Drawing Near to God #4: Hearing His Voice Above All Others

Drawing near to God is our responsibility, and the reward is learning to hear His voice above every other voice. In part four of this series, the pastor teaches from James 4 that God draws near to those who draw near to Him, shows how Moses heard nothing until he stepped toward the burning bush, and explains how to test the many voices that compete for our attention. He closes with Elijah hearing God’s gentle whisper on the mountain.

This message continues from Drawing Near to God #3: Presence, Not Performance. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline and practical steps for growing in intimacy with God this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on December 30, 2025, as the fourth part of a series at NTC Ministries. The pastor expects the coming year to bring open doors for believers who are listening to God.

His concern is simple. Many Christians want God to show up only when there is a problem, while the rest of the time His presence does not really matter to them. The answer, he teaches, is to draw near, to grow up spiritually and to learn the voice of God so well that no other voice can lead us off course.

A Vision of Rising Mountains and a Divided Heart

The pastor began this series after the Lord gave him a vision during corporate prayer of mountains rising across the region, the state and the Midwest. In Scripture, he says, a mountain always speaks of drawing near to God. Whatever is happening in the world or the nation, the church needs to draw near God in a greater way.

His foundation text is James 4:7–10: submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee, draw near to God and He will draw near to you, cleanse your hands and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James, Jesus’ half-brother, wrote to a first-century church that was persecuted, scattered and defrauded.

Under that pressure, the believers began to compromise with the world, hoping it would back off, so James wrote to encourage them in how to walk with God. Their loyalty was divided, so James tells them to lament and mourn, to let their laughter turn to mourning, and to humble themselves so God can lift them up.

If a young couple were separated for a month, their hearts would be heavy. James asks why the church’s hearts are not heavy when they no longer have God’s presence as before, and the pastor asks the same of believers today.

Notice, he adds, that James says to resist the devil, not people. The pastor sees the world moving against God’s presence like a snowball rolling downhill, which is why believers must be concerned about drawing near.

Drawing Near to God Is Our Responsibility

Too often, the pastor says, we ask God why He is not showing up, when all along He says it is our responsibility to draw close to Him. He returns to Moses on the back side of the desert (Exodus 3:1–4). Moses had tried to deliver Israel in his own strength and fled. While tending sheep he saw a bush burning but not consumed. He could have kept walking, but he turned aside to see.

The key detail, he teaches, is that the Lord did not speak until Moses drew close; then God dealt with his fears and his calling. We are in this world but not of it, so we live from heaven.

That includes hallowing His name. In Ezekiel 36:20–23, God says His people profaned His name among the nations, so the world did not know who He really was. Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9–10). “I can’t teach you into knowing God,” the pastor says; “I can teach you about God.” You have to come into a personal, intimate relationship yourself.

That, he says, is the difference between someone religious and someone born again. When Jesus asked His disciples who they said He was, Peter answered that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said flesh and blood had not revealed it, but His Father (Matthew 16:13–17). The church is built on that kind of revelation, born of intimacy with the Father.

Knowing Him lets us tell the truth about Him. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give abundant life (John 10:10), and whoever has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9). It takes work, he says, but you draw near God and He draws near you.

Religion runs to the pastor whenever something goes wrong. Everyone starts as a baby in Christ, but everyone has to mature, and pressure often pushes us to find God for ourselves. There was a time when the greatest strength in him was weakness: he was great at quitting and at making excuses. As he lived for Christ, his weaknesses lost their voice, and the strength of the Word and the Holy Spirit grew louder.

Many Voices in the World

The voice of the Lord is over many waters (Psalm 29:3–4), the pastor says. His voice is often very quiet and intimate, and you have to listen closely, but when you hear Him speak to you, it shakes your soul like a stick of dynamite and brings strength and revelation.

Yet there are many voices in the world. The one we believe most is our own. There are voices of sorrow, bitterness, doubt and criticism. Money, your job and your pocketbook all have a voice, and so does lust. Satan has a voice too, and he tries to make it sound like yours, your boss’s or a relative’s, because he is not a creator but a counterfeit.

So we must mature in hearing the voice of God. The pastor quotes the principle, “Let God be true but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4): any voice contrary to God’s is a lie, including emotions that claim God wants us to skip something we dislike or grab something we want. As many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Romans 8:14).

