Hearing the Father’s Voice
Five Biblical Studies in Listening, Discernment and Faithful Living
By Mary Small-Burke
Read the complete book here, one chapter at a time. 5 biblical studies, with questions, prayers and a five-week practice plan.
Use the contents or the left and right page arrows to read, or choose a chapter from the contents.
Book contents
Publication information
Copyright © 2026 Mary Small-Burke.
Published by Returning to the Ancient Path Ministry.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version unless a passage is identified as a paraphrase. Commentary and application are the author’s exposition and should be examined in the light of Scripture. Yeshua is the name used here for Jesus.
One Father • One Family • One Home
About this edition
This study guide adapts five public Scripture studies developed by Returning to the Ancient Path Ministry. The core readings are also freely available on the ministry website. This collected edition brings them together with an introduction, connected chapter questions, guided discussion and a five-week practice plan for personal or group use. Scripture quotations in this edition are from the King James Version. Yeshua is the name used here for Jesus. Read each passage in its biblical setting before drawing conclusions about its application.
The ministry’s biblical study of revelation, counsel and faithful hearing provides the theological foundation for this guide. For a sustained exposition of the wider subject, read The Voice. This introductory companion has its own purpose: five connected studies with questions, prayer and a plan for practising what is learned.
Introduction
Learning to Listen Faithfully
Whose counsel deserves our trust? That question reaches into ordinary decisions as well as religious teaching. We listen to people we respect, ideas we have inherited, messages repeated around us and arguments within our own thoughts. Their influence may become clear only when we notice the direction our lives are taking. This guide begins with the Father who makes Himself known. Scripture gives us His instruction, warnings, promises and wisdom. Through Yeshua, we learn the faithful hearing and obedience of the Son who reveals Him.
Our purpose is to grow in that knowledge and respond with trust. The five chapters form a connected journey. Samuel helps us consider humility and learning. Eden brings competing counsel into view, while Yeshua’s temptation shows faithfulness under pressure. The Bereans and Paul’s instruction teach willing examination. The Shepherd’s care brings hearing into relationship and following. Finally, Deuteronomy, James and John 17 carry that response into the life of a family and community. Keep a Bible and a notebook beside you.
Read the assigned passages, then the chapter. Separate what the passage says from what you infer or want it to mean. Write one observation, one question and one possible response. When something remains uncertain, allow that uncertainty to be honest. Seek help from people willing to explain their reasoning and examine their own conclusions. If you study with others, give each person room to speak or remain quiet. No one needs to disclose private experiences to participate.
Examine ideas without attacking people. A leader should help the group return to Scripture rather than become the final authority over everyone’s decisions. One chapter each week allows time for practice. You may also read more slowly. The aim is a growing willingness to receive truth, accept correction and live faithfully with others before the Father.
1 Learning to Listen
The question we carry
How do we begin listening with humility and a willingness to respond?
Read: 1 Samuel 3; John 17:8, 17, using the King James Version.
How do I know whether God is speaking to me? That question can carry both hope and uncertainty. Some people hear others speak confidently about God’s guidance and wonder why their own experience seems less clear. Others have followed advice described as God’s will and later found themselves confused or hurt. We can begin with a willingness to learn. Scripture gives us accounts of God making Himself known, and it teaches us to attend carefully to what He says. Young Samuel’s experience offers a place to start.
A call Samuel did not recognise
Samuel was a boy serving under Eli, a priest at Israel’s place of worship in Shiloh. A priest served in the people’s worship of God. Samuel was familiar with that setting, but the account says God’s word had not yet been revealed to him. One night, he heard his name called. Thinking Eli needed him, he went to the priest. Eli had not called and sent him back to lie down. This happened repeatedly before Eli recognised that God was calling the boy. Eli told Samuel how to respond if he heard the call again. When God called, Samuel answered:
“Speak; for thy servant heareth” — 1 Samuel 3:10, KJV
The message concerned judgment on Eli’s household. Samuel was afraid to tell him, but eventually related what he had heard. As Samuel grew, Israel came to recognise him as a prophet—a messenger entrusted with God’s word.
