit speak to us and be better prepared for what He might be calling us to do.

PRAY 

  1. WHAT does the Holy Spirit love to speak to us about?

Scripture is replete with examples of WHAT the H.S. likes to talk to God’s people about.  Let me remind you of a few of them.

  1. Jesus and His word to us. God’s primary means of speaking to people in these “last days” is by the Living Word of God—Jesus Christ.  That might seem obvious.  But too much of what people claim is the voice of the H.S. has little to nothing to do with Jesus. 
    1. Hebrews 1:1-2-- In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…. God the Father and particularly the H.S. is fixated on speaking to the world today through Jesus and about Jesus.
    2. Having told his disciple in John 14:26 that the H.S. whom the Father would send to them in Jesus’ name “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you…” Jesus then goes on in John 15:26-27 to tell them something critically important about WHAT the H.S. talks about when He speaks: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” Too much of what people claim is the voice of the Holy Spirit has little to do with Jesus or with drawing people closer to Him.  The H.S. may give us specific words about other things and people.  But the end result/net effect the Spirit wants those messages to have is to point people to Jesus—to deepen their understanding, love for and connection to Christ.  It’s not to satisfy curiosity or draw attention to us. 

ILL:  The H.S. is like that friend or coworker who has fallen in love with someone and just can’t stop bringing them up in every conversation. 

APP:  So, a good question to ask in discerning whether or not you or someone else has truly heard the voice of the H.S. is to ask, “Is the net effect of this possible message from the Holy Spirit drawing me deeper into Jesus Christ?”    As we will see, that doesn’t mean that is all the H.S. talks about or that when he speaks it’s always a cozy, comforting message.  But the effect is always meant to deepen us in Christ.

  1. As we saw way back in June, probably THE most frequently repeated promise of the H.S. speaking to us has to do with His equipping us to talk about Jesus. The H.S. isn’t just content to do all the talking about Jesus.  He wants to teach us how to do the same around the people we live with and in the world He has called us to serve.  This is particularly clear from the book of Acts.
    1. Acts 1:8—“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
    2. Acts 2—Peter’s entire message explaining what was happening at Pentecost to the thousands who were wondering was ALL about the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. The H.S. was working out the very command of Acts 1:8 through them—by the gift of languages/tongues he equipped the 120 with and by the message of the Gospel he gave to Peter.  Because the H.S. is all about drawing people to Jesus.

Note:  BTW, just a note about preaching.  The most powerful and life-transforming preaching always majors and focuses on Christ.  Preaching can and should talk about lots of different issues because the Word of God does.  But preaching that focuses primarily upon people/me/you rather than on the person and work of Jesus will be deficient and often devoid of the Spirit’s power. 

  1. Acts 4-- The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.” After spending the night in prison, Peter and John are hauled before the religious leaders and grilled about the power and authority by which they are teaching.  Their entire message when under fire was all about Jesus.  “11 Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”     

So, the leaders remove them from the courtroom and argue about what to do with them always talking about this Jesus.  Then they command them to stop telling others about Jesus or using his name to do miracles (such as healing the 40-year old man who was crippled from birth that had been in the Temple) Peter’s reply is telling: 

18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.  19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him [Jesus]? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

  1. One final Acts passage about the H.S’s work to help us speak to others about Christ. Acts 5-- 27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

APP:  When we are prompted to speak about Jesus with others, you can be quite sure that the H.S. is speaking to you and through you.  You may not get the reaction or reception you want.  But when we are nudged to say something about what we’ve experienced with Christ, we’re hearing the voice of the Spirit. 

  1. The H.S. speaks to us about things God wants us to do and places he wants us to go.
    1. Acts 8:29—Philip being sent to witness to a specific person, the Ethiopian official on the highway out of Jerusalem. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
    2. Acts 10-11—Peter being told to be prepared to cross the Jewish cultural/religious boundaries in order to witness to Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, of Christ. 19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

Notice again how hearing the Spirit’s voice was related to willingness to speak of Jesus to others. But the Spirit loves to give direct guidance about that when we’re willing to obey.

ILL:  Larry Lane’s recent story about a flight across the country; listening to the man next to him and praying for him >> shut down when he heard he was a pastor.  Asked God if there was anyone else He wanted him to speak to.  Stewardess seated in the jump seat….

  1. Acts 20:22-23—Paul was led…no, compelled…by the H.S. to go to a city (Jerusalem) knowing also, by the H.S., that it might lead to prison and further hardships.  “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

Acts 21 further tells us that the H.S. spoke further about what would happen to Paul in Jerusalem.  Paul and his companions were staying in the house of Philip the evangelist in Caesarea when this event unfolded:   10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 

13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

One of the hard truths of the leading of the H.S. is that he will lead us into all kinds of difficulties, even to what may seem to be a premature death.  We know from the rest of the book of Acts and the unfolding of the remaining few years of Paul’s life that the decision to go to Jerusalem to testify again of Jesus in a very hostile place led to Paul’s arrest which led to a trial which led to him appealing to Caesar which led to Rome and an imprisonment which led to many of the N.T. Epistles which ultimately let to Paul’s martyrdom.  In hindsight, we can see the immense blessing that came to the whole world and Christendom because of the Spirit leading Paul to Jerusalem.  But it involved a lot of suffering, some prophesied and some unseen, and ultimate death.

ILL:  This week there was another terrible tragedy forced upon a host of Christian children and families—the shooting of almost 20 children who were in a prayer service at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, MN. 

