1 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,080 I'm excited this morning. I'm going to lay a bit, a little 2 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,840 bit of a foundation before we read our first scripture, but 3 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:21,040 the topic that we're going to discuss today is the Compass 4 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,000 within. The compass within. 5 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:27,280 We're going to talk about how to be led by the Spirit. 6 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:30,840 Now, some of you may have been here for a long time. 7 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:32,520 You're like, yeah, I get it. I know how to be led by the 8 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:33,200 Spirit. I got it. 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,160 We'll see. That's fine. 10 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,560 Some of you may be new, and I know that sometimes we can come 11 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,360 in church and say things that are very church phrases, right? 12 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,360 I remember my friend Casey, when he first came to the Lord years 13 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,920 ago, he was looking for some direction in his life. 14 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,960 And he's like, every time I ask somebody, you know, what should 15 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:53,600 I do, everybody would say just be LED, brother. 16 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,120 He's like, what does that mean? I don't understand. 17 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:58,920 We're like, well, you need to be led by the Spirit. 18 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,360 He's like, how, how am I led by the Spirit? 19 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,879 I don't get it. And what that is is that there's 20 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:07,680 a phenomenal thing that we have in the resource of the word of 21 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,800 God, but also there's this phenomenal thing called pastors 22 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,160 and teachers that can instruct and disciple. 23 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,680 God didn't call us just to say, hey, come into the Kingdom, 24 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,560 figure it out on your own. That's why when we show up and 25 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,560 we gather together in this place, it's a time for us to be 26 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,120 built up, not only just feel better about life, but be 27 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:32,600 equipped to do better in life. So whenever we come to the 28 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,000 church body, I know that this is something that Anchor Faith 29 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,200 Church has taught as a core truth and principle from the 30 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,360 beginning. Today we got 1. 31 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,840 You know, I've got only two hours to instruct you. 32 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,520 We'll see. But Apostle Earl actually 33 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,240 ministered a whole series on this five years ago. 34 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,280 And if you go to YouTube, you can actually search this and 35 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,120 find it's called I will follow. So it's a very in depth study, 36 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,760 line upon line preaching slash teaching like our apostle 37 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:04,760 brilliantly does. But after today, I'm going to 38 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,040 give you a foundation and some foundational truths about this 39 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,440 and hopefully you'll walk away with some practical application. 40 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,000 But in the midst of that, if you want to go a little bit deeper 41 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,720 and you're like, I need to know we have resources here in your 42 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,680 local church. Go to our YouTube page, go to 43 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,520 the podcast, search this thing and find it. 44 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:23,680 And you can get built up because God didn't intend you to just be 45 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,760 led by what's around you or be moved by anything that's around 46 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:28,240 you. He intended that you'd be led by 47 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:34,400 what's within you. So I want to, you know, start 48 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:36,920 out by just giving you an outline of what God's original 49 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:39,560 intent was. See, in the very beginning when 50 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,360 we read the first page of the Bible, we read that first 51 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,640 chapter 1 and 2 of Genesis. It's God's original plans for 52 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:48,520 mankind. It's why you're here. 53 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,640 It says that God in Genesis 126, I'm just going to quote some of 54 00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:54,400 these real fast for you because you already know most of these 55 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:55,680 if you're a part of Anchor Faith Church. 56 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:00,320 But God desired that man would rule over the planet. 57 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,560 He said I'm going to give him rulership or dominion over 58 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:05,480 planet earth. That's why we're here. 59 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,480 But the way that he gave this to Adam is that he gave Adam 60 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,160 instruction. So in God's perfect plan, God 61 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:16,960 gave Adam a word, gave him an assignment and Adam just had to 62 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:22,760 hear and do what God said. So when we talk about being led 63 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:28,560 by the spirit, there's this simplicity and purity that comes 64 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,200 with just hearing and doing what God says. 65 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,640 And, and a lot of times we can over complicate our lives. 66 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:39,320 And when people ask the question, because this is a 67 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:42,520 popular question, people come in and be like, Hey, how do I get 68 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,600 led by the spirit? How do I know I'm being led by 69 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:46,480 the spirit? How do I, what is the what, 70 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,400 what, what shows me that I've heard from God and that I'm 71 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,640 doing the right thing. And, and again, as full grown 72 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,320 adults, we've experienced a lot of things. 73 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:03,120 But no matter what the rest of this that is said today, there's 74 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:08,040 just a simplicity that being led by the Spirit is hearing God and 75 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:12,480 doing what he said, hearing God doing what he said. 76 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:19,440 So Adam heard God knew what to do, was confident in that, and 77 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:25,200 then decided to disobey. Life got complicated when he 78 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:29,480 decided to disobey. Life always gets complicated 79 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,440 when you disobey. You know this message is not 80 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,000 just for a grown adults in this sanctuary you understand no 81 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,200 matter what age you are, you can hear from God and do what He 82 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,520 says. It's what we call a foundational 83 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:49,320 core truth of the Bible. So whenever Adam was born to 84 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,560 live by revelation of hearing God and obeying and hearing God 85 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,920 and obeying, he was living by revelation of God. 86 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,920 But whenever he ate the fruit, Adam not only fell from his 87 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:02,520 dominion, but he fell from revelation down to information. 88 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,120 So now no longer was he led by the revelation of what God said. 89 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,720 He now had to be led by the information of what the earth 90 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:17,080 told him around him. So every person born after Adam 91 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:23,200 is now born into the faulty state of humanity by being 92 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:29,040 directed and being led by information when that's not 93 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,360 God's ultimate purpose. That's not the goal. 94 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:36,320 His goal was that you could hear His voice and then do what He 95 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,640 says. You're going to hear me say this 96 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:44,560 multiple times today and then it would behoove you to go back and 97 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,600 listen to it again and listen to me say it again. 98 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:51,200 Because when the all the other voices of life start talking and 99 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,200 all the other circumstances start having and all you get 100 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,480 bombarded with information from life around you, you need to 101 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:02,640 just remember what is God saying and what do I just simply do? 102 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,520 Life's not complicated if you follow the king, but it's 103 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,440 complicated if you throw the king in amongst all the other 104 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:13,520 things that you are being told to follow. 105 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:22,720 It's a very simple message. As we read this first verse this 106 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,120 morning, I want to go to Romans chapter 8, verse 16. 107 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:30,960 Let's all stand to our feet at anchor Faith Church. 108 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,960 You know, after the Kingdom Rise weekend that we had, Apostle 109 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,160 Marcy reminded us of the importance in the Word of God, 110 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,640 how whenever the Word of God was read, the people stood to honor 111 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,840 the word. And I love how Apostle Earl 112 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:47,160 continues to remind us that it's that we have this image in our 113 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,000 minds that we are standing in the throne room of heaven. 114 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,600 And as we stand to receive, it's me reading these words is the 115 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,800 same power carries the same authority as God himself 116 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:01,640 speaking it directly to your face. 117 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,600 So as we all stand, I want to read this key text for today and 118 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:07,760 being led by the Spirit. It's in Romans 814. 119 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:12,000 It says for all who are being led by the Spirit of God. 120 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,720 These are the sons and daughters of God. 121 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:21,560 You all may have a seat for all who are being led by the Spirit 122 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,240 of God. These are the sons of God. 123 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,040 These are the daughters of God. Would you want to consider 124 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:31,760 yourself, I'm a child of God? In fact, for 20 years, almost 125 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,080 every message we end with Apostle Earl gets up and says, 126 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:39,480 let's do a confession at the end and he says I am a child of God. 127 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:44,600 But there's a proof that proves whether or not you are that. 128 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:51,000 Everybody may say it, but there's evidence if you truly 129 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,720 are a child of God, and that is if you are being led by the 130 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,040 Spirit of God. Being led by the Spirit is not 131 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,760 just an option available to a believer, it's an expectation 132 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,960 and a requirement in this Kingdom life. 133 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:11,600 So for you to say, be honest with yourself and say I don't 134 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,040 really know how to be led by the Spirit. 135 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,040 I don't know really know, am I being led by the Spirit? 136 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:20,960 It would be important for you to pause all that you're doing and 137 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,080 say, what do I need to do to understand this so that I can 138 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,920 hear from God what he wants from me, and then do what God wants, 139 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:36,600 Hear from God and then do what he says whenever you know, 140 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,120 Washington Classical Christian School, our private school that 141 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,000 we have here, I have the honor and the ability to go in and 142 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,360 teach Chapel from time to time. And the last time that we had a 143 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,840 Chapel service, the lower school kids all came in. 144 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,080 They're all sitting down together, you know, Criss cross 145 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:55,840 applesauce, Yes, applesauce. And as they're sitting there, 146 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,840 the Lord prompted me to tell them the story about Samuel in 147 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:02,160 the Bible. Samuel was just a young boy. 148 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,480 His mother dedicated him to the Lord and took him to the temple. 