1 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,320 Guys, can I tell you something? When you came up 2 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,960 here and you stood in the altars a little bit ago, that 3 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:20,560 wasn't just you standing in the altars a little bit ago. 4 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,120 It was a new beginning. It was a beginning where the Holy 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:28,720 Spirit was released to move in your life and work in these areas 6 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,420 that you brought to Him. Don't you leave here thinking, well, "Wow, we just 7 00:00:32,420 --> 00:00:36,180 stood in the altar." No, you leave here going, "We just declared the name of 8 00:00:36,180 --> 00:00:39,660 Jesus over this whole situation, and now it's His. 9 00:00:40,540 --> 00:00:44,300 Now it's His." In case you are wondering 10 00:00:44,300 --> 00:00:47,940 where your actual pastor is this morning, he is 11 00:00:47,940 --> 00:00:51,340 ministering at another church this morning, speaking at a conference. 12 00:00:51,660 --> 00:00:55,500 And so Father, we ask that You bless him, that You use him mightily, Father 13 00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:58,980 God. We pray, Father God, that the Holy Spirit go before him, 14 00:00:58,980 --> 00:01:02,790 Lord. A wonder in that 15 00:01:02,790 --> 00:01:06,550 house. Release Your Word in that house, Father, we ask. 16 00:01:06,710 --> 00:01:09,910 And bring our pastor home safe to us in Jesus' name. 17 00:01:10,870 --> 00:01:14,490 Okay guys, if any of you signed up for Open Tables today, I just want 18 00:01:14,490 --> 00:01:16,950 to let you know that it's not happening. 19 00:01:18,790 --> 00:01:22,550 You are welcome to eat, however, that we're not banning 20 00:01:22,550 --> 00:01:26,310 that. But we are switching our Open Tables schedule to 21 00:01:26,310 --> 00:01:29,670 quarterly, and the first one that's coming up will be with our 22 00:01:29,670 --> 00:01:33,450 conference that is going to be at the beginning of March. And guys, 23 00:01:33,450 --> 00:01:37,210 you guys do not want to miss the Abide Conference. 24 00:01:37,370 --> 00:01:40,890 The Lord has been ordering the steps in this, and you're going to have 8 25 00:01:40,970 --> 00:01:44,770 different opportunities over that weekend to see 26 00:01:44,770 --> 00:01:47,530 what the Lord has for you, see what He has in your life. So you're 27 00:01:47,530 --> 00:01:50,890 going to want to be a part of that. And the ending of that conference 28 00:01:50,890 --> 00:01:54,410 will be, you know, First Gathering, Second Gathering that Sunday, and then 29 00:01:54,570 --> 00:01:58,050 we're going to ask everybody that can to sign up for Open 30 00:01:58,050 --> 00:02:01,810 Tables, because we want you to go talk to somebody about what 31 00:02:01,810 --> 00:02:05,550 God has done during your conference time together. Amen? So these 32 00:02:05,550 --> 00:02:09,190 are the dates. March 8th, take your camera, take a picture. 33 00:02:09,750 --> 00:02:13,510 During the conference, we'll have a table set up where you can sign up just 34 00:02:13,510 --> 00:02:16,750 to meet people, just to talk about what the Lord is doing. So this is 35 00:02:16,750 --> 00:02:20,470 going to be changing, and we hope that you'll be a part of that. 36 00:02:20,470 --> 00:02:23,830 We would love to have you. Now, speaking of loving 37 00:02:24,310 --> 00:02:28,010 to have someone in your presence, we— 38 00:02:28,010 --> 00:02:31,590 though Pastor Kevin is not here, we have the blessing of 39 00:02:31,590 --> 00:02:35,210 Joshua MacLeod bringing the Word. And can I tell you, he's he's gonna mess you 40 00:02:35,210 --> 00:02:38,850 up this morning with the word that the Holy Spirit has given you. 41 00:02:39,010 --> 00:02:42,730 So reach your hand toward him. Father God, we thank you for Joshua. We 42 00:02:42,730 --> 00:02:46,450 thank you, Lord, that he is getting ready to walk around those walls one more 43 00:02:46,450 --> 00:02:50,130 time, Father God. And so, Father, we ask that you cover him, surround him, 44 00:02:50,130 --> 00:02:53,890 speak through him, Father. We're listening. In Jesus' name, 45 00:02:54,210 --> 00:02:57,490 amen. Amen. Amen. Is this thing on? 46 00:02:58,770 --> 00:03:02,540 Praise the Lord. Um, what's— it's 47 00:03:02,540 --> 00:03:06,300 pretty awesome to come and speak at a church where the revival 48 00:03:06,300 --> 00:03:09,380 already broke out in the worship service, so you don't have to do much. 49 00:03:10,260 --> 00:03:14,100 I mean, right? I know I was over here in a circle 50 00:03:14,500 --> 00:03:18,260 praying with my family, and it was just like, oh God, you 51 00:03:18,260 --> 00:03:21,980 came to just meet with us and talk to us. So it's a 52 00:03:21,980 --> 00:03:25,700 crazy cool gift. Well, today I'm going to talk about two things. I'm going to 53 00:03:25,700 --> 00:03:29,320 talk about identity. I'm going to talk about Hearing from the Voice of God. 54 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,120 But first, I wanna ask a question. Uh, did God ever ask 55 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,280 you to do something really uncomfortable? 56 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,920 I see those hands. I see those hands. Uh, when, when Sarah and 57 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,640 I were first married, we were at this little church in Franklin called, uh, Faith 58 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,400 Community Church, and it was just a beautiful little fellowship. I 59 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,120 mean, it was like 120 people. I knew everybody, they knew me. And so at 60 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,840 a little church, when a visitor comes in, it's like a big deal. You're like, 61 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:59,200 whoa, hey, did you There's a new person that came in here. And 62 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,880 so this lady comes in and she had a couple of grown 63 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,600 kids, adults with her, and they came in and they sat right 64 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:10,160 behind Sarah and I. And so everything was great, and I'm 65 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,960 worshiping and just praising God and things, and then the Holy Spirit says, 66 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,640 "Hey, Josh, I want you to turn around and ask that lady 67 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:18,880 where her husband is." 68 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,800 And I'm like, Nope, nope, nope. That was very nice 69 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,320 of you. I mean, I don't know, I must have eaten something weird for breakfast. 70 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,640 That is, that's not the kind of thing, like Pastor Jonathan talks about, like his 71 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:37,920 awkward, like meeting people moments, like that would be a very awkward meeting. 