1 John 4:1–2 tells us not to believe every spirit but to test the spirits, because many false prophets have gone out. He recalls the prophet in 1 Kings 13 who was told to eat nothing and go straight home, yet believed another man claiming to be a prophet, ate at his house and was later killed.

The Word settles it. 1 John 5:7–8 says the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit are one, so the Spirit of God can never tell you anything contrary to the Word of God. The prophet should have refused the new voice because God had already told him what to do. Reading from The Message, the pastor stresses the key: carefully weigh and examine what you hear, including what your emotions say. Adam failed here when he listened to the serpent’s “Has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1–5), though he was already made in God’s likeness.

The pastor’s teaching gives a simple way to weigh any voice:

When We Make God a Stranger

Humbling ourselves, the pastor says, means admitting we have weaknesses and dealing with them face to face, because Satan knows them and will use them to make us cave. He recalls working construction at a paper mill in Michigan while the Lord dealt with an area of his life; suddenly it lifted and he knew he was free, and then the Lord moved on to the next thing.

Early in the church’s life, a man told him God said to quit his job and move to Florida, without knowing why. The pastor urged him to keep his job and pray until God showed him more. People point to Abraham being told to go to a land God would show him (Genesis 12:1), but one example is not a pattern; every word should be confirmed by two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1).

A year later the man returned with nothing, having lost his home and car, and blamed God because He never told him anything in Florida. Satan, the pastor concludes, had spoken to a desire in him.

In John 10:1–6, the sheep follow the shepherd because they know his voice, and they will by no means follow a stranger. But what about when the Lord asks us to do something and we refuse? Then, the pastor says, we are making God the stranger. That is why James says to weep and mourn: let intimacy with God come back.

The rich young ruler in Luke 18:18–23 said he had kept every commandment. Jesus pointed to the one thing he lacked, not to shame him but to expose the weakness that could keep him from God. He went away very sorrowful, when he could have said, “Lord, help me.” Worship itself, the pastor says, admits we are not God and need Him to speak into our lives.

Like Paul, we want to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of us (Philippians 3:12). But hearing God requires the right ears. In John 10:6 the listeners did not understand. If your ears are tuned to the stock market or to how grandma and grandpa did things, you will miss what God says next. If you only have ears for the past, the pastor warns, you will never have ears for the future.

Be Still and Know: The Farmer’s Watch

So how do we hear God? Jesus said much about hearing: pay attention to what you hear, how you hear and the effort you put into hearing. The pastor has the church read Psalm 46:10 aloud: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

He tells of a farmer who lost his grandfather’s pocket watch in the barn. He searched for hours, then offered a reward to some children, who only made a mess. Then a young man asked to try, on one condition: no one could open the door, and everyone had to stay quiet.

Half an hour later he came out with the watch. He explained that he sat still, calmed his mind until he thought of nothing but the ticking of a watch, and then heard it and followed the sound. That, the pastor says, is God. We have to quiet ourselves to hear the voice of God.

His practical advice is to start every morning by saying, “Father, tell me again how much you love me,” and to grow used to His voice of goodness and grace. David knew that voice when he wrote Psalm 8:4–5: what is man that You are mindful of him, crowned with glory and honor?

Elijah and the Gentle Whisper

The pastor’s final story is Elijah. King Ahab let his wife Jezebel, a Baal worshiper, rule him, and Elijah declared there would be no rain until he said so. A three-and-a-half-year drought followed.

On Mount Carmel, Elijah called for a contest between the 450 prophets of Baal and the Lord: whichever God answered by fire would be the true God (1 Kings 18:20–39). Baal’s prophets cried out all day and got nothing. Elijah rebuilt the altar, had barrels of water poured over the sacrifice until the trench overflowed, and prayed. Fire fell and consumed everything, even the water, and the people declared they would serve the living God.

Yet days later, when Jezebel threatened his life, fear gripped Elijah and he ran (1 Kings 19:1–15). After an angel twice fed him under a broom tree, he traveled 40 days and nights to Horeb, the mountain of God, because he knew where to go to draw near.

In a cave the Lord asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah answered that he alone was left and they were trying to kill him. Then a great wind tore the mountain, then an earthquake, then a fire, but the Lord was not in any of them. After the fire came a gentle whisper. Elijah covered his face and stood at the cave’s mouth.