149 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,760 And he's just five years old. And if you look through the life 150 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,920 of Samuel, Samuel followed God all the way to the end. 151 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:18,320 But as a little small child, he was laying in bed and he hears 152 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,720 Samuel. He's like, the priest is calling 153 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:23,840 me. So he runs in and says, Eli, 154 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:30,240 Eli, did you call me? And Eli rolls over like most of 155 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:31,240 us parents do. We're like, what? 156 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,800 Where are you in here? He's like, no, go back to bed, 157 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:37,840 get out. And this happens multiple times 158 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,760 until finally Eli realizes, OK, if he's hearing somebody call 159 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,320 him, it must be the Lord. So he comes in and says, Eli, 160 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,840 did you call me? And he says, no, next time you 161 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,400 hear, just say speak, Lord, your servant is listening. 162 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:53,840 Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. 163 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:58,080 So at a young age, as a just a child, Samuel heard the voice of 164 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,760 God and then was able to sit up and say, speak Lord, your 165 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,520 servant is listening. And God began to reveal plans 166 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:06,560 for his life. God began to talk to him. 167 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:09,080 But what I want to take out of this is that was the old 168 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,720 covenant where whether he heard it audibly or on the inside, I 169 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,120 don't know. But I know that we have 170 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,080 something even greater than Samuel had. 171 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,080 God doesn't have to speak to us through visions, through dreams, 172 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,000 through prophecies. He doesn't have to do that 173 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:26,120 because we have something called the Spirit of God dwelling 174 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:29,960 inside of us. But I was able to ask the kids, 175 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,240 and this is a powerful, just practical testimony because you 176 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,360 realize when we overcomplicate things as adults, sometimes kids 177 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,680 just get it because they're saying, I just want to hear and 178 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:41,320 do what's being told of me by the Lord. 179 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:43,120 And I asked the kids, I was like, can you raise your hand? 180 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:44,760 Has anybody ever heard from God before? 181 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:51,240 Now I'd recognize the risk. It's like we anything could be 182 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:52,600 said. I didn't hand them the mic. 183 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,600 That would be crazy. But I said, when? 184 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,600 When did you hear from God? And the first kid that was about 185 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,640 nine years old said, and I didn't know what to expect. 186 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:02,680 They could say anything crazy that they wanted. 187 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:03,640 Whatever we're about to find out. 188 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:10,880 But this first kid says God told me in inside that I needed to 189 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:12,440 apologize for being mean to my friend. 190 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:19,800 In that moment I thought, my God, you actually heard from 191 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:20,560 God. You did. 192 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:22,920 You heard from God That was God speaking to you. 193 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,440 You know how I knew that? Because I know the Word and I 194 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,680 know that the Spirit always says what the Word is saying, that 195 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:32,640 God the Father has spoken to Jesus. 196 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,080 And Jesus said, I say nothing of my own initiative, but only what 197 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,680 the Father reveals to me and shows me and says to me. 198 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,040 And then he says, I'm going to send you another just like me, 199 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,000 and he's going to remind you of my words. 200 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:46,120 Who? What are Jesus's words? 201 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:49,280 They're the Father's words. So all of the Trinity is in 202 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,720 unity around one thing, the word. 203 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,560 So you know how I can tell you're being led by the Spirit? 204 00:11:56,680 --> 00:11:59,320 Or if you're not being led by the Spirit, now you may say, 205 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,440 don't judge me. Hey, hey, hey, we always judging 206 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,160 you. Just judge me for judging you. 207 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:10,760 We're always judging and weighing and measuring what is 208 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:12,440 being said according to a standard. 209 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:14,840 That standard, if you have a good one, is called the Word of 210 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,600 God. That standard, if you have a bad 211 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,760 one, is called experience or emotion or how it makes you 212 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,640 feel. But I've never heard a person 213 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:26,120 who's truly led by the Spirit not say but question it. 214 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,880 Is it right? See, if you're hearing from the 215 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,600 Holy Ghost, then other people who are sensitive to the Spirit 216 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,840 will also be able to confirm, Is this the Word or is this your 217 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,080 flesh? So I knew in that moment, in the 218 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,120 simplicity of childlike faith, he said, you need to apologize 219 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,080 to a person you know. Grown adults would be like, Nah, 220 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:49,000 thank God, I know what they did. They don't deserve an apology. 221 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,080 And all of a sudden we get frustrated because we're not 222 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:57,600 just simply doing what God said. We're overcomplicating our lives 223 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:02,520 by saying reasoning why what's being asked of us is too much. 224 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:08,280 There's a simplicity. So the question that we'd have 225 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,240 to ask ourselves is how do I hear God? 226 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:13,200 It's not going to be with an audible voice. 227 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,280 I'm telling you, in all my life and pursuing the, the, the King 228 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,000 and, and, and loving God and being in ministry, I've never 229 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,040 heard just the audible voice of God just boomingly speak to me 230 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:24,840 in that way. In fact, there's a prophet in 231 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,080 the Old Testament that was trying to seek God and hear God. 232 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,320 And all of a sudden there was this fire that came and, and he 233 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,080 was waiting and listening and he didn't hear anything in the 234 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:34,240 fire. And then this storm came and in 235 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,120 the Thunder and in the, these deep rumblings in the sky, he 236 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,080 didn't hear God. And all of a sudden, after this 237 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,520 wind blew, it was this strong, powerful wind and he didn't hear 238 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:46,200 anything. But then it says in the still 239 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:52,800 small voice, God spoke. And I've found with being led by 240 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,280 the Spirit, He's the Spirit of truth. 241 00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:58,960 And truth never needs to scream at you. 242 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,080 Truth doesn't ever have to try to get louder than anything 243 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,640 else. Truth only has to just be 244 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:10,000 present. Truth carries so much authority 245 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,120 and weight behind it that if it's just said it does it's 246 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,280 work. So whenever we're looking for 247 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,640 God to try to scream something at our physical ears, it's not 248 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:25,040 going to happen. In fact, if you show up at a 249 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:27,640 church service or at or at some kind of special services that we 250 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:29,720 have and there's, there's prophets of God or something, 251 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,480 you're like, I've not heard God, you know, in all these years, 252 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,640 but hopefully that person speaks a word of God for me. 253 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:41,280 You may be getting it backwards. We don't have to have just a 254 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,280 prophet tell us about the truth and lead us and guide us in our 255 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:47,480 direction. What we need is to do what sons 256 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,160 and daughters do, and that is be led by what? 257 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,800 Be led by the Spirit who confirms the word. 258 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:57,000 And there's nothing wrong with it. 259 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,280 Somebody begins to speak a word over you and, and, and somebody 260 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,480 that's moving in the prophetic begins to say something. 261 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:08,520 Don't just receive it, measure it against. 262 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,960 Is this what God has said to me in my heart already? 263 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:15,080 You're like, well, it's not not valuing it. 264 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:16,720 No. I want to value every gift 265 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:18,040 that's given. I want to receive a prophet in 266 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:19,800 the name of a prophet. I want to receive a pastor in 267 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:21,920 the name of a pastor. But in the end, I'm going to go 268 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,880 back to what the Holy Ghost himself does and say, what does 269 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:29,320 the word say about this? Does it align with the word? 270 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:31,880 Is this something that's been moved already in my spirit? 271 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,320 Because a word spoken over you shouldn't be a shock. 272 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:39,760 It should confirm what the Holy Ghost has already been leading. 273 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,160 So how do we hear from God here? That in Romans chapter 8 verse 274 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,640 16. So just two scriptures, 2 verses 275 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,400 later, Romans 816. Listen to this carefully. 276 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:58,720 It says for the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that 277 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,920 we are children of God. He testifies with what our 278 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,520 spirit that we are children of God. 279 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:10,640 Look at it again, he testified. The Spirit himself testifies 280 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:15,160 with our spirit. This is a supernatural 281 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:19,200 transaction. It would we would, we would do 282 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,840 you a major disservice to try to teach you that intellectually 283 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,200 how you can understand all that God's trying to do. 284 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:28,400 No, there is something deposited in you at the new birth called 285 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:32,800 the Spirit of God that enables you to live beyond just what 286 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,880 natural people can do. Being led by the spirit is 287 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:41,760 supernatural at its core, and that supernatural effect changes 288 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,080 and affects the natural that's around you, but it comes from 289 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,400 within. So the spirit is not going to 290 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,320 speak to your brain. That's not his job. 291 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:55,600 He testifies with your spirit. So if you're listening with your 292 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,200 physical ears, you're going to miss what's being said to your 293 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:03,040 spirit. This is how he speaks when 294 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:04,359 you're like, I want to hear from God. 295 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,119 Well, you're going to have to become proficient at hearing 296 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:12,079 what he's saying on the inside. Now I realize there's some 297 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:14,640 mystery, you know, mystery, mystery, mystery. 