In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of hearing the voice of God and being connected with Christ. He emphasizes the need to renew our thinking patterns and let go of our old ways of life. The speaker highlights how Jesus motivated people with love rather than threats, and challenges the audience to examine their own behavior towards their spouses and children. He also mentions the misconception of thinking that selfishness and greed will bring happiness, when in reality, losing our lives for Christ's sake leads to true fulfillment. The sermon concludes with the reminder that although we are born of God, we still need to continually cleanse ourselves in order to remain receptive to God's voice.

Now, tonight I want to start with a prerequisite, because the theme is communication, connection, how to be connected with Christ. Now, one prerequisite in order to be connected is to have life. I'm a member of the Mountain Rescue Team in Austria, also of the Caving Rescue Team, and usually when we do a rescue, I'm not there very often, because often I'm gone, but when I am there, and it works out, I join them. Half the time when we find the people, they're already dead, so it's not really a rescue, we just take them home. Half the time they're still alive, that's usually, you know, that's a success for us. But just two months ago, they called me and I was home, and so a guy was missing, actually a local man, and I happened to find him. He was dead, he fell down about 200 meters. One thing I noticed, I've seen lots of dead people in the rescue, one thing I noticed with dead people, they don't communicate. They don't complain, they're easy victims, but it's not really a success to rescue, because you don't rescue. But if somebody is dead, there is no way to connect, there is no way to communicate. A dead man cannot communicate with a living God, just like a dead God cannot communicate with any man. An idol, whatever name you give it, will never be able to talk to you, because it's dead. The only one who speaks is a living God, and the only one who hears is a man who is alive. You see, there are different dimensions of life. Roughly, we differentiate between the plant life, I mean, this is probably dead anyways here, but it looks like a plant, but plant life, and then we have animal life, and then we have a human life. Roughly, that's what I learned. Now, you see, a flower, for example, possesses life. You know, if it's alive, of course. A flower possesses life, even though on a very primitive level. A flower grows up, it blossoms, it opens, when the sun comes out, some close themselves, you know, when the sun goes down and it's dark. There is a huge difference between a live flower and a dead flower. I noticed. You see, a live flower, you usually put on the table, a dead flower, my wife sometimes, you know, she hangs them up and dries them, looks like a cemetery in our kitchen. But, the thing is this, even though a flower may be alive, if you kick a ball to a live flower, although the flower is alive, it will not kick it back. I've never experienced that so far. Because, as far as playing ball is concerned, the flower, although alive, is dead. As far as playing ball is concerned. We have a dog in our Bible school center in Austria, it's not my dog, but we have one from one of our staff. The name is Celine, it's a shepherd dog. It's a cute dog. Now, if you throw a ball, her name is Celine, that's what I said. If you throw a ball, and this dog goes crazy, he runs after the ball, he brings it back to you, because a dog is receptive for that level of life. He can return a ball to you. But even though Celine, the dog, is very intelligent and very receptive for playing ball, she does not appreciate the poem that I wrote to my wife recently. She doesn't share my excitement about the universe when I show it to her, and she has no real interest in the mercies of God. Because the point is this, as far as playing ball is concerned, Celine is alive. But as far as sharing the greatness of the universe is concerned, Celine is dead. Because it's an animal life. Now, there's a big difference between a live dog and a dead dog. I've seen dead dogs, and I've seen lots of dead cats. There's a big difference between a dead cat and a live cat. But even though a cat is alive, it will not share with you the mercies of God. It's not interested. Now, man was once fully alive and receptive for God. Adam was connected. Adam and Eve, they lived in a cheerful, intimate relationship with their Creator. They spoke about things. They shared their stories. They went for hikes together. They had coffee together. They were connected. Now, when man started to mistrust God and in disobedience turned away from his Creator, something in the man died. And the Bible calls it, it's the Spirit of God who died. From this moment on, the man became dead and useless as far as relating to God is concerned. Just like a flower is dead for playing ball all the way life, just like the dog can return the ball but is dead as far as sharing a bone is concerned. So, man was alive but dead as far as relating to God is concerned. Genesis 2 verse 17 says, But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die. Physically, still alive, but dead as far as relating to God is concerned. Now, for God to be able to relate to mankind again, God had to create an additional life within man so to get once again connected. And in order to get connected again, God had to make man, the Bible calls it, born again. It says in John 3, John chapter 3, and I just read verses 3 to 6. You know that story in John 3 between Jesus and Nicodemus. Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. How can a man be born again when he is old? Nicodemus asked. Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born. Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. The biological natural man is born by water by his natural birth. And by his natural birth, man is receptive and able to communicate with the natural biological world that surrounds him. But as far as relating to God is concerned, the natural man is dead. It says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin. At the time, in verse 12, you were separate from Christ, without hope and without God in the world. By the way, dead people can be very religious, but religious people don't have life. You see, Selim sometimes sits and looks up to the sky. That's the dog. But that doesn't mean just because the dog looks up to the sky that he comprehends the universe. Just like religious people can pretend, but they don't perceive anything. You see, what God offers to man in Christ is a birth from above. It's an additional life, a spiritual life, so that man can once again play ball with God. And the fallen man receives Christ, and he receives the additional life, which he did not have before. You see, once this additional life takes place in a man, it's as if you throw the ball to a flower and it kicks it back. Or I say to Selim, Isn't that a nice poem? He says, Yes, it truly is. That would throw me off the chair, because that's a different dog now. You see, this is exactly what happens when a man is born again. He has a life that he did not have before. And this is exactly what Jesus Christ implied when he said in John 3, 6, He says, Flesh gives birth to flesh. The Spirit gives birth to the Spirit. In 1 Peter 1, 23, it says, For you have been born again through the living and enduring Word of God. Something totally new is created when a man is born again. It's just like actually in Genesis 1, when God says, Let there be light, and there was light. By the way, whatever God says, is. When God says something, it is. By the way, this is why Jesus calls himself the truth. Because whatever Jesus said, he also did. You know what's the best definition of truth that I heard? When the Word and the deed become one. That's truth. That's why Jesus could say about himself, I'm the truth. If you and I, if we live a life in truth, you know what that is? That when we speak, our actions conform to our speech. That's a man living by truth. Now, this additional life that God brings in by Christ is another act of creation. And in one verse, in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, it says, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. It's something that wasn't there before. It's an additional life that we have received. And this is the only prerequisite in order to communicate with God. No more. That's the only prerequisite. This is why Paul says in Galatians 6, 15, The only thing that counts is a new creation. Now, what about the old, the natural life? There was one verse in the Bible that I wanted to blot out. It was 2 Corinthians 5, 17, where it says, If somebody is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. You know what? I said, God, this is not true about me. I think I'm born again, but I'm not new. I still behave like I did behave. How come? Is the Bible wrong, or do I have a problem? Well, it wasn't that hard for God to decide on that. But, why is that so? After a man receives the new dimension of life, which is Christ in us, it is now our first responsibility to focus on that new life, because the old life is not eradicated. And the old life, which we still carry around, still we are in the grave, we must continually submit or yield to the new life so that the new life can be seen through you and me. Now, how do we do that? This is all theological truth. I heard it a hundred times. It never helped me. And so, probably, you say the same thing. You see, the old confused life, which cannot play ball with God, must constantly be cleansed by the truth. I love Ephesians 5, 26, where it talks about husband and wife. Paul says this. He says that the husband is supposed to cleanse his wife by washing with water through the words. You know, in some cultures, they still wash each other's feet. We probably don't do it here because they would freeze off. But it's still there. We can still wash each other's feet. You know how? With the word. It says, washing with the water through the word. Have you washed your wife today? Wife, did you wash your husband? You know how we do that? Give it out of the word of God. I love that. These are things we can say, yes, that's good, but we need to live by them. These are not just nice principles where we agree. We must live by them. We must practice them. We rub shoulders with godless thoughts all day long. And so, the word must cleanse our thought life. I have one Bible verse in my ring. This is my wedding ring. And we gave each other a Bible verse. And my wife gave me. This is why I never forget it. Romans 12, verse 2. Just a reference. The verse didn't fit in there. But it says, Romans 12, 2. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. To listen to God, to talk to the living God all day long, is actually the most ordinary thing that you and I are supposed to do with this additional life that is now within you and me. But the problem is this. To become sensitive to the voice of God, and we talk about it on Wednesday night, how do we hear the voice of God? We need to allow God to renew our thinking patterns, our old life, and their allegiance. For example, we believe that we can control people by threatening them. Did you know that Jesus didn't do that? The Lord Jesus motivated people with love, not with threat. How often do we do that with our wives, with our children? We believe that we must think of ourselves first in order to be happy. Then what Jesus said, if you lose your life, you will gain it. If you look at your own life, you will lose it. You see, we think wrong. We believe that we will get rich and happy by being greedy and bushy. Jesus says, he who gives will receive. You see, it's the total opposite of what we grew up with. And even though we are born of God since many years, we need washing with the water in order to remain receptive to God's voice. It's a really strange thing, but I speak about my own life now. To communicate with God, although it should be the most normal thing, seems to be the hardest thing in the world to do. When I drive my car or sit at the computer, whatever, I worry about finances. How are we going to make it next year? I worry about my neighbor girl who has cancer. What shall I say when I go there? I have no clue. I'm helpless. I worry about the fight I just had with my wife. She's that way. But you know what? I worry and worry and worry, but I don't pray. Instead, I'm obsessed by it. I sweat because of it, but I don't pray. It's a strange thing. I don't include God in my thought life, and it's only the last option. Well, if nothing else helps, I'm going to pray. It's interesting. You see, in our modern Christian world, we have three different Bible translations in our library. I have ten, by the way. We have two different computer programs of the Bible installed in our computers. We have a daily devotional on our book, maybe even Oswald Chambers. We have a fish in our car. We have a What Would Jesus Do band around our wrist. We have a cross around our neck, John 3.16 on our T-shirt. But we do not communicate with God. You see, we must understand the reason for the additional life in us is not to reach heaven when we die, although we do, but it's so that God can put His thoughts in our mind so that the character of Jesus can be mirrored even in a wretch like me. And if we become aware that we can blame Paul with God, a process starts taking place, and this process I want to talk about now. When I'm aware there is an additional life within me, which is Christ in me by the Holy Spirit, it starts off in an English language. You can play with words very nicely. I enjoy that. It's better than in German, by the way. But it starts usually with a communication that the believer has with his new life, which is Christ. After a while, if he continues to do that, communication will deepen into a communion with Christ. And if you live in communion with Christ, it will deepen into a union with Christ. You see, any relationship starts with a simple, often a reluctant communication. We start talking with somebody. This is how people learn to pray. So many people, you know, when you lead them to the Lord, they say, what do I do now? You say, well, just start talking with the Lord and you help him along. It's reluctant. It is simple. But if we continue to do that, there will be a lovely communion, which will be a result of communication. And if you remain in this communion, it will finally develop into the intimate union that God created us for with Christ. You see, communication can take place over a distance. You listen, you talk, and you can do that even with an enemy. You can even communicate with a person you don't like. We all know that. You talk with a business partner you don't necessarily like him, but you can talk and communicate with him. Now, when Christians talk with God, communicate with God, God is very often still outside of them. I kind of talk with him, although he's somewhere in heaven, where he is as well, but not only. One girl once said to me, she said, Hans Peter, you know what, when I pray, my prayers only go to the ceiling. And I said, that's totally fine, because God is under the ceiling. But you see, this is kind of our thinking. We think, well, communication, I need to break through a wall, I need to get through somewhere in order to