1 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:11,720 This is not in my notes, but I will tell you that as we began 2 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:16,320 this, this deeper thing about the unseen things around us, I 3 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,840 watched a lot of people really get creamed by the enemy. 4 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,960 It's a lot of people really get attacked health wise, finance 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,880 wise, job wise, spiritually, relationally, seen a lot of 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,480 attacks. But I want you to understand 7 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,000 something. I'm also right now seeing a lot 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,040 of breakthroughs. I'm seeing a lot of people not 9 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,440 just like a reconciliation of these issues that were under 10 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:40,920 attack. What I mean is something greater 11 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:41,840 than that. Those are great. 12 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,160 We praise God for blessings and reconciliation and restoration. 13 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:49,520 But I want you to know that I'm seeing a lot of people 14 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:51,800 encountered the Holy Spirit in a way that they've never 15 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,280 encountered him before. And I say him because as we 16 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,400 talked about last week, he's our forgotten advantage. 17 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,480 Jesus said it is better for you and I to have the Holy Spirit 18 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,440 than to have Jesus himself walking side by side with us. 19 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,000 That's a pretty weighty statement. 20 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,160 I'm seeing breakthroughs. So let me just push and 21 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:10,520 challenge you a little bit today. 22 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,160 If you come from a background where you're just like man's 23 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,480 Holy Spirit stuff is weird. And people were a little shouty 24 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:20,160 today spiritually. I would just say, suck it up, 25 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,520 buttercup. All right, OK. 26 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,000 I don't want to have any limitations on what the Holy 27 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,160 Spirit wants to do today. And you might say, like, who are 28 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:31,680 you to put a limitation on the Holy Spirit? 29 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:33,640 I don't know. That word says I can grieve him 30 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:35,840 and he does not force himself in. 31 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,800 If he wanted to create robots, he would have done it. 32 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,680 If he just wanted a creation that did whatever he wanted, he 33 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:44,160 would have done it and took away our free will. 34 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:45,120 He didn't do that. We did it. 35 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:50,360 We call it AI. He created you and I with free 36 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,440 will so that we could choose to be a part of this. 37 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:56,480 There are moves of God happening all over the world. 38 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,080 He does not need you or I to accomplish His will. 39 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,320 His Kingdom will not fall because we fail. 40 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:04,400 But don't you want to be a part of the wind? 41 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,160 You can turn to 1st Kings Chapter 19. 42 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,840 We're going to be reading a few stories over the next several 43 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:12,960 weeks that you're probably familiar with, but I hope that 44 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:14,480 you'll hear through a different lens. 45 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,320 And while you're going to 1st Kings 19 once, you know, one 46 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:21,960 time when I was a, a youth worker, I was a young man. 47 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:23,880 I was not ordained. I wasn't the youth pastor yet. 48 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,720 I was the assistant. Some of you all would remember 49 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:28,480 the youth pastor before I was the youth pastor. 50 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,040 His name was JJ and he was about 8 1/2 feet tall. 51 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:36,080 Not really, but it felt like it. I just know that like sometimes 52 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,640 my neck hurt when I was talking to him. 53 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:47,720 And and we were we were doing a youth trip and oh man, we're 54 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,280 taking a group of teenagers to youth conference in Greensboro. 55 00:02:52,320 --> 00:03:01,240 Welcome to Club liberty. So DJ still in there. 56 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,480 So we were going to youth conference in Greensboro. 57 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:05,640 This is important that you know that. 58 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,560 Where were we going? All right, good. 59 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,800 We're we're engaged here. That details important because I 60 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,760 was sitting in the front passenger seat and somewhere 61 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,840 along the way I fell asleep. I still have this thing. 62 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,560 If I am sitting still for too long, I'm just I'm done. 63 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,240 If I'm not doing something. It's part of why I multitask so 64 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,040 much. But I don't remember how long I 65 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:27,720 was asleep. I just remember waking up and 66 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,840 slowly realizing that we were in Wilmington. 67 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,560 So for those of you that are not great with geography and that 68 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,320 number increases every year because let's be honest, we have 69 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,640 maps in our phone now. I told somebody last week about 70 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:46,760 the vacation that my family are in are, are going on. 71 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:48,520 We're we're leaving today and we're going down to Myrtle Beach 72 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,440 just for a week and just go get a loan and pour into our kids 73 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,280 and just be present for them and make memories. 74 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,360 And I'll visit with Pastor Tom while he's down there. 75 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:57,760 While I'm down there, he's down there a whole lot more. 76 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:01,920 And I was telling somebody and they went, oh, so you're going 77 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,200 to take and they started talking about the interstates. 78 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,000 They said, I think it's faster. And they started talking about 79 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,640 these routes. And internally, I'm, I'm asking 80 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,160 myself, do I interrupt him and tell him that I'm not going to 81 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:19,040 retain any of his travel advice? I am going to put the address in 82 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,600 my phone. I just am. 83 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,080 That's where we are. Well, anyway, Wilmington is not 84 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,720 on the way to Greensboro by a couple of hours. 85 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,200 So at this point, we did the only reasonable thing you can do 86 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,280 when you've taken the youth group several hours in the wrong 87 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:39,640 direction. We stopped at Burger King. 88 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,960 We were like, hey, but we, we need a win here. 89 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,880 So we had one car and 1 van full of teenagers, 4 youth workers. 90 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,000 And I remember sitting there because the adults, all we could 91 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,640 do is laugh. We thought it was hilarious. 92 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:54,840 I mean, there's nothing else you can do. 93 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:57,240 You've got to recap, recount a couple of different hours. 94 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,440 But we were in Wilmington. You might as well have a 95 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:03,200 whopper. And the teenagers did not think 96 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,600 it was funny. Out of all the times I've looked 97 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,720 at the youth and been like, guys quiet down, nothing got them 98 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,360 more quiet than realizing that we were two hours away from our 99 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:18,120 starting point. Not our destination, our 100 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:22,640 starting point. Some of them were talking, but 101 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,720 they were whispering really angry whispers in their phone. 102 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,560 And I thought, oh good, we we created a bonding moment for 103 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,080 them and their parents. Like Silver Linings, right? 104 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,440 I'm pretty sure that they were just giving breaking news about 105 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,280 the complete incompetence of these youth workers that were 106 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:42,120 there. But listen, when I look back on 107 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,760 that story now, I, I think there were two different problems 108 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,800 happening in that van, in that extra car. 109 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,440 Somebody was listening to the wrong directions and somebody, 110 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:56,080 me wasn't listening to anything. I think it's a pretty good 111 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,080 picture of the problem that we're going to talk about this 112 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:01,040 morning because every one of us has voices giving us directions, 113 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:03,280 and some of them come from outside of us. 114 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,560 Your family has a voice, and sometimes it's louder than your 115 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,120 own voice. Your friends have a voice. 116 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:15,240 Our culture has a voice. Social media has multiple 117 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:19,080 personalities. Some of us spend an incredible 118 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,880 amount of time listening to people that we don't even like, 119 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,240 which is a really strange way to live our life. 120 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,320 I'll save that sermon for another day, but some of the 121 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,280 loudest voices don't come from outside of us at all. 122 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:32,880 They're already inside of our heads. 123 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:37,040 Your fear has a voice. The desires that you have, they 124 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,360 speak to you too. Insecurity actually has quite a 125 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,040 loud voice. Your past has a voice. 126 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,680 Your wounds have a voice. Your conscience has a voice. 127 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,720 Temptations have a voice. Demons have voices. 128 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,120 And sometimes they can all be talking at the same time. 129 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,000 But I want you to know that if you're a follower of Jesus, 130 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,600 there's another voice that belongs in that conversation. 131 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:07,120 You believe God speaks, right? That's where things can get 132 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:08,880 complicated. Because one of the questions 133 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,080 that Christians have asked me more than almost anything else 134 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:14,880 over the years that I've been a pastor is some version of how do 135 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,800 I know if this was God? How do I know if this was God or 136 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:19,720 if this was myself or if this was the enemy? 137 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:23,600 Well, how do we know if the Holy Spirit is leading us when it's 138 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:25,760 what we want to do? Some of us feel guilty doing 139 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,080 what we want to do because it feels like the Holy Spirit's 140 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,120 stamp of approval is on it. And then we're like, well, if it 141 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:32,440 was God, he wouldn't want me to be that happy. 142 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:33,880 He'd want me to be kind of happy. 143 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,720 But so sometimes we beat ourselves up over it. 144 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,400 How do we know if God is warning us or if we're really just 145 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,200 afraid of something? How do you know if it's a 146 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,000 conviction from God or condemnation from the enemy? 147 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,000 It preaches well to say that it's harder to put into 148 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,520 practice. How do we know if these thoughts 149 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:55,280 that we have come from him or from ourselves or just from the 150 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,080 enemy? I think sometimes we've made it 151 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,640 more mysterious than it has to be because you probably already 152 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,000 recognize more than you think you do. 153 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:03,400 And I'm going to lay that out this morning. 