298 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,200 What? There's some mystery to this 299 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:21,480 because the supernatural things, not a natural man can't 300 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,520 understand the word of God, how the spirit operates. 301 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:29,080 It's only by being born anew in the Spirit of God, having your 302 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:32,080 old man pass away, all things becoming brand new inside of 303 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:37,000 you, that new spirit man is able to hear and do what God says. 304 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,080 Outside of God. You can't hear God and then do 305 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:44,680 what he says except for one thing, which is come give your 306 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:47,120 life to me. Submit to my Lordship. 307 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:49,880 That's all he's saying to the unbeliever. 308 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,920 Come, submit to my lordship. Come, come, be made new. 309 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:55,600 Come, let your life be made whole. 310 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,200 He's just drawing. It says the spirit is drawing. 311 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,600 The same spirit that leads us is the same spirit that drew you to 312 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,720 him in the first place. In fact, let me, let me, let me 313 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:06,320 get you as excited as I am about this. 314 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:11,800 The same spirit that breathed on man to write out the Holy 315 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:16,040 Scriptures is the exact same spirit that comes to dwell 316 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,000 inside of you and lead you and guide you. 317 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,880 The same one. That's why it's impossible for 318 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:24,960 me to look at people when we have discussions about the Bible 319 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,000 and say I agree to disagree. It's OK, we all disagree. 320 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,800 No, I have the Spirit of God living in me. 321 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,440 I'm proficient at hearing what he says, balancing it with the 322 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,520 word and making sure is this what the word says and then 323 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:40,800 knowing what did you mean? See, we try to make excuses for 324 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:42,360 ourselves when we're like, oh, I don't know how to be LED. 325 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:43,480 I guess I'll just do my own thing. 326 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,280 No, no, no, there's an expectation that sons and 327 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:50,360 daughters of God will be led by what? 328 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,960 It's important to note that in this verse it says he testifies 329 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,520 with your spirit. He does not testify with your 330 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,520 bank account. When he speaks, he doesn't 331 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,560 confirm how much money you have or don't have. 332 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,480 When he speaks to you, he does not testify to your comfort. 333 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,680 See a lot of times people are like, oh man, if I'm 334 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:18,280 uncomfortable it must not be God. 335 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,520 One of the main benefits of being led by the Spirit that I 336 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,400 love so much about God is, is that it's not so much that I 337 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,840 hear His audible voice and then just obey a simple task. 338 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:40,960 It's that on the inside, once I know I'm immovable, it's that He 339 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,760 gives me this confidence that no matter what's going on around 340 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,560 me, I have this overwhelming confidence. 341 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,120 I've heard and I know I'm in the right place at the right time 342 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:54,880 doing what God told me and that's what I'm looking for 343 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:56,400 more. And you saying, oh, I was led by 344 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:59,520 the spirit, a confidence to know where you're at right now and 345 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,400 then what you're supposed to do with this time. 346 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,320 That's more important than it just says, oh, where do I go 347 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,560 next? Some people are missing being 348 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,600 led by the spirit in the season now because they're looking for 349 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,720 the next season and asking them to give them direction how to 350 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,880 get there. See, don't we know that the word 351 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,720 of God is a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path? 352 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,040 The Holy Spirit confirms the word, which means he's not going 353 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,680 to override being the lamp into your feet and the light into 354 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,920 your path. Some people are so focused on 355 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,760 what is my ultimate calling? What is the thing I was born to 356 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,040 do later in the future? And God's like, just focus. 357 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:35,080 Just shake somebody's hand when they walk in the door. 358 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,320 You're a greeter. Nothing worse than a daydreaming 359 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,080 greeter that doesn't know that they're supposed to be greeting 360 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:42,760 and they're just walking around in the lobby and they're not 361 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,480 paying attention and people are walking past them. 362 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:45,920 They're like, oh God, what is next? 363 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,880 What's next? God and God's saying focus, 364 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:52,000 focus, be the best you are in the season that you are in right 365 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,920 now. If he's given you as a, if the 366 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,440 word of God is here to guide your path, he's just going to 367 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,200 show you the next step. So you need to know this about 368 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,480 being led by the Spirit until you obey the step. 369 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,480 He said he's not obligated to lead you anywhere else. 370 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,640 He's not obligated. You know, there was a time in 371 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,320 some of my family's life, God had moved on them and said, you 372 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,600 need to move to Florida. And in the midst of that, they 373 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:21,320 were like, OK, well, let's figure it out and let's see 374 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,920 what, what you know, how is this going to work? 375 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:25,480 And you know what, where are we? How are we going to sell things? 376 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:26,440 And how are we going to have finance? 377 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,200 And what are we going to do with, you know, once we get 378 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:29,480 there and what kind of job are we going to have? 379 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:31,680 And they're asking all these questions and some time went by 380 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:34,760 and they're like, oh, it just seems like, you know, things 381 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:35,920 aren't really working like we thought they were. 382 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,000 And I was like, what did God say to you last? 383 00:21:46,380 --> 00:21:52,100 Well, he said, move to Florida. Have you done that? 384 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:59,520 It's more complicated than that. Is it, is it more complicated or 385 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,840 do we make things complicated when we try to figure out all of 386 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:08,320 the rest of the things? You know, sometimes with, with 387 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:10,560 just even raising my children and their childlike faith. 388 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,680 There's, you know, we'll have the the oven turned on. 389 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,920 It's been on 400° Danny's bacon, some awesome sourdough bread. 390 00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:18,400 And we'll open that oven door. And all of us adults know that 391 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,440 oven door is hot. And when the children walk in 392 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,960 the kitchen, we don't begin to explain to them Fahrenheit 393 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:27,520 versus Celsius and the the effects that it makes on your 394 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,360 skin if you get too close or touch or what. 395 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:31,680 We don't explain all that. Sometimes we just go, hey, don't 396 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:36,360 come in the kitchen right now. And that's enough of a word to 397 00:22:36,360 --> 00:22:39,400 keep them whole, healthy, protected in the season they're 398 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:40,400 in. I don't have to explain the 399 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,680 depths of how it works. I can just say, hey, don't do 400 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,320 that right now. And sometimes the Holy Ghost is 401 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:51,000 doing that with you. You're getting ready to go to a 402 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,240 place that you're excited about. You want to go here, you've been 403 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:54,480 planning this. And the Holy Ghost just says, 404 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,680 hey, don't go there right now. Why, why, why, why, why, why? 405 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:03,600 You become the annoying child. It's OK to ask the question why. 406 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:05,360 But you know what? At some point, are you asking a 407 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:08,040 question or are you questioning? There's a difference. 408 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,680 There's a difference between asking a question and then 409 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,960 questioning, 'cause I found being led by the Spirit happens 410 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:20,200 in small things always. First, you want to know God, 411 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,800 where are you calling me to live and take my family? 412 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,160 I need to know. And he's like, go down this 413 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:26,440 morning, lift your hands during worship. 414 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,320 You're like, no, OK, you know, I'm beyond that. 415 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:34,160 Lord, I've been with you a while, but I can remember being 416 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:35,320 a teenager. Listen to this. 417 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:38,920 Growing up in Oklahoma, I was born and raised in church. 418 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,120 You know, I'm pretty sure like the day after I was born, my mom 419 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:42,600 had me sitting in the church service with her. 420 00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:49,400 But when, whenever I begin to question things or ask questions 421 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,560 as a, as a teenager and as a, as a young teen, I was like, you 422 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,520 know, what is this thing? Is this thing real? 423 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:57,560 You know, I, I had my parents faith, I knew the Bible. 424 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,840 I was raised in church, but God had to make it real for me. 425 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,080 And my God, if you're speaking, then you need to speak to me. 426 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,640 And then somebody taught me a lesson just like I'm teaching 427 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:06,720 today. But I remember being a very 428 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,280 impressionable 14 year old and it just so happened my youth 429 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:15,600 pastor was Apostle Earl and we were having a worship service. 430 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:17,040 Everybody's down front, everybody's worship. 