72 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,440 So I'm like, okay, that was just crazy. And then next worship song, hey 73 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:47,120 Josh, I want you to turn around and ask that lady 74 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,850 where her husband is. And so I 75 00:04:50,850 --> 00:04:54,530 was like, well, there's plenty of crazy people in the world, and if this 76 00:04:54,530 --> 00:04:57,730 isn't God, then it's just like, you know, this lady will just be like, there's 77 00:04:57,730 --> 00:05:01,490 another crazy one, and so that's fine. So I turned 78 00:05:01,490 --> 00:05:05,090 around and I'm like, ma'am, I— this is 79 00:05:05,090 --> 00:05:08,890 really weird, but I feel like God wants me to ask you 80 00:05:08,890 --> 00:05:12,690 where your husband is. And that lady looked at 81 00:05:12,690 --> 00:05:16,130 me, and she started tearing up, and then she broke down 82 00:05:16,130 --> 00:05:19,720 crying, and she said, I just separated with my 83 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,480 husband, and I'm here at this church because I'm asking God what I 84 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,320 should do. So Sarah and I were like, 85 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,880 well, you can come over for lunch. And so we brought him over for lunch, 86 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,640 and then they joined our Thursday night Bible study thing, and then she reconciled 87 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,280 with her husband. And that was 20 years ago. 88 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:42,000 Yeah. So, and, and, and God is— God, God 89 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,330 is amazing. The reason why I want to tell that story is I wanna just 90 00:05:45,330 --> 00:05:48,970 start off today by saying God still speaks. We don't 91 00:05:48,970 --> 00:05:52,570 serve a God who is silent. We serve a 92 00:05:52,570 --> 00:05:56,210 God who speaks. A God who doesn't 93 00:05:56,210 --> 00:06:00,010 speak is called an idol, and a lot of 94 00:06:00,010 --> 00:06:03,730 people maybe are worshiping a God, but they don't hear from that 95 00:06:03,730 --> 00:06:07,570 God. But there's a chance there you might be worshiping an idol and 96 00:06:07,570 --> 00:06:08,050 not know even it. 97 00:06:11,410 --> 00:06:15,130 And the reason why I wanna talk about God speaking is because I 98 00:06:15,130 --> 00:06:18,690 think it's important that every one of us understands our identity, 99 00:06:18,690 --> 00:06:22,530 right? Like, not just who do I wanna be, but 100 00:06:22,530 --> 00:06:26,289 who did God design me to be? It blows— it still blows 101 00:06:26,289 --> 00:06:30,050 my mind that everybody has a different fingerprint. Like, nobody in this 102 00:06:30,050 --> 00:06:33,330 room has the same fingerprint as anybody else in this room. 103 00:06:33,730 --> 00:06:36,690 And then multiply that times 8 billion people, 104 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,600 and everyone has a different fingerprint. We are all unique. 105 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,080 We are, and we're not we're not just, just, like, had. We're made. 106 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,760 We are created in the image of God. We are 107 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,600 handcrafted. So we have an identity, but 108 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:57,120 I can't tell you what your identity is, and there's not a speaker on this 109 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,560 stage that can tell you what your identity is, and the news can't tell you 110 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,130 what your identity is, and your friends can't tell you what your identity is. For 111 00:07:03,130 --> 00:07:06,610 you to understand your identity, why did God put you on this planet, 112 00:07:07,010 --> 00:07:10,530 you have to hear that from God. And so hearing from God is one of 113 00:07:10,530 --> 00:07:13,970 the most important things that any of us can ever have in our lives. 114 00:07:14,130 --> 00:07:15,890 Can you hear the voice of God? 115 00:07:18,450 --> 00:07:22,210 C.S. Lewis, in the book "Mere Christianity," talks 116 00:07:22,210 --> 00:07:26,050 about this idea of identity. And he said, "God did not 117 00:07:26,050 --> 00:07:29,820 create us to remain as we are." or to become what we 118 00:07:29,820 --> 00:07:33,660 imagine, but to become the kind of people that he 119 00:07:33,660 --> 00:07:37,380 intended when he made us, which is far more than we 120 00:07:37,380 --> 00:07:41,020 would ever plan for ourselves. God intends us to make us— 121 00:07:41,020 --> 00:07:44,740 God intends to make us saints, not merely nice or 122 00:07:44,740 --> 00:07:48,560 improved versions of our current selves. There's 123 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,380 there's a, kind of a movement out now, and everybody talks about, well, I want 124 00:07:51,380 --> 00:07:54,860 to be the best version of myself. The problem with that is 125 00:07:55,250 --> 00:07:57,810 The best version of yourself might be limited by your own brain. 126 00:07:58,930 --> 00:08:02,450 And if we're trying to be the best version of ourselves and we're not asking 127 00:08:02,450 --> 00:08:06,290 God, like, what is ourselves even supposed to be, then we are— we 128 00:08:06,290 --> 00:08:10,130 might be just totally best version of, like, the worst 129 00:08:10,130 --> 00:08:13,730 version. You and I 130 00:08:13,730 --> 00:08:17,170 are designed to rule and reign with Christ. 131 00:08:20,050 --> 00:08:23,730 That's bonkers, right? It's in the Word. We're priests and 132 00:08:23,730 --> 00:08:27,490 kings and champions and all of these things, but 133 00:08:27,570 --> 00:08:31,210 do we think about that? Do we know that? Do we realize that? What's your 134 00:08:31,210 --> 00:08:34,850 identity? The passage today is 135 00:08:34,850 --> 00:08:38,290 from John 10, verses 14 through 17. 136 00:08:39,010 --> 00:08:42,530 So if you can stand, if you're able, uh, we're going to read John 137 00:08:42,530 --> 00:08:46,250 10:14-17. And look, you know, Kevin always 138 00:08:46,250 --> 00:08:49,250 says something, but I would say let's read like Jesus is listening. 