Drawing Near to God #7: Hearing Until His Voice Is the Loudest

Drawing near to God is our part. In this seventh message of the series, the speaker teaches from James 4 that no one can humble you or draw you close to God for you. You do it by what you hear, how you hear, the effort you put into hearing and the words you speak, until God’s voice settles in your heart and becomes louder than every other voice. When it does, strongholds fall and offense loses its power.

This message continues from Drawing Near to God #6: Hearing His Voice and Pulling Down Strongholds. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scriptures behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on February 11, 2026, as part seven of a nine-part series at NTC Ministries. It runs about 62 minutes and ends with a prayer of repentance and an invitation to receive Christ. The speaker explains why he teaches in series, line upon line, here a little and there a little (Isaiah 28:10): truth has to move from the head into the heart, and faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

Building on the previous message about the many voices that compete for our attention, he lays out how to position ourselves so that the voice of God drowns out the voices of fear, condemnation and circumstance.

Humble Yourself: Drawing Near to God Is Our Part

The foundation text is James 4:7–10: submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee, and draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. The speaker explains the setting. Jewish believers had been scattered by persecution, and Judaizers followed them, insisting on circumcision and food laws. Worn down, many gave in to another gospel and lost their liberty in grace.

That is why James tells them to wash their hands, purify their hearts and grieve, because their loyalty was divided. The speaker sees the same in much of the church today: it seems fine to watch perverse movies, horror films and endless news without ever renewing our minds to the Word. James says that should bring sorrow. It is a message, he says, for every generation that started with God and then drifted, wondering whether something is wrong with God or with them.

Those questions, he says, are the devil, and he must be resisted. But first comes humbling yourself before God, and that is your responsibility. Nobody can do it for you. It takes effort, though not the effort of the law. Our work is faith in Jesus, knowing He will perfect what concerns us, and looking to Him for healing and provision. He points to 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and 1 Timothy 5:8 to show that God expects effort.

None of us obeys every time God speaks, and He knows it. But when we take His Word to heart, His power is given to walk away from sin. Every believer remembers the presence of God at their new birth, shaking them to the core, and many later find things have gone cold. There, he says, is where the weeping belongs.

Even the church at Ephesus, which he describes as one of the greatest churches of all time, was praised by Jesus for its works, yet He had one thing against it: it had left its first love (Revelation 2:1–5). We are workers together with Him (2 Corinthians 6:1), not people who treat God as a worker for us.

Take Heed What You Hear

We all hear many voices, the speaker says. God speaks with compassion, tenderness, mercy, goodness and even correction. Satan speaks through condemnation, guilt, fear and slander. Nobody escapes those voices, but we can position ourselves so that the negative ones do not influence us. When we draw near, “God’s voice is louder,” and what the world throws at us no longer causes alarm.

Jesus first addresses what we hear. In Mark 4:24–25 He says, “Take heed what you hear,” and warns that whoever has will receive more, while whoever does not have will lose even what he has. Hear bad all the time, the speaker explains, and even the good you have will be taken and replaced with more bad. Hear good, and even the bad will leave and be replaced with good.

You do not need to track every conflict around the world, he says; the Bible tells us to pray for those who are persecuted. He tells of a woman in the church who told a friend to turn off the news because it kept her angry. The friend was offended, but a month later admitted she had been right.

We are vessels: whatever you let in, you will hold. James says you cannot get sweet water and bitter water from the same spring (James 3:11). As we keep hearing God’s Word, we shift from hearing it mentally to having our hearts open to it, and that is where it takes root and bears fruit.

Take Heed How You Hear, and Be Still

Next Jesus addresses how we hear. Luke 8:18 says, “Therefore take heed how you hear,” with the same result as before. Everyone has said something innocent, meaning only good, and had the other person take it as an attack. Children observe everything, he notes, but they interpret it with limited knowledge, so what they see can be distorted.

God says His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). If you have a burr under your saddle, whatever anyone says that day will sound wrong to you. Someone with a pure heart can hear the same words and take no offense at all.

We also have to get quiet to hear. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The speaker reads it as God’s voice being raised above the voices of people and of circumstances. His voice must become louder than the news, the headlines and the issues of the day, which he says mean zero in your life by comparison.