431 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,360 And I was standing in my seat because I had a hundred 432 00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:22,920 thoughts. If I go down there, what are 433 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:24,480 people going to say? If I lift my hands, you know, I 434 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,120 haven't really lift my hands before, they're going to be 435 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:27,560 like, oh, is he faking it or oh, is he doing this? 436 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,680 And I just, there's a lot of things going on in my mind and I 437 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:31,680 just stopped there. And as I got quiet myself, I 438 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:37,720 thought, God is saying, do this and this isn't some big life 439 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,600 altering, dramatic emotional moment for people to see him be 440 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,400 like, look at Josh, look what he's doing. 441 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:45,120 Wow. Nobody clapped. 442 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:49,120 Nobody was like, great job. Nobody knew the war happening 443 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:52,480 inside me between how I felt, what I think I'd be perceived 444 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:55,880 as, and what did God say? And I remember going down there 445 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,160 and then just lifting my hands and the freedom that came from 446 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:01,560 that small gesture. You know, what I didn't have to 447 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,800 do is ask a bunch of theological questions about it. 448 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:05,680 What is the, what is the representation of actually 449 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,320 roofing your hands? And I, I didn't even know any of 450 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,920 that at the time. All I knew was God said on the 451 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,200 inside, go down and lift your hands. 452 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,560 And I heard God and I did what he said. 453 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:22,000 And that put me on a path of hearing and doing that is makes 454 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,920 it to where I can be led by the Spirit in every decision I make. 455 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,240 I didn't have to have a prayer time with him to determine what 456 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,760 I knew on the inside. And I think that's what some 457 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:36,080 people try to override or try to overcomplicate is, you know, 458 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:41,160 whenever God's prompting you to do something, you know what's 459 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,520 inside of you. You also know majority of the 460 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:49,880 time as a believer especially, you know that it's God and you 461 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:55,040 know it's backed up by the Word. I find that when people begin to 462 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:59,400 lose sight or become dull in their hearing and doing with 463 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,880 being led by the Spirit is really in the realm of 464 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:06,520 forgiveness. Because the more that you hear 465 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,600 and obey, you sharpen this ability and you sharpen the 466 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,520 ability to hear his voice and understand what He's saying. 467 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,840 Know how to flow and move with God every time you hear and 468 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,560 obey, but every time you hear and override, it dulls you. 469 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,320 So when somebody says I just feel like I can't hear God's 470 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,880 voice, my question is never why did God stop talking to you? 471 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:35,480 That's never the question. I know God's speaking. 472 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,160 So in the end, some you you've done something to override or 473 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,080 miss what he said. There's this powerful story by a 474 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,480 man named Rick Renner. Growing up in Tulsa, we, you 475 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,440 know, had spent some time with his family as children and he 476 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,120 ended up becoming a missionary to Moscow, Russia. 477 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:54,200 It really Latvia in the beginning, but has had a 478 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,280 ministry work over in the country of Russia for decades 479 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:58,080 now. It's phenomenal. 480 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:03,120 But I was listening to a message one time that he was accounting 481 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:05,760 a, a time in his ministry whenever somebody had attacked 482 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:10,680 him verbally in in front of a whole thousands of people and 483 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,440 discredited his ministry wrongfully. 484 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,360 So he let bitterness stir in his heart and he and he would tell 485 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:18,440 you this if he was standing here, let bitterness stir in his 486 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,720 heart towards this individual and then ended up standing up in 487 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,720 his congregation of thousands of people and saying negative words 488 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,520 about this other minister. The moment he did it, he said on 489 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,880 the inside, I shouldn't have done that. 490 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,800 He said that he would go to pray and there was weeks and weeks 491 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,120 where he was trying to spend time with God in prayer and God 492 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:39,480 wasn't saying nothing but one thing. 493 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:41,160 You need to ask that man to forgive you. 494 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,800 He didn't even know if the guy hurt him, but he said you need 495 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:46,520 to ask him to forgive you. You're going to get down on your 496 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,800 knees in front of that man and ask him to forgive you. 497 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:53,680 And every time he went to prayer, that's what God will 498 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:54,800 say. Have you got down on your knees 499 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:56,480 with that man and asked him to forgive you yet? 500 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,760 So you know what he did as a righteous, mighty man of God? 501 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,560 He shows up in the man's office, sets a meeting with him, talks 502 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:07,360 to him. Enough small talk has gone by 503 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:08,760 that there's only one thing left to do. 504 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,920 Was the was the other person wrong for saying these words 505 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:17,720 about him? Yeah. 506 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,720 Was he wrong for saying the things about him? 507 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,400 Yeah. But we didn't cancel out each 508 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,240 other by being led by the flesh and led by the information. 509 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,400 No, the spirit spoke and said, go get on your knees. 510 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,560 So he said in that moment, he said, there's one more thing I 511 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,640 need to to do. And he said he got down on one 512 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:42,280 knee And the spirit said, Nope, he's like, so he got on both 513 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,560 knees, said I need to ask your forgiveness. 514 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:48,880 But you understand the humility that has to come from you simply 515 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,800 hearing and doing that again, as people who've experienced life 516 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,240 and gone through trials and gone through things and, and, and had 517 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,040 a a lot of lot of things go on in our in our past. 518 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,680 It's easy for us to say that's a ridiculous thing to do. 519 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:03,320 I'll just ask him to forgive me and move on. 520 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,120 When this what did the Holy Spirit say? 521 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,720 What did he say? It's not good enough to do it 522 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:15,440 part way before the Spirit of God lived within and was leading 523 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,240 from within. I remember a time in the Old 524 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:18,960 Testament with a a man named Saul. 525 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,240 He was a king. You know what happened with 526 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,720 Saul? God told him, go in and kill 527 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:28,800 everything. In this one battle, what you've 528 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,680 always done is you've gone and you've made a sacrifice. 529 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:32,200 You've taken some of the good, you've brought it back. 530 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:33,680 But in this one, I want you to kill everything. 531 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:35,840 I want you to take it, wipe it all out and don't keep anything 532 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,960 for yourself. So Saul goes in, sees how good 533 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,640 the stuff is, says you know what, I'm going to keep some of 534 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,280 this. Then God has to send the prophet 535 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,240 to him and says, I thought I told you. 536 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,880 You know what Saul told him? Well, I did what God said. 537 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:59,360 I did what he said. Then the prophet says, then why 538 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,920 can I hear the sheep? How are dead sheep making noise? 539 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,680 He says, But I sacrifice to God. I did what I've always done. 540 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,880 And in that moment, God stripped the Kingdom and the anointing 541 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:19,120 from him just for not wiping out what God said. 542 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:24,720 He did almost everything he was led to do by the Word of God. 543 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,320 See, the simplest thing for him to do would have been to hear 544 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:32,240 what God said and then what? And then do it do it in its 545 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,360 simplest form. Being led by the Spirit is not 546 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:39,280 this big complicated thing that we have to go and have signs and 547 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:40,520 fleeces. There's another guy in the Bible 548 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:44,080 named Gideon, Gideon's he's, he's sitting here, he's afraid. 549 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:45,800 He's and he's, he's down in the wine press. 550 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:47,560 He's doing his thing. And all of a sudden an Angel of 551 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,520 the Lord shows up and says, Hey, get up, mighty man of valor. 552 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,880 And he's like, who are you talking to? 553 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,360 I am mortified at what's happening around me. 554 00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,960 I am not mighty. I am terrified and scared and I 555 00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:04,640 want nothing to do with this. So he asked God confirm it then. 556 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,480 So God, he's like, I'm going to lay out this fleece and what a 557 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,640 lot of believers are trying to do in the new covenant with just 558 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:12,760 the Spirit inside of them are trying to figure out fleeces and 559 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,120 say, give me a sign. So he's like, listen, if, if 560 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,080 there's a, I'm going to put a bowl of water by the fleece and 561 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:18,800 then I'm going when I wake up, if the, if the fleece is wet, 562 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:20,440 but the ground's dry, I know you did it. 563 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,600 And then it happens because he's in the Old Testament, he's in 564 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:25,920 the old covenant. The Spirit doesn't live within 565 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:27,920 him. So God confirmed it for him. 566 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:30,480 God's always ready to confirm his word for you. 567 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,080 If God gives you a word, he's going to give you the proof. 568 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:34,200 He's, there's going to be evidence. 569 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,560 If you say, here he goes, the Spirit's leading me here, there 570 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:43,200 will be proof every time, whether or not what you're 571 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,520 saying is right or whether or not you're missing it, there's 572 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:50,240 proof. Then he says, well, that's not 573 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:51,080 good enough. I need another. 574 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:53,320 OK, OK, you got the fleece. All wet. 575 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:55,000 Takes forever to dry. I need a miracle. 