The pastor points out that God did not rebuke Elijah. He showed him that He is not in destruction, and that His quiet voice is where strength comes from. Elijah repeated the same answer, but now without fear, and God sent him back the way he came, with work to do and the news that 7,000 had not bowed to Baal. On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter spoke from emotion, the Father spoke from heaven and told him to hear His Son (Matthew 17:1–5).

The application is personal. You may have a doctor’s report, a lost job or a broken relationship gripping you with fear. God’s voice is your strength. When the pastor came to Merrill, naysayers said it would never happen, but he kept doing what God told him. Today, he says, the ministry serves in 37 nations, not because anyone is great, but because people chose to hear and obey God and be strong in the Lord and the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).

Drawing Near to God This Week

The pastor leads the church in a prayer of exchange: “In my strength, it won’t happen,” so they ask for His strength in place of their weaknesses. He also reads Brother Lawrence, who wrote that “we must become accustomed to a familiar, humble, and very affectionate conversation with the Lord Jesus.” These steps come from the message:

• Take the first step. Like Moses turning aside to the bush, choose to draw near rather than waiting for a crisis.
• Start the day with His love. Each morning say, “Father, tell me again how much you love me,” and listen.
• Get quiet. Turn off the noise long enough to hear, like the young man listening for the watch.
• Weigh every voice. Test what you hear, including your emotions, against the Word and look for confirmation.
• Face one weakness. Let God show you something that could keep you from His purpose, and ask Him for help.
• Keep the presence. Do something different long enough to form a new habit of seeking God beyond Sunday.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 A vision of mountains rising
• 1:07 James writes to a persecuted church
• 3:18 Why isn’t your heart heavy?
• 5:34 Moses and the burning bush
• 7:32 Hallowing God’s name: Ezekiel 36
• 8:38 Who do you say that I am?
• 10:47 Religion versus maturity
• 13:10 Many voices in the world
• 15:45 Test the spirits: 1 John 4
• 18:05 The Spirit and the Word are one
• 20:18 Facing weaknesses face to face
• 21:24 The man who moved to Florida
• 24:45 My sheep know My voice: John 10
• 25:55 The rich young ruler
• 30:55 Ears for the past or the future
• 32:11 Be still and know: Psalm 46:10
• 33:26 The farmer’s pocket watch
• 36:14 Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel
• 38:36 Fire falls on Mount Carmel
• 41:48 Elijah runs in fear
• 43:42 The gentle whisper
• 47:21 Hear Him: the Transfiguration
• 50:14 Prayer of repentance and exchange
• 53:29 Brother Lawrence and closing testimonies

Drawing Near to God Series

This message is part of a nine-part teaching series at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or continue where this one leaves off:

• First message: Drawing Near to God #1 — A Vision of Rising Mountains
• Previous: Drawing Near to God #3: Presence, Not Performance
• You are here: Drawing Near to God #4: Hearing His Voice Above All Others
• Next: Drawing Near to God #5: The Still Small Voice Above Fear

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it wrong to ask a pastor to pray for me?

No. The pastor says there is nothing wrong with it, and that everyone starts as a baby in Christ who needs help and care. His concern is staying there. Religion, he says, is running to a priest or pastor every time something goes wrong, while Christianity means growing up. Pressure and problems often become the very places where you learn to find God for yourself.

Why did God deal with Elijah so gently after he ran?

The pastor notes that God did not rebuke Elijah. Fear had gripped him after Jezebel’s threat, so God first fed him through an angel, then met him on the mountain. By showing him that He was not in the wind, earthquake or fire, God took the fear away. When Elijah heard the gentle voice, he gave the same answer as before, but now in peace, and was ready to go back and obey.

Does God still speak through words over people’s lives?

The pastor shares testimonies he believes show it. He reads a letter from a woman named Vanessa, who was in a wheelchair when he spoke a word over her in 1996; she wrote that her last day in the wheelchair was Mother’s Day 1998. His point is to take God’s words seriously and get used to hearing His voice.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• James 4:7–10 — draw near to God
• Exodus 3:1–4 — Moses turns aside to the bush
• Matthew 16:13–17 — revealed by the Father
• 1 John 4:1–2 — test the spirits
• 1 John 5:7–8 — the Father, the Word and the Spirit are one
• John 10:1–6 — the sheep know His voice
• Psalm 46:10 — be still and know
• 1 Kings 19:1–15 — the gentle whisper

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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