HEAR GOD COURSE

WHAT IS THE “HEAR GOD” COURSE ABOUT?

“Hear God” is an in depth 9 session university level course on the New Testament Biblical gifts of prophecy, discerning of spirits, and word of knowledge with an emphasis on practical exercises, taking risk, having a sound Biblical framework and a goal to cover how this gift has functioned throughout church history and in the mission and life of the Christian church across all denominations from Charismatic, Protestant, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.

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Course Vision

A true relationship is only possible when 2 way communication exists. This is the difference between a historian studying about a person from the past and a live conversation with someone alive today. Is the Jesus you know a historical figure from 2,000 years ago or a risen Savior who is reigning over all history? You don’t have to die and go to heaven to hear God’s voice. You can know Him relationally today. Hearing God’s voice is powerful for us in our intimacy with God as well as a key element within living a supernatural lifestyle and sharing the gospel with a world who hungers for something real. It is a sad thing when people go to psychics and the church has lost so much credibility as being a source to hear what God is saying specifically to them in their situation. A generation asks the question from 2 Kings 3:11 - “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?”

Hearing God’s voice is not about creating new doctrines but for the purpose the Bible itself reveals - relationship with God and empowerment to share the gospel, complete God’s individual mission for each one of us, and be led by Him providentially to know His will in situations in every day life, and “reveal the secrets of unbelievers that they may fall on their face and worship God” (1 Corinthians 14:25). Another problem is people who pursue spiritual gifts only for the purpose of ministry rather than the purpose of relationship with God. This is reminiscent of the parable of the 2 sons in Luke 15, when the older son labored in the field and wanted the treasures of his Father to have a party with his friends but never knew His Father relationally. He was caught up in trying to earn something that his father was already pleased to give him. Ministry should be a natural overflow of being with God like Adam worked with Him in the garden…being with a good Father and working with Him not for Him.

In “Hear God” Advanced we will look at God speaking to people from the time of the garden of Eden, throughout the Old Testament, New Testament, church history until today and see how this gift along with the other gifts of the Spirit functioned and never ceased. We will study how to avoid pitfalls and errors, to judge and test prophetic words, the 4 sources within the spirit realm, languages of the Holy Spirit, character, honor, discernment of spirits, words of knowledge, delivery of prophetic words and much more. We will also learn how to cultivate and pursue humility as God “resists the proud and gives grace to the humble” and love and humility are essential for all ministry in the church. We will study the differences between Old & New Testament prophecy and how all prophecy should reveal Jesus Christ and and demonstrate His nature.

You will learn how to invite someone to pray to receive Jesus after God has impacted them (John 4 ministry model). We will also commission and pray that God uses you to impact your sphere of influence in your city and region.

FAQ

How can I take the “Hear God” course?

The “Hear God” advanced course runs periodically in the Dallas/Ft Worth area in 9 month segments and Adam teaches portions of the course sometimes when guest speaking. Sign up for the newsletter or contact us to find out when the next course is happening. You can also apply to invite Adam and host a “Hear God” weekend intensive or retreat with your church, small group, friends or family. Ideally 3 sessions is a good introduction to the material

Is there a cost for the course?

There may be a cost to register for a course or it may be just a free will offering depending on the format. There may also be an E-Course in the future. If you are taking the full 9 session course there is a reading list of approximately 10 books so similarly to any other university level course there is a cost to purchase those books.

What is the history of the course?

Adam grew up in a traditional Christian denomination and in 2007 encountered the Holy Spirit in a dramatic way and discovered that Jesus wasn’t only in stained glass windows and ancient history but alive and knowable today. The course was created after attending 3 years of Bethel School of Supernatural ministry. Two bald eagles (symbols of prophetic ministry) landed in Adam’s back yard in March 2012 as a sign and the first “Hear God” launched a month later. The course has run in 9 month segments multiple times in the United States and Europe multiple times since and continues to develop, expand, and improve.

There was also a passion to show that “Hearing God” is not a new idea but is both Biblical and represented within church history regardless of whether ones background is Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or some other Christian denomination.

The course was birthed with an intention to be able to approach the subject of prophecy and prophetic ministry from a comprehensive and Biblically faithful lens with an emphasis on 2/3 practice and activation and only 1/3 information. According to the Bible, we grow in spiritual gifts primarily the same way grow in natural gifts, through practice not merely head knowledge. 1 Timothy 4:14-15 - “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.”

What’s the course logo deal with the naked baby wearing headphones?

The Bible teaches that unless we are converted to become like children we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. The idea of this image is that through childlike humility we are most likely to hear God. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not rewards or accomplishments of the intellect but free gifts that God as a good Father freely gives to His sons and daughters.

Finally, the baby looks like he’s having fun on the turn table. Sinners were attracted to Jesus life as the Son of God, which suggest contrary to popular opinion that Jesus knew how to laugh and have a good time (Matt 11:19). Hearing God’s voice should be an amazing thrilling adventure like they lived in the book of Acts.

Prophecy? Didn’t God stop speaking when the Bible was completed?