139 00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:53,620 And, and guess what? So 140 00:08:54,100 --> 00:08:57,860 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and 141 00:08:57,940 --> 00:09:01,300 my own know me, just as the Father 142 00:09:01,380 --> 00:09:05,140 knows me and I know the Father. And I 143 00:09:05,140 --> 00:09:08,820 lay down my life for the sheep. And I have 144 00:09:08,820 --> 00:09:12,540 other sheep that are not of this fold. I 145 00:09:12,540 --> 00:09:16,340 must bring them also, and they will listen to my 146 00:09:16,340 --> 00:09:20,150 voice. So there will be one flock, one 147 00:09:20,150 --> 00:09:23,830 shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, 148 00:09:24,070 --> 00:09:27,670 because I lay down my life that I may take it 149 00:09:27,670 --> 00:09:31,350 up again.' This is the Word of the Lord. You may be 150 00:09:31,350 --> 00:09:35,110 seated. There's no Anglicans here today. Nobody said, 'Thanks be to God.' 151 00:09:36,230 --> 00:09:38,550 Did somebody say it? Okay, thank you. 152 00:09:42,230 --> 00:09:45,230 Um, so one thing you'll, you'll, you know about God if you read the Bible, 153 00:09:45,230 --> 00:09:48,840 you're gonna hear a lot about shepherds. All right, like when, when 154 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,040 Jesus was announced, he was announced to 155 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:56,200 shepherds. Excuse me, I need my little water. I 156 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,880 didn't want to bring that up there. That's over there. Somebody sees that little water 157 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,640 and wants to bring it, I would appreciate it. So, um, God 158 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:06,440 announced Jesus's birth to shepherds. 159 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,040 Thank you, my brother. Um, Moses was 160 00:10:13,030 --> 00:10:16,750 A shepherd. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they were all shepherds. 161 00:10:16,750 --> 00:10:19,990 David was the shepherd who became the king. 162 00:10:21,030 --> 00:10:24,710 Shepherds are a big deal to God. So when Jesus is talking 163 00:10:24,710 --> 00:10:28,389 about us, he's like, "I am 164 00:10:28,389 --> 00:10:32,230 the good shepherd, and my sheep hear my 165 00:10:32,230 --> 00:10:35,510 voice." I was listening to a guy talking about shepherds 166 00:10:36,070 --> 00:10:39,550 and sheep, and so he went, and he was in the Middle East, and he 167 00:10:39,550 --> 00:10:43,370 saw this big flock of sheep, and he was like, "Wow." That flock of 168 00:10:43,370 --> 00:10:47,170 sheep is just, that's a big flock of sheep. Like, that's 169 00:10:47,170 --> 00:10:50,530 a very busy shepherd. But then one guy that was standing over here 170 00:10:50,610 --> 00:10:54,410 whistled, and a trickle of all of those sheep that were in this 171 00:10:54,410 --> 00:10:58,090 big flock, they came right out, and they started following this guy because they 172 00:10:58,090 --> 00:11:01,930 knew his voice. And so, you know, we might be out at 173 00:11:01,930 --> 00:11:05,610 work, we might be out in the marketplace, we might be at the family dinner 174 00:11:05,610 --> 00:11:09,440 table, and the shepherd speaks, and we hear his voice. 175 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,000 Now, why do the sheep follow the shepherd? 176 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:18,080 He's going to take care of them. The sheep follow the shepherd because the 177 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,800 shepherd, like, gets the ticks off you. The shepherd, like, brushes your 178 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,200 wool out. The shepherd gives you food. You know, David said, 179 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,160 uh, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me 180 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,160 to lie down in green pastures. We have a 181 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,680 provider who takes care of us. So the 182 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:40,200 sheep follow the shepherd because that's where they, they, they 183 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,880 understand the delight of their caretaker. 184 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:49,360 Um, do you understand that God delights in you? 185 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:53,440 When God speaks, do you run to him? 186 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,400 See, if, if we don't know that God 187 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,960 delights in us, we might be a little slow 188 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,810 to running after God. I was listening to 189 00:12:05,890 --> 00:12:09,450 a radio program, and there was a grandfather 190 00:12:09,450 --> 00:12:13,090 and a father. And the radio 191 00:12:13,090 --> 00:12:16,810 announcer was saying, "What do you wish that you knew when 192 00:12:16,810 --> 00:12:20,250 you were a father that you know now as a 193 00:12:20,250 --> 00:12:23,970 grandfather?" And the grandfather, "There's a single lesson that's the 194 00:12:23,970 --> 00:12:27,810 most important lesson for raising kids. The most important lesson for raising 195 00:12:27,810 --> 00:12:31,370 kids is to let those children understand that they are 196 00:12:31,370 --> 00:12:34,780 delighted in." And you notice this, like, with 197 00:12:34,780 --> 00:12:38,460 grandfather— grandparents, right? Grandparents are really good at 198 00:12:38,460 --> 00:12:42,220 delighting in their grandchildren. Parents are more, like, good at 199 00:12:42,220 --> 00:12:45,060 yelling at the kids, you know, "Hey, put this here." 200 00:12:46,340 --> 00:12:49,940 But think about it, when that child understands that they are 201 00:12:49,940 --> 00:12:53,700 delighted in, there is nothing that that child 202 00:12:53,700 --> 00:12:56,260 won't do. They don't have a ceiling. 203 00:12:57,300 --> 00:13:00,970 Oftentimes, the ceiling of our Our ceiling is 204 00:13:00,970 --> 00:13:04,770 dependent on how much we realize or not that we're 205 00:13:04,770 --> 00:13:08,090 delighted in. People who aren't delighted in don't take 206 00:13:08,090 --> 00:13:11,050 risks. People who aren't delighted in don't develop 207 00:13:11,050 --> 00:13:14,650 relationships. So if we don't understand 208 00:13:14,810 --> 00:13:18,610 that God delights in us, then we have 209 00:13:18,610 --> 00:13:22,010 a major problem with hearing his voice. Like, one of the 210 00:13:22,010 --> 00:13:25,410 primary keys of understanding and listening to God's voice is 211 00:13:25,410 --> 00:13:29,250 understanding he delights in you. Well, God can't delight in me. 212 00:13:29,250 --> 00:13:32,970 I'm a knucklehead. Have 213 00:13:32,970 --> 00:13:34,410 you read the Bible? 214 00:13:37,050 --> 00:13:40,850 Like, I read the Old Testament, and like, you could summarize all of the 215 00:13:40,850 --> 00:13:44,090 children of Israel in one word, two words, like one 216 00:13:44,090 --> 00:13:46,250 hyphenated word: knucklehead. 217 00:13:49,210 --> 00:13:52,650 What did the children of Israel do? Hey, I made you. Great. 218 00:13:52,890 --> 00:13:56,680 I'm gonna go worship Baal. I rescued you from 219 00:13:56,680 --> 00:14:00,320 slavery. Hmm, yeah, that's pretty good, but let's make a 220 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:04,040 golden calf and worship that. That'll be better. I'm gonna set you 221 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,560 up as the premier nation on earth 222 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:11,360 with power and authority and beauty. King Solomon. 