154 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:05,320 You didn't turn here and you don't have to. 155 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,960 But I want you to know that in Romans Chapter 7, starting in 156 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,800 verse 14, it says the trouble is not with the law, for it is 157 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:13,800 spiritual and good. The troubles with me. 158 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,280 This is the apostle Paul, he says, the troubles with me, for 159 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:19,960 I am all too human, a slave to sin. 160 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:22,800 You familiar with this? He says I don't really 161 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,880 understand myself. So if you're sitting there like, 162 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:28,920 hey, me too, you're just like Paul, great job. 163 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:31,360 He said. I don't really understand 164 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:32,799 myself. He said I want to do what is 165 00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:37,120 right, but I don't do it. Instead I do what I hate. 166 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,880 Is there anybody here that can relate to that thought today he 167 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:42,360 said. But if I know that what I'm 168 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,440 doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 169 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,320 In other words, what the Lord had already laid out was good, 170 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,440 but it wasn't enough because we still desire to do the wrong 171 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:56,760 thing. We are in competition for God's 172 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,960 voice in our own minds. I love Paul's honesty because 173 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:02,440 he's essentially saying something that we would if we 174 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:04,880 were vulnerable enough. Sometimes I do things that I 175 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,000 know I shouldn't do Congratulations. 176 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:10,520 I want you to know that this is actually good news. 177 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:13,840 I want you to think about what this means, because if you're 178 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:16,120 doing something and while you're doing it, there's something 179 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,200 inside of you saying you know this isn't right. 180 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,160 Apparently you do possess some ability to recognize right from 181 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:23,880 wrong. You can hear him. 182 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:27,560 Some of the issues with your willpower, yourself, control, 183 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:29,440 the fruit of the spirit will get there. 184 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:32,360 But I really mean this. Congratulations, this. 185 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,680 I've got plenty of sarcasm coming, but that's not one of 186 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:37,800 them. Even if you're like, yeah, but I 187 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:39,560 did the wrong thing. Yeah, but while you were doing 188 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:42,360 the wrong thing, you heard God. And that is half the battle. 189 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,440 If you can hear him, you just have to get up that spiritual 190 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,280 gumption to be able to say yes, Sir, no matter what it is. 191 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:52,960 That's the second part of the problem. 192 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:57,400 But we can do this. Sometimes we know exactly what's 193 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:58,480 right. We just don't want to do it. 194 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,320 And that's part of why we struggle with this question of 195 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:03,560 hearing God. We say things like, I wish God 196 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:06,840 would speak to me. And I think sometimes God could 197 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,400 reasonably respond. I'd be happy to discuss the next 198 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:11,480 thing after we deal with the last thing I told you. 199 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,160 We say we want to hear more from God, but what we really mean 200 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,880 normally is we want information from God. 201 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:21,920 I want to know that this is going to work out. 202 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,760 I want to know what to do next. I want to know what job to take. 203 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:30,920 I want to know who to marry. And by the way, these things are 204 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,520 perfectly reasonable questions to ask him. 205 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,080 It just can't be the sum total of your relationship. 206 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:39,640 It's too transactional. Just tell me what you want me to 207 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:41,960 do, right? For those that are married, 208 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:43,920 anytime you look at your spouse and you're like, just tell me 209 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:45,680 what to do that'll make you happy and I'll do it. 210 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:47,640 How many times has that worked out for you? 211 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,800 Well, I don't want to have to tell you. 212 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,160 You're going to have to tell them something. 213 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:55,600 But you shouldn't have to tell them everything, right? 214 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:58,760 Same thing with the Lord. What if he says forgive them and 215 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:00,720 you say, no God, I wanted to know where I should live 216 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,520 geographically. You're changing the subject. 217 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,840 I said what job should I take? And you said forgive my wife. 218 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,160 We'll get to that later. You don't get to choose that. 219 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,160 What if he says stop doing things you know you shouldn't be 220 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,280 doing? No, God, I'm asking. 221 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:22,440 I'm asking about what gym I should join. 222 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:26,680 There's a question underneath all these questions, and I hope 223 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:28,440 that this hits you with the conviction that it hit me. 224 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,480 Do I really want to hear God if I don't get to choose what he 225 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,680 says? So let me ask you, do you really 226 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:38,680 want to hear God if you don't get to choose what he says? 227 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,120 If you want to hear His opinion on XY and Z, but you don't want 228 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:46,160 to hear it on AB and C, but he wants to talk about the whole 229 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,920 alphabet, are you still willing to hear Him? 230 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,720 I don't think most of us struggle to hear God because God 231 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:55,840 refuses to speak. I know that there are desert 232 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,400 seasons and winter seasons. I think sometimes we just don't 233 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,880 hear God because if we're being completely truthful, we don't 234 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:06,080 want to hear from Him enough. We want the information He has. 235 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:08,680 I want His voice no matter what it is. 236 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:11,960 I'm planning to share this, but I mean, I had a chance to talk 237 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,640 to my family about it, but this morning I wasn't even asleep. 238 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:20,560 And I had this like I had this vision and it was a bad one. 239 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:26,040 It was the face of somebody that I was very close to at one point 240 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,800 talking to me and telling me how all of the people that I'm close 241 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,120 to don't really love me, don't really respect me. 242 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:36,720 Like it's, it's literally like every insecurity, like, but just 243 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:38,840 like a stick like poked right into the wound, right? 244 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,440 And they said something at the end that that just completely 245 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:45,840 sealed the deal, Like, oh, this is completely from the devil. 246 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:47,880 I'm just, I'm like, I'm trying to focus. 247 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,680 I'm trying to like get quiet. And I, and I feel like I've got 248 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:53,360 this, this vision that was incredibly discouraging. 249 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:59,080 And so I cry out to the Lord. What do you do when you have an 250 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:00,360 attack? You cry out to the Lord, right? 251 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,080 So I cry out to the Lord and I need some sort of word. 252 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,120 I need a significant thing. I need him to like speak into my 253 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,680 life and, and I said, God, I don't want my relationships to 254 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:12,360 fall apart. God, I don't want this to be 255 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:15,320 something that I need to be thinking of over and over again. 256 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:17,240 And you know what he said to me? I heard him. 257 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:22,080 He said, I got it. And then I sat there because I 258 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,880 surely there's more. There was not more. 259 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:28,840 He said, I got it. Do you understand how valuable 260 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:30,440 that is? Have you ever had somebody that 261 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:32,520 in the middle of freaking out, they just put their hand on me 262 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:34,440 and they're like, hey, it's not that big of a deal. 263 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,000 It's not my style. My style is let's sit down, 264 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,880 let's talk about it. Let's let's do pro and con list, 265 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:42,640 let's pray, let's intercede together. 266 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:44,480 Let's ask God to give us the direct steps. 267 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,760 But how blessed are we to have the people that are like, chill, 268 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,680 it's not that big of a deal. And God said, I got it. 269 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:57,320 And I went, OK, so that you don't want me to do anything. 270 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,160 You know what he said nothing he'd already spoken like, but 271 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,320 I'm still trying to, I'm trying to squeeze one more word out of 272 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,480 him. I wanted information. 273 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,720 How do you got it? How are you going to make it OK? 274 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,760 How are you going to comfort me? Or do I just trust him? 275 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:15,320 There's a story in the Old Testament that gives us a really 276 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,280 good picture of how loud life gets. 277 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:21,760 And I want you to know what had just happened before we get to 278 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:23,360 it. The prophet Elijah, one of the 279 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,400 coolest, one of the coolest. He's like, he's just like one of 280 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,520 the Old Testament heroes I mean, to read about. 281 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,040 And he's just experienced one of the greatest spiritual victories 282 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:37,160 of his life in in the chapter previous, Israel had been pulled 283 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,680 towards worship of Baal under King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. 284 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:44,280 And Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel 285 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:46,880 and they build altars. And it was one of like every 286 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,040 youth pastor loves preaching this to the teenagers. 287 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:51,880 And the reason is because they're like, let's have a 288 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,440 contest. The prophets of Baal get to cry 289 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,520 out to Baal and see if he can create fire. 290 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,840 And then he gets to cry out to the Lord and see if the Lord can 291 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:01,800 create fire. And when Baal is not answering 292 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,160 them, he's like, what's wrong? Does he have to go relieve 293 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,160 himself? And youth pastors love to unpack 294 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:07,280 what that means. Yes. 295 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,440 Elijah was mocking their false gods so hard. 296 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,520 He was like, maybe he's in the bathroom. 297 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,240 Maybe he's got an upset Tommy, right? 298 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,080 He got some of that lettuce a couple weeks ago from Taco Bell, 299 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,320 right? He's making fun of them and he's 300 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,720 like, all right, Lord, show them who you are. 301 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,720 They're in the they have soaked this altar in water and fire 302 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,720 from heaven comes burns everything up. 303 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,160 He slaughters the false prophets. 304 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:36,160 This is a huge victory. Yes, the people fall on their 305 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,520 faces that are there. They declare the Lord is God. 306 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:41,160 And if you stopped reading there, you'd expect Elijah to 307 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:43,640 feel unstoppable. But talk to any minister worth 308 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:47,440 their weight. And after a big victory, there's 309 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:51,120 normally a big dip. And Jezebel sends him this 310 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,240 message. She tells Elijah that by the 311 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,080 next day, she intends to have him killed. 