Paul told the Philippians to stand fast in one spirit, not terrified in anything by their adversaries (Philippians 1:27–28). It does not matter what circumstances say, or even what a doctor’s report says, the speaker teaches; what matters is what God says. That, he says, is drawing near to God.

Incline Your Ear and Pull Down Strongholds

The third aspect is effort. Proverbs 4:20–22 says, “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.” Incline, the speaker says, means going uphill. He remembers his dad shifting into a lower gear and giving the car more gas to climb a hill. Put more effort into hearing God than into hearing anyone else.

God’s words are to be kept in the midst of your heart, not just your head. The head is full of false ideas and desires, and if the Word stays there you will live in a lifelong debate with God. Keep hearing until it enters your heart, because His words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.

Many think drawing near to God means a conference where everyone smiles and nobody knows your problems. Those times of refreshing are good, he says, but they are different. We have to draw near when we are in battles and when everything in the natural says His promises will not come to pass. Everybody has trouble.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3–5, Paul says we do not war according to the flesh, and our weapons are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. The speaker explains that a stronghold is a fortified city with watchtowers for communication. A spiritual stronghold is the same message echoing again and again: what they did, what she said. That is why people lose sleep.

We cast down arguments and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. He describes a thought hitting him in a grocery store line “out of left field,” and rebuking it out loud in Jesus’ name while people backed away. Everyone has a breaking point, he admits, so it does not rest on willpower. When a thought says you are getting sick, you answer with God’s Word: by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24).

The table below gathers the elements of hearing the speaker teaches in this message.

Your Words and the Thunder of His Voice

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” says Proverbs 18:21. The speaker stresses that this is about your own tongue, not someone telling you off. No child dreams of growing up to live in a cardboard box by the train tracks, yet some people have let their lives be worn down by their words.

You believe your own voice more than anyone else’s, more than your spouse’s or your pastor’s, so speak God’s Word, His blessings and His goodness. “Words just don’t communicate. Words create,” he says. Jesus said that by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:36–37). No weapon formed against us will prosper (Isaiah 54:17).

Psalm 29:1–9 says, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders.” The speaker recalls his time in the Navy, when he could feel the thunder of a storm 20 miles away at sea. On land, trees, mountains and buildings buffer it; on the water, nothing does. That is how God’s voice should reach us, with nothing to dilute it.

His voice breaks the cedars of Lebanon and makes Lebanon and Sirion, which the speaker identifies as Mount Hermon, skip like a young wild ox. However big the problem, His voice can break it. To clear what blocks it, he points back to the foot washing in John 13:6–10: Jesus wants to wash off what we have walked through. Spinning your wheels with people who keep feeding you junk does not help, so let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29).

In His temple everyone cries out glory. Those are the people who let His voice enter their hearts; the rest stand around with stories in their heads that an offense can easily steal. God divided the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:4), and Jesus warned, “Take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness” (Luke 11:35).

He describes cognitive dissonance: protecting a core belief by ignoring any evidence against it. A Christian who believes God did something bad to them is doing exactly that, he says, because every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation (James 1:17). Those who stay away from church because they were hurt are being drawn from the flock where they could grow, and we are told not to forsake assembling together (Hebrews 10:25).

Offense or Revelation: Peter and John the Baptist

In John 6:43–45, Jesus tells the murmuring crowd that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him, and that everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Him. People who draw away, the speaker says, did not really hear from the Father; they heard a person or a teaching, and heard it wrong.

Jesus called Himself the bread from heaven and said His flesh is food indeed (John 6:50–58). The communion they shared that morning, the speaker says, represented the true bread: partaking again and again until the Father’s voice enters your heart and gives you revelation.

Many disciples called it a hard saying and were offended. Jesus said the Spirit gives life and His words are spirit and life, and from that time many walked with Him no more (John 6:60–66). They had followed Him from the beginning; the requirement for replacing Judas shows how many had been there all along (Acts 1:21–22).

When Jesus asked the twelve whether they would leave too, Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67–69). The speaker believes the apostles were offended at times too, but they kept hearing, and their hearts opened. Flesh and blood had not revealed who Jesus was to Peter; the Father had (Matthew 16:16–17). Because they kept hearing, they wrote down His words and got them to us.