Learning begins with humility
Samuel’s uncertainty did not prevent God from making Himself known. The boy needed help understanding what was happening. This gives us room to be honest about our own questions. We do not have to claim certainty in order to appear spiritual. We can ask, read, and learn. We can receive help from people who know Scripture while examining their counsel carefully. Eli helped Samuel recognise the call, yet the account also confronts Eli’s failures. That detail matters. A person’s role or experience does not make every action or opinion reliable. Helpful counsel still needs to be considered in the light of God’s revealed word.
What do we mean by hearing?
Samuel received a particular call that began his prophetic service. His experience is not a promise that everyone will hear an audible voice at night. Scripture means the sacred writings collected in the Bible. For us, a dependable place to begin is Scripture: reading what God has made known and learning how to respond. Through it, we encounter His instruction, promises, warnings, and wisdom. A passage may bring conviction, encouragement, or clarity as we understand it in its setting.
An inner impression, a dream, someone else’s advice, and the words of Scripture are different things. We should be careful about giving them the same authority. A feeling can be sincere and still need examination. A confident speaker can misunderstand. Discernment means learning to judge carefully what deserves our trust. This series will help us practise that careful listening, one biblical account at a time.
The Father’s words through Yeshua
Yeshua, also known as Jesus, connects His teaching directly to the Father. In His prayer in John 17, He says that He has given His disciples the words the Father gave Him. He also prays that they be made holy through the truth of God’s word. Listening to Yeshua therefore helps us hear the Father He reveals. We can read His teaching, notice the setting, and ask what response He calls for. Hearing becomes part of knowing and following Him. Samuel’s first message was difficult. God’s word may challenge us as well as comfort us. A willingness to listen includes allowing Him to correct the direction we would prefer to take.
Begin with what you can read
You do not need to solve every question about guidance today. Open a short passage of Scripture. Notice who is speaking, whom they address, and what is happening. Ask what the passage actually says before deciding how it applies to your circumstances. If you do not understand, write down your question. Seek thoughtful help. Where an instruction is clear, consider a faithful response. The listening heart can begin simply: Father, help me understand, and make me willing to respond.
Consider
What makes listening difficult for you: uncertainty, competing advice, or reluctance to hear something that may challenge your plans?
A small practice
Read 1 Samuel 3 slowly. Write down one observation and one question. Pray about both before deciding what the account teaches you.
Prayer
Father, help me learn to listen. Give me humility when I am uncertain and care when I consider what others say in Your name. Through Yeshua, lead me into the truth of Your word. Make me willing to receive Your comfort and correction, and to respond faithfully to what I understand. Amen.
Read and discuss
What does Samuel initially understand, and what does he need to learn?
What is particular to Samuel’s prophetic calling rather than promised to every reader?
How does Yeshua connect His words with the Father in John 17?
What clear instruction can you practise while another question remains unresolved?
Record your response
In your notebook, record what the passage establishes, what you still need to examine and one response you can make. Return to that response before moving on. Describe what happened without treating an immediate result as proof that your interpretation was correct.
Continue the journey
Learning to listen begins with humility, but willingness alone does not settle which counsel deserves our trust. The next chapter turns to Eden and the wilderness, where competing words seek a response.
2 When Another Voice Enters
The question we carry
How does competing counsel challenge trust in the Father?
Read: Genesis 2:15–17; 3:1–13; Matthew 4:1–11, using the King James Version.
A voice can do more than offer information. It can change how we see a situation, awaken a desire, or persuade us to distrust someone we once trusted. We may begin considering a choice differently before we notice that our confidence has shifted. Scripture helps us examine that process. The account of Eden shows how another voice challenges God’s word. Yeshua’s response to temptation shows a faithful way of listening when competing counsel is persuasive.