312 00:15:55,640 --> 00:16:00,520 And this man, this prophet who just watched fire fall from 313 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:04,960 heaven, runs for his life. She's not even chasing him. 314 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:10,360 She passed him a note. And he ends up exhausted, afraid 315 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:12,880 and one of the worst ways a Christian can be, which is 316 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:15,880 isolated. And he's discouraged enough that 317 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:19,640 he tells God, I want to die. But I want you to notice this 318 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,000 because Elijah has heard a lot of voices by this point. 319 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,160 He's heard the voices of a nation that has wandered away 320 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:26,200 from God. Maybe you're too spiritual. 321 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,920 Maybe you're too all into this. Maybe you take it too seriously. 322 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:30,920 He's also heard the prophets of Baal. 323 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:33,440 He's heard Jezebel threaten his life. 324 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,960 He's heard his own fear. He's heard his own exhaustion. 325 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:38,800 And he's heard his own discouragement. 326 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,160 And some of the things that Elijah is now telling himself 327 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:43,240 aren't even true. He believes that he's 328 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:47,080 essentially the only faithful person left, and many Christians 329 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,160 have felt that way before, too. And God is eventually going to 330 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:51,960 tell him that there are thousands who have not yet bowed 331 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,240 to bail. But I want you to know that 332 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,840 Elijah is not just sitting peacefully on a mountain waiting 333 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,760 for God to whisper something inspirational to him. 334 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,079 His head is loud. So if you struggle with this, if 335 00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:06,240 you struggle with quieting yourself, you are not alone. 336 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,240 God brings him to Mount Sinai, the same mountain associated 337 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,160 with Moses and one of the most dramatic encounters with God in 338 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:15,760 Israel's history. And Elijah spends a night in a 339 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,000 cave there, and God tells him to come out because the Lord is 340 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,040 about to pass by. Listen to this starting in verse 341 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,680 9. There he came to a cave where he 342 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,880 spent the night, but the Lord said to him, what are you doing 343 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,760 here, Elijah? And Elijah replied, I've 344 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,160 zealously served the Lord God Almighty, but the people of 345 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:37,560 Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down 346 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:39,560 your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. 347 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:42,320 I'm the only one left and now they're trying to kill me too. 348 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,680 When? OK, I can say this in hindsight 349 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,360 because I I know how the story goes, but I understand how he 350 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:54,320 feels that way. The Lord says, go stand before 351 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,920 me on the mountain. And as Elijah stood there, the 352 00:17:57,920 --> 00:17:59,280 Lord passed by. Told you. 353 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:01,560 These are familiar stories to a lot of Christians who've gone to 354 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,480 church all their lives. It says as the Lord passed by, 355 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:05,440 there's a mighty windstorm that hit the mountain. 356 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,040 It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, 357 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:11,440 but the Lord was not in the wind. 358 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,520 And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not 359 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,160 in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there 360 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:19,960 was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 361 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,120 And I think that's really significant because he had just 362 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:24,880 seen fire from heaven fall. So you would have assumed at 363 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:26,560 that point, surely this is the Lord. 364 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:28,480 But it says. And after the fire, there was 365 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,840 the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped 366 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,520 his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of 367 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,160 The Cave. And once again, a voice said, 368 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,960 What are you doing here, Elijah? That's actually where I'm going 369 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:44,440 to stop with that story for this morning. 370 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,440 I don't want you to misunderstand what just 371 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,920 happened. The lesson here, I've heard it 372 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,560 taught this way before, is that God always speaks in a whisper. 373 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,720 That is not correct. He can. 374 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,120 This is the same God who had just answered Elijah with fire 375 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:00,840 from heaven. God can be loud. 376 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:03,360 God can be dramatic when he wants to. 377 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,520 The point is that Elijah had all kinds of voices competing for 378 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,440 his attention, and he needed to recognize which one was God. 379 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,080 And so do we. The truth is, there are 380 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:15,960 different voices that can speak into our lives. 381 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:17,840 And the first one's probably the most obvious. 382 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:19,520 We're going to talk about three of them. 383 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:23,600 We talk to ourselves. You have an internal voice and 384 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:25,760 you think things through. You have opinions. 385 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,760 You have desires and fears. And is there anybody else here 386 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,440 who like, replays conversations? You don't just have it and then, 387 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,360 like, throw that away. You like, replay the 388 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:35,080 conversation in your head. Anybody else? 389 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:39,240 Don't make me crazy, All right? And suddenly you come up with 390 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:41,800 the perfect response and you're like, oh shoot, that was 3 weeks 391 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,120 ago. It's probably too late to go and 392 00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:47,520 say that now. You imagine what might happen 393 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,240 tomorrow and you interpret what somebody meant rather than what 394 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,080 they actually said. Because we don't want to go to 395 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:53,040 them. Be like, what did you mean by 396 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:54,240 that? Because am I going to start a 397 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:55,840 fight? Your mind is talking all the 398 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,240 time. Your voice that you have is 399 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,000 unique. It's not like anybody else's 400 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,840 internal voice because it's formed by everything you've 401 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:05,120 experienced. What you want, what you fear, 402 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:07,280 what hurt you when you were growing up, what you've been 403 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,840 taught, if you have been trained and discipled well in spiritual 404 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,200 things, or if you were manipulated at a church, These 405 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,520 things all speak to you. Then, of course, there's the 406 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,520 voice of the Lord. And the Lord does speak to us. 407 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,200 We established this last week that Jesus said the Holy Spirit 408 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,960 would teach us, remind us, guide us, and speak to us. 409 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,040 It's hard to do all these things if He's not going to speak to 410 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,320 us. God's always communicated with 411 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:32,440 His people. That is consistent all 412 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,520 throughout the Scriptures. When we talk about hearing God, 413 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,680 that doesn't mean you should always expect an audible voice 414 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:39,280 to come booming out of the ceiling. 415 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,880 I have heard an audible voice before from the Lord and it was 416 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:47,000 only the word no. I was about to step out the door 417 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,080 and go do something, not the worst thing, but something I 418 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,800 knew I shouldn't do. And I was engaged to Cassie and 419 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,360 I and I stepped out of my apartment and I heard no and I 420 00:20:56,360 --> 00:21:00,120 turned around and my dog Cringer was sitting there and he did the 421 00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:04,960 whole I was like, man, I really wish I could tell if you just 422 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,960 heard that too. The second time I heard an 423 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,360 audible voice, it wasn't even about me, it was about somebody 424 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:15,280 else, but it calmed my spirit. It's not the way it normally 425 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,040 happens. I can't promise you this. 426 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,520 I can't promise I'll ever hear it again. 427 00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:24,120 But I want you to know this. God can speak however He chooses 428 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:27,600 to, through fire, through sound, through a whisper, through your 429 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,600 spirit. He can do whatever He chooses. 430 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,440 He's sovereign. But most of the time when 431 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,440 Christians talk about hearing God, what we're talking about is 432 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,280 we recognize when the Holy Spirit is leading us, convicting 433 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,200 us, reminding us, directing us, speaking into our lives from our 434 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,720 Spirit. And there's one more possibility 435 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,720 that we have to acknowledge as far as these big voices go, 436 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:48,920 because the Bible acknowledges it too. 437 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:52,960 The devil talks too. Demons talk. 438 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:57,280 So evil spirits do communicate. And I'm not saying that to scare 439 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:00,040 anybody, but if that's true and I don't tell you, then shame on 440 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,160 me. We spent several weeks talking 441 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,400 about spiritual warfare, so this shouldn't surprise us. 442 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,320 But from the beginning of the Bible, Satan has used words 443 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,920 like, did God really say So? He lies and accuses and he 444 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:12,360 attempts and he twists the truth. 445 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,640 Demonic spirits always attempt to influence people. 446 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,040 And so biblically, we just have to acknowledge these three 447 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,280 possibilities before we move any further. 448 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:24,800 Sometimes you hear yourself, sometimes you hear God, and 449 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,560 sometimes you hear the enemy. None of those voices necessarily 450 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:31,920 show up with a name tag though. So how do you know? 451 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,800 How do you know whether this thought is coming from your own 452 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,200 desires, from the Holy Spirit, or if you're being lied to by 453 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,080 the enemy? We have to start by learning to 454 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:42,360 test the voice. Whenever you hear something, 455 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,600 whether it's a thought, something in your spirit, if 456 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,040 there are different voices that can speak into your lives, then 457 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,560 you have to learn how to test what we're hearing, because 458 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:52,840 there are two dangerous extremes here. 459 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:54,680 The first one is being completely unsure about 460 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:56,520 everything. If every thought becomes a 461 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,520 mystery where you're constantly asking, was that God? 462 00:22:58,520 --> 00:22:59,840 Was that me? Was that the devil? 463 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,720 You can be so afraid of getting everything wrong that you never 464 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:06,760 move at all. And that is a lot of times one 465 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,040 of the key things that the devil hopes to accomplish. 466 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,440 Some Christians are terrified to take a step because you're 467 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:14,840 waiting for certainty, and certainty almost never comes. 