223 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,680 Right, right. uh, Let's, let's go chase after gods. 224 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,400 So the children of Israel have this cycle of rejecting 225 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,630 the delight of God to chase something else, 226 00:14:24,350 --> 00:14:27,790 and they get carried off to Babylon. And 227 00:14:28,350 --> 00:14:31,070 this this is, is amazing. This is Isaiah 62, 228 00:14:32,270 --> 00:14:35,790 and God says to Isaiah to tell his children 229 00:14:35,870 --> 00:14:39,190 Israel, who have rebelled so bad that they've got carried off into 230 00:14:39,190 --> 00:14:42,622 slavery, you shall be— Isaiah 62:3-5— 231 00:14:43,870 --> 00:14:47,390 you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord. 232 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,200 And a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 233 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,440 You shall no longer be termed forsaken, and your land 234 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:59,280 shall no more be termed desolate, but you shall be called, 235 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,360 "My delight is in her," and your land, "married." 236 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:07,360 For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. 237 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,120 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you. 238 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,400 And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God 239 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,990 rejoice over you. I am 240 00:15:18,990 --> 00:15:22,630 nothing like God. I can't delight in rebellion, 241 00:15:23,830 --> 00:15:25,670 but God— not— 242 00:15:28,070 --> 00:15:31,190 do you know the gospel? So God 243 00:15:31,750 --> 00:15:35,510 took the punishment of rebellion on 244 00:15:35,590 --> 00:15:39,110 himself and hung on a cross 245 00:15:40,390 --> 00:15:44,140 so that he could delight in you. And you 246 00:15:44,140 --> 00:15:47,980 could receive his delight. That's the 247 00:15:47,980 --> 00:15:51,220 kind of God that we serve, right? That's the gospel. 248 00:15:53,460 --> 00:15:56,980 Um, when you understand that God delights in you, you start 249 00:15:56,980 --> 00:16:00,740 returning the favor. Romans 12— 250 00:16:00,740 --> 00:16:04,380 I, I've read Romans 12 about being spiritual and 251 00:16:04,380 --> 00:16:08,100 overcoming sin and uh, like, not, not Romans 12, Romans 8. Romans 8 252 00:16:08,100 --> 00:16:11,050 is like, hey, You've gotta have the Spirit of God. You gotta be led by 253 00:16:11,050 --> 00:16:14,770 the Spirit of God. And if you are led by the Spirit of God, then 254 00:16:14,770 --> 00:16:18,410 you're gonna be able to overcome sin. What I missed 255 00:16:18,410 --> 00:16:22,170 is like verse 15. So I'm gonna read this passage. This is 256 00:16:22,170 --> 00:16:26,010 Romans 8:12-17. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to 257 00:16:26,010 --> 00:16:29,010 the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the 258 00:16:29,010 --> 00:16:32,610 flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds 259 00:16:32,610 --> 00:16:35,770 of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of 260 00:16:35,770 --> 00:16:39,300 God are sons of God. 'For you did not receive the spirit of 261 00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:43,140 slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of 262 00:16:43,140 --> 00:16:46,100 adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 263 00:16:46,340 --> 00:16:49,980 "Abba, Father!" The Spirit bears 264 00:16:49,980 --> 00:16:53,140 witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.' 265 00:16:53,860 --> 00:16:57,700 So Paul's talking about fighting sin, and then he's like, what's the 266 00:16:57,700 --> 00:17:01,300 key here? Understanding that God delights in you and delighting in God. 267 00:17:02,100 --> 00:17:05,770 There's a little mini sermon. Um, when you sin, 268 00:17:06,650 --> 00:17:10,370 it's not the devil made me do it. It's that I love the sin 269 00:17:10,370 --> 00:17:14,210 more than I love God. How do 270 00:17:14,210 --> 00:17:17,850 I know? Because I know. When 271 00:17:17,850 --> 00:17:21,570 I had bondage in my teenage years and I was trapped by sin, I 272 00:17:21,570 --> 00:17:25,330 sought everything. God, I'll fast, I'll pray, deliver me, 273 00:17:25,330 --> 00:17:28,850 deliver me, deliver me. One day Jesus said to me, Josh, you know why you 274 00:17:28,850 --> 00:17:31,850 sin? said, He "You love that sin more than you love me." 275 00:17:34,410 --> 00:17:36,810 And I'm like, "No, I— no, I— no, no." 276 00:17:39,210 --> 00:17:42,730 Do I? Yes. God, 277 00:17:43,610 --> 00:17:46,490 you died for me on a cross and I love sin more than you? 278 00:17:47,610 --> 00:17:49,210 Sin is an affection issue. 279 00:17:54,090 --> 00:17:56,810 Jesus said, "If you love me, you keep my commandments." 280 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,480 And I always, like, looked at that as, like, I gotta keep commandments so that 281 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:05,080 I can prove I love God. But it says, "If you love me, 282 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,800 if you love me, you keep my commandments." So if we 283 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,640 have a delight in God not issue— here. Okay, let me back up. If 284 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,360 we can't hear from the voice of God, then we're gonna have 285 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:20,680 a delight in God issue. We're not gonna understand 286 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:25,030 the God of the Bible. Who loved us enough to die 287 00:18:25,030 --> 00:18:28,750 for us on a cross. The whole 288 00:18:28,750 --> 00:18:32,590 point is love, right? So if we 289 00:18:32,590 --> 00:18:36,390 have a sin issue, we have an affection issue. And if 290 00:18:36,390 --> 00:18:39,990 we have an affection issue, we need to learn to hear the voice of God 291 00:18:39,990 --> 00:18:43,270 so that we can develop intimacy and acceptance and 292 00:18:43,430 --> 00:18:47,190 grace and blessing from God. So here's 293 00:18:47,190 --> 00:18:50,550 the question for this morning: Do you believe that God 294 00:18:50,550 --> 00:18:54,300 delights in you? And do 295 00:18:54,300 --> 00:18:56,860 you delight in God? 296 00:18:58,620 --> 00:19:02,380 David figured this out. The— in Psalm 16, it says, "In your 297 00:19:02,380 --> 00:19:05,900 presence is the fullness of joy." You 298 00:19:05,900 --> 00:19:09,700 can't get fullness, like, in multiple different places. There's only one place 299 00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:13,180 that can actually fill you up, and it's the presence of 300 00:19:13,180 --> 00:19:17,020 God. I can't tell you what your identity 301 00:19:17,020 --> 00:19:20,193 is, but I do know that when God tells you what your identity is, is 302 00:19:20,193 --> 00:19:23,530 the it truth. Is, it will sound like, I delight in you because you're mine 303 00:19:23,530 --> 00:19:27,330 and I made you. Um, I was 304 00:19:27,330 --> 00:19:31,050 having a conversation with God about preparing this sermon, and I was like, okay, I 305 00:19:31,050 --> 00:19:34,650 got assigned to talk about identity, like, in the context of 306 00:19:34,650 --> 00:19:37,930 abiding. And so I was like, why, why did I get assigned to this? Like, 307 00:19:37,930 --> 00:19:41,570 what do you want me to do? And the Holy Spirit said to me, 308 00:19:41,570 --> 00:19:44,970 I, I want you to talk because my people have forgotten how to listen to 309 00:19:44,970 --> 00:19:48,820 my voice. And I 310 00:19:48,820 --> 00:19:52,620 was like, "Well, okay, God, I'm in that club," right? 