Sadly, some Christian groups teach the false doctrine of cessationism, that the gifts of the Spirit ceased when the Bible was completed and that the Bible is somehow a substitute for a 2 way relationship with God. The Bible itself does not teach this. Both the Old & New Testament including the book of Acts model the idea that God is knowable and “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27) With all the scriptures verses regarding prayer, it should be the most natural thing to have a relationship with God.

The false doctrine of cessationism actually makes the Old Covenant/Old Testament better than the New Covenant because in the Old Testament there was the possibility to know God in a personal way, whereas in the new testament their idea is that God abandoned humanity and left a book behind. The doctrine of cessationism is similar to the false doctrine of Deism which teaches that God wound up the universe like a giant clock and then abandoned it.

The history of the cessationist doctrine primarily comes from theologians making doctrine from the realities they were or weren’t personally experiencing in their churches during that particular moment in history, rather than scripture itself or from an insecure desire to “protect scripture” in a fleshly way. Though they had a good goal to block false, liberal doctrine, or prevent the formation of cults this action is somewhat like Abraham trying to help God along with Ishmael. Like Abraham’s attempt to help God, cessationists attempts have not worked because they never were God’s plan and have brought much mixed/bad fruit. They typically lead people down the road towards “the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” or calling the work of the Holy Spirit “from the devil”, which is what the Pharisees did with Jesus. “We do no miracles ourselves but yours are from the devil”

Cessationist doctrine also leads to whitewashing the biographies of its own heroes and removing supernatural elements from their life stories and stories of historic revivals because what happened in those people’s lives doesn’t match their reduced view of God. For example, Lewis Drummond’s biography of Charles Spurgeon includes the story of the prophetic word that Spurgeon received as a 10 year old boy that he would “Preach to multitudes”, and other supernatural things that occurred during Spurgeon’s preaching, while other biographies purposely omit these supernatural events, due to them not matching cessationist Calvinist doctrine. Similar whitewashing has been done on many modern biographies of John Wesley and books about the Shantung Revival in China and many other books. In this way, cessationists attempt to suppress the truth. Ironically, though cessationism is a response to liberal modernist theologians who denied all miraculous in the Bible, their belief system more matches their opponents than they would like to admit. Cessationists accept Biblical miracles but reject anything since. Both seem to start with the same premise that unless something can be proved with the scientific method or happened a long time ago, I won’t believe it. God himself refuses to be bound by these humanistic rules. Jesus Christ is rather, the same yesterday today and forever.

1 Corinthians 13 is most often used as an attempt to suggest that the Bible has replaced spiritual gifts but chapters 12 and 14 contain New Testament commands to pursue and earnestly desire spiritual gifts especially prophecy, so contextually this is insupportable. In 1 Samuel 3 there is evidence that during some times in history spiritual gifts/God speaking could be rare but there is no indication that is the norm. The Bible itself rejects the doctrine of cessationism and it cannot be seen in church history. Virtually every significant revival, missionary endeavour and move of God relates back to someone who was a friend of God and experienced leading from God, friendship and walked in Biblical spiritual gifts. After Jesus rose from the dead he told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Still today many are trying to accomplish God’s will without God’s spirit and go at it with our own intellect, intelligence and willpower. To those in that boat, Zechariah 4:6 - ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

Doesn’t everything God says become scripture?

No, throughout history God has spoken relationally to His friends/people but not everything that He spoke was recorded and became part of the Bible. An Old Testament example of this is Moses. Exodus 33:11 - “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” God and Moses had many conversations that were unrecorded in scripture.

In the New Testament, the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Son of God and everything He said and did could have become scripture but not everything did. He both did and spoke many other things that were not recorded and did not become part of the Bible.

John 21:25 - “But there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I expect that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”

Finally, God has continued to answer prayer and move in human history as the gospel has swept the nations in the last two thousand years and many people have become friends with Him, but the New Testament scripture canon was settled around 300AD by church counsel. Due to the fact that by and large only books related or written by one of the original 12 apostles could be included, no new books will ever be added to the Bible.

Scripture is our source for life, doctrine, worldview, the nature of God, etc, whereas prophetic ministry is for friendship with God, edification, encouragement, identity, comfort, perhaps which nation to go to as a missionary (Acts 16:6-30), discerning God’s will when deciding between options that appear equally good/Biblical, examples in the Old Testament are when people would “Inquire of the Lord”. New Testament examples are the leading of the Holy Spirit/Providence in the book of Acts.

But the idea of God speaking today scares me. How can I conquer that?

I understand. Almost every aspect of the Christian life requires faith/risk. I’m grateful that the Bible gives a trustworthy framework for prophetic ministry and that God Himself is good to us even in situations that don’t appear safe. C.S. Lewis shares a quote that illustrates the nature of faith.

“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Bible also shares that the gifts of the Spirit are good and we shouldn’t fear to get something bad from God.

Luke 11:9-11 - “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

I would finally ask you. Is the Bible normative for your doctrine or is experience? Search the scriptures and see what they say. Pray and ask God, “If the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today, would you give me one of them?”