What God had given and said
Genesis describes God placing the first man in a garden with work to do and food to enjoy. He gave permission to eat from its trees, with one exception: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He warned that eating from it would bring death. That provision and instruction form the setting for what follows. Adam and Eve, the first human pair, were living within a life God had given them. Then a serpent questioned the woman about God’s command.
When she described the restriction, it denied the warning of death and suggested that eating would open their eyes and make them like God, knowing good and evil. The fruit appeared desirable for food, pleasing to the eyes, and capable of making her wise. She ate and gave some to her husband, who also ate. Afterwards, they hid from God and struggled to acknowledge their responsibility.
A different picture of the Father
Notice what the serpent’s counsel did. It contradicted God’s warning and offered an attractive interpretation of the forbidden choice. The boundary could now appear to be withholding something desirable. The temptation involved both God’s word and His character. Would they trust what He had said, or accept the serpent’s account of what would serve them better? That question can arise in our own decisions. A suggestion may appeal to a genuine need while encouraging us to disregard a clear instruction.
We may hear that honesty is impractical, that faithfulness costs too much, or that an immediate desire justifies a choice we would otherwise recognise as wrong. A real need deserves care. It also deserves careful judgment about the means we use to meet it.
Yeshua under pressure
Matthew’s Gospel, one of the biblical accounts of Yeshua’s life and teaching, tells how Yeshua, also known as Jesus, was tempted by the devil after fasting in the wilderness. He was hungry. The temptations concerned making bread, demonstrating divine protection, and receiving kingdoms through worship of the tempter. Yeshua answered from Scripture. When urged to throw Himself from the temple, He answered the tempter’s use of a biblical promise with another passage:
“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” — Matthew 4:7, KJV
His responses show trust in God’s word and loyalty to Him. Hunger, an opportunity to display power, and an offer of authority did not determine His obedience. The account also shows that quoting Scripture does not, by itself, make a proposal faithful. The tempter quoted a passage about God’s protection while urging Yeshua towards an act He rejected. We must consider what a quotation is being used to encourage and whether that use agrees with Scripture’s wider teaching.
Questions before a choice
We hear many voices: friends, teachers, online speakers, advertisements, and our own inner arguments. Not every unfamiliar voice is false, and not every familiar one is wise. We need to examine the counsel itself. Ask what you are being invited to believe and do. Does the advice depend on dismissing something God has clearly taught? Is a verse being used without attention to its setting? Are desire, fear, or urgency making it difficult to consider the consequences?
These questions help us pause before giving our trust. Where Scripture is unclear to us, we can seek help and allow time for understanding. Where its instruction is clear, we can ask the Father for strength to obey, even when another choice appears easier. Through Yeshua, we see that faithful listening involves holding to the Father’s word under pressure. We can learn from Him as we examine what seeks our trust.
Consider
What counsel becomes especially persuasive when you are afraid, tired, or eager for a particular outcome?
A small practice
Write down one message influencing a current choice. Identify what it invites you to do. Read a relevant passage in its setting, and seek thoughtful counsel if you need help understanding it.
Prayer
Father, help me recognise what is shaping my trust and desires. Teach me to examine counsel carefully and read Scripture faithfully. Through Yeshua, strengthen me to honour Your word when I am under pressure. Give me humility to ask for help and courage to obey what I understand. Amen.
Read and discuss
What provision and instruction precede the serpent’s words?
What does the serpent contradict, and what does he encourage the hearer to desire?
How does Yeshua respond when Scripture is used to support a proposal He rejects?
How might pressure influence your judgment, and what would help you examine counsel patiently?
Record your response
In your notebook, record what the passage establishes, what you still need to examine and one response you can make. Return to that response before moving on. Describe what happened without treating an immediate result as proof that your interpretation was correct.
Continue the journey
Recognising that a proposal can misrepresent the Father raises a practical question: how should we examine what is said? The next chapter develops a patient way to test claims without refusing to learn.