468 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,280 It's called faith. But the other extreme is just as 469 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,280 dangerous, and that is you assuming that you always know 470 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:22,840 exactly what voice you're hearing. 471 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,240 Have you ever heard somebody who says, God told me so much that 472 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:32,200 you're like, God, I'm telling you nothing, I've heard this 473 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,080 before. And it's not based on the 474 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,080 frequency. It's based on when they say God 475 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,840 told me this is going to happen and then it doesn't happen. 476 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:41,720 God said that this is going to come to pass and then this 477 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,320 doesn't come to pass. At some point you're like, I 478 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:49,360 wonder what God you talk to. It can be very dangerous to 479 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:51,480 assume that you always know what God's will is. 480 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,680 OK, and I want you to know this. Believing God speaks does not 481 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:56,920 mean believing every thought that enters your head came from 482 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,160 him. And the more convinced I become 483 00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:02,640 that I could never misunderstand God, the less likely I am to 484 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:04,400 test what I'm hearing. I have to test it. 485 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,760 We're going to be in Matthew 4 in just a moment. 486 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,560 This can be really dangerous because sometimes what I want 487 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,520 sounds like God to me. Have you ever noticed that? 488 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,800 Maybe it happens to you too. The more that you really want 489 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,520 something, God sounds a whole lot like your voice. 490 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:22,760 And so the more that you want something, you're like, you're 491 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,560 praying over this and you really, really want it, but 492 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:28,400 you're looking for the information over the Spirit, 493 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,160 right? And all of a sudden his voice 494 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,320 sounds like yours. Man, you deserve this. 495 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,280 You work hard. Like, is it him? 496 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:36,520 It's just something we've got to be aware of. 497 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:41,720 But if I'm going to attach God's name to something and I'm going 498 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:46,200 to tell other people, I should be more careful than I am when I 499 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:50,120 tell somebody my own opinion. Some Christians are faster to 500 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,560 say God told me to tell you this than we are to tell somebody who 501 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,920 we voted for. You'll protect yourself, but you 502 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,160 won't protect the integrity of if that was really the Lord 503 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,280 speaking to you or not. We need to make sure that we're 504 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,160 very careful when we say the Lord said this. 505 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:06,560 By the way, if you feel like the Lord saying something and you 506 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:08,320 don't have complete discernment, there's a really easy way to 507 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,120 handle that. I don't know if this is from the 508 00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:12,800 Lord or not, but this is something I was feeling in my 509 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:13,960 spirit. You test it. 510 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,280 Take it to your prayer closet. It's really easy, right? 511 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,040 You're not asked to be the next Moses. 512 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,600 OK? It's going to be OK. 513 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,840 Matthew 4 has a really clear image of this because this 514 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,280 happens at the very beginning of Jesus's public ministry. 515 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,880 He, he goes into the wilderness and while he's there, the devil 516 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,240 speaks to him. Check this out in verse one. 517 00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:36,800 Jesus was led by the Spirit. Well, that's problematic. 518 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:40,000 I mean, we want to be led by the Spirit, right? 519 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,480 But Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be 520 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,080 tempted there by the devil. You like that song Spirit lead 521 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:49,760 me. You didn't think about where 522 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,920 he's going to lead you, did you? But it's OK if he leads you. 523 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,920 There's a purpose to it. So Jesus was led by the spirit 524 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:57,440 of the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 525 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,520 And for 40 days and 40 nights he fasted and became very hungry, 526 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:04,680 as you do. During that time the devil came 527 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:07,960 to to him and he said to him, if you are the Son of God, tell 528 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:09,480 these stones to become loves of bread. 529 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:13,560 Jesus said no. The scriptures say people don't 530 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,640 live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the 531 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,720 mouth of God. And the devil took him to the 532 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:21,800 holy city Jerusalem, the highest point of the temple. 533 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,600 And he said, if you're the Son of God, jump off. 534 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,600 For the scriptures say he'll order his angels to protect you 535 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,560 and they'll hold you up with their hands so you won't even 536 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,600 hurt your foot on a stone. Jesus responded, the scriptures 537 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,640 also say you must not test the Lord your God. 538 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,760 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and 539 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,400 showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. 540 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,240 And he said, I'll give it all to you if you will kneel down and 541 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,960 worship me. Get out of your Satan. 542 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,240 Jesus said, for the scripture say you must worship the Lord 543 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:58,440 your God and serve only him. And the devil went away and the 544 00:26:58,440 --> 00:26:59,960 angels came and took care of Jesus. 545 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:01,240 Look at that, the devil was right. 546 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:03,000 He'll send his angels to minister to you. 547 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,000 He just used it out of context, as he often does. 548 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,120 So you notice here that the enemy takes things that sound 549 00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:12,840 reasonable and twists them. Jesus is hungry. 550 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:14,800 Why not turn the stones into bread? 551 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:16,920 Let's be honest, we would do that. 552 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:17,840 Most of us. We do it. 553 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,360 If we do a 24 hour fast, we're cranky the next day. 554 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,560 Jesus answers from Deuteronomy 83, which says people do not 555 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:27,600 live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the 556 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,040 mouth of God. And then Satan takes Jesus the 557 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,720 highest point of the temple, tells him to jump, and Satan 558 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,160 even quotes Psalm 91 there. That interesting. 559 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:37,760 The enemy can quote Scripture to you. 560 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:40,440 Stick that in your spiritual duffel bag for later. 561 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,360 He says the angels will protect you. 562 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:45,720 But Jesus recognizes that Scripture is being twisted. 563 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,200 So he answers with Deuteronomy 616. 564 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,160 He says you must not test the Lord your God. 565 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,200 And then the devil offers them all the kingdoms of the world. 566 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,920 And I've heard people say before that wasn't even his to offer. 567 00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,000 No, it kind of is. He's kind of like running the 568 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,200 show on this earth, unless you belong to the Lord. 569 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:03,840 And he was going to give him power. 570 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,520 He was offering him power. Jesus had a lot of power, but he 571 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,360 was offering him a different kind of power. 572 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:10,520 As a matter of fact, he was offering him the kind of power 573 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,560 that the Jewish people wanted Jesus to have. 574 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,680 They wanted Jesus to be a revolutionary and a king and to 575 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,760 rule over things. That's not what he came for. 576 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,920 So he responds from Deuteronomy 613 where he says you must 577 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:29,520 worship the Lord your God and serve only him. 3 temptations, 3 578 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,600 different lies, and three times Jesus tests what he's hearing 579 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,520 against what God has already spoken. 580 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,040 And that is the part of the story that you cannot afford to 581 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,680 miss this morning. Jesus does not defeat the devil 582 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,200 by trusting his feelings about what sounds right. 583 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,280 He knows the Word of God well enough to recognize what doesn't 584 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:47,880 belong. And even when Satan starts 585 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:51,560 quoting scripture himself, Jesus knows it better than him, so he 586 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:52,800 can tell that it's being twisted. 587 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,520 The test isn't simply Can I find a Bible verse that seems to 588 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,080 support this. The question is whether hearing 589 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,200 actually agrees with what God has said and what he meant. 590 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,000 I've had somebody before tell me, can you find me scriptures 591 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,400 that I can share with my wife? This is not anybody goes to this 592 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:09,680 church, so you ain't got to worry about that. 593 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:13,120 They said, can you find scriptures for me that I can 594 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:17,640 show to my wife that says that she needs to let me, you know, 595 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,800 have my way and that and that it should be me that makes all the 596 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:25,000 calls. And I went, Nope, no, there are 597 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,280 plenty that you can get and you can take out of context and you 598 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:29,040 can use to manipulate people. That's what we do, right? 599 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:30,720 We manipulate the people we love, right? 600 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,240 Nothing's better than giving somebody Christian spiritual 601 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:35,720 guilt to make them do what you want. 602 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,560 And I said, no, you can do it. You can walk out of here and you 603 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:43,560 can take any scripture you want and twist it. 604 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,280 And if somebody is not familiar with what God has already said, 605 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,520 they'll fall for it. That's why you have to give 606 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:53,520 context. There are times when this can 607 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,440 actually make discernment pretty simple. 608 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,520 Think about this. If what you're hearing clearly 609 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,320 contradicts what God has already said in the Bible, I don't need 610 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:03,720 to keep asking God for an answer. 611 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:06,160 Sometimes we're saying, God, would you bless this 612 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,720 relationship? But the answer is in black and 613 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:12,720 white, or even better, maybe it's in red letters. 614 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:17,760 Sometimes it's written here. It'd be like my kids coming to 615 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,080 Cassie and I and be like, hey, do we need to do our chores 616 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,160 today? What has already been written? 617 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:32,280 All right, obviously not every decision can work this way. 618 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,560 I'm just telling you that you don't get to ignore what he's 619 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,160 already said because you like what another voice tells you 620 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,680 better. So the Bible doesn't always tell 621 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:42,760 you exactly what you want. And I want to be clear on this 622 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:44,840 because again, sometimes we're searching for information. 