God Speaks to Us Through External Sources
May 19, 2024

We have established that God talks to us through His word and Prayer, but there are some other external sources I want to walk through. We see God uses people to be His mouth sometimes. Both Christians and non-Christians, God can use.

God speaks to us through people

We see God use people, both believers and non-believers. Let’s look at some examples.

Rahab and the spies

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. —Joshua 2:8-11

We see here that Rahab was not walking with God, but heard of Him and knew enough of Him to know to pay attention. God didn’t directly speak to her, but I think we see how God is using her to affirm His message to Israel about conquering Jericho. God is using a non-christian/ non-jew of the day to give a message to them. So can God use unbelievers to speak to us?

Another example we spoke of a few weeks ago was Pontious Pilate’s wife.

Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” —Matthew 27:19

We know she was not a Christian, but God gave her a vision and she warned her husband about this. Like we heard a few weeks ago, God will speak to whom He will speak, and He will use whom He chooses to use.

Just a few other examples are:

Cyrus King of Persia reestablishing the Temple- Ezra 1
Pharaoh appointing Joseph in charge of Egypt- Genesis 41
Adrammelech and Sharezer killed King of Assyria- 2 Kings 19
Pontious Pilate condemning Jesus- Matthew 27

We see God can speak to us with unbelievers, but if He can do that, how much more will He use believers?

God speaks to us through the church

Philip and the Ethiopian

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south[a] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. —Acts 8:26-31

We see in this interaction that Phillip is a follower of Christ, and is being obedient to God in His leading. God uses Phillip to share the Gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch, and when you finish the story, you see that Phillip baptizes the man, and he becomes a Chrsitian too. God can provide random people in your life to speak to you, are you listening?

Story of a random Christian speaking to someone

We see God speak to us through people in the church, both leaders and laity.

Church leaders:
Moses
Peter & Paul

Family & Friends:
Moses’s father in law
Exodus 18- Jethro advises Moses to appoint judges

This is why we have life groups.
6 life groups
5 days a week
Talk to a pastor or go to our website

God speaks to us in events & miracles

–Events & Situations- both good and bad–

Bad situations
Joseph leading Egypt
Jonah in the Fish
The Stephen the Martyr

Good situations
Solomon asking for wisdom
God giving Israel Egypts wealth
Cornelius ripe for Peter**

–Miracles–
Saul becoming Paul
Gideon and the ram skin
The Holy Spirit coming in Acts

Miracle story-

So we see that God speaks to us through external sources. He will get our attention when needed, but are you listening? Who are the people God has put around you in your life to be His mouth piece? Who are you listening to? What is God doing in your life right now? Is there something that keeps popping up? Are you giving others authority and the ability to speak into your life?