3 Learning to Test What You Hear
The question we carry
How can we receive teaching willingly while examining it faithfully?
Read: Acts 17:1–12; 1 Thessalonians 5:19–22; John 17:8, 17; Matthew 4:5–7, using the King James Version.
Two people can speak with equal confidence and give different accounts of what God wants. A teaching may be moving, familiar, or widely shared, yet still leave us wondering whether it is true. How can we listen without simply accepting everything—or becoming unwilling to learn? The people of Berea offer a helpful example. Their response shows a willingness to receive teaching and a readiness to examine it.
A message worth examining
Acts records the spread of the message about Yeshua, also known as Jesus, after His resurrection. Paul and Silas were travelling teachers who helped others understand that message. In Thessalonica, Paul used Scripture to explain that the Messiah—the promised anointed One—had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that Yeshua was this Messiah. Opposition followed, and the believers sent Paul and Silas to another town, Berea. There they entered the synagogue, a Jewish gathering place for worship and teaching.
The hearers welcomed the message and examined the Scriptures daily to see whether it was true. Many believed. The Scriptures they searched were the sacred writings already available to them, which Christians commonly call the Old Testament. These writings helped them examine what Paul taught about Yeshua.
Willingness and examination together
The Bereans did not treat careful examination as an insult to the teacher. Their readiness to listen and their search of Scripture belonged together. This offers a useful posture for us. We can listen respectfully, ask for the passages behind a claim, and take time to read them. Respect for a speaker does not remove our responsibility to understand what is being taught. We may also discover that something we have long believed needs correction. Testing teaching includes a willingness to let Scripture challenge our own conclusions. The aim is to learn what is true and respond faithfully.
Hold fast to what is good
In his letter to the believers in Thessalonica, Paul tells them not to suppress the Spirit’s work or despise prophetic messages. Alongside that openness, he gives this instruction:
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21, KJV
Here, “prove” means examine or test. The instruction calls for discernment: receive what is good and turn away from evil. We can apply this care to claims made in God’s name. Confidence, strong feelings, a respected position, or a large audience cannot establish a claim on their own. We need to ask what supports it and whether it agrees with what God has revealed.
A simple way to begin
Start by identifying the actual claim. What is the speaker saying God teaches, promises, or requires? A clear statement is easier to examine than a vague impression left by an emotional presentation. Then read the passage being used, including the sentences around it. Notice who is speaking, who is being addressed, and what situation is in view. Ask whether the teaching follows from the passage or whether extra assumptions have been added. Consider other relevant passages too.
One verse should not be made to cancel everything else Scripture teaches about the same matter. If you are unsure how the passages fit together, seek help from someone willing to explain their reasoning and listen to your questions. Sometimes the honest conclusion is that more study is needed. You can acknowledge uncertainty without giving a doubtful claim authority over your life. For example, someone might claim that a verse about God’s protection guarantees success in any plan we choose.
Before accepting that conclusion, read the passage and ask whether it actually promises that outcome. Remember how Yeshua rejected the use of a promise of protection to justify throwing Himself from the temple (Matthew 4:5–7). A true passage can be used to support a conclusion it does not teach.
The truth Yeshua gives
In John 17, Yeshua says He has given His disciples the words received from the Father. He also prays for them to be made holy through God’s truth. This gives our examination a purpose. We seek understanding so that the Father’s word can shape us. Testing what we hear should lead towards trust, obedience, and a more truthful life. Begin with one teaching rather than trying to settle every question at once. Careful listening can become a steady habit.
Consider
When a teaching appeals to you, what usually persuades you: the speaker, your feelings, its familiarity, or what the passages actually show?
A small practice
Choose one claim from a recent sermon, conversation, or online teaching. Write it in a sentence. Read the passage offered in support and its surrounding context. Record what is clear and what you still need to ask.