John the Baptist is the contrast. As the speaker teaches it, John expected a Messiah who would deliver the Jews from Rome, so he boldly confronted Herod. In prison, offended, he sent to ask, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Jesus pointed to the blind seeing and the dead raised, and added, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:2–6).

John never got past it. Soon after, Herodias had her daughter ask for his head on a platter, and that was the end of his ministry (Matthew 14:3–11). Peter took his offense back to Jesus; John held on to his. Do not treat offense as a little thing, the speaker urges, or think you deserve to feel hurt.

Drawing Near to God This Week

When problems come, go to God and ask to hear what He says, not for proof that you are right and they are wrong. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4). Jesus is coming for a glorious church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27), and if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). Practical steps from this message:

• Audit your inputs. Notice what you watch and listen to, and turn off what keeps you angry or afraid.
• Check how you are hearing. Before reacting, ask whether a burr under your saddle is coloring what you heard.
• Get quiet daily. Be still before God long enough for His voice to rise above the noise.
• Put in the uphill effort. Keep hearing the same Scriptures until they move from your head into your heart.
• Answer thoughts out loud. Cast down the echoing stronghold and speak God’s Word over it.
• Refuse offense. Like Peter, bring your disappointment to Jesus instead of walking away.

The speaker closes by praying through the morning’s word of repentance, asking the Father to forgive anything standing between Him and His people, and inviting anyone listening to give their life to Jesus.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Line upon line, and opening prayer
• 1:04 James 4:7–10: draw near to God
• 2:09 Scattered believers and the Judaizers
• 5:35 Humbling ourselves is our responsibility
• 8:47 Ephesus left its first love
• 9:54 The voices we hear
• 11:08 Mark 4:24: take heed what you hear
• 14:28 Luke 8:18: take heed how you hear
• 18:30 Psalm 46:10: be still
• 20:53 Proverbs 4:20–22: incline your ear
• 24:19 Drawing near in the battle
• 26:39 Pulling down strongholds
• 30:44 Proverbs 18:21: death and life in the tongue
• 34:35 Words create
• 36:01 Psalm 29: thunder over the waters
• 38:28 Foot washing and clearing the way
• 41:46 Dividing light from darkness
• 44:14 Cognitive dissonance and church hurt
• 46:53 John 6: the bread from heaven
• 51:02 Many turned back; Peter stayed
• 55:49 John the Baptist and offense
• 59:24 Closing prayer and invitation

Drawing Near to God Series

This message is part seven 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 #6: Hearing His Voice and Pulling Down Strongholds
• You are here: Drawing Near to God #7: Hearing Until His Voice Is the Loudest
• Next: Drawing Near to God #8: Knowing His Voice Above Every Other Voice

Frequently Asked Questions

Is going to a Christian conference the same as drawing near to God?

Not quite. The speaker says conferences and retreats can be wonderful times of refreshing, where everyone is smiling and you do not know anyone’s problems. They revive us and we need them. But drawing near is something we must do in the middle of battles, when circumstances say God’s promises will not come to pass and when people around us are causing trouble.

Does feeling offended at God mean I have lost my faith?

The speaker believes the apostles themselves were upset with Jesus at times. What set them apart was that they kept hearing His words, and so their hearts opened and they came to know He is the Christ. The danger is not feeling offended once but holding on to it and walking away, as many disciples did in John 6.

Why does the speaker explain why he teaches in a series?

He says faith comes by hearing again and again, and nobody knows exactly how many times it takes. Teaching line upon line lets truth unfold and move from the listener’s head into the heart. That is the same principle he applies to drawing near: keep hearing God’s Word until it settles deep inside.

Scripture References

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

• James 4:7–10 — draw near to God
• Mark 4:24–25 — take heed what you hear
• Luke 8:18 — take heed how you hear
• Psalm 46:10 — be still and know
• Proverbs 4:20–22 — incline your ear
• 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 — pulling down strongholds
• Proverbs 18:21 — death and life in the tongue
• Psalm 29:1–9 — the voice of the Lord
• John 6:67–69 — the words of eternal life
• Matthew 11:2–6 — blessed is he who is not offended

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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