come to Christ or to God, whatever you call it then. And this is often in quiet time. You know, we have those quiet time books, some of them are good, some of them are not as good, I think. I just talked recently with a friend of mine. I do a Bible study with them since eight years. And just two weeks ago he said, you know, Hans Peter, you always talk about quiet time. What is this? He said, I tried to set my watch and I was quiet for 15 minutes. Is that a quiet time? He was eight years in my Bible study group. You see, very successful. But you know, sometimes we use words that people don't have a clue, they don't know how to feel it. We think how to feel it. I wonder if we do sometimes. Now, communion is far more than simply communication. When you have communion, you sit together, you eat together. You share thoughts with each other. You share your feelings with the other person. Communion is a deeper form of communication. Especially for a Jew, when he invites you for a meal, that means you enter into the most intimate relationship possible, which is called friendship. And you see, in my private life, which people do I take out for a meal? It's my friends. We go out together. By the way, do you notice that God loves to eat in the Bible? Whenever God met people, He ate. The resurrected Lord Jesus, He was always hungry when He came back. But the reason is because communion is eating together. It's sitting together. It's enjoying each other. Now, but there is another level. It's communication. It's communion. But what God made us for, is for union. Union is the deepest form of oneness, which is possible. And of course, it's expressed in the best in the marriage life. This is why Christ always uses the marriage life. He is the bridegroom, the bride, becoming one. When you become one with another individual, you know how you notice? Words like mine or your disappear. It's only us and we. Mine doesn't exist, and your doesn't exist anymore. And you see, this is what God created us for, for union exclusively. Once this is the case in our lives, we can truly say, Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. We are one. Philippians 1.20, for to me to live, that is Christ, because we are one. You see, and God did not give us this additional life. He didn't make us one with Him, so that we read the Bible. It's good to read the Bible, but the Bible is not God. We are made to be one with Christ. We are not made to preach or evangelize, although that's good. But we are made to be one with God, to be intimate with Jesus. I tell you, maybe the reason why, you know, if you want to know the weakness of a preacher, just listen to what he emphasizes. Preachers always emphasize their weaknesses. Maybe that's why I ponder on it, because I have a hard time with that. And I had a very hard time unlearn, and I still have, being religious and starting to be intimate with Jesus. I became a Christian when I was 15, and the only concept I knew is quiet time. So that's what you do, you know, when you get up, you're supposed to be quiet and pray and read one chapter in the Old Testament, one in the New, and a psalm, then you're really good. And so I did, but I struggled because I always fell asleep. Always. You know, when I start praying, Dear Father in Heaven, and you pray for something, after one minute my thoughts are totally somewhere else. And after five minutes I wake up, I was praying, oh, let's start again, you know, go into it. Takes me one minute, I'm gone again. This is how I prayed for 10 years, and I struggled. I then tried a prayer list. You know, you write down the people you pray for, the things you pray for, and I did this for two years. Finally I said to God, God, this is boring me to tears. And God says, actually, it's boring me to tears too. See, because this is all I knew about prayer. And then, you know, you read those books, how they pray, they get up at five always. You know, I'm thankful when I get up for breakfast. But, I came to the point where I said, if this is what it takes, I get up at five every morning, and if it kills me, well, it killed me. And you know what I did then? I just started walking with God. And I started to, I always walk, I don't know why. But I started to walk with Him, and sometimes I didn't say anything for an hour, I just walked for an hour. Maybe I said three words, sometimes I spoke all the time. And I just started to ask Him questions. I said, Lord, how come prayer is so hard? Why is it not, you know, this is not fun. This is not even joy. And I started asking questions about it. And then I walked and I started preaching all of a sudden. I started jumping. Sometimes I jump, I'm charismatic. I am, I am. This is not, this is not, I really mean it. I start singing sometimes. Sometimes I don't say a thing. And you know what? I started to enjoy it. But I wasn't sure if this is prayer, if this is quiet time, proper. But you know what? After a while I felt, God is enjoying it too. And I started to enjoy being with God. But it didn't fit any of the quiet time betters that I knew of. Because first of all, I wasn't quiet. I didn't read those chapters. And I