Rabbi Schneider - How God Talks to Us

TOPICS: Mysteries in the Gospel of John, God's Voice

Now we're gonna begin today in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. I'm gonna start right at the beginning in verse number 1. In fact, those of you that tune in on a regular basis, I encourage you to bring your Bible to the, to the television set as you're watching, take some notes. It's really a fascinating and life-changing Word that we're going to be going through here over this next season of time in this study. Let's begin. Again, John, chapter 1, the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse number 1. It says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

Now I want you to understand that who we're talking about here is the pre-incarnation of Jesus; that Jesus, the God-Man, Christ Jesus, manifested into human history in space and time. We read about it in John, 1:14, where John writes for us: And the Word became flesh. So once again, think about this, the Gospel of John starts out by saying: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And then in the 14th verse, John writes: And the Word... Who is the Word? This One that is God, this One that has always been with God, John says, once again in John, 1:14: And the Word became flesh.

Now I'm focusing for a second, beloved ones, on this word that we're calling the Word. And the Word became flesh. A lot of times when Christians hear the expression, the Word of God, they immediately and only think of the written Word, the Bible. But the Word of God is bigger than just the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God, but the Word of God is a bigger concept than just the Bible because the Word of God actually refers to God himself, who has always been. Let's look at this Scripture again. I want you to see this with me. I'm gonna read John, chapter 1, beginning in verse number 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

So once again we're seeing that the Word has always been. But in space and time, approximately 2,000 years ago, the Word became flesh; that God himself came to earth, clothed himself in humanity, and he then became the visible, material expression of the Word. Now I want you to think about something with me. A lot of times when we think about the Word of God, we're only thinking about the Bible. But I want to say to you once again that when you received Jesus, the Living Word came to dwell inside you. In fact, the Bible says that when we receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus said you have no need of anyone to teach you for he, himself, will teach you all things. Now this doesn't mean that we don't need teachers, that we don't need pastors, that we don't need the written Word. But what it means is that we have received God who is the Living Word.

I was recently listening to a scriptural transformation program that I put together called Seize My Word. If you don't have it, I encourage you to go to my website and get the CD called Seize My Word. What I did was I went through the New Testament and I took the words of the New Testament writers and the words of Jesus, and I turned them into what I call personal scriptural affirmations. So for example, we read, Paul wrote in one of his letters, in him, Paul said, you have been made complete. Well what I did was I simply turned that into a personal Scripture affirmation that I confess back and I say, in him I have been made complete, or I am complete in Christ. So what I'm doing then is I'm confessing the Word. So I've been going through these personal Scripture affirmations for months, and months, and months, and sometimes it just feels like I'm just saying the same thing. And one day when I was a little discouraged, I asked, I said, God, are these things really changing me? Are these really transforming me? Because it seems like I'm just confessing the same affirmations day after day out of your written Word.

And then I felt like the Holy Spirit, beloved one, spoke intuitively to my heart and he said this. The Word of mine that's transforming you, because remember, I was confessing your words are transforming me. Remember Jesus said in the Gospel of John, he said, my Word has made you clean. And so I was saying, Lord, just by me confessing this Word, is it really changing me? Am I really being transformed? And it was like the Lord spoke intuitively to my heart and he said to me, it's not just the written Word that's transforming you. Yes, the written Word is transforming you as you're believing in it, reading it, speaking it. But the Lord said to me, it's also my Word inside you that's transforming you. In other words, the Living Word, beloved ones, lives in you and me. What we read here was: In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. And then in the 14th verse of this same chapter, we read: The Word became flesh.

So who is the Word that became flesh? Jesus. If you're a believer, who did you receive? You received Jesus. That means the Living Word, the Rhema, Living Word of God, lives inside you. So what the Lord was speaking to my heart, what he was speaking to my spirit in this episode that I'm speak, revealing to you now was he said to me, it's not just you confessing the written Word that's transforming you, but it's because my Living Word is in you. And as I am applying truth to your conscience and to your heart, as I am even giving you intuition through divine listening, through, through, through, through intuitive listening, as I'm listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying, through my intuition, as that, as that is happening, that Living Word inside me and the Living Word, beloved one, inside you, get, get it now, it's transforming you.

God's Word, Jesus is the Word, he lives in you; Christ in you, the hope of glory. And as you practice intuitive listening to the Holy Spirit, as you practice believing that Jesus is in you, that the Holy Spirit is in you, and practice listening to your conscience, listening to your intuition, training yourself in the written Word of God, as you're open to the speaking of the Holy Spirit into your life through dreams, visions, prophecy, but especially through your conscience and through your intuition, what is happening, listen, beloved ones, you're being transformed by that Word. Let me give you an example. Maybe some of you here, I'm a very extroverted person, some you are extroverted people.

Years ago the Lord began to show me to pull back my energy a little bit, to, to be conscious of my energy. And that wasn't something that I specifically read about in the written Word, but that was something that the Lord was intuitively implying, applying to my heart and my mind. He began to just give me a sense that I need to harness my energy more, that I need to become more aware of my body language, that I need to become more aware of my surroundings, that I need to become more aware of the other person when I'm having a conversation, that I need to become more sensitive to the environment and to groups of people around me. He was giving me that information, beloved one, listen now, through the Living Word that lives inside me, and he was manifesting his Living Word to my mind, to my conscience and to my heart.