623 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,760 The Bible is not always going to tell you what job to take or 624 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:49,360 whether you should move to another city. 625 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,480 There is not a verse in this book that is going to give you 626 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,000 the name of the person you're supposed to marry or what 627 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,360 college to attend. There are going to be times that 628 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,040 you're trying to discern God's direction, and both options in 629 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,440 front of you could fit within what Scripture teaches. 630 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,320 And that's where testing the voice becomes more than just 631 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,160 simply asking if the voice is technically biblical. 632 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:10,680 I heard this really great definition for discernment 633 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,640 recently. I've heard it a couple times 634 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:13,640 before. I just always forget it. 635 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,440 It's it's traditionally said that Charles Spurgeon said it, 636 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,080 but we don't really know. But it said discernment is not 637 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,960 knowing right from wrong. It's knowing right from what's 638 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,600 almost right. Yeah, let that sit for a minute. 639 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,160 We want to choose what's right, but sometimes what's almost 640 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,800 right is sitting right there at the doorway and we have to have 641 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,080 this discernment. Another scripture I'm going to 642 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,480 share with you real quick in Acts chapter 10, starting in 643 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,800 verse 9, we've got Peter in Acts 10 is so interesting to me 644 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,640 because Peter really does hear from God and his immediate 645 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,760 reaction is, oh, that's not God. Here's what it is. 646 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,200 Peter says this the next day is Cornelius's messengers were 647 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:56,960 nearing the town. Peter went up on the flat roof 648 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,280 to pray. It was about noon and he was 649 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,040 hungry. Man, we got a lot of hungry 650 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,160 disciples here, right? But while Emil was being 651 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,720 prepared, he fell into a trance. Kind of messes up some people's 652 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,800 theology too. He saw the sky open, and he saw 653 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,840 something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners, 654 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,320 and in the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles and birds. 655 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,600 And then a voice said to him, Get up, Peter, kill and eat 656 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:25,960 them. You all understand that like 657 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,600 Jewish law, you did not kill and eat just anything. 658 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,360 You had very strict rules about this, not just about what you 659 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,280 eat, but who you interact with. The Gentiles were people that 660 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,280 were considered unclean. They're far from the Lord. 661 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:38,800 So in verse 14, he hears the voice of the Lord. 662 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,360 What are the 1st 2 words that he says in your translation? 663 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,680 Yeah, No, Lord. That's a good answer. 664 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:49,760 When God talks to you, right? Get up and forgive them. 665 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:53,720 No Lord, He says no Lord, and here's why. 666 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,760 I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared 667 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,360 impure or unclean. Could you imagine? 668 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,320 Like what was he expecting God? Oh, that's right, I forgot those 669 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:06,440 dietary laws that I gave you. The voice spoke again. 670 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:10,960 Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. 671 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,320 Some of us need to remember this about people who have wounded us 672 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,640 and have moved on to to become better and have grown in the 673 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:20,640 Lord. If the Lord cleans something, 674 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:26,680 it's clean, let it be. The same vision was repeated 3 675 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,840 times, and then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. 676 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,760 Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? 677 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,080 Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house, 678 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,240 and standing outside the gate, they asked if a man named Simon 679 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,880 Peter was staying there. And as Peter was puzzling over 680 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:44,040 the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, Three men have come 681 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:47,760 looking for you. Get up, go downstairs and go 682 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:51,480 with them without hesitation. Don't worry, I've sent them. 683 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,160 Peter spent his entire life understanding certain animals 684 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:56,640 are unclean. And these were not just 685 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,720 preferences, right? These are things that they were 686 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,240 told set them apart as God's people. 687 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:07,520 And he gets this whole vision, and Peter tells God no. 688 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,199 There's something almost funny about that when you know how the 689 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:13,080 story ends. Peter believes he's defending 690 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:18,360 his obedience to God, to God. God repeats the vision three 691 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,120 times because we are all thick headed when it comes to these 692 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,480 sort of things. Peter's still trying to figure 693 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,159 out what this means. And then all of a sudden this 694 00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:29,159 group of Gentiles shows up at his house and Peter has heard 695 00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:30,840 this. He's seen a vision and he starts 696 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,120 to connect the dots here so that God himself made sure Peter 697 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:35,480 understood what he was called to do. 698 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:41,480 If you're not sure what you're supposed to do, don't do it, but 699 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,719 ask the Lord and then start taking steps. 700 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,159 I think that's the other side of testing to remember. 701 00:34:46,159 --> 00:34:49,120 Sometimes we can mistake our own desires for God's voice, and so 702 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,199 we can mistake our own assumptions for God's voice too. 703 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:54,760 Somebody may come to you and say, well, the Lord told me 704 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:56,000 this. We might be like, well, the 705 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:00,920 Lord's never told me that. Do you want to be the litmus 706 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,040 test for how somebody else hears from the Lord? 707 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:08,440 Because I don't now, if it contradicts Scripture, game 708 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:10,320 over. But I do want you to know this. 709 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,280 Sometimes God is going to say something that you don't 710 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:17,320 particularly want to hear. He may tell you to forgive 711 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,120 somebody that you'd rather stay angry with, or apologize. 712 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:21,520 These things I've already talked about. 713 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,480 But He might tell you to give when you'd rather keep, or to 714 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,760 stay when you'd rather leave, or to leave when you'd rather stay. 715 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,520 God has never promised to limit himself to saying things that 716 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,200 you agree with. So testing the voice is going to 717 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,200 require humility in both directions. 718 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:41,360 You need enough humility to admit that just because you 719 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,200 thought something doesn't mean God said it. 720 00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:45,280 You have to be willing to let Him correct you. 721 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,760 But you also need to have enough humility to admit that just 722 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,720 because something isn't what you expected God to say doesn't mean 723 00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:53,560 He isn't saying it. You don't already know His will, 724 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:55,400 and you don't know what He's going to say. 725 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:57,520 If he knew his will, you wouldn't have to ask Him. 726 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,360 So the goal isn't to become suspicious of every thought, but 727 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,000 to test it. Well, Hannah, the time has come. 728 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:05,760 Hannah's going to help me out here. 729 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:11,760 And you know, a couple weeks ago, I used, I used this a 730 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:13,960 blindfold. And I'm I've I found that I've 731 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,440 become a very big fan of using a blindfold in illustrations 732 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,920 because it makes makes people very uncomfortable and not me, 733 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,560 but them. So here's what's going to 734 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,120 happen. And you just got back from 735 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:27,640 beautiful Guatemala. She was on her team. 736 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:30,120 She she was singing for the Lord, learned a song in Spanish, 737 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:31,880 ministered down there. Was that not amazing? 738 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:32,960 I mean, can we honor what she did? 739 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,480 It was cool about Hannah like that made her more uncomfortable 740 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:40,760 than helping me with the illustration. 741 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,600 Will. It's not why I did it, but it 742 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,920 was like was like a bonus. So I need you to put this on. 743 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,880 OK, I can't move on until you do this. 744 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:52,840 Come on. But, you know, special reward. 745 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:56,920 I have this bag of Guatemalan coffee, right? 746 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:58,960 And this is the kind that we bring back and we serve in our 747 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,400 cafe next door because it supports living water adopted 748 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,320 child. Anyway, so this is the can you 749 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:04,840 see anything? Nope. 750 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:10,320 OK, She's she's not lying. All right, here's what I need 751 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:11,920 now. I need three people. 752 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,600 But before you, you, you put your hand up, I need three 753 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,120 people that are willing to come up here and help me that do not 754 00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:24,960 know her. This needs to be there. 755 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,240 Yeah, that's good. All right, so I've got 3. 756 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:40,480 All right, Just surround her. Here's what we're going to do. 757 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:50,880 Only one of you is going to be telling her the proper direction 758 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:56,600 on where the coffee is, right? Only one of you. 759 00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,920 Now that being said, I want you to all give her directions 760 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:11,320 starting now. Louder she in listening. 761 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,160 Hannah, you're not making a lot of progress. 762 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,760 No. OK. 763 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:29,200 OK. OK. 764 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:30,080 OK. All right. 765 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:32,920 All right, Hannah, take the blindfold off for a second. 766 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:34,440 OK? Just we're going to do this 767 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,800 again in a second. Here's what I want you to know. 768 00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:40,520 OK? Before we do this again, Andy 769 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,560 represents your inner thoughts. This is your voice. 770 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:44,920 You didn't know it looked like that, did you? 771 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:51,360 All right, Michael's the devil, right? 772 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:54,160 Yay. Y'all are surprised. 773 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:55,560 Come on. All right. 774 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,440 This is voice of God right here. That's not a gentle whisper, 775 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,000 right? So do you know her name? 776 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:03,760 Why ask her? Katie. 777 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:06,080 Katie. Hannah. 778 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:08,080 Nice to meet you. Yeah, that's cool. 779 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:09,640 So how long you been going to this church? 780 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,200 2 years. Don't tell me. 781 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:12,840 Tell her over 2 years. Yeah. 782 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:13,960 Yeah. So that's cool. 783 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:19,280 All right, So put that back on. I'm going to get this coffee. 