576 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,120 You need to dry it really fast. It's like saying, Lord, I want 577 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:00,240 the whole load of laundry to be wet when I wake up in the 578 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,640 morning and then realizing, oh, no, it's not done. 579 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:05,440 I need it. I need you to dry it. 580 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,080 So he drives out the fleece by a miracle. 581 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:10,920 So he's putting out this fleece, looking for God to confirm 582 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,400 something. When in this new covenant we 583 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,480 have, we don't need fleeces. You know why? 584 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:20,680 Because we have the word. We have the Holy Spirit of God 585 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:24,360 inside of us speaking and bearing witness with our spirit. 586 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,480 I think sometimes people want the Holy Spirit, you know, to to 587 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,400 be like a, a shock collar on a dog. 588 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:36,400 You know what I mean? Like they don't want a gentle 589 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,360 leading because that's what being led by the spirit is not 590 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:43,200 being driven by the spirit. Being led by the spirit is not 591 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:48,120 being controlled by the Spirit God, the spirit, even the devil 592 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:54,320 can't control you. That would be overriding your 593 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:58,320 free will. Whatever you do, you choose and 594 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,600 allow. But people want the Holy Ghost 595 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,280 like, oh man, if I'm going to be lied by the Spirit, he needs to 596 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:04,400 be louder. He needs to, you know, I got a 597 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:05,600 lot going on. And it's like they put on a 598 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:07,520 shock collar and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit's like they go 599 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:08,480 to do something they shouldn't do. 600 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:13,080 And he goes, I remember we had this dog named Scamp growing up 601 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,080 and my parents, you know, had this invisible fence put in and 602 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,440 it had these little flags around and Scamp didn't know what's 603 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,480 going on. He just knows we put this heavy 604 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,240 collar on him and if he gets close to it, he goes. 605 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:32,200 And he, you know what, even with that, he never learned Scamp was 606 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:35,680 stupid. He'd walk every day. 607 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:37,360 We're like, don't, we don't want him to go past that point. 608 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:40,320 He'd walk Lango and walk right past it. 609 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:46,240 And you think that if the Holy Ghost did that for you, you 610 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:51,720 would always comply. The Holy Ghost is speaking on 611 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,920 the inside of you again. He's the spirit of truth. 612 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:55,800 He doesn't have to try to be louder. 613 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:58,720 He just has to be present in the conversation. 614 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,840 There's this, this guide that we follow in this, you know, we can 615 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:11,560 say this, that peace is often the compass that the Spirit uses 616 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,040 to guide us. You'll hear, you know, in our, 617 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:16,600 in our, you know, regular church language, we'll say things like, 618 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:18,679 you got to be led by the Spirit, follow peace. 619 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,239 Make sure that you follow peace. But today it's important for us 620 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:25,280 to define and understand what peace looks like because 621 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,360 unfortunately, there have been times when somebody has 622 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,600 abandoned what God has called them to do. 623 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,520 And what they say is, well, I need to protect my peace. 624 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:41,080 When last I checked, the peace of God protects you. 625 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,480 So if you're having to protect your peace, it must be a 626 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:52,120 fabricated peace. See, fabricated peace has to be 627 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:54,000 protected. It has to be guarded because 628 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,880 it's very fragile. It's fragile because it's based 629 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,280 on your emotions, it's based on your circumstance, it's based on 630 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,440 how you feel. It's based on your anxiety. 631 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:08,920 But the peace of God, see that one is powerful. 632 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,520 Nothing that God gives us is inferior. 633 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:14,440 Nothing God gives us is substandard. 634 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:18,360 Everything God has given to you, He gives to empower, equip and 635 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,920 make you greater than you are. So if God gives you peace, that 636 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,760 peace must carry you and cause you to withstand things the rest 637 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,760 of the world can't. So let's look at Colossians 638 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:34,960 chapter 3 verse 15. Colossians 315 says let the 639 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,720 peace of Christ rule in your hearts. 640 00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:41,080 Now peace of Christ, let it rule in your hearts to which indeed 641 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:43,360 you were called into one body and be thankful. 642 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,400 Let the peace of Christ, not the peace of your circumstance, not 643 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:51,360 the peace of your relaxing evening with a book. 644 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,440 Don't let the peace of a nice rainstorm on a tin roof. 645 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,680 No, the peace of Christ is what should rule your heart. 646 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:02,200 The same peace that Christ carried with him when he was in 647 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:05,880 the garden sweating drops of blood before he went to go do 648 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,640 something very physically, completely, and you know, 649 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,000 horrible that he had to pursue and go through, but something 650 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:13,600 carried him through that called peace. 651 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,920 Which tells me peace is not the absence of conflict or the 652 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:22,040 absence of chaos. See, we try to say, oh, the 653 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:23,880 Spirit wouldn't lead me into something that makes me 654 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,160 uncomfortable. The Spirit wouldn't lead me into 655 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:29,080 conflict when history tells a different tale. 656 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,080 No, if peace is not the absence of conflict, what that means is 657 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:39,680 that the peace of God must be a steadfastness in the midst of 658 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:44,040 conflict. Peace is a confidence in 659 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:48,800 conflict. See, that's why we have to rely 660 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:50,360 on the Spirit. That's why we have to be led by 661 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:51,560 the Spirit. That's why we have to learn to 662 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,680 know God's voice. Because when you say, oh, I've 663 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,400 got my anxiety coming up, that must mean you have no idea how 664 00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:57,560 peace works. You got to get it. 665 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,720 You got to get you some. You got to get in the Bible and 666 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:03,080 find out, how do I get this peace? 667 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:06,240 How am I led by the Spirit? That's what I found the great 668 00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:08,040 one of the greatest things. I've already said it, but one of 669 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,240 the greatest things about being led by the Spirit is the 670 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:13,880 overwhelming confidence that I know what I'm doing is right, 671 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,320 even if everybody disagrees with me in the world, even if 672 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:21,240 circumstances are telling me it's different. 673 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:25,360 What did God say? That's what I believe. 674 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,600 And I'm going to do it as a pastor. 675 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:33,440 I, I visit people in hospitals from time to time and, you know, 676 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,280 the situations can vary, whether or not somebody has, you know, 677 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,400 just an injured pinky or if somebody has a, you know, a 678 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,000 terminal illness that may have happened. 679 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,680 But one thing I've found is that going into these situations, 680 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,520 there's nothing that can be said or done in this hospital that 681 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,320 God's not greater than someone's. 682 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:52,640 Like, what if I get a negative report? 683 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:59,320 So what I realized that if me visiting you ended in your 684 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:03,120 death, there's provision in the word that you could be raised 685 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,960 up. So whatever they say is not 686 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,360 shaking me and shouldn't shake you. 687 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,040 If your piece is rooted in positive reports only, then 688 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:13,960 it'll be shaken if somebody comes in and says, oh, looks 689 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:15,400 like you have this, this problem. 690 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,240 When somebody, when a doctor diagnosis something in your 691 00:38:18,240 --> 00:38:19,640 life, there's no problem with doctors. 692 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:21,680 Let them diagnose because they give you a name of what you 693 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,280 have. And then you realize the name 694 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:27,400 above all names happens to be what? 695 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:33,360 And we have to let the peace of Jesus or the peace of God rule 696 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,480 our hearts. There's nothing that can be said 697 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:41,480 to me to rattle me. The peace of Christ can rule in 698 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,960 your heart. Let's look at Philippians 47. 699 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,120 Philippians 47 says in the peace of God. 700 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:53,040 The peace of who? Not your peace, not your peace 701 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,480 that needs to be protected, not your special little pet peace 702 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:57,240 that you need to keep in a little box with you. 703 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,600 No, the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, 704 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:06,160 which means there's times in your life that you'll need what 705 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:08,240 it says. In the rest, it will guard your 706 00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:11,080 hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 707 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,080 There's times when you may not understand everything that's 708 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,080 happening to you. You may not have all of the 709 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,880 information around you, but what you have is within you. 710 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,720 I've got peace knowing that God is with me and I'm being led by 711 00:39:22,720 --> 00:39:26,880 what He says because I just need to hear and then do what He 712 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:29,400 tells me. Just hear and do. 713 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:34,040 If there's a secret algorithm to being led by the Spirit, that's 714 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:39,240 what it is. Hear God, do what he said and 715 00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:44,760 don't be pressured or rushed to, to to to, you know, rush that 716 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,480 decision. Circumstances will try to 717 00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:50,800 pressure you. Now, I'm not saying drag around 718 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:52,960 and don't do anything either. And just I'm waiting on the 719 00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:54,280 Lord. No, no, no, you need to get a 720 00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:57,400 word from the Lord. Whenever I ask of him, he 721 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,600 answers. This isn't the old covenant. 