just enjoyed being with my Lord. And God blessed my life and the ministry. Things happened that I didn't even pray for. I said, God, if you would have told me, I would have prayed for it. Because you see, in all the books I read, I always had to pray through something. And God all of a sudden did it. You know what I learned? It's not even my prayers. It's Christ who makes things happen. And I can enjoy Him. Of course I pray. Of course we should pray for people. Of course we should have a burden. And also have a certain discipline. But just enjoy it. And I know that God enjoys when I walk with Him. You know what is the greatest thing that we can give to God? It's our time. What is the greatest thing you can give to your wife? It's your time. It's the most precious thing. Do you remember your first date? First date, I remember how Charles and Hillary met. I don't tell you that. That's embarrassing. I couldn't believe it. But anyways. But you know, the first date, what is the most threatening thing at the first date? Do you remember what it is? Silence. You know, you write things on your hand. What do I say if I run out? And 30 seconds not talking on the first date seems like 3 months. But after you're married 16 years like me, one hour of silence is golden, isn't it? By the way, I don't mean it the way you think I mean it. I mean it differently. But sometimes in prayer, watch yourself. Sometimes in prayer we just talk, talk and talk and then we say Amen and hang up. You know what that means? We don't know Him very well because we never learn to listen. And so we pray for 15 minutes, say Amen, and then we say what a wonderful time we had with Jesus. If Jesus could talk, He said, Did we really? Because He didn't have a chance to say anything. Did you ever try waiting on the Lord? I did it once for 30 seconds. I said, Lord, I'm done. If you want to say anything, 30 seconds. Well, apparently you don't want a dog, so that's fine. See you in the evening. You see, if we always need to fill the air with words, it's actually a sign that we don't know Him very well. It's with people you don't know very well, you always feel like you have to talk. It's people you know well. You can be quiet for 10 minutes and feel comfortable doing so. You know what I sometimes do? You know, I go for coffee with my best friends and I sometimes do that with Jesus. I go out for coffee with Jesus. I order a coffee, not two, just one. And I sit down and I just talk with Him. And whenever I get home and my wife says, Where have you been? I said, I was for a coffee with Jesus. She said, Where have you been? She's always a bit worried. She thinks people think I go crazy or something. But I really enjoy that. I really enjoy that. When I go running, it's my best time with my Lord. Include God in your lunch. One thing I noticed, when I am confused, which I am sometimes, sometimes I have great doubts about the Word of God, to be honest. I have moments in my life, in my ministry, where I think this whole Bible, this can't be true. This is nonsense. I can't believe that. It's really doubts that hit me. And you know what I found? When those doubts came, and they came stronger than they do now, it actually improved, for which I am very thankful. I tried then, Oh, I have to read my Bible more. It didn't help me. I talked about it with people. We discussed it. It didn't help me. The only thing that helps me, when I am confused or have doubts, I need to go for a walk with Jesus. And I tell Him everything that's on my heart. I tell Him, I don't even believe you exist anymore. I don't believe you can help. But I come to you and I want to tell you. And the amazing thing is, He always speaks. But we need to come to Him, so that He can order our thought life, once again. So, my challenge for you and me this evening is this. Learn to think not in I, me, my, but in we, us and our. Because that's simply the way it is. When you leave this room now, what do you say? I drive home with my car, or do you say we drive home? I want you to practice it tonight, if you like to. When you go to work in the morning, are you going to work? Singular? Or are you going to work plural? Because that's the way it is. Jesus is in you. We need to train. You know why? You know why this really works and helps? Sometimes I say, oh, I'm afraid. I don't know what to do. I will fail. And then I say, in we, well, we are afraid. We don't know what to do. Jesus says, really? We will fail. Jesus says, really? Will we fail? It helps. This is not psychology. This is reality. Because Christ is living in the believer. We need to learn to think in reality, as it really is. We need to train ourselves. The only time, I say this for Charles Price's sake, otherwise he doesn't know what to do with it. When we confess sin, just say it in the singular, not in the plural. You know, when I confess sin, I don't say, we sinned. It's, I sinned. The union that I just said is described in the Bible in various ways. In 1 Corinthians 2.16 it says, we have the mind of Christ. That's talking about the union. In Philippians 2.5 it says, your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ. How