784 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:20,280 I'm going to put it somewhere else. 785 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:27,400 Now that you know what voice is what, I want you to listen to 786 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,080 these voices again, and I want you to find your way to the 787 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:49,360 coffee. Wow, look at that. 788 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,920 Look at that. Thank you. 789 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:56,520 Thank you. No, no, that's for you. 790 00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:57,720 Give it to somebody if you don't want it. 791 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,280 Thank you. Here's what I want you to 792 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:06,760 understand, OK? Being a Christian, you will 793 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,840 never, ever, ever. And in case you didn't hear me, 794 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,720 ever. Get to the point that you only 795 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:15,640 hear the voice of God. You're always going to hear all 796 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:19,840 the voices, but you have to learn what his voice sounds 797 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,120 like. When she didn't know what voice 798 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:24,120 was what, she wasn't sure who to listen to. 799 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:26,960 She was doing like the world's worst square dance up here, 800 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,520 right? But as soon as she knew that one 801 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,000 is what God sounds like, OK, I'll follow it. 802 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,480 So here's why this matters so much. 803 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,040 And I was talking about this to the men of the church yesterday 804 00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,760 at breakfast. Church 101. 805 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:46,200 Are you ready for this, Azib? Read your Bible. 806 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:52,160 Listen, there are so many times I've told somebody you should be 807 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,400 in the Word and they're like, well, obviously. 808 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,520 And then you follow it up with how often are you in the Word? 809 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,080 You're asking for God's will. You want to know what God is 810 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:05,080 saying to you. You don't even know what He 811 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,760 said, but you want to know what He's saying. 812 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,720 To know His Word is to know His ways. 813 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,400 You cannot get away from this. Now some people, they take the 814 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:19,720 Bible and they build it into an idol, and they will misuse or 815 00:41:19,720 --> 00:41:22,040 properly use without kindness, the scriptures. 816 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:24,960 And there are plenty of Christians that were saved and 817 00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,840 had vibrant relationships with the Lord before the Bible was 818 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:29,200 even run through a printing press. 819 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,000 If you were locked up for the rest of your life and you only 820 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,800 have the Holy Spirit, you have enough and He'll take care of 821 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,840 you. But why would you ignore this 822 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:41,760 when it is so available to you? There are hundreds of 823 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,840 translations or versions of the Bible you can access on your 824 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,600 phone if you don't have a physical one. 825 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:52,000 And some of them are garbage, but most of them there is some 826 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,320 value to it. Whenever somebody argues and 827 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:56,040 they're like, well, why are there so many translations? 828 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:57,440 What's the one right translation? 829 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,680 No, no, no, we do not speak the ancient Greek or Hebrew or 830 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,000 Aramaic. So there is value in so many of 831 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,200 these translations because they're getting across these 832 00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:10,400 concepts and these ideas to you and you've got the Spirit of God 833 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,360 living inside of you. So you can read the NLT or the 834 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,760 NIV or whatever, and you can get some really good things from it. 835 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:21,600 Here's a really practical question for you. 836 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,440 How much of God's voice are you actually putting into your life? 837 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,720 For me, in a season where I'm not hearing a lot in my spirit 838 00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:32,960 or in my mind from Him, I fill it up with this because I know 839 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:35,520 it's Him. And then when something happens, 840 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:38,440 I run it through the filter of who He has revealed Himself to 841 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,400 be in these words. That's why we provide a daily 842 00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:43,040 Bible reading plan here at Liberty. 843 00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:45,240 And every month we print a different copy of the 844 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:46,560 devotional. If you were reading it 845 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:50,280 yesterday, there was a misprint and it did like a second 846 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:52,120 printing of a different day happens. 847 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:54,960 But we provide this for you to try to help unpack it. 848 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:56,880 You don't have to read our Bible reading plan. 849 00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:59,280 We're just saying here's an extra resource if it's helpful. 850 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:02,440 We're not doing it because the church needs more content. 851 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:04,520 There's already a lot of Christian content out there. 852 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:06,560 There's more than any of us could ever consume in a 853 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:08,720 lifetime. We do it because we want you to 854 00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:11,560 read the Bible for yourself. I want Scripture to become 855 00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:15,040 familiar enough that when it enters your mind, you think 856 00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,760 about where it is. When when a voice hits your ear, 857 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,440 you instantly start connecting it to something that you read 858 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:22,640 and you're like, that doesn't sound like God. 859 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:27,200 He said this secondly. So if we can go to the next one 860 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:30,880 about testing it. Secondly, I want you to pray. 861 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:33,240 I mean, we're talking about reading the Bible. 862 00:43:33,240 --> 00:43:36,000 I might as well say pray, right? But I want you to pray because I 863 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,800 don't want you to just pray in the place where like you give 864 00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:40,520 God your list. I want you to talk to him about 865 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:42,120 what you're hearing. And when you're facing a 866 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,760 decision, I want you to pray something as simple as Holy 867 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:48,320 Spirit. I want what you want more than I 868 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,880 want what I want. And if you don't, then tell him 869 00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:56,320 I want to want what you want. Look, I'm just, there are plenty 870 00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:58,960 of prayers I've had where I'm like, God, I do not want what 871 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:02,000 you want in my life. Make me into somebody who does. 872 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:04,640 Tell God what you're hearing. Tell him your struggle. 873 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:07,280 He already knows it. He just loves the honesty and 874 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:10,320 the relationship here. This is the only faith system 875 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:13,560 where you've got a relationship with the God at hand. 876 00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:15,960 Thirdly, you got to give it some time. 877 00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:18,920 Some people, they'll run to that prayer closet. 878 00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:21,200 They get on a real spiritual high, especially maybe like 879 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:26,040 after a ladies encounter. What is it the ladies do that 880 00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:30,600 doesn't sound spiritual to me? But you have a ladies encounter, 881 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:33,040 you go off to a conference or you hear this podcast that 882 00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,080 really just pierces your soul. And now you're on a spiritual 883 00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:37,160 high and you know what? For six days, you run to that 884 00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:39,880 prayer closet and you're like, God, I need you to move on this. 885 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:45,160 I need you to speak today. And then you hit Friday and 886 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,400 before you know it, it's a year and a half later and you're 887 00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:49,520 like, man, I wish I felt the way that I felt after that 888 00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:51,760 conference. You cannot be fuelled by your 889 00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,240 emotions. Give it time. 890 00:44:54,240 --> 00:44:57,360 Don't be impatient. Sometimes we've got things that 891 00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:59,920 are blocking us from hearing him, which I'll talk about, and 892 00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:03,720 sometimes, sometimes he's just trying to grow something in US. 893 00:45:03,720 --> 00:45:05,960 And finally, I would tell you this, don't test every voice by 894 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:07,560 yourself. Another reason we talk so much 895 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:09,920 about small groups and Christian community is there should be 896 00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:11,840 people in your life that love Jesus. 897 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:15,880 No scripture, no you and have permission to tell you. 898 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:20,520 I don't think that's God. You need people who aren't 899 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:24,080 impressed when you say God told me because they're like, yeah, 900 00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:28,000 God tells me stuff too. Small groups are not just 901 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:29,680 another activity to fill up your calendar. 902 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:31,760 We need people that can help us see what we don't see in 903 00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,680 ourselves. So this week, don't make it 904 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:37,600 complicated. Read something, pray something, 905 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:40,560 test something, and share something with somebody. 906 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:43,720 This is not a game, guys. We're talking about voices that 907 00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:46,200 can influence and determine the future of your marriage, your 908 00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:49,960 family, your decisions, your very internal peace, and your 909 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,080 relationship with God. So you need to test the voices 910 00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,200 you're hearing and sometimes you need to tune the voice too. 911 00:45:56,720 --> 00:45:59,880 Here's what I mean by this, because we're in a different 912 00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:03,600 generation now, but it used to be you had to tune your radio 913 00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:07,240 and you had little knobs, right? And it would get a little 914 00:46:07,240 --> 00:46:09,800 staticky, right? And you could hear the song and 915 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:11,640 you're like, oh, I love this song, but it needs to come in a 916 00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:13,200 little clearer. Or if you really want to go back 917 00:46:13,200 --> 00:46:15,360 in time, there were these, we called them rabbit ear in 918 00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:18,080 tennis. I say we, but I don't remember 919 00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,040 it. So I'm like somewhere in between 920 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:24,840 and some, some somehow we thought that like putting foil 921 00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:27,360 on them would make it better. Did anybody ever put foil on the 922 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:28,800 antennas try to get better reception right? 923 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:32,880 Did it always work? No, but we were trying to tune 924 00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:34,880 it and move the antenna so that we get the right frequency. 925 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,120 Any of you ever have to go outside the house and hold an 926 00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:40,840 antenna that Yeah, you have to tune the frequency. 927 00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:43,200 Sometimes you're going to start to hear God and it's going to be 928 00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:46,280 just a little muddy. So I think some of us have to 929 00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:48,640 consider the possibility, and I really, really want you to hear 930 00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:50,280 me on this. Lord, give them ears to hear. 931 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:54,640 I think it is possible that God has been speaking to many of us 932 00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,920 more than we realize, but we've become really bad at listening. 933 00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:03,640 Our lives are loud. We wake up and we almost 934 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:06,520 immediately look at a phone. And then we listen to something 935 00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:08,640 while we're getting ready. We listen to something in the 936 00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:10,560 car, we're playing something while we're working. 