  • I’ll bet plenty of those parents talked to God about whether or not they should send their kids to that school to get a Catholic education.
  • I’ll be many of them were following the voice and guidance of the H.S. in doing so.
  • Probably none of them were told by the H.S. that their children would be victims of a mentally disturbed gunman.
  • But I’ll bet all of them knew the Jesus had promised them tribulation in this world along with His unwavering presence and comfort.

Friends, if a gunman walks into this building today, shoots dozens of us and kills some of us, are we going to say that it wasn’t God’s will for us to be here this morning?  This is what the world does not understand about life in Christ.  Being a Christian comes with a promise of some very deep troubles.  But those evils one to God’s people are not outside of God’s will; they are part of God’s will. 

            This is the problem of suffering, of evil, of pain that trips so many people up about God:  why would a truly good God who is both perfectly loving and all-powerful allow truly evil things to happen in this world? 

            What Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron had to say in response to some people who belittled prayer as a response to such great evil was beautiful.

“Catholics don’t think that prayer magically protects them from all suffering. After all, Jesus prayed fervently from the cross on which he was dying.” 

"Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God, which strikes me as altogether appropriate precisely at times of great pain," he said. "And prayer by no means stands in contrast to decisive moral action. Martin Luther King was a man of deep prayer, who also effected a social revolution in our country. This is not an either/or proposition."

He noted that, "In the past seven years in our country, there has been a 700% increase in violent acts against Christians and Christian churches. Worldwide, Christianity is by far the most persecuted religion. That people are even wondering whether the tragedy in Minneapolis is an instance of anti-Catholic violence is puzzling to me.”  “Why would we even hesitate to say that a maniac shooting into a Catholic Church while children are at prayer was committing an anti-Catholic act?" he asked.

Bishop Barron went on to say that he would not hesitate to call the two children slain during Mass "martyrs," describing their deaths as a tragic but powerful witness of faith.

Just in case you’re wondering, violence against Christians and churches is on the rise in America.  The Family Research Council has also documented the growing hostility toward Christian churches in a report released just this month.  It found at least 415 attacks against 383 churches in 43 states in 2024 alone. 

  • Does that mean God doesn’t want you to go to church? NO.
  • Does that mean that God is either not loving or not all-powerful or both? NO.

But it does mean that…

  • real evil and evil people exist all around us.
  • It means that God has created humans to be beings with free wills and ability to do good or do evil.
  • It means that the evil people do affects other people, sometimes irreversibly.
  • It means that a problem or suffering-free life is not God’s plan for us.
  • It means that God has plans, power, patience and justice that we do not grasp.
  • It means that God has a much greater and bigger plan to use even horrible human evil to do things way beyond our ability or capacity to currently comprehend.
  • It means that the Holy Spirit will lead us into situations, callings, obedience that will be costly, painful, involve deep suffering and yet have eternal and divine ramifications that we will not be able to comprehend until we see God face to face.

Paul, who heard the Spirit of God speaking to him to go to Jerusalem, also shared the divine truth of Romans 8:16-18:

               16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.  18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

            Last week Tom reminded us that trials are God’s way of preparing us and strengthening us for the next phase or step of what He has for us in Christ.  Well, sufferings in this life are that too…on an eternal and grand scale.  That includes unjust, premature, evil deaths of many followers of Jesus.  We either embrace the fact that these sufferings “are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” OR we reject this truth of God and the notion that all suffering has both temporal and eternal significance for us as followers of Jesus.  Faith…or doubts?  Which will it be? 

Tough subject…so how about any QUESTIONS? 

Hearing the voice of the H.S. is not always about making life neater or easier or less problematic.  Sometimes that will happen when the Spirit speaks.  But sometimes, if we are really wanting God to direct us and really wanting to know what His will for us is, the voice of the H.S. will tell us things that may make life a whole lot more complicated, conflicted and challenging. 

            This may be why James tells us in James 1:4-6 to ask for wisdom “in faith”, i.e. in an attitude of faith in God that when He gives an answer, we will obey that answer no matter what the cost. That whole promise and challenge is in the context of persevering in our faith that will lead to maturity and completeness in Christ. 

4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

            For Paul that included hearing the Spirit’s voice prohibiting him from doing what he planned and wanted to do at a particular point in his life as a missionary. 

Acts 16:6-10

6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

            The most important thing about hearing the voice of the H.S. is not that we get what we want (an easier life) but that God gets what He wants done in and through us. 

  • The Spirit of God may tell you not to marry someone you really want to marry. And obeying the Spirit may lead to a lot of difficult loneliness or financial hardships. 
  • Or marrying someone you believe the Spirit gave the green light to marry may not lead to marital bliss. It may mean a lifetime of learning to love sacrificially in a way that is very painful and costly. 
  • The same may be said of hearing the Spirit’s voice about a career…or a place of residence…or a friendship…or church…or just about anything.

The Holy Spirit who abides with us forever is speaking.  His voice can be discerned.  And his words can be comforting or challenging. 

But His message will always be one that

a.) leads us deeper into life with Jesus,

b.) leads us to speak about Jesus to others, and

c.) leads us to go places and do things that work out God’s divine mysteries through us. 

Questions? 

Close:  May the abiding presence of the Spirit of God lead us all to a growing hunger to hear His voice…and a growing passion to obey His instructions…with a steadfast confidence that doing so will always lead us deeper into Christ regardless of whether life gets easier or harder.