722 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:02,520 This isn't with Daniel. Like there was an Angel and he's 723 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:04,320 fighting somebody up in the heavenlies and trying to come 724 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:07,080 down and deliver me a message. It's an instant message. 725 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,520 Not like AOL, no. Maybe that's too old. 726 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:13,000 Charlie has no idea what that is. 727 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:15,240 It's not that kind of instant message. 728 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,280 But if I ask God, he can answer me on the inside right away. 729 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,920 I can know what God expects of me or wants of me in any given 730 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:25,280 situation. I remember there was a time when 731 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,240 our youngest was having a challenge and we took her to the 732 00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:31,480 hospital late at night and the doctor that was on call, he was 733 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:33,440 like, listen, I want to, we're going to have to do a spinal. 734 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,480 What is it called? My wife just mouthed something 735 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:38,600 to me. I have no clue what you just 736 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,080 said, but they had to take a needle and stick it in her 737 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,040 spinal cord and draw out some fluid to do a test. 738 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:45,680 And they're like, well, there's a percentage chance that this 739 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,040 would, you know, that, that this could, you know, hurt her and 740 00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:49,200 paralyze her if we don't do it right. 741 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:50,920 And we have to, you have all this information, but you need 742 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:54,960 to do it now, right now. Well, you know what? 743 00:40:56,160 --> 00:41:00,320 I'm not to be rushed into this. And I said, there's something I 744 00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:02,720 have to do first. You're going to let me step out 745 00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:05,720 here with my wife and we're going to ask the we're going to 746 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:08,160 ask God, we're going to ask our king what he wants us to do. 747 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:12,680 Because if he says yes, then I've heard and I need to do 748 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,280 that. If he says no, then I've heard 749 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,600 and I need to do that. But my whole confidence in this 750 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:22,240 moment rests on one thing. What is God going to say? 751 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:25,800 I don't care what the doctor, what the statistics, what the 752 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,040 percentages, what the, what the, the diagnosis is. 753 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,200 I don't care about any of that. I care about one thing because 754 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:31,840 I'm led by the Spirit. You know what that thing is? 755 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:37,080 What is God going to say? What does he want me to do now? 756 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,760 This doctor looked at me angry and said no, it has to happen 757 00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:42,320 now. And I said, you'll wait until I 758 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:44,080 hear from God. I'm going to step out. 759 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:46,440 You won't do anything until I do because I have that right, 760 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:47,920 obviously in the United States as well. 761 00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:50,680 So I stepped out. Go with my wife. 762 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:52,320 We prayed. You know what, we had a peace 763 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:54,680 about it. We let peace be a compass that 764 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,160 guided us. God didn't say get the needle, 765 00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:58,920 stick it in her spine. He didn't say all that. 766 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,120 He just said, go ahead. And I knew that on the inside, 767 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,360 and so did my wife. The spirit bore witness with our 768 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:05,640 spirits on the inside, both of us. 769 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:07,720 And we were in agreement. We said, OK, So we came back and 770 00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:11,720 he's like, yeah, I knew it. And then, you know, I asked this 771 00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:14,760 question that maybe escalated it, But I was like, are you 772 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,680 about to get off your shift? Come on. 773 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:24,160 He said yes. I was like, I'm not rushed by 774 00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:28,560 your time frame. He said, I'm sorry, he didn't 775 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:30,080 have to say that because I was right. 776 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:31,800 It didn't matter. I heard from God. 777 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:34,840 I didn't need to hear that confirmation. 778 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:36,480 The Spirit confirmed with me what we were doing. 779 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:39,520 But that's whenever somebody goes to at a crossroads and 780 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,600 they're about to make a life decision and they're like, what 781 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:42,720 should I do? What should I do? 782 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:46,080 I think a lot of times people are asking too many people. 783 00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:48,960 The question that you need to ask of one person. 784 00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:51,720 It's the person of the Holy Spirit. 785 00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:56,240 What should I do? There's sometimes when people 786 00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:58,000 are like, I'm just going to take a take a leap of faith. 787 00:42:58,000 --> 00:42:59,600 I'm just going to step out and take a leap of faith. 788 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:02,200 And they're picturing Indiana Jones whenever he's standing out 789 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,120 there in the, the big Canyon and, and he's just. 790 00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:10,080 But what I found with faith, what I found with faith is that 791 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:12,600 faith never steps out over nothing. 792 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,400 It a leap of faith is never a leap out into the unknown. 793 00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:26,040 It's always a leap out into the unseen that you know, see faith, 794 00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:30,840 a leap of faith steps out firmly knowing I'm landing on the word 795 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:32,920 of God. So if you're like, I don't know 796 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:34,600 what God said, then don't do anything. 797 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:40,760 Don't do anything. I haven't heard anything from 798 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,800 God yet. Then why are you moving? 799 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:46,800 Why are you taking steps to go a direction that you haven't 800 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,200 heard? That's insane. 801 00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:53,440 In the Kingdom of God. You need to hear what God says 802 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:55,520 and then move forward with that confidence. 803 00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:57,240 You know what? It always, it doesn't always 804 00:43:57,240 --> 00:44:02,240 make sense to the world, but you know who it'll make sense to 805 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:07,720 other Kingdom people when God, when the Holy Spirit is leading 806 00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:10,920 you and guiding you in a certain direction, it won't make sense 807 00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:17,320 to ChatGPT. It won't make sense to Google. 808 00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:23,760 Here's a good here's a good, you know, test for, for ChatGPT. 809 00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:29,240 Hey, Chat, I'm offered a job that pays me twice as much as 810 00:44:29,240 --> 00:44:31,640 I'm making. Is this a wise decision? 811 00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:34,400 What do you think the answer's gonna be? 812 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:38,160 You know what? That may not be the case in the 813 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:45,600 Kingdom. Hey Google, if I move to this 814 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:49,680 other city, is this a better place for me to live and raise 815 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:51,880 my children than where I'm at? What's the demographic? 816 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:56,280 What's the crime rate? What's the information about the 817 00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:00,320 decision I'm wanting to make? When you weren't created to live 818 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:05,360 based on just information, you were created to be led by the 819 00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:08,880 Spirit. The 1st place of question for 820 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,760 any life decision should be Father God. 821 00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:16,720 What do you want from me? Because God could call you to 822 00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:20,880 take a pay cut in an assignment, in a place that he wants you to 823 00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,160 have influence, but that doesn't make sense to the world. 824 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,560 That doesn't make sense to your family. 825 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,000 Sometimes it doesn't make as much sense to you. 826 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,120 But you know what? It's like the kitchen. 827 00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:34,240 Hey, don't go in there right now. 828 00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:37,480 Hey, don't move away yet. Just wait. 829 00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:41,120 Why God? Why, why, why, why? 830 00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:45,880 Just wait. What is the last thing God said? 831 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:51,600 Did he say wait on that choice? Why are you doing something 832 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:52,320 else? Just wait. 833 00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:58,160 Did God say stay rooted here, stay planted where you are for a 834 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:04,120 season? I found this to be the case. 835 00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:06,720 You know, there's there's some proofs of being led by the 836 00:46:06,720 --> 00:46:09,760 spirit. One of these proofs is how does 837 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:12,920 your presentation of God is leading me somewhere reflect on 838 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:17,000 God. I know that we have a, a, a 839 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:20,480 discipleship course here called 318 that we do for men. 840 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:23,320 It's powerful. Coming coming up on Father's Day 841 00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:25,120 weekend here in a couple weeks. We're going to have a big sign 842 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:26,120 up for it. I'm telling you, if you're a 843 00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:30,160 male of 18 or older, you need this. 844 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:32,840 I'm not telling you this 'cause I think I should recommend it to 845 00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:33,840 you. I'm telling you, 'cause I went 846 00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:37,520 through it myself. It made me, it helped carve me 847 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,760 and make me who I am today. You need it. 848 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:45,800 But what it is, this is a three-year course, every Monday 849 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:47,480 throughout the school year. Three years. 850 00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:50,080 We've been doing this for how many years? 851 00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:56,080 11 years we've been doing this. And you know what, time and time 852 00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:58,960 again I've seen people come in and say, I heard from God. 853 00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:01,520 He wants me to sign up for this three-year course. 854 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:04,640 And then a year in, they're like, I'm being led by the 855 00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:07,680 Spirit to go do something else. I'm not going to return. 856 00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:11,920 You're making God look wacky. You're making God look like he 857 00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:15,240 ain't the alpha and Omega. The beginning knowing the 858 00:47:15,240 --> 00:47:17,400 beginning from the end you're acting like God don't know 859 00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:19,000 what's what he's calling you to do. 860 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,040 Oh, I God's calling me just to no. 861 00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:22,600 When you came in, you said God call me. 862 00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:25,360 What happened was you got upset or offended by something. 863 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:29,360 Then you made a life choice in the midst of an offense it's in. 864 00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:38,040 What's impossible is to be led by the Spirit in an offense. 865 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:46,840 If somebody upset you and then the Spirit immediately says I'm 866 00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:48,640 leading you in another direction, you're wrong. 