can it be? Because we are one with Him. John 17.22 it says, that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, may they be brought to complete unity. That's the teaching of the Bible. I'm not sure what Jesus is for you, but if Jesus is anywhere else but in your heart, you have not understood the new covenant. In the New Testament, God does not hold our hands. That's old covenant. Hebrews chapter 8 it says, He let them by the hand out of Egypt. That's old covenant. New covenant is, He wrote His laws and His mind on our hearts. He's not on our hand. He's in us. Now, in order to live in the good of this, I want to emphasize one last thing, because I have not understood it and I'm not sure if I now do. But we must believe that Christ in us is meant in the literal sense. Kids are great. My Lisa, she's a 10-year-old. A few years ago, I tried to explain her where Jesus is. And I asked her, I said, Where is Jesus? And she said, In heaven, you know. I said, Well, if you invite Him in your life, you know where He then is. I said, He's in you. Actually, I said, He's behind you. He's in front of you. He's under you. I explained her that. Then she looked at me. She said, Daddy, please stand up. You sit on Jesus. But actually, she's not so wrong. Because the Holy Spirit made the greatest effort to make clear that this additional life in us, which is Christ, is not just a mystical idea. It's not just a picture or a symbol. It is He Himself and His person by the Holy Spirit who takes residence within the believer. The Holy Spirit made the greatest effort. John chapter 6, verse 53, it says this, Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. In this passage, the Lord Jesus spoke in the most concrete form about the necessity of His person in dwelling a man so that we can play ball with God. By the way, He didn't speak about the Lord's Supper here because He made it very clear that He is not talking about literal flesh and blood. A couple of verses later He said, the Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. I'm not talking about flesh. The words I have spoken to you, they are Spirit and they are life. And being a Christian means to be one with the living God and He promised to make a home within us. John 14, verse 23, Jesus says we will come to Him and make our home with Him. This union that the Apostle Paul describes is the great mystery described in Colossians 1, verse 27 The riches of this mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory. As long as Christ, for you or me, lives somewhere outside of us, many things in the Bible will never make sense to you. We will struggle with it. Galatians 2, verse 20, I no longer live, Christ lives in me. What does that mean? We will never understand what Jesus meant, John 15, verse 5, I am the vine, you the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. Being a Christian is not just believing in Jesus or loving Jesus. Being a Christian means to live in the union with Christ who came to live within me. Now, if we recognize this and believe this, we learn to understand, and this is important, that my life and what can happen with my life does not depend on my giftedness. It does not depend on my capacity and it does not depend on my talents, but only on the presence of God within me. We have a big poster at our Bible school at home. It's a man standing on a mountain like this and hundreds of mountain peaks around it and it says, Heaven is the limit. I put this word away and I said, God himself is the limit. Heaven is too small. It's Christ, it's God who is with us and he is the limit. And we limit ourselves so often by what we are and what we can do. You know what I like about John 5, when Jesus fed the 5,000. You remember that story with Philip? You know what Jesus says to Philip? He says, How shall we get enough food for all of them? You know what Philip did? The first thing, what can I do? We only have a couple of loaves and a few fish. That won't take us very far. Jesus said, how can we feed them? And then Jesus told Philip to sit down a bit and then he was feeding them. We need to learn to think in the we, not in the I. Philip and Andrew just thought in the I, me, my. They are limitations. And they forgot that Jesus is with them. For every time that I say, Jesus, I'm not. He says, so what? I am. For every time I say, Jesus, I can't. He says, so what? I can. For every time I say, Jesus, I haven't. Jesus says, so what? I have. Next time you think, when you think you have an excuse as to why God cannot use you, think of this. And I stole this from a good friend of mine, Peter Reed. Noah got drunk. Think of those people when you think that you're incapable. Noah got drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. Joseph was abused. Moses was a murderer, as was David and Paul. Moses stuttered. Deborah was a woman leader. Gideon was afraid. Samson had long hair. Anyone in here with long hair, God can use you. Hosea's wife was a prostitute. Rahab was a prostitute. David was too young, as was Jeremiah and Timothy. David pretended to be crazy, had an affair, and he ran away from his son. Elijah was suicidal.