Do you see, beloved, God in heaven has come to earth as the Word. The Word has always been. In the beginning was the Word, John, 1:1, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then John, 1:14, And the Word became flesh. And the Bible says, and as many as received him, right, John said, and as many as received him, John said, to them he gave the right to become the children or the sons of God. You have received, those of you that are, are his, you have received the Word. The Word lives in you. You have the written Word, which is our only rule for faith and conduct, for right doctrine, and you also have the Living Word in you.

Now Jesus said in the Book of Revelation: He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. You've received the Word and the Word is spirit. And so what is happening is the Living Word, that is Spirit that lives in you, he's always speaking to you. That's why when the Holy Spirit came in Acts, chapter 2, how did he manifest himself? He manifested himself, get this now, beloved one, as a what? As a tongue, as a tongue, right, a tongue of fire. Why did the Holy Spirit manifest himself as a tongue, in Acts, chapter 2? Because a tongue, listen now, is a speaking oracle, and when we received the Holy Spirit, what we received, get is now, was the ability to hear from God and to talk from God. A tongue is the key to communication. And so the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. The Word of God is speaking to you and I both through the written Word and, get it now, through the Living Word who is Jesus and lives inside you.

You see, we need a marriage in our walk with God between the written Word of God, right, and the Living Word of God. Do you know that Jesus even said, and it's recorded for us in the Scriptures, Jesus even said, which is part of the written Word, Jesus said, I have many more things to say to you but you could not bear them now. So Jesus has other things to say, okay, that are not revealed in the written Word. Now nothing he says is gonna contradict the written Word. But for example, just to help you understand this, those you that are kind of wondering what's going on here, think about it, those of us that trust in Jesus. If you're thinking of changing jobs, can you pray to God about looking for a different job? Can you ask God to lead you into a different job? Can you ask God to show you which job is right?

Well you can do that. We expect him to do that. We believe him to do that. But let me ask you a question. Are you gonna know which job to take through the written Word? Or are you gonna know rather by the witness of the Holy Spirit on your heart through the peace of God through, listen now, the Living Word. If you're gonna get married, and you meet somebody, and you're wondering is this the person I'm supposed to marry or not. Is the written Word gonna tell you whether that's the right person or not? Probably not, depending on your situation. But can you ask God to give you a witness as to whether it's the right person? Absolutely. How is that gonna happen? It's gonna happen, beloved, listen now, through the Living Word, Jesus, who is a spirit and is with you, and is in you.

I want to help you to understand that Jesus, listen now, is your living Savior, that our faith is not just confined to just reading the Bible. Jesus hasn't locked us up in just reading about what he did for other people. But the same Jesus that revealed himself to Peter, Paul, James, John, the same God that spoke to Moses, Abraham, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the others, this same God, beloved, is your possession. He's your God. He's still alive today because God is the God of the now and he's speaking to his people, beloved ones, today. That's why when the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts, chapter 2, and it was so powerful that those whom the Holy Spirit had been poured out on were kind of like, you know, having a hard time keeping their balance, and those that were looking at the whole scene were wondering what is going on. Are these guys drunk or what?

Peter got up and he said, these men are not drunk as you suppose. He said, it's only the third hour of the day. He said, but this is what was prophesied, right, by the Prophet Joel. In the last days, saith the Lord, get it now, I will pour forth my Spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. And upon all flesh, both male and female, I will pour forth my Spirit, saith the Lord. All these things, beloved, the prophecy, the dreams, the visions, all this is communication and it's for the New Testament church upon whom the end of the ages has come.

My goal right now, beloved ones, is to inspire you to believe in a bigger God, to believe in a greater God, to believe that God is the God of the now, that God is here, that God is alive for you today wherever you're at, that he's still talking, right. He talks with me. He walks with me along life's merry way; that Jesus is the Living Word and he's here, beloved, speaking to is children, to his beloved ones today. Well let's continue on. Verse number 3: All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. What are we learning here? That through Jesus, through the Living Word of God, that has always been, from the beginning God created the world.

I want you to understand me for a second. Jesus is God incarnated into a human being, but the Word of God, the Son of God has always been. In other words, God incarnated himself into humanity. He clothed himself in flesh and blood, get it now, at a specific point in history 2,000 years ago. But the Word of God is bigger than Jesus because the Word of God has always been. Jesus is the incarnation of the Living Word of God, but the Word of God has always been. He existed before God manifested himself into the world in flesh and blood. Are you understanding what I'm saying? Now don't get me wrong, the fullness of the Godhead was manifested through Jesus, but Jesus is just the Word of God that has always been, get it now, incarnated.

Now let me also say this. When we worship Jesus we're not first worshipping a man, we're first worshipping God. When we worship Jesus, listen now, we're not saying that God is a man. We're not worshipping a man. We're worshipping God, listen now, who hath, who has clothed himself in humanity. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Jesus is God in the flesh. When we worship Jesus, we're not worshipping a man, we're worshipping God clothed in humanity. God is our Savior and he's manifested himself in physical form in this physical reality as Jesus.

I want to close by saying this. In the person of Jesus, what we have is one that is incarnated into our world that is both, listen now, fully God and fully man. Jesus is both fully God and fully man. And he's become the bridge between God and man. Because Jesus is fully God, he communicates with God. It's in spirit. But because Jesus is also fully man, he communicates with you and I who were born into this world as flesh and blood, first of all. We're born in the spirit but we're also flesh. So Jesus communicates with God in Spirit as God and he communicates with you and I, beloved, as human beings that were born in to the world in the flesh. And thus he's become the bridge, listen now, between God and man, and between man and God.