937 00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:12,160 We get home and we turn on the TV. 938 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,240 And then half the time we're looking at our phones while the 939 00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:18,040 TV's on because apparently one screen isn't enough to to curb 940 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:22,040 our appetite for it anymore. And then somewhere in the middle 941 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:24,040 of all of that, we say, I wish God would speak to me. 942 00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:31,560 So in Luke chapter 10, Jesus and the disciples continued on their 943 00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:34,480 way to Jerusalem. They came to a certain village 944 00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:37,400 where there was a woman named Martha welcomed Jesus into her 945 00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:39,840 home, and her sister Mary sat at the Lord's feet. 946 00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:42,200 I told you we're going to go through some familiar verses. 947 00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:45,480 Mary sat at his feet listening to what he taught. 948 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:48,600 In verse 40, Martha was distracted by the big dinner she 949 00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:51,200 was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, 950 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:54,240 Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits 951 00:47:54,240 --> 00:47:56,720 here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me. 952 00:47:57,400 --> 00:47:58,880 By the way, you know what she just said? 953 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,280 She said the work I'm doing is the most important thing in this 954 00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:03,960 house. That is what she said. 955 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,360 But the Lord said to her, my dear Martha, you're worried and 956 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,400 upset over all these details. There's only one thing worth 957 00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:16,360 being concerned about. Mary's discovered it and it will 958 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:20,240 not be taken away from her. That wording that Jesus uses 959 00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:22,800 with Martha is so intentional because he doesn't tell her that 960 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:25,160 what she's doing is evil. He tells her that she's worried 961 00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:29,080 and upset over details. In other words, Martha's problem 962 00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:31,520 isn't that she's distracted by something sinful. 963 00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:34,120 She's distracted by things that do need to get done. 964 00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:38,160 None of the things there are bad, but good things can still 965 00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:40,480 become loud things. Have you noticed that you have 966 00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:43,480 practices to get to and responsibilities and errands and 967 00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:46,760 appointments and kids and a house and we're just busy? 968 00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:51,960 Martha has Jesus physically sitting in her house and she's 969 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:55,520 worried about dinner now. We can look back on that now and 970 00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:58,160 say what a what a swing and a miss. 971 00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:06,080 But Jesus calls her dear Martha and walks her through this Mark 972 00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:08,120 135. I'm going to share this with you 973 00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:10,440 also. Before Daybreak the next 974 00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:13,760 morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to 975 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:17,160 pray. Later Simon and the others went 976 00:49:17,160 --> 00:49:20,000 out to find him, and when they found him they said, everybody's 977 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:24,760 looking for you. And then Jesus pulled up his 978 00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:27,160 robes and said, oh, I didn't know that, let me get to work. 979 00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:32,560 Jesus replied, we must go on to other towns as well, and I'll 980 00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,000 preach to them too. That's why I came. 981 00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:37,360 Do you know why he said that at the end? 982 00:49:37,840 --> 00:49:40,280 Because they're assuming that why he came was to answer those 983 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:42,080 voices where everybody's looking for him. 984 00:49:42,720 --> 00:49:44,120 He said, actually, that's not why I came. 985 00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:46,680 So he travelled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in 986 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:48,480 the synagogues and casting out demons. 987 00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:51,160 Everybody's looking for Jesus. Of course they are. 988 00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:54,280 There are people waiting on Jesus, and there's people back 989 00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:55,680 at that house wondering where he went. 990 00:49:55,680 --> 00:49:57,320 He got up early and he disappeared. 991 00:49:58,720 --> 00:50:01,120 But you notice what happens after he prays. 992 00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:03,560 The disciples come expecting Jesus to go back to everybody 993 00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:05,560 who's waiting for him. And in other words, what we see 994 00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:08,280 here is Jesus comes out of the time with the Father knowing 995 00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:11,280 where he's going next. Do not miss this. 996 00:50:11,720 --> 00:50:14,800 If he had not gotten alone with the Lord to tune that frequency, 997 00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:18,160 it would have made sense to go back and tend to all the needs 998 00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:20,760 of those people. But he got up and he went. 999 00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:22,800 He was alone with Lord. Disciples weren't alone with the 1000 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:24,200 Lord. They came and they said these 1001 00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:27,360 people still need help. And he said, actually, there's 1002 00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:32,040 other towns we got to go to, but what about those people? 1003 00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:36,480 He's like, This is why I came. Jesus was able to find out where 1004 00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:39,600 to go because he got a loan with the Lord. 1005 00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:42,600 And this is something that we need to do. 1006 00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,600 I'm not talking about becoming strange or stranger than some of 1007 00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:48,520 us already are and walking around all day trying to figure 1008 00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:50,240 out if our random thoughts are the Holy Spirit. 1009 00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:53,440 I'm telling you that this is something you can and need to 1010 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:57,280 actually become good at. We've spent years training our 1011 00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:00,680 brains to expect constant noise and constant stimulation, and 1012 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:04,200 then we get frustrated when we're sitting quietly with God 1013 00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:07,480 for 5 minutes. It feels difficult, doesn't it? 1014 00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:11,160 Mary had to choose to sit down. But can I just throw a couple 1015 00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:13,040 things out there? Like, I don't know, there's 1016 00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:15,800 times when the phone goes down, the TV goes off, the music stops 1017 00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:18,480 and you just be present with him. 1018 00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:21,600 I want to, I want to pass this on to you. 1019 00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:24,240 We won't be too late, but we're going a little long, just a 1020 00:51:24,240 --> 00:51:25,640 little long. I want you to hear this. 1021 00:51:25,720 --> 00:51:27,800 I said we'd get to this. There's a difference between 1022 00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:32,240 being unclean and being sinful. And here's why I want to share 1023 00:51:32,240 --> 00:51:33,880 this. Last week I came up and I told 1024 00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:36,840 you all that I had been just been a disobedient to the Lord 1025 00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:38,200 that morning. I mean, it was rough. 1026 00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:41,840 The Lord spoke to me during worship, as He often does, and 1027 00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,200 He talked to me about clean heart, which is something He's 1028 00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:47,800 spoken to me about living clean many times in the past, and it 1029 00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:52,480 hit me differently this time. We tend to use the word sinful 1030 00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:54,880 and unclean in the same way, almost like they mean the same 1031 00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:56,160 thing. Even the demons are called 1032 00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:59,360 unclean spirits, right? But I want you to know that in 1033 00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:01,480 the Old Testament, they did not mean the same thing. 1034 00:52:02,120 --> 00:52:04,040 You could be unclean without having sinned. 1035 00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:07,480 In the Old Testament, there were things that made a person 1036 00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:10,280 ceremonially unclean that weren't sinful at all. 1037 00:52:10,640 --> 00:52:12,720 Childbirth could make you unclean. 1038 00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:15,240 Touching a dead body would make you unclean. 1039 00:52:15,240 --> 00:52:19,200 Certain illnesses or bodily conditions could make you 1040 00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:21,320 unclean. And that didn't mean you had 1041 00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:23,520 done something wrong and you needed to repent of it. 1042 00:52:24,720 --> 00:52:26,960 You'll never see him say repent over that childbirth. 1043 00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:32,880 Some of you are like, well, it meant that for a period of time 1044 00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:36,040 you weren't able to enter the sacred space of God's presence 1045 00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:38,120 until you had been made clean again. 1046 00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:41,080 And that should take us back to that vision that Peter had, 1047 00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:43,080 right? We're obviously not living under 1048 00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:46,960 the Old Testament's purity laws, but God wanted his people to 1049 00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:49,200 understand that his presence was holy. 1050 00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:53,000 Sometimes we don't tune the frequency of his voice very well 1051 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,760 because there's something going on where we're unclean. 1052 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,320 We're too distracted, we're too disconnected. 1053 00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:01,280 We're not really wanting it. We know we're supposed to do it. 1054 00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:03,760 It becomes a checklist. You're not in sin, you're just 1055 00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:08,680 busy, but you're not clean. And the Lord spoke to me because 1056 00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:13,760 as I was repenting to him all morning last Sunday, he spoke to 1057 00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:17,040 me and said, when your heart gets made clean, you can enter 1058 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:20,400 my presence. He's still there the whole time, 1059 00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:23,040 but I can't hear him because I'm not clean. 1060 00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:25,120 And so I would just challenge you on this. 1061 00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:27,840 Sometimes your heart gets cluttered when you when you know 1062 00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:30,200 that one day you're going to have to get rid of that anger, 1063 00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:32,720 but you're holding on to that resentment and you fill your 1064 00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:35,160 mind with garbage and you're consumed with anxiety. 1065 00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:37,480 And you can spend all day feeding those appetites and 1066 00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:39,800 scrolling and arguing and comparing yourself to other 1067 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:41,680 people. You might not be in sin, but you 1068 00:53:41,680 --> 00:53:44,960 might not be clean. And I want to challenge you to 1069 00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:46,840 take these things and submit them to Him. 1070 00:53:47,560 --> 00:53:49,280 This takes us back to the uncomfortable thing at the 1071 00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:52,680 beginning of the message. Some of us just don't want God 1072 00:53:52,680 --> 00:53:55,320 the way that we're supposed to. We want the information, but I 1073 00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,440 want the clutter gone. I want to be able to go into His 1074 00:53:57,440 --> 00:53:59,120 presence and hear everything He's got for me. 1075 00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:03,000 How about you? OK, it's one of my favorite 1076 00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:05,400 stories to share, and I definitely didn't tell it 1077 00:54:05,400 --> 00:54:11,280 yesterday to the men. One day as a youth pastor, I had 1078 00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:13,840 a student who was desperately trying to hear from God, and she 1079 00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:16,360 wanted to learn how to hear God's voice for herself. 1080 00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:19,120 And I used a story from a book called The Circle Maker by Mark 1081 00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:22,320 Batterson to help her understand what I was going to be asking 1082 00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:25,040 her to do. That book tells this old Jewish 1083 00:54:25,040 --> 00:54:27,720 legend, it's not in the Bible, but of a man named Honi who 1084 00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:30,040 draws a circle because they're in a drought and he stands 1085 00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:32,240 inside the circle. And he said, God, I'm going to 1086 00:54:32,240 --> 00:54:35,080 pray for rain. And I'm not moving until you 1087 00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:37,800 answer. I'm not telling you to go home 1088 00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:39,120 and draw a circle and stand there. 1089 00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:41,880 OK? I'm not going to be responsible 1090 00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:45,040 for what happens then. But what I am saying is where is 1091 00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:47,760 our commitment and our willingness to sit and wait? 1092 00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:50,840 So I told her this. I said, I said the big lesson 1093 00:54:50,840 --> 00:54:53,200 there is the pursuit. And how desperately do you want 1094 00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:55,520 to hear from him? Because if you ask any believer, 1095 00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:57,360 do you want to hear from God, you're almost never going to 1096 00:54:57,360 --> 00:55:01,480 hear, not really. They're going to say, yeah, I 1097 00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:03,040 want to. Well, how much do you want to? 1098 00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:07,160 So here's what I told her. I said, attach it to meal times. 