Prayer
Father, give me a willing and discerning heart. Help me receive what is true, recognise what is mistaken, and remain humble about what I do not yet understand. Through Yeshua, teach me to hold fast to Your word and let its truth shape my life. Amen.
Read and discuss
How do reception and examination belong together in the Berean account?
What is the actual claim in a teaching you are considering?
What does the cited passage establish, and what assumptions have been added?
What would receiving correction look like if your preferred conclusion proves mistaken?
Record your response
In your notebook, record what the passage establishes, what you still need to examine and one response you can make. Return to that response before moving on. Describe what happened without treating an immediate result as proof that your interpretation was correct.
Continue the journey
Testing is meant to help us receive truth and follow faithfully. The next chapter brings that purpose into the relationship between the Shepherd and His sheep.
4 The Shepherd’s Voice
The question we carry
How does knowing the Shepherd lead us into following?
Read: John 10:1–18, 27–30; 14:26; 16:13–15, using the King James Version.
There is a difference between hearing someone speak and learning to trust their care. We come to know a person through their words, their actions, and the way they respond when trust costs them something. Yeshua, also known as Jesus, uses the picture of a shepherd to describe His relationship with those who follow Him. It helps us understand why His voice deserves our attention and what listening to Him involves.
A shepherd who knows his sheep
A shepherd cares for sheep, guiding them towards food and protecting them from danger. In John 10, Yeshua describes a shepherd entering the sheepfold, an enclosure where the sheep are kept. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out. They follow because they recognise his voice. Yeshua then identifies Himself as the good shepherd. He gives His life for the sheep, unlike a hired worker who abandons them when danger comes. He speaks of knowing His sheep and gathering others into one flock. Later in the chapter, He says:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” — John 10:27, KJV
He also speaks of giving them eternal life and of their security in His hand and His Father’s hand.
The care behind the call
Before asking ourselves whether we recognise His voice, notice what He reveals about Himself. He knows, leads, protects, and gives His life. His claim to our trust is joined to His faithful care. This matters if you have experienced authority used selfishly. Someone may have demanded loyalty while disregarding your needs or refusing accountability. Yeshua’s shepherd picture invites us to consider authority through His own character and actions. His care also joins us to others. He speaks of one flock, gathered under one shepherd. Following Him leads towards shared belonging, where we learn to care for one another under His direction.
Hearing and following belong together
Yeshua connects hearing with following. His words call for a response in the way we live. We may seek a special message about the future while overlooking teaching already before us. He teaches truthfulness, mercy, forgiveness, and love. Listening can begin by allowing that teaching to shape a conversation, a responsibility, or a choice today. This does not mean that every question has an immediate answer. Some decisions require patient thought and wise counsel. But uncertainty about a particular decision need not stop us from responding to what we understand.
Nor should we treat every inner thought as the Shepherd’s voice. This passage describes belonging to Yeshua, knowing His care, and following Him. It does not make our impressions infallible. We can examine them in the light of His teaching and remain honest about what is unclear.
The Spirit helps us learn
Before His arrest, Yeshua told His disciples that the Father would send the Holy Spirit, called the Comforter in the King James Version. He promised that the Spirit would teach them and bring His words to their remembrance. He also described the Spirit’s guidance into truth and His work of glorifying Yeshua. These promises were first spoken to the disciples who had heard His teaching. They help us see that the Spirit’s work is joined to the Son’s revelation and the Father’s truth.
As we read the disciples’ witness in Scripture, we can ask for the Spirit’s help to understand and respond. We need His help when a passage challenges our habits or reveals a truth we have resisted. Claims of spiritual guidance should be examined in keeping with the character and teaching of the One the Spirit glorifies.
Learning His voice through His words
Choose a short passage from a Gospel—one of the Bible’s accounts of Yeshua’s life and teaching—and give it your attention. Notice what Yeshua says, what He does, and how people respond. Ask what this reveals about His care and what it invites from you. Over time, familiarity with His teaching gives us a firmer basis for recognising counsel that agrees with it. We learn to follow the Shepherd by receiving His words and responding with trust.