311 00:19:52,700 --> 00:19:56,380 "Don't I have a hard time listening to your voice?" And God said, "No, you 312 00:19:56,380 --> 00:19:58,540 don't have a hard time listening to my voice. You have a hard time slowing 313 00:19:58,540 --> 00:20:02,140 down." So 314 00:20:02,219 --> 00:20:05,420 if you're like me and you know how to hear the voice of God, but 315 00:20:05,420 --> 00:20:08,140 you're not slowing down enough to hear the whisper of God, 316 00:20:09,260 --> 00:20:13,100 or if you're like, "I've never heard the voice of God, and I don't know 317 00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:16,270 what you're talking about," Or if I haven't heard the voice of God in a 318 00:20:16,270 --> 00:20:20,070 long time, I'm gonna share today 3 important 319 00:20:21,910 --> 00:20:25,630 keys, steps, things about hearing the voice of 320 00:20:25,630 --> 00:20:28,230 God. So this is now officially a 3-point sermon. Um, 321 00:20:30,470 --> 00:20:33,910 Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice." 322 00:20:34,470 --> 00:20:37,510 If you aren't actively hearing the voice of God, 323 00:20:37,990 --> 00:20:41,520 that's a problem. And it's not a problem to ignore. 324 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,840 It's a problem to be like, "What's up here? 325 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,880 You paid the price for me to connect with you. What do I 326 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,320 need?" God wants to speak to you, 327 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,120 and it's not bad to have to learn how to hear God's voice, 328 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,640 okay? If you're like, "I don't hear God's voice," that's fine. 329 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,640 Don't beat yourself up. The prophet Samuel, Samuel, 330 00:21:05,530 --> 00:21:08,930 who was like pretty big deal in the Old Testament. You know, anointed Saul and 331 00:21:08,930 --> 00:21:12,250 he anointed David. Um, when he was young, 332 00:21:12,410 --> 00:21:15,930 God started talking to him, Samuel. And he was like, hmm, 333 00:21:16,650 --> 00:21:20,370 must be Eli. So he's running over like, hey Eli, I'm here. Eli's 334 00:21:20,370 --> 00:21:24,210 like, shut up, go to bed. So he goes back and he's like, Samuel. 335 00:21:24,210 --> 00:21:28,010 And the prophet Samuel didn't know how to hear God's voice. 336 00:21:29,050 --> 00:21:32,450 This is like the big deal in Israel and he didn't know how to hear 337 00:21:32,450 --> 00:21:35,370 God's voice. So we need to learn how to hear God's voice. 338 00:21:36,510 --> 00:21:39,910 And, but, you know, if you've read the, the New 339 00:21:39,910 --> 00:21:43,390 Testament where the big deal of 340 00:21:43,870 --> 00:21:47,670 Jesus not only died and rose again, but then he 341 00:21:47,670 --> 00:21:51,470 sent the Spirit to live inside of every one of his sheep. 342 00:21:52,990 --> 00:21:56,350 Like, it's not the Old Testament where if you want to hear from God, you 343 00:21:56,350 --> 00:22:00,110 have to go to the prophet and they'll tell you what God said. We 344 00:22:00,110 --> 00:22:03,950 don't have to go anywhere. The Spirit put up residence in us. 345 00:22:04,670 --> 00:22:07,550 So if I want to hear from God, I don't have to go to an 346 00:22:07,550 --> 00:22:11,310 external source. Uh, I was talking to a friend of mine talking about how he 347 00:22:11,310 --> 00:22:14,910 heard the audible voice of God. I'm like, that's no big deal. 348 00:22:16,110 --> 00:22:19,470 It's like, who cares? God's in you. 349 00:22:19,710 --> 00:22:22,950 It might have been like, hey, I've been trying to talk in you all day 350 00:22:22,950 --> 00:22:25,230 and you didn't listen, so I had to come outside and talk to you. 351 00:22:27,310 --> 00:22:30,990 Listen. Just— this is important, right? There's 352 00:22:30,990 --> 00:22:34,590 no special people that I can hear from God and these special people 353 00:22:34,590 --> 00:22:38,310 can't hear from God. Everybody who's a sheep knows 354 00:22:38,310 --> 00:22:42,150 his voice. You, you don't need to run to the prophet. You don't have 355 00:22:42,150 --> 00:22:45,550 to hear— you might have an amazingly mind-blowing experience. 356 00:22:45,870 --> 00:22:49,670 I have. They're awesome. But you don't need to be special 357 00:22:49,670 --> 00:22:53,310 to hear from God. You just need to listen. 358 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,840 So God is in you, and he wants to speak to you. 359 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,080 Okay, so here's the hearing from God training. 360 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,640 First point: we don't hear from God 361 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:09,960 if we treat him casually. 362 00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:15,920 When I was, like, 18 years old, I went on this, like, summer missions trip 363 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:19,650 to a Jewish kibbutz in Minnesota. Some people 364 00:23:19,650 --> 00:23:23,490 go to Honduras. I went to a Jewish kibbutz 365 00:23:23,490 --> 00:23:27,250 in Minnesota, and there was like this guy there 366 00:23:27,250 --> 00:23:31,090 whose name was Art Katz, and he was a very stern man. 367 00:23:31,330 --> 00:23:34,530 I mean, there's some people that just you hang around them and it's like, wow, 368 00:23:34,530 --> 00:23:38,250 Sirius has entered the room. And so I 369 00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:42,090 was like, okay. So I was praying with Art Katz and 370 00:23:42,090 --> 00:23:45,850 these two other young guys, and they were pouring out their hearts to God, and 371 00:23:45,850 --> 00:23:48,370 I was like there, and I was like, yeah, I should do that too. So 372 00:23:48,530 --> 00:23:51,330 I just tagged on my little prayer of like, "Yeah, God, I want all this 373 00:23:51,330 --> 00:23:55,090 stuff that you're talking about." And then our cat goes, 374 00:23:55,090 --> 00:23:58,690 "Lord, I pray that you'd hear the prayers of these two men and 375 00:23:58,690 --> 00:24:01,330 also forgive this kid who's just speaking to the air." 376 00:24:05,170 --> 00:24:06,850 You can't say that in church. 377 00:24:10,450 --> 00:24:14,290 I— What? You 378 00:24:14,290 --> 00:24:17,790 can't. You can't offend me like that. There's other people here. 379 00:24:19,070 --> 00:24:22,790 So here's something I've learned about God's 380 00:24:22,790 --> 00:24:26,510 voice. You know, God has spoken to people through a donkey. 