God’s Voice is Distinctive

A Struggle to Hear and Understand

Scott Uselman opened his message with the very real struggle many of us face: trying to hear God’s voice over the sea of opinions and noise, even from well-meaning people. He spoke honestly about when he was first sensing a call into ministry, not sure what that meant, and what it sounded like:

"Not everybody was speaking on behalf of the Lord... Some people are a little confused sometimes, right? They don't know what they think they know."

He remembers even before he knew Christ, he sometimes spoke about God from his own understanding, and later saw how easy it is to create a version of God that seems right to us. This reflects the challenge the church faces today: many voices claim to speak for God. Scott Uselman urged us to be discerning and to test any claim by the Word itself, not just by who says it.

Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophet and the Context of Chapter 26

Moving into Jeremiah 26, Scott Uselman set up the history: Judah stands on the cusp of disaster, with the Babylonians about to invade. Jeremiah is assigned the heartache of speaking God’s message to His own people, those who come faithfully to the temple in Jerusalem. This wasn’t a warning given to outsiders, but to worshippers.

He gave background on Josiah’s reign and the brief revival it brought, only to be followed by a quick spiritual decline as other kings came to power. Scott Uselman recounted the story of King Uzziah carelessly revealing the treasures of the temple: a sign of spiritual arrogance and short-sightedness, foretelling the coming judgment. God’s message through Jeremiah was clear, even when judgment seemed set: "Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent."

"God tells Jeremiah, 'Tell them everything I command you. Do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways.'"

God’s Voice Calls His People to Repent

Scott Uselman’s first main point is that God’s voice stands out because it calls His people to repent. It does not flatter or smooth over, but lays out the honest state of things and points to a way back. He stressed God’s grace never becomes casual or owed: it is offered in tandem with repentance, a turning away and a turning toward God.

He illustrated this with a vivid picture: repentance is more than feeling sorry, it means turning, even if the heart is not all the way there at first. God meets us there, provides grace, and changes our hearts along the way:

"You turn from your sin, God will give you grace. It doesn't matter that you're just doing it for the sake of doing it. He will give you grace. And eventually, somehow, you know what's going to happen? He's going to change your heart through this process."

This message is not popular even in church spaces, but Scott Uselman pressed the urgency. The problem of sin is not only “out there,” but within the people of God. He reminded us that God’s expectations fall first on those who claim to know and worship Him.

The Voice of God Angers Religious People

The second distinctive of God’s voice, Scott Uselman stated, is that it will anger religious people, especially those invested in the status quo or threatened by a message that might confront their practices or leadership. He identified with Jeremiah’s plight: sometimes speaking God’s truth means angering even friends or fellow pastors.

Jeremiah simply obeyed, and was met with anger. The priests and prophets (those with official voices) pressed in, saying, "You must die...He has prophesied against this city and this temple."

"Inside of God's house, they came up and pressed up against him and they seized him. And they started saying, 'This man deserves to die.'"

Scott Uselman shared honestly that confronting someone, especially another believer, about sin and the need to repent brings discomfort and sometimes resentment. He admitted his human resistance to criticism and how he, too, can react from a religious, defensive place before listening to what God might actually be saying.

"If you were to come up and tell me something...Yeah, I'm going to be mad at you. I'm not going to deny it. I'm a person just like you all are...But then, I think about what the Lord says. Could it be that it's really the voice of God?"

Part of loving each other in the church, he reminded us, is being willing to risk someone’s anger for the sake of their soul. Love does not mean keeping silent or letting someone wander, love means accountability in Christ, even when uncomfortable.

God’s Servants Speak What is Uncomfortable to Say

Finally, Scott Uselman pressed the hardest truth. God’s servants, those who truly speak for Him, often have to say what is difficult or even offensive to their own community.

He spoke candidly:

"There are times I get a message and I'll be like, I can't wait to go and share that...And then when I'm like, oh, then I think, well, the Lord wants me to say this. And I'm thinking, I don't want to say that. Can you imagine? Because I'm uncomfortable, Lord."

Like Jeremiah, God's servants are often the uncomfortable ones before anyone else is. Scott Uselman painted the image of Jeremiah, standing out front where all the faithful come, and being required by God to leave nothing out, to say the very things everyone least wants to hear. This role is not glamorous, he called Jeremiah a “weeping prophet” for a reason.

He cautioned against a temptation to favor comfort over obedience, noting this is how false teaching and spiritual decline spread among God’s people. A “bonus point,” as he called it, was that the true danger in Jeremiah’s time was not outright opposition, but poor teaching: religious leaders fearing the people more than God, more interested in approval than in truth.

"If I'm telling you something wrong this morning, then what happens is you go home and read your Bible. You read it because the burden is on you, the listener, to know if I'm telling you the truth."

Obedience, he reminded, means speaking, and receiving, a message that might create tension, but also opens the door to real grace.

Living It Out: Becoming a People Who Hear and Obey God’s Voice

Scott Uselman called us as a church not to look away from discomfort, but to hear and respond to the distinctive voice of God. This is not about picking fights or relishing confrontation, but about loving truth more than comfort, and loving God’s people enough to call for repentance as a path to grace. If God is stirring your conscience, do not defer. Read, pray, ask for strength to do as God leads, and trust that grace waits on the other side of repentance.

Let’s each ask: Who in our lives might need to hear this? Where are we called to speak, or to receive, a hard word that leads to life?

Discussion Questions

1. When have you felt or recognized God’s voice calling you or our church to repent, even when it was uncomfortable?
2. Why do you think honest calls to repentance often anger religious communities, even ours?
3. How do we encourage each other to obey God’s voice, especially when it feels risky or unpopular?