867 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:55,040 If you got corrected by somebody, whether it's a fellow 868 00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:57,720 brother or sister in Christ, or by some of the people that God's 869 00:47:57,720 --> 00:48:01,000 entrusted to oversee and give an account for your soul, if you 870 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:02,560 get corrected and all of a sudden you come out of that 871 00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:04,440 correction and go, God is leading me to go to another 872 00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:08,120 place, you're wrong. He doesn't lead you by 873 00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:12,360 correcting you or offending you. He bears witness with your 874 00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:15,600 spirit of what you should be doing. 875 00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:20,040 So now everybody that says the Spirit is calling me to do this 876 00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:26,320 is telling you the truth. And anybody says the Spirit told 877 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:29,440 me, don't question it, they're wrong. 878 00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:36,200 They're wrong because anything that God has called me to do, I 879 00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:39,320 have proven with my life and my choices, whatever He's called me 880 00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:43,040 to do, whatever I've heard and then done will stand the test of 881 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:44,520 somebody saying I think you're wrong. 882 00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:49,080 See, when God called me to move to Florida, I was only, you 883 00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:50,920 know, 16 years old. When God planted that in my 884 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:52,800 heart, which means whenever we started Anchor Faith Church, I 885 00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:54,680 was 17 years old, I wasn't here. Why? 886 00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:59,200 Because I was not a legal adult, but whenever I turned 18, God 887 00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:01,880 still had it on my heart and I knew, I knew on the inside. 888 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:03,760 Nobody told me. Nobody laid hands on me, nobody 889 00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:05,040 prophesied. I just knew inside. 890 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:07,440 God said, I'm calling you to ministry and you're going to 891 00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:09,720 move to Florida. You know what else he said? 892 00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:13,960 Nothing. That's all I got. 893 00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:17,760 I didn't have any life experience of paying bills and 894 00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:21,160 all these other things to help cloud and, and, and conflagulate 895 00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:23,320 my decisions and what I was going to do. 896 00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,400 All I had was God said, I'm calling you to ministry, move to 897 00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:29,680 Florida. So anytime my parents were 898 00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:31,280 talking about what are you going to do when we graduate? 899 00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:32,280 What's the plan? What do we have? 900 00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:33,880 God call me ministry. I'm going to move to Florida. 901 00:49:35,720 --> 00:49:36,640 Well, how are you going to do it? 902 00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:41,320 I don't know. All I know is this is all I've 903 00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:44,080 heard. So in the midst of that, there 904 00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:46,400 were major trials and things that took place that would try 905 00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:49,120 to get me from it. I had counsel from from, you 906 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:52,160 know, I say counsel, true counsel comes when somebody 907 00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:55,440 points you to the word. Let me let me say I had advice 908 00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:58,640 from people that were even youth leaders when I was growing up. 909 00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:00,520 They tell me, listen, you're going to miss God if you if you 910 00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:02,480 go there. One person said, listen, until 911 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:04,520 you go to college, you're not going to amount to anything. 912 00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:07,440 So you might as not, you know, might as well not waste your 913 00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:09,840 time just moving somewhere. You need to wait. 914 00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:15,720 But you know what, I heard you're called the ministry move 915 00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:21,000 to Florida. It's not complicated, but a lot 916 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,400 of other things were trying to complicate it for me. 917 00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:26,800 A month before I move, my mom suffers a brain aneurysm. 918 00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:29,720 I know she's not sitting here by my dad right now. 919 00:50:29,720 --> 00:50:31,360 She's alive. If you haven't been here before 920 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:36,920 the Holy Ghost move, it was a supernatural encounter. 921 00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:38,200 God healed and God took care of her. 922 00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:39,680 She's not blind, she's not paralyzed. 923 00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:41,320 She's functioning. She's teaching your children 924 00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:44,640 right now. But you understand, for my 925 00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:47,240 hearing, my purpose, for listening to God, and all of a 926 00:50:47,240 --> 00:50:49,000 sudden this happens a month before I'm supposed to move. 927 00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:50,680 I had to ask God, what do you want? 928 00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:53,360 Because if this is delayed because the enemy's trying to 929 00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:55,040 come against us with something, I'll wait. 930 00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:58,480 What do you want? And I had to hear from God. 931 00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:01,000 You know what God said? God said I've called you to 932 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:06,920 ministry, moved to Florida, and you know what? 933 00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:10,240 He didn't tell me anything else until I did that. 934 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:12,360 Then once I did that, I got another step. 935 00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:14,560 You're going to serve in the ministry and you're going to do 936 00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:18,880 whatever is asked of you. And I still do that. 937 00:51:18,880 --> 00:51:23,520 He hasn't told me different yet. Whatever's asked, I'll do it of 938 00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:25,960 the ministry, whatever progresses the vision, whatever 939 00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:27,000 goes on. But why? 940 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:29,040 Because that's what I heard from God. 941 00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:31,000 Have there been small other things that I've heard? 942 00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:33,120 Yes, but that was a big life altering moment that I had to 943 00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:36,080 just practice what I did when I was a teenager whenever God said 944 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:37,480 just go down and lift your hands. 945 00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:40,480 The simplicity of that obedience helped me be attuned to what is 946 00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:45,040 God saying in this big decision. We want to be people that are 947 00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:48,200 the King's, people that say I don't want to do anything of my 948 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:50,560 own self, but I want to do what God is telling me. 949 00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:00,520 Look at this as we begin to kind of wind things down. 950 00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:08,040 Maybe, I don't know, I'm pretty wound up still, but John chapter 951 00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:12,000 10, verse 27 says this. And I think this is going to 952 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,440 help a lot of people because sometimes you're like, how do I 953 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:16,600 know I can hear God's voice? I feel like God's not speaking 954 00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:18,560 to me. What is what is what if, what if 955 00:52:18,560 --> 00:52:22,840 God isn't speaking to me? But this verse here tells us my 956 00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:26,560 sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. 957 00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:29,000 No, we're going to leave this verse up here for a minute 958 00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:31,880 because there's a lot said in that one sentence. 959 00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:38,040 This is the words of Jesus. He says my sheep hear. 960 00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:40,760 He did not say my sheep can hear. 961 00:52:42,200 --> 00:52:44,000 He did not say my sheep might hear. 962 00:52:44,720 --> 00:52:51,440 This is a definitive statement. My sheep hear my voice, and I 963 00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:53,240 know them. But here you go. 964 00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:56,640 And what defines whether they're his sheep? 965 00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:00,080 Because you know what? If you're in a pasture and 966 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:02,640 there's a fence and you got your sheep and somebody else's sheep 967 00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:05,800 and you call out, everybody hears it. 968 00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:13,440 Your neighbour's sheep will hear what you're saying, but what 969 00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:14,720 defines that? They're yours. 970 00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:20,200 My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. 971 00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:25,120 So what this tells me is we don't have a lack of hearing. 972 00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:31,200 You always hear when you pray and you ask God, He always tells 973 00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:34,800 you the answer every time, quicker than you give Him credit 974 00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:40,120 for every time. If we go back to verse 5 of this 975 00:53:40,120 --> 00:53:44,080 same chapter, John 10/5, it says a stranger they simply will not 976 00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:52,840 follow, which means to be one of his flock, one of his household, 977 00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:57,280 one of his sheep. We hear his voice and then do 978 00:53:57,280 --> 00:53:59,640 what he says, not what a stranger says. 979 00:53:59,960 --> 00:54:02,480 Well, a lot of times we confuse ourselves and being led by the 980 00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:06,240 Spirit when we listen to voices that the king hasn't authorized. 981 00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:11,640 It's not because he's not loud enough, it's not because he's 982 00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,200 not speaking, but it's because we're allowing other things to 983 00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:18,120 crowd his voice and listening to other things. 984 00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:25,080 First Corinthians chapter 14, verse 33, you're like, I'm 985 00:54:25,080 --> 00:54:28,880 confused. Well, God is not a God of 986 00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:34,400 confusion, That's right, but a God of what peace as in all the 987 00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:37,120 churches of the Saints, What did I, what did we say is the thing 988 00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:41,320 that is the compass of the Spirit, peace following peace, 989 00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:43,560 the peace of God. God does not give you confusion. 990 00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:45,240 He gives you peace. So if what you're doing you're 991 00:54:45,240 --> 00:54:48,280 confused by and you're moving through confusion, you're not 992 00:54:48,280 --> 00:54:51,440 moving with God. Now, if you're moving through 993 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:55,280 unknown, but with the confidence of the Spirit, that's God. 994 00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:57,800 If you're moving through confusion and you don't know, 995 00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:00,120 that's not God. Do we get this? 996 00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:05,040 See, this is the the litmus test of am I hearing God? 997 00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:07,360 Are you confident that what you're doing is what he's 998 00:55:07,360 --> 00:55:11,760 assigned you for right now? I don't know how it'll turn out. 999 00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:13,320 That's not that's that's not for you. 1000 00:55:13,760 --> 00:55:18,000 What's the step for some people that are like, man, I want my 1001 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:18,840 life to be whole. I want this thing. 1002 00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:20,680 And all of a sudden Pastor Angie gets up and says, listen, we've 1003 00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:23,320 got this, this class coming up called Heal the Choice. 1004 00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:25,480 And it's about abortion. And you know what the Holy 1005 00:55:25,480 --> 00:55:30,880 Spirit might say, Yep, do that. And then you go the next six 1006 00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:32,440 months to figure out how can I hear God? 1007 00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:33,960 What am I gonna do? Why am I so anxious? 1008 00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:35,440 Why do I have anxiety? Why don't I have peace? 