Consider
Which teaching of Yeshua could you respond to more faithfully in your present circumstances?
A small practice
Read John 10:11–18 and 27–30 slowly. Name one reason His care invites your trust. Then choose one clear teaching from the Gospels to put into practice today.
Prayer
Father, thank You for the care made known through Yeshua, the good Shepherd. By Your Spirit, help me understand His words and follow Him faithfully. Give me patience when I am uncertain and willingness where His instruction is clear. Teach me to live within His care and love others within His flock. Amen.
Read and discuss
What actions reveal the Shepherd’s care in John 10?
How does the passage connect belonging, hearing and following?
To whom were the promises in John 14 and 16 first spoken, and what does that setting help you understand?
What teaching of Yeshua calls for a practical response in your relationships?
Record your response
In your notebook, record what the passage establishes, what you still need to examine and one response you can make. Return to that response before moving on. Describe what happened without treating an immediate result as proof that your interpretation was correct.
Continue the journey
Following the Shepherd joins us to others within His flock. The final chapter considers how His words become part of ordinary shared life.
5 A Family That Hears and Follows
The question we carry
How does hearing become a shared way of life?
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 20–25; James 1:19–25; John 17:20–26, using the King James Version.
What does a listening life look like after we close the Bible? It takes shape in conversations, responsibilities, and the way we respond when something goes wrong. The Father’s word is meant to enter the places where we actually live. As it shapes us, others can begin to learn His ways alongside us. Deuteronomy gives us a picture of that daily life. Yeshua’s prayer in John 17 helps us see how hearing also belongs within the shared life of His family.
Words carried into the day
Deuteronomy records Moses addressing Israel near the end of their wilderness journey. God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and they were preparing to enter the land He had promised. Moses called them to love God wholeheartedly and keep His words in their hearts. They were to teach their children diligently, speaking of these things at home, while travelling, at bedtime, and when rising. He also anticipated their children’s questions about God’s instructions. The answer was to begin with their history: they had been slaves, God had brought them out, and He had given His commands for their good.
Listening belonged within ordinary life, and instruction was joined to remembering the God who had cared for them.
Let the word reach us first
Before the adults were told to teach their children, they were told to carry God’s words in their own hearts. This order invites us to examine ourselves. We may be eager for someone else to change while overlooking what the Father is asking of us. We can teach kindness with an impatient voice or insist on honesty while excusing our own misleading words. We need His instruction as much as those we hope to guide.
When we recognise a wrong, we can acknowledge it and seek repair. That response gives others a truthful picture of what it means to learn under His care. A family that listens does not need a flawless teacher. It needs people willing to receive the word and respond honestly to it.
Hearing that becomes action
James, a writer in the New Testament, urges believers:
“But be ye doers of the word” — James 1:22, KJV
He compares a person who hears without responding to someone who looks in a mirror and then forgets what they have seen. The word may reveal something clearly, yet we can walk away without allowing it to affect us. A faithful response can be small and concrete. After reading about careful speech, we might pause before answering in anger. After considering generosity, we might help meet a need. After recognising dishonesty, we might correct what we have said. These acts bring hearing into life. They also help others understand what we mean when we speak about following the Father.
Learning together
For parents and caregivers, this can begin with a short passage, one question, and a moment to listen. Children need room to ask what a word means or why an instruction matters. Their questions can open a conversation about God’s character and care. This responsibility reaches beyond households with children. Friends, teachers, younger believers, and members of a congregation can learn together too. Someone new to Scripture needs patience and explanation. Someone familiar with it may still need help putting it into practice.
Read the passage before drawing conclusions. Give people room to think and ask. Be willing to say when you do not know, then return to the text together. Trustworthy fellowship helps us examine what we hear and encourages us to respond faithfully.