1099 00:55:07,480 --> 00:55:08,680 Doesn't have to be while you're eating. 1100 00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:11,120 Don't do it while you're eating, but like a breakfast, lunch and 1101 00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:13,000 dinner. I mean, like, we don't live off 1102 00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:15,280 of bread alone, right? Three times a day, I want you to 1103 00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:17,520 take about 10 or 15 minutes. And I want you to sit there and 1104 00:55:17,520 --> 00:55:21,560 I want you to say, God, I want you to speak to me, she said. 1105 00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:24,760 And I put on worship music. I said you absolutely do not if 1106 00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:26,440 you want to hear his voice. I'm not saying you can't speak 1107 00:55:26,440 --> 00:55:27,960 through worship music. I'm not saying it's bad to do 1108 00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:30,520 that in a prayer time, but if you're trying to learn what it 1109 00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:33,680 is to hear his voice, and I said we would talk about this, you're 1110 00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:36,400 going to have to become comfortable with a lack of 1111 00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:42,080 everything else except for Him. So I said sit there for 10 to 15 1112 00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:46,400 minutes and I want you to say, God, please speak to me and then 1113 00:55:46,480 --> 00:55:49,200 sit there. When your mind wanders, centre 1114 00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:52,120 it again, centre it again. Sorry Lord, I'm here. 1115 00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:54,360 She said, well, what if I don't hear from him? 1116 00:55:54,400 --> 00:55:55,720 I said, then you meet him at lunch. 1117 00:55:55,760 --> 00:55:57,680 She's like, no, what if I don't hear from him all day? 1118 00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:02,800 I said, then you have to fight being disheartened and you just 1119 00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:04,680 say, all right Lord, it's OK, I'll see you tomorrow. 1120 00:56:05,720 --> 00:56:07,680 I'll see you tomorrow and then do it again. 1121 00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:09,640 You know what? It took her about 3 days. 1122 00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:14,000 Three days. Middle schooler boom heard the 1123 00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:17,000 voice of God. Why? 1124 00:56:17,680 --> 00:56:19,840 Because she was willing to put in a discipline that most of us 1125 00:56:19,840 --> 00:56:22,520 aren't willing to do. But she was able to hear the 1126 00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:26,920 Lord's voice and still does. So my challenge to you is to 1127 00:56:26,920 --> 00:56:29,240 pursue Him. I want you to think about how 1128 00:56:29,240 --> 00:56:33,760 long we are willing to sit and wait for a table at a 1129 00:56:33,760 --> 00:56:35,920 restaurant. We'll sit for 45 minutes until 1130 00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:40,120 our table is clear, won't we? We'll stand in line for 1131 00:56:40,120 --> 00:56:42,400 something we want. We'll refresh a website over and 1132 00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:44,240 over again, waiting for tickets to go on sale. 1133 00:56:44,240 --> 00:56:47,240 And we'll check our phone 15 times waiting for one person to 1134 00:56:47,240 --> 00:56:48,880 text us back. We all have that, friend. 1135 00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:54,680 It's me and and when we really want something, we're pretty 1136 00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:55,840 good at waiting for it, aren't we? 1137 00:56:57,120 --> 00:57:00,160 Can you do this for him? So here's my challenge to you. 1138 00:57:00,440 --> 00:57:03,080 I want you to pick three times. Maybe the breakfast, lunch, 1139 00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:05,360 dinner thing works for you. Pick three times a day. 1140 00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:07,400 I'm, I'm literally challenging you on this. 1141 00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:10,840 Pick three times a day. I like connecting them to meals 1142 00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:13,080 because they're already markers that are built into the day. 1143 00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:15,920 But when you do that, you don't have your phone. 1144 00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:18,440 You can put your phone on a timer and put it away from you. 1145 00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:21,720 Put it on do not disturb mode, no music, nothing else 1146 00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:23,480 happening, no kids running around. 1147 00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:26,240 You get alone three times a day. I'm going to challenge you on 1148 00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:27,440 this. Do this for the next week. 1149 00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:34,200 Give God your undivided attention and don't give up #2 1150 00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:36,880 get clean. What you can say when you ask 1151 00:57:36,880 --> 00:57:39,480 for His presence is God. If there's anything in me that 1152 00:57:39,480 --> 00:57:43,440 is creating distance between us, tell me now so I can repent. 1153 00:57:43,720 --> 00:57:47,440 You might be surprised, and then you stop. 1154 00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:50,320 Then you just stop doing anything else. 1155 00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:52,200 This is not a place for your prayer journaling. 1156 00:57:52,280 --> 00:57:53,720 This is not a place for you to sing. 1157 00:57:54,680 --> 00:57:57,440 You sit and you are in a posture of receiving from Him. 1158 00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:01,280 Once you have, then you can write it down. 1159 00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:02,720 You're like, well, you told me not to journal. 1160 00:58:02,960 --> 00:58:04,240 You're not journaling your thoughts. 1161 00:58:04,240 --> 00:58:05,520 It's not about you, it's about Him. 1162 00:58:05,960 --> 00:58:09,000 When he gives you a word, then go and write it down. 1163 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:10,360 You know why? Because you'll forget it. 1164 00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:14,720 I do, and the last thing is just come back again. 1165 00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:19,640 I want to take you back to the question we started with this 1166 00:58:19,640 --> 00:58:22,600 morning. How do you know if it's God or 1167 00:58:22,600 --> 00:58:26,040 the enemy or just you after everything that we talked about 1168 00:58:26,040 --> 00:58:28,600 this morning? I hope that you can understand. 1169 00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:31,200 I can't give you a magic formula where you'll never have to 1170 00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:32,480 wrestle with that question again. 1171 00:58:33,080 --> 00:58:36,280 I cannot give you 3 easy rules that guarantee you'll correctly 1172 00:58:36,280 --> 00:58:39,320 identify every thought that enters your mind for the rest of 1173 00:58:39,320 --> 00:58:40,840 your life. I don't think that's what God 1174 00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:44,080 intended for us anyway. The answer, though, is a 1175 00:58:44,080 --> 00:58:46,600 relationship. You've got to put in the work, 1176 00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:49,480 and I can't do it for you, but I'm up here begging you to do 1177 00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:51,120 it. What you experienced, maybe what 1178 00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:53,480 you felt this morning, is something you can feel on your 1179 00:58:53,480 --> 00:58:54,800 own. Not that it's about what you 1180 00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:56,760 feel, but it's something that you can achieve. 1181 00:58:57,000 --> 00:59:01,040 You can partake and you can access anytime, but you've got 1182 00:59:01,040 --> 00:59:03,840 to become familiar with Him the same way that we saw Hannah up 1183 00:59:03,840 --> 00:59:05,080 here. As soon as she knew what God's 1184 00:59:05,080 --> 00:59:07,600 voice sounded like, she didn't really listen to the other ones. 1185 00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:10,080 And to be honest with you, the other voice is, especially the 1186 00:59:10,080 --> 00:59:15,840 devil was a lot closer to her ear than the voice of the Lord, 1187 00:59:15,840 --> 00:59:17,920 right? And it's going to feel that way 1188 00:59:17,920 --> 00:59:20,160 a lot of times. Devil's not coming for you if 1189 00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:22,280 you're not a threat. If you just want to be a 1190 00:59:22,280 --> 00:59:25,080 spiritually apathetic, lazy Christian, the devil's going to 1191 00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:28,000 let you coast. But if you do want to grow, if 1192 00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:30,360 you do want to get connected to him, he's going to get as close 1193 00:59:30,360 --> 00:59:33,640 to you as he can. Get used to rebuking him. 1194 00:59:33,760 --> 00:59:35,240 Get used to listening to the Lord. 1195 00:59:37,080 --> 00:59:41,040 Here's your final scripture of the day, John 10, verses 3 1196 00:59:41,040 --> 00:59:44,600 through 5. The gatekeeper opens the gate 1197 00:59:44,600 --> 00:59:47,240 for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. 1198 00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:50,680 He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 1199 00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:54,640 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, 1200 00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:59,440 and his sheep follow him because they know his voice, but they 1201 00:59:59,440 --> 01:00:02,320 will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from 1202 01:00:02,320 --> 01:00:05,320 him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. 1203 01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:08,760 Many of us have seen this video or heard the illustration before 1204 01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:11,920 that sheep can be trained to just one voice, the voice of 1205 01:00:11,920 --> 01:00:15,240 their shepherd, and they as a whole flock will will run when 1206 01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:17,880 they hear that voice. What I want you to focus in on 1207 01:00:17,880 --> 01:00:19,720 is it says, and he will lead them. 1208 01:00:19,720 --> 01:00:23,440 He will go ahead of them. So a lot of us are saying, God 1209 01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:26,000 tell me where to go. But if you're close enough to 1210 01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:29,120 him, you won't have to ask him because you'll be following 1211 01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:30,960 them. You'll be following your 1212 01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:33,560 shepherd. I want you to know your 1213 01:00:33,560 --> 01:00:35,600 shepherd. I want you to know him well 1214 01:00:35,600 --> 01:00:38,040 enough that when he starts talking, you can know what 1215 01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:39,360 sounds like him and what doesn't. 1216 01:00:39,840 --> 01:00:42,600 When condemnation tells you that you're worthless and that your 1217 01:00:42,600 --> 01:00:45,520 time has passed, I want you to know that that is not the voice 1218 01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:47,400 of Jesus. Not just because theologically 1219 01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:50,440 you heard me teach this, but because you know Jesus's voice 1220 01:00:50,520 --> 01:00:53,320 and that ain't him. When your own desires try to 1221 01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:56,400 convince you that something God has clearly called wrong is 1222 01:00:56,400 --> 01:01:00,120 somehow right for you, you know his word too well to fall for 1223 01:01:00,120 --> 01:01:02,000 it. But that kind of familiarity 1224 01:01:02,000 --> 01:01:05,160 with the Lord's voice will never happen accidentally, and I want 1225 01:01:05,160 --> 01:01:09,120 you to know that. So I want you to test it this 1226 01:01:09,120 --> 01:01:10,600 week. How many of you are willing to 1227 01:01:10,600 --> 01:01:12,480 do that? You're willing to put your hand 1228 01:01:12,480 --> 01:01:14,400 up right in front of people And then people are going to be 1229 01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:16,520 like, did you do it? I hold each other accountable. 1230 01:01:17,880 --> 01:01:19,720 See what you can do, see what you hear. 1231 01:01:19,720 --> 01:01:22,520 And by the way, if you hear from him, message me. 1232 01:01:22,520 --> 01:01:24,280 Won't bother me. I'd love to hear your story. 1233 01:01:24,280 --> 01:01:27,120 Even if it's just, even if it's just one word, even if it's 1234 01:01:27,120 --> 01:01:28,640 telling you no as you're walking outside. 1235 01:01:28,640 --> 01:01:31,480 I want to hear it. Encourage me, but I want you to 1236 01:01:31,480 --> 01:01:33,880 know this for next week. Last week we learned that the 1237 01:01:33,880 --> 01:01:36,480 Holy Spirit's our advantage. This week we talked about 1238 01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:38,200 hearing his voice. And that's important because 1239 01:01:38,200 --> 01:01:40,560 next Sunday we're taking another step. 1240 01:01:41,120 --> 01:01:43,720 And through the Holy Spirit, Jesus has equipped every single 1241 01:01:43,720 --> 01:01:47,400 one of you to build his church, not Liberty Church, His church. 1242 01:01:47,880 --> 01:01:51,760 OK, you are gifted. And so we're going to talk about 1243 01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:55,400 what Scripture sometimes calls apostles, prophets, evangelists, 1244 01:01:55,400 --> 01:01:58,000 pastors and teachers. And I want to show you that 1245 01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:00,640 these are not titles that create an elite class of Christians. 1246 01:02:00,920 --> 01:02:04,520 Every single one of us is called to these gifts in some form. 1247 01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:07,240 So I want you to do something before you come back next 1248 01:02:07,240 --> 01:02:08,520 Sunday. In a moment, we're going to sing 1249 01:02:08,520 --> 01:02:10,960 to close the service. And as you're leaving, the care 1250 01:02:10,960 --> 01:02:15,360 team has these spiritual gift gift assessments. 10 questions 1251 01:02:15,360 --> 01:02:17,200 for each of those things I just talked about. 1252 01:02:17,200 --> 01:02:19,880 Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. 1253 01:02:20,200 --> 01:02:23,640 Take it home with you, learn how you test, bring it back if you 1254 01:02:23,640 --> 01:02:25,640 want. Because whatever you're gifted 1255 01:02:25,640 --> 01:02:27,240 in, we're going to talk about you next week. 1256 01:02:27,640 --> 01:02:29,440 You might as well know that we're talking about you when we 1257 01:02:29,440 --> 01:02:31,840 do it. But if you spent years 1258 01:02:31,840 --> 01:02:33,480 wondering, what am I supposed to do? 1259 01:02:33,480 --> 01:02:36,000 How do I have anything to contribute to the Kingdom? 1260 01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:39,200 Part of the answer has already been placed inside of you. 1261 01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:43,400 And before we get there, I want us to all learn to listen to 1262 01:02:43,400 --> 01:02:44,720 him. So grab that test as you're 1263 01:02:44,720 --> 01:02:46,320 leaving. I think it'll help you be ready 1264 01:02:46,320 --> 01:02:48,800 for next week. And just remember this, Jesus 1265 01:02:48,800 --> 01:02:51,800 said His sheep recognize His voice because they know Him. 1266 01:02:52,560 --> 01:02:55,880 He loves being your shepherd. You might feel like you're God's 1267 01:02:56,200 --> 01:02:59,880 special headache, right? And maybe you are, but I'm 1268 01:02:59,880 --> 01:03:02,040 telling you, Jesus is willing to lead you. 1269 01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:03,880 He loves that you're part of His flock. 1270 01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:05,720 So make time to hear from Him today. 1271 01:03:05,720 --> 01:03:06,040 Amen.