381 00:24:28,590 --> 00:24:32,390 We're so worried about, well, if you don't say it perfectly, then I 382 00:24:32,390 --> 00:24:33,630 don't have to listen to you. 383 00:24:36,830 --> 00:24:40,110 Some of the— not some of the— the most important things 384 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,960 that I've learned and heard from God in my life. This one was one of 385 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,800 the first. You're not actually praying to God, you're just throwing 386 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,440 words in the air, and you need to be very serious when you talk with 387 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,840 God because he created you and he created the universe. 388 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:59,440 Another time God God told— told me through a donkey— I mean, not a 389 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:03,040 donkey, but another harsh-speaking person. He 390 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,720 said, you don't listen to anybody. 391 00:25:08,610 --> 00:25:12,330 Like, literally, I'm talking to this cocky guy, and 392 00:25:12,330 --> 00:25:14,810 he says to me, Josh, you know what your problem is? You don't listen to 393 00:25:14,810 --> 00:25:18,130 anybody. All you want to do is just share your opinion. You're so smart, blah, 394 00:25:18,130 --> 00:25:21,090 blah, blah, blah. You don't listen. I was like, shut up. 395 00:25:22,210 --> 00:25:24,370 And God was like, he's right. 396 00:25:30,770 --> 00:25:33,810 Our flesh is always going to be offended by the truth that we need to 397 00:25:33,810 --> 00:25:34,050 hear. 398 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,280 I was offended, and then I wrestled with God, and I learned his voice. 399 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,440 Uh, David says that those who fear God hear 400 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,466 God. In Psalms 25:11-14, 401 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,720 it says, for your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. 402 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,560 Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him he will instruct 403 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:02,240 in the way that he should choose. 404 00:26:04,380 --> 00:26:08,060 If you fear God, he speaks to you and instructs you 405 00:26:08,060 --> 00:26:11,660 what his way is. If you treat God casually, 406 00:26:12,060 --> 00:26:15,660 "Oh God, please give me direction," is different than, 407 00:26:16,300 --> 00:26:20,100 "God, you make oceans and stars, and you died for me 408 00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:23,420 on the cross, and you taught us to pray, 409 00:26:23,660 --> 00:26:27,260 'Our Father which art in heaven, holy is your name.'" 410 00:26:28,470 --> 00:26:32,150 That word holy means different. Like 411 00:26:32,150 --> 00:26:35,510 when Isaiah says, "Holy, holy, 412 00:26:35,510 --> 00:26:38,230 holy is the Lord," he's like saying, 413 00:26:39,110 --> 00:26:42,670 "You're different." And not just you're different, 414 00:26:42,670 --> 00:26:46,310 but you're different, you are different, you are different. 415 00:26:46,470 --> 00:26:47,990 Like, have you read Revelation? 416 00:26:50,310 --> 00:26:53,990 We, we, we're so casual with God. He is so 417 00:26:53,990 --> 00:26:57,760 merciful with us. Like, you know, 418 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,560 if a 2-year-old comes and they talk to, like, a 5-star general, 419 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:06,080 they don't even know anything. They're just like, "Hey, hotshot, what's this?" 420 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,399 But when we're old enough to know better, we must not 421 00:27:11,399 --> 00:27:15,240 treat God casually. He's a weapon. I mean, 422 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,000 he's— it's kind of like, you know, there are these planes 423 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,780 that have bombs on them., right? You're like flying around 424 00:27:22,780 --> 00:27:26,500 with a nuclear bomb on your plane. You don't just 425 00:27:26,500 --> 00:27:30,100 treat that casually like it's no big deal. God is a 426 00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:33,900 nuclear bomb. We need to respect him. 427 00:27:33,900 --> 00:27:37,660 Um, when I 428 00:27:37,660 --> 00:27:40,700 started full-time ministry, I I was, was was a, I a 429 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:44,500 fastaholic. I would, every Tuesday I would fast and pray because I was 430 00:27:44,500 --> 00:27:46,740 like, I have to do this or God won't listen to me. Um. 431 00:27:48,510 --> 00:27:52,310 But I had, I had, uh, I did, I met with 432 00:27:52,310 --> 00:27:55,830 God. I met with God and I would go on this prayer walk 433 00:27:55,830 --> 00:27:59,550 around my apartment complex. And so one time 434 00:27:59,550 --> 00:28:03,270 I was like, God, I want you to like come and stand near 435 00:28:03,270 --> 00:28:07,110 me like Moses, like Moses came and stood 436 00:28:07,110 --> 00:28:10,950 near you. You stood near him and you showed his presence. And God 437 00:28:10,950 --> 00:28:14,550 is like, you, you really want that? And I'm like, yeah, wouldn't that be 438 00:28:14,550 --> 00:28:18,260 great? So I'm walking and 439 00:28:18,340 --> 00:28:21,620 suddenly the air started getting thick 440 00:28:22,900 --> 00:28:26,740 and the Holy Spirit started to pour the veil 441 00:28:26,740 --> 00:28:30,540 up from earth and heaven. And guess 442 00:28:30,540 --> 00:28:33,780 what? It was not fun at all. 443 00:28:36,180 --> 00:28:39,820 The holiness and the presence of God I 444 00:28:39,820 --> 00:28:43,220 started to sense and I was scared 445 00:28:43,380 --> 00:28:47,030 to death. And I said, "God, stop. No, I don't know what I was saying." 446 00:28:50,470 --> 00:28:53,110 We have no idea 447 00:28:54,070 --> 00:28:57,630 the power and the majesty and 448 00:28:57,630 --> 00:29:00,150 the weight of glory in God. 449 00:29:03,110 --> 00:29:06,830 "Oh God, bless King— bless Susie and help my friend and I really 450 00:29:06,830 --> 00:29:08,630 want a new car and blah, blah, blah, blah." 451 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:14,000 God isn't speaking because you're not even talking to God. 452 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,320 We've gotta recognize who God is if we wanna hear his voice. 