One family under the Father’s word
In John 17, Yeshua—Jesus—prays for those who will believe through His disciples’ message. He asks for their unity in the Father and the Son, and for the Father’s love to be in them. His prayer gives shared listening a purpose. As His people receive His teaching, their relationships should increasingly reflect that love. We can encourage one another, receive correction humbly, and seek understanding without contempt. A household or congregation may need time to develop this pattern.
Begin with something sustainable: a few minutes of Scripture and prayer, a thoughtful conversation, or a shared act of care. Let the rhythm grow through patient participation. The Father’s word is worthy of a place in our daily lives. We can receive it, practise it, and help someone else begin to understand.
Consider
What simple rhythm would help you and another person listen to Scripture and respond together?
A small practice
Invite someone to read James 1:19–25 with you. Ask what the passage says and what one response might look like this week. Listen to their answer, and choose a response of your own.
Prayer
Father, let Your word take root in my life before I ask others to respond. Help me listen, obey, and teach with patience. Through Yeshua, form Your love among us. Give our homes and communities a steady pattern of receiving Your truth and putting it into practice together. Amen.
Read and discuss
What were Israel’s adults to receive before teaching their children?
What does James’s mirror illustration reveal about hearing without response?
How does Yeshua’s prayer in John 17 shape the purpose of shared learning?
What sustainable rhythm could help your household or community hear and respond together?
Record your response
In your notebook, record what the passage establishes, what you still need to examine and one response you can make. Return to that response before moving on. Describe what happened without treating an immediate result as proof that your interpretation was correct.
Continue the journey
Our reading now becomes an invitation to practise. The following plan gives us a simple rhythm for continuing the journey without making certainty or perfection a condition for beginning.
A Five-Week Practice Plan
Use this plan after reading each chapter. Choose a realistic time for Scripture, reflection and action. The weekly check is an invitation to honest learning, not a score for spiritual worth.
Week 1 Learn to listen
Read 1 Samuel 3 and John 17:8, 17.
Practice: Record an observation, a question and one clear instruction to practise.
Review: What did I learn, and what remains uncertain?
Week 2 Examine an invitation
Read Genesis 2:15–17; 3:1–13 and Matthew 4:1–11.
Practice: Write one influential message and what it invites you to believe or do. Examine it in light of the passages.
Review: What pressure or desire influenced how I heard it?
Week 3 Test a teaching
Read Acts 17:1–12 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19–22.
Practice: Identify one claim, read its supporting passage in context and seek thoughtful help where necessary.
Review: Did I distinguish the text from the conclusion being drawn?
Week 4 Follow the Shepherd
Read John 10:1–18, 27–30.
Practice: Name one reason His care invites trust and put one clear Gospel instruction into practice.
Review: How did receiving His instruction affect my response to another person?
Week 5 Hear together
Read Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 20–25; James 1:19–25 and John 17:20–26.
Practice: Share a short reading and choose a practical response with another willing person.
Review: What rhythm can we sustain, and what needs adjustment?
A Continuing Practice of Hearing and Following
The end of five studies is not the end of learning. We will still meet questions we cannot immediately answer and counsel we need time to examine. We may also recognise places where we have understood an instruction but resisted its claim upon our lives. Return to what the Father has revealed. Read the passage carefully. Seek understanding with humility. Receive help without surrendering responsibility for examination. Where correction is needed, let it become an opportunity to turn and repair.
Keep hearing connected with following. What we learn about truthfulness should affect our speech. What we receive about mercy should shape our treatment of others. What we discover about the Shepherd’s care should influence how we exercise responsibility. Consider one question as you continue: As I come to know the Father through Yeshua, am I receiving His instruction and helping His family walk faithfully together? Father, let the truth we have considered become part of the life we live.
Through Yeshua, teach us to listen, examine and respond. Give us patience with one another and courage to receive correction. Form a family that carries Your words faithfully into another day and another generation. Amen.
Returning to the Ancient Path Ministry
One Father • One Family • One Home