1009 00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:38,560 Why do I still have regrets and, and past hurts and, and things 1010 00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:40,320 that aren't? And really, what's the last 1011 00:55:40,320 --> 00:55:41,080 thing he said? Amen. 1012 00:55:42,720 --> 00:55:45,280 He doesn't have to say do this and here's all that will result 1013 00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:46,320 from it. And here's the victory, and 1014 00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:47,960 here's what it looks like in the end, and here's how you'll be a 1015 00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:49,720 whole. All he can say sometimes is just 1016 00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:52,320 do it. You need to do that. 1017 00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:56,560 And then from that simple obedience can come a lifetime of 1018 00:55:56,560 --> 00:56:00,400 healing, of moving past regrets, moving past failures, being 1019 00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:03,240 redeemed in such a way that you're like, I'm not burdened by 1020 00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:06,640 anything anymore. So often there's one thing in 1021 00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:09,520 your life that you're holding on to that God wants you to get rid 1022 00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:12,240 of and let go of. Yet he leads you through small 1023 00:56:12,240 --> 00:56:18,240 choices to get there. Everybody thinks if Jesus showed 1024 00:56:18,240 --> 00:56:20,080 up right now in this room and looked at me and said you will 1025 00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:25,600 do this, that they would obey. But you've got something even 1026 00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:27,960 better than the actual physical face of Jesus. 1027 00:56:27,960 --> 00:56:31,760 I think we've over humanized the Word of God. 1028 00:56:32,080 --> 00:56:34,840 He came, He lived, He died, and we needed that work and we 1029 00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:36,480 needed that. But whenever you tell somebody 1030 00:56:36,480 --> 00:56:39,480 you need Jesus, you need what He really was. 1031 00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:45,480 John 11 in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God 1032 00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:48,880 and the Word was God and then the Word became flesh. 1033 00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:53,000 Who is that? You need the Word, you need to 1034 00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:54,840 hear? What is God saying to me? 1035 00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:59,000 And it will always go back to the written word and confirm 1036 00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:01,360 itself in that way. The Holy Spirit's not whispering 1037 00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:03,480 to you something that's prohibited in Scripture. 1038 00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:07,240 Holy Spirit told me to do this, Did he? 1039 00:57:07,240 --> 00:57:09,400 Because I can prove it. Let's go see if the Holy Spirit 1040 00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:11,120 is saying it. Oh, that's how dare you. 1041 00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:12,240 I heard. I know what I heard. 1042 00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:14,240 I know what you heard too. And what I'm trying to verify is 1043 00:57:14,240 --> 00:57:18,000 who said it. Because in the garden, when we 1044 00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:20,160 go back to Adam, he, when he fell from revelation down to 1045 00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:21,480 information, guess what happened? 1046 00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:23,800 He comes in there and goes, We're naked. 1047 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:26,960 You know what? God asked him. 1048 00:57:30,040 --> 00:57:37,120 Whose voice showed up in your dominion and caused you to see 1049 00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:39,280 yourself differently than what I said? 1050 00:57:41,960 --> 00:57:45,280 Adam's problem wasn't. He didn't know what God wanted. 1051 00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:48,520 His problem was he obeyed a different voice that spoke to 1052 00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:51,400 him. You are no different than Adam. 1053 00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:53,840 You've been made in the righteousness of God. 1054 00:57:53,840 --> 00:57:55,760 You've been given back dominion in the Kingdom. 1055 00:57:55,760 --> 00:57:58,440 If you are born again, you've been given back the Holy Spirit 1056 00:57:58,440 --> 00:58:00,480 that can speak to you and guide you and lead you. 1057 00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:03,040 But you are no different in the fact that you have a free will. 1058 00:58:03,120 --> 00:58:06,080 And you can choose to obey the Spirit or you can choose to obey 1059 00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:14,360 what you want. You don't need a louder God. 1060 00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:16,120 You need to just quiet your soul. 1061 00:58:18,120 --> 00:58:21,240 Now I know that that sounds mysterious. 1062 00:58:22,080 --> 00:58:24,200 Let me tell you what that's not that's not you sitting Criss 1063 00:58:24,200 --> 00:58:27,120 cross applesauce. Yeah, you know, we got to throw 1064 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:29,160 it in there. That's not you sitting down. 1065 00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:33,040 That's that's New Agey meditation, weird stuff. 1066 00:58:33,040 --> 00:58:35,480 When the Bible says meditate the word, it means think about it a 1067 00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:36,760 lot. It doesn't mean you have to sit 1068 00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:39,320 down in a silent room with no noise. 1069 00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:43,360 You know what I've found a lot of times I hear God so, so 1070 00:58:43,360 --> 00:58:47,160 deeply in the midst of chaos that it would be silly for me to 1071 00:58:47,160 --> 00:58:48,360 think everything has to be silent. 1072 00:58:48,760 --> 00:58:51,200 When we say you need to get quiet with God and listen to 1073 00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:55,280 Him, what we mean is not make sure the kids shut their mouths. 1074 00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:57,280 Make sure your wife goes into a different place. 1075 00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:03,160 Most of the time what we mean is stop asking everyone else to 1076 00:59:03,160 --> 00:59:04,960 quiet. Your mind is really just 1077 00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:08,160 eliminate all the voices that aren't Him. 1078 00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:14,000 If you deal with a situation, if you're going into a trial on a 1079 00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:16,360 problem, the first thing you go to is Google, or the first thing 1080 00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:18,600 you go to is Web MD, or the first thing that you go to is 1081 00:59:18,600 --> 00:59:20,920 your family, or the first thing you go to is culture. 1082 00:59:21,040 --> 00:59:23,200 Then you know what? You're going to get confused 1083 00:59:24,520 --> 00:59:26,160 because we are not led by family. 1084 00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:32,560 The spirit himself testifies with your family. 1085 00:59:32,560 --> 00:59:37,840 No, your whole family may not understand because he's not 1086 00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:41,560 testifying with them, but you know who he is testifying with. 1087 00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:46,200 Your church family, everyone else who's led by the Spirit. 1088 00:59:46,200 --> 00:59:48,440 It becomes obvious when you're led by the Spirit. 1089 00:59:49,320 --> 00:59:51,480 Time told the tale. Did I hear from God to move to 1090 00:59:51,480 --> 00:59:58,160 Florida 20 years ago? My life has proven I heard any 1091 00:59:58,160 --> 01:00:00,160 naysayers that would say, oh, that's not God. 1092 01:00:00,160 --> 01:00:02,360 They've been proven wrong through the faithfulness of me 1093 01:00:02,360 --> 01:00:04,040 following and God proving himself. 1094 01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:07,400 It's always provable and evident when you've heard from the 1095 01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:09,200 Spirit. So just cuz somebody says the 1096 01:00:09,200 --> 01:00:11,880 Spirit's leading me somewhere doesn't mean that's true. 1097 01:00:11,960 --> 01:00:14,480 What matters is does it align with the word? 1098 01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:19,360 Has God-given you this choice out of prayer and out of divine 1099 01:00:19,360 --> 01:00:21,760 counsel with someone saying What does the Word say? 1100 01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:24,800 'Cause the Bible says, and I get this, I, I know that we're 1101 01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:26,840 saying, you know, he testifies with our spirit, not just our 1102 01:00:26,840 --> 01:00:28,200 family. And there's this verse, right, 1103 01:00:28,200 --> 01:00:30,920 that says in a multitude of counselors, there's safety. 1104 01:00:32,520 --> 01:00:34,000 In a multitude of counselors, there's safety. 1105 01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:36,400 You are in a safe place. If you're in a multitude of 1106 01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:39,840 counselors, it does not say in a multitude of opinions, there's 1107 01:00:39,840 --> 01:00:41,760 safety. Or if in a multitude of 1108 01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:44,520 alternatives, there's safety counsel. 1109 01:00:44,520 --> 01:00:49,480 True counsel doesn't come from a degree on the wall behind you. 1110 01:00:50,240 --> 01:00:54,800 True counsel comes when somebody says, let's look to the truth of 1111 01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:57,640 the Word of God. What does it say about this? 1112 01:00:59,600 --> 01:01:03,320 I don't want to serve anymore. The Spirit's telling me to sit 1113 01:01:03,320 --> 01:01:07,920 out and do nothing. Well, what does the Word say? 1114 01:01:10,680 --> 01:01:12,160 God's telling me I'm going to take a season. 1115 01:01:12,160 --> 01:01:13,640 I'm just not going to go to church at all. 1116 01:01:13,760 --> 01:01:15,480 The Spirit's leading me, I'm not going to go to church at all 1117 01:01:15,480 --> 01:01:19,960 anymore, but it the Word says, do not forsake the assembling of 1118 01:01:19,960 --> 01:01:23,080 yourselves together. The Holy Spirit told me, no, we 1119 01:01:23,080 --> 01:01:26,320 didn't. How dare you question? 1120 01:01:26,880 --> 01:01:28,480 The Holy Spirit says what the Word says. 1121 01:01:28,520 --> 01:01:31,560 I know his voice, I know what he says. 1122 01:01:32,360 --> 01:01:36,840 He didn't tell you that. Well then what am I to do? 1123 01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:40,920 The simplest thing. The simplest thing. 1124 01:01:42,840 --> 01:01:47,080 You hear what God says and then just do that thing. 1125 01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:53,360 The Holy Spirit is here to bear witness with your spirit. 1126 01:01:56,440 --> 01:01:59,240 Without the Word of God as our guide, here's a few things that 1127 01:01:59,240 --> 01:02:00,600 can happen. Let me have you write these 1128 01:02:00,600 --> 01:02:03,040 down. If the Word of God isn't your 1129 01:02:03,040 --> 01:02:05,480 guide, if the Holy Spirit, if you're trying to just hear the 1130 01:02:05,480 --> 01:02:09,280 Spirit without being a person of the Word, you're going to fall 1131 01:02:09,280 --> 01:02:11,280 short because the Word and the Spirit are inseparable. 1132 01:02:11,520 --> 01:02:13,400 They go together. If you're like, I've heard from 1133 01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:15,680 the Spirit, but you're a person that's not a person of the Word, 1134 01:02:16,840 --> 01:02:19,400 then I would question because without the Word, your feelings 1135 01:02:19,400 --> 01:02:20,720 will become authority in your life. 1136 01:02:23,880 --> 01:02:27,120 Without the Word, your desires will be mistaken for 1137 01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:31,120 discernment. I'm discerning the Lord wants me 1138 01:02:31,120 --> 01:02:33,040 to do this. No, that sounds really selfish 1139 01:02:33,280 --> 01:02:36,120 actually. Well, I'm doing it for my 1140 01:02:36,120 --> 01:02:39,680 family. My job is not to do things for 1141 01:02:39,680 --> 01:02:42,080 my family. My job is to make sure that me 1142 01:02:42,080 --> 01:02:45,280 and the king are operating in obedience and hearing and doing 1143 01:02:45,280 --> 01:02:48,200 in a covenant relationship. And then God comes in as part of 1144 01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:50,240 that family and guides my family. 1145 01:02:51,200 --> 01:02:54,080 Matthew 633 says if I pursue the Kingdom and his righteousness, 1146 01:02:54,200 --> 01:02:57,120 all the things everybody else is looking for show up, which means 1147 01:02:57,120 --> 01:03:00,160 my job is not to provide for my family. 1148 01:03:01,520 --> 01:03:03,120 If a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat. 1149 01:03:03,400 --> 01:03:08,920 That's a principle which means I'm going to work myself hard 1150 01:03:09,520 --> 01:03:14,440 doing Kingdom things, and then God is obligated to supply for 1151 01:03:14,440 --> 01:03:17,720 my family. So when somebody says, well, I 1152 01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:19,880 have to do this for my family, where's God? 1153 01:03:25,190 --> 01:03:26,870 The last thing that happens if we don't have the word, but 1154 01:03:26,870 --> 01:03:28,710 we're trying to be led by the Spirit without the Word, then we 1155 01:03:28,710 --> 01:03:33,030 end up having our emotions become revelation to us. 1156 01:03:33,870 --> 01:03:36,350 That in a moment when you feel something, all of a sudden this 1157 01:03:36,350 --> 01:03:39,110 is God illuminating to you through your feelings. 1158 01:03:39,960 --> 01:03:41,960 The Spirit does not testify with your feelings. 1159 01:03:43,880 --> 01:03:50,320 You may not feel a single thing when God leads you nothing for 1160 01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:52,880 too long. Pentecostals, I think, put the 1161 01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:55,440 Holy Spirit in a job title. This was never meant for Him, 1162 01:03:55,440 --> 01:03:57,160 which is the head of God's goosebump department. 1163 01:04:00,240 --> 01:04:02,200 If you don't feel goosebumps, then the Holy Spirit didn't move 1164 01:04:02,200 --> 01:04:04,000 in that worship service. That is not the case. 1165 01:04:04,600 --> 01:04:08,160 Did the Word show up? You may have noticed in one of 1166 01:04:08,160 --> 01:04:11,160 the songs this morning that if you've ever heard that song on 1167 01:04:11,160 --> 01:04:13,160 the radio, you're just trying to sing along and you're like, 1168 01:04:14,160 --> 01:04:15,440 that's not the lyrics. Why? 1169 01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:18,320 Because here at Anchor Faith Church, we care about the word 1170 01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:20,480 that's being proclaimed, whether it's in the pulpit or whether 1171 01:04:20,480 --> 01:04:22,320 it's in a microphone with the music. 1172 01:04:24,520 --> 01:04:27,640 So I know the minute we begin to sing the word of God, God shows 1173 01:04:27,640 --> 01:04:31,400 up in this place. The moment somebody opens the 1174 01:04:31,400 --> 01:04:34,480 Word and says let's stand and honor the Word, God showed up 1175 01:04:34,480 --> 01:04:42,440 whether you felt it or not. What I want to leave you with 1176 01:04:42,440 --> 01:04:44,800 today is this. The being led by the Spirit is 1177 01:04:44,800 --> 01:04:48,480 hearing and knowing God's voice within, and it produces an 1178 01:04:48,480 --> 01:04:51,920 overwhelming confidence that you are actually where God has 1179 01:04:51,920 --> 01:04:54,640 called you to be, in the right place at the right time. 1180 01:04:55,640 --> 01:05:02,320 And the simplicity of being LED is hear what He says and do what 1181 01:05:02,320 --> 01:05:02,880 He says.