453 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,720 Jeremiah said that, "Those who seek 454 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,480 me with all their heart will find me." Jeremiah 455 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:30,040 29:13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of 456 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,880 your heart." I 457 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,730 like in C.S. Lewis, like, Jesus is, is treated like a 458 00:29:37,730 --> 00:29:41,290 lion. Is he safe? No, but he's 459 00:29:41,290 --> 00:29:44,570 good. And that power of God 460 00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:49,850 only amplifies the intimacy of God. 461 00:29:51,050 --> 00:29:54,890 The fact that this powerful being, of 462 00:29:54,890 --> 00:29:58,530 which I give fundamental reverence, wants me to 463 00:29:58,530 --> 00:30:02,050 curl up in his lap and say, "You are my 464 00:30:02,050 --> 00:30:05,800 beloved child." We can't have intimacy with 465 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,000 God that we treat as like a cheap, like, genie that works for us. 466 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,880 But when we recognize God who he is, and then he invites us into 467 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,640 deep and meaningful and beautiful relationship with him. Okay, 468 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,680 that's point one. That's the point where Kevin's like, aren't you glad you came to 469 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,480 church today? And I'm thumping you, you know. Um, 470 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,160 I got two more thumpers, but they're good. 471 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,400 Are they safe? No. Are they good? 472 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,400 Yes. The second 473 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,960 way that we hear from God is when we obey what he tells us to 474 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,640 do. Now, if you didn't 475 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,480 know already, every Christian has a job description. 476 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:50,920 You, you have it. It's it's written, written down. 477 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,450 Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus said to the Dies on the cross, 478 00:30:56,530 --> 00:31:00,130 raises from the grave, sends the Holy Spirit into everybody, and then he 479 00:31:00,130 --> 00:31:03,770 says, "All authority in heaven and earth is given to 480 00:31:03,770 --> 00:31:06,530 me," meaning, "Remember that I'm the boss of everything. 481 00:31:07,650 --> 00:31:10,370 Here's your job. Go therefore, make disciples." 482 00:31:12,210 --> 00:31:15,930 I think a lot of us are, like, over here hanging 483 00:31:15,930 --> 00:31:19,770 curtains, planning, you know, stuff for our own little 484 00:31:19,770 --> 00:31:23,250 kingdom. It's, you know, "My will be done, my kingdom 485 00:31:23,250 --> 00:31:26,940 come, on earth as it is in heaven." And God 486 00:31:26,940 --> 00:31:30,660 is over here, here's a broken soul that needs love. 487 00:31:32,100 --> 00:31:35,820 Here's, here's the child that needs to be educated. Here's 488 00:31:35,820 --> 00:31:39,580 the poor and the suffering. And God, I really could use 489 00:31:39,580 --> 00:31:43,260 a Tesla 'cause they've got this new engine with like all of 490 00:31:43,260 --> 00:31:44,020 this stuff. 491 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:50,820 Widows, orphans, voiceless, hungry, 492 00:31:50,980 --> 00:31:54,280 naked, thirsty, stranger, prisoner, 493 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,000 sick. God, I'm so busy. 494 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,760 Listen, you don't hear the voice of God if you're not 495 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:02,600 turned to God. 496 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,600 Your job is to make disciples. If you want to 497 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:13,160 hear from God, turn to God. 498 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,880 There's nothing better in life than hearing the voice of God. 499 00:32:20,090 --> 00:32:23,690 I've figured out some things, and these statements are very simple statements, but 500 00:32:23,690 --> 00:32:27,530 they're just very true. And these just are meaningful to 501 00:32:27,530 --> 00:32:31,370 me. They might be meaningful to you. The first statement is, "The point of money 502 00:32:31,770 --> 00:32:35,450 is to show God's love." The 503 00:32:35,450 --> 00:32:39,050 greatest commandment is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 504 00:32:39,290 --> 00:32:42,450 Nope, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and 505 00:32:42,450 --> 00:32:45,830 strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There's two different statements. Great Commandments, all 506 00:32:45,830 --> 00:32:49,430 the commandments come into that. The point 507 00:32:49,430 --> 00:32:52,750 is always love. The point of money is to love. 508 00:32:53,230 --> 00:32:56,430 It's not security. It's not, you know, 509 00:32:56,990 --> 00:33:00,510 whatever, expansion. God gives you money to love. 510 00:33:01,550 --> 00:33:03,870 Don't work for money, work for love. 511 00:33:05,230 --> 00:33:08,270 The second thing is the point of work is discipleship. 512 00:33:09,470 --> 00:33:13,300 There is no sacred and secular work. If you are in full-time 513 00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:17,180 ministry, your job is make disciples. If you are in full-time business, 514 00:33:17,180 --> 00:33:20,220 your job is make disciples. 515 00:33:21,100 --> 00:33:24,820 There's no— what, like, I don't— all these ministry people get a 516 00:33:24,820 --> 00:33:28,580 gold star or something? That's crazy, right? That's crazy. We're all called to 517 00:33:28,580 --> 00:33:32,060 that, all of us. The third thing is the point of time. The point of 518 00:33:32,060 --> 00:33:35,860 time is serving. You want to be 519 00:33:35,860 --> 00:33:39,600 joyful? Use your time to serve. You wanna be 520 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:41,320 miserable? Don't. 521 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:48,640 So where do we start? If I'm gonna make 522 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:51,720 disciples, if I'm gonna love, if I'm gonna do this thing, how do I start? 523 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,880 Answer: Listen to God and do what he says. 524 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:01,000 So when Sarah and I were younger married, 525 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,480 I felt like God told me that he wanted me to go and, um, 526 00:34:07,010 --> 00:34:10,730 give $200 to the poor. So I 527 00:34:10,730 --> 00:34:14,530 just had an impression, God wants you to go take $200 and 528 00:34:14,530 --> 00:34:18,170 give to the poor. So I was like, okay, I went and I got 10 529 00:34:18,170 --> 00:34:21,850 $20 bills and I was like, I'm gonna go downtown, I'm gonna find some 530 00:34:21,850 --> 00:34:25,210 homeless people and I'm gonna give them $20 and I'm gonna tell them that Jesus 531 00:34:25,210 --> 00:34:28,930 loves them. So I was like 27 years old and I didn't know that there's 532 00:34:28,930 --> 00:34:32,499 a lot better ways to fight poverty. So I go 533 00:34:32,499 --> 00:34:35,459 downtown and I got $20 bills and I'm like, hey, Jesus loves you. Hey, Jesus 534 00:34:35,459 --> 00:34:39,299 loves you. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. And then 535 00:34:39,299 --> 00:34:43,139 the 10th $20 bill, I give it to this guy and I'm like, hey, 536 00:34:43,139 --> 00:34:46,699 here's— this is $20. Go buy a meal or something. 537 00:34:46,699 --> 00:34:50,459 God loves you. And this guy took the $20, said, I'm really appreciated. 538 00:34:50,539 --> 00:34:53,979 I appreciate this $20, but what I really want is a place to stay. 539 00:34:56,219 --> 00:34:59,570 So I'm like looking at Sarah and she's looking at me and I'm like, And 540 00:34:59,570 --> 00:35:03,410 we're like, "All right, come on, get in the car, let's go." So we 541 00:35:03,410 --> 00:35:07,090 took this guy to our house. And so I'm 542 00:35:07,090 --> 00:35:10,850 driving along with this homeless guy, and he said 543 00:35:10,850 --> 00:35:14,690 his name was Benjamin Franklin. I don't think his real 544 00:35:14,690 --> 00:35:18,450 name was Benjamin Franklin. Like, he didn't look anything like Benjamin Franklin. He was like 545 00:35:18,450 --> 00:35:22,170 an African American guy. So, you know, we're dr— I mean, 546 00:35:22,410 --> 00:35:25,690 Benjamin Franklin's like this bald white guy that, you know, so 547 00:35:26,330 --> 00:35:29,210 we take Benjamin Franklin to my house, and I'm like, "We're gonna give him a 548 00:35:29,210 --> 00:35:32,310 place to stay." So I'm like giving him clothes. I'm like, "Here, man, we're the 549 00:35:32,310 --> 00:35:36,030 same size. Here's some clothes." And Benjamin Franklin is getting a shower in 550 00:35:36,030 --> 00:35:39,710 my shower, and I realize there is a homeless 551 00:35:39,710 --> 00:35:43,030 guy in my house, and I've got 2 little kids, and I don't even know 552 00:35:43,030 --> 00:35:46,790 what the heck I am doing. So I was 553 00:35:46,790 --> 00:35:50,590 like, "Sarah, I think maybe we should, like, give this guy a motel." Sarah's like, 554 00:35:50,590 --> 00:35:54,190 "I think that's probably a good one. That's probably a good idea." So 555 00:35:54,190 --> 00:35:57,840 I'm like, "Let's take this guy and let's put him up at a hotel." And 556 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,320 so I start driving into Nashville, and I decide that I'm gonna put him up 557 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:04,840 at the Motel 6 because I was driving into VCE every day, 558 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,800 so I knew where the Motel 6 was. And I was like, this is close 559 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,920 to town. And while we're driving, Benjamin Franklin is like, 560 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:15,080 listen, I need to get into the city. If I'm not in the city, I 561 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,640 don't have all my support stuff. Like, I need to get in the city, so 562 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:20,680 you gotta make sure that I get into the city. And I'm like, I have 563 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:24,120 seen the hotels in the city and I know what they cost, and I cannot 564 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,520 afford that, but I can afford the Motel 6. So we pull into the Motel 565 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:31,140 6, and in the 6, Motel Motel 6, there is this little 566 00:36:31,220 --> 00:36:34,980 chapel with a neon sign, like a neon gold cross 567 00:36:34,980 --> 00:36:38,420 on the door. And I'm like, I'm gonna check at the chapel and see if 568 00:36:38,420 --> 00:36:42,100 there's anybody at the chapel that can give Benjamin Franklin a ride from the Motel 569 00:36:42,100 --> 00:36:45,860 6 into the city. So I go and I knock on 570 00:36:45,860 --> 00:36:49,460 the door, and I kid you not, Mr. T 571 00:36:49,620 --> 00:36:53,340 enters— answers the door. If you don't know who 572 00:36:53,340 --> 00:36:56,910 Mr. T is, he was like the old-time wrestler He's like 573 00:36:56,910 --> 00:37:00,710 bigger than me, like height-wise, and he's like thicker than 574 00:37:00,710 --> 00:37:04,470 me, like times 5. And he's got all the gold chains, like gold 575 00:37:04,470 --> 00:37:07,630 chains from like here to here. Like his chains cost like, must have weighed 40 576 00:37:07,630 --> 00:37:10,870 pounds. He's got all the gold teeth. And I answer the door and I'm like, 577 00:37:10,870 --> 00:37:14,510 well, didn't expect that, but this is cool. 578 00:37:14,830 --> 00:37:18,550 So I'm like, hey, I've got this guy in my car. He says his 579 00:37:18,550 --> 00:37:21,790 name is Benjamin Franklin and he needs a ride into the city in the morning. 580 00:37:22,220 --> 00:37:25,380 Would you be willing to just give him a ride? I saw the cross on 581 00:37:25,380 --> 00:37:28,700 the door. And so Mr. T looks at me and he's like, 582 00:37:29,260 --> 00:37:32,700 you want what? And I was like, well, 583 00:37:33,020 --> 00:37:35,700 I explained the situation. He says, so let me get this straight. So you a 584 00:37:35,700 --> 00:37:39,300 white dude and you got this black dude out in your car and 585 00:37:39,300 --> 00:37:42,780 you want me to give this dude a ride into the city in the morning? 586 00:37:42,940 --> 00:37:46,780 I'm like, yeah, yep, that's it. And he 587 00:37:46,780 --> 00:37:50,550 says, "Praise God." And I was like, "Oh good, 588 00:37:50,550 --> 00:37:53,510 this is gonna work out well." So he's like, 589 00:37:53,990 --> 00:37:57,830 "Praise God." He's like, "Let me at this guy." And I'm like, "Let you at 590 00:37:57,830 --> 00:38:01,110 this guy?" So he goes over to the car and he opens the door. 591 00:38:01,350 --> 00:38:05,070 And I mean, look, Benjamin Franklin's not getting out the door 592 00:38:05,070 --> 00:38:08,470 before Mr. T is giving him what for in 7 different ways. 593 00:38:09,270 --> 00:38:12,590 "What the heck are you doing taking this white dude's money? You're an able-bodied 594 00:38:12,990 --> 00:38:16,550 man. Look at you. Oh, I see you're homeless. Guess who was else homeless?" 595 00:38:16,820 --> 00:38:20,180 I was homeless. Not only was I homeless, I killed a man. 596 00:38:20,740 --> 00:38:24,580 Which point I'm like, okay, this this is, is a little, you know, this is, 597 00:38:24,740 --> 00:38:27,940 you know, this is interesting. And then he's like, 598 00:38:28,660 --> 00:38:32,220 but I met God in the prison and I 599 00:38:32,220 --> 00:38:36,020 learned my identity. And now I own the second largest cleaning company 600 00:38:36,020 --> 00:38:39,740 in Nashville. And I won't only give you a ride into the city, I'll give 601 00:38:39,740 --> 00:38:43,540 you a job. If you want to have your life transformed, there's this dude Jesus 602 00:38:43,540 --> 00:38:47,380 that can do that for you. And at this moment, I realized a 603 00:38:47,380 --> 00:38:51,180 whole lot of things. I realized that I was not the best guy to 604 00:38:51,180 --> 00:38:52,660 disciple Benjamin Franklin. 605 00:38:57,860 --> 00:39:01,540 I also realized I didn't have any business doing much of what I was doing 606 00:39:01,540 --> 00:39:05,380 that day. But I— but 607 00:39:05,380 --> 00:39:09,020 how did I learn that lesson? See, I learned that lesson by 608 00:39:09,020 --> 00:39:10,820 simply obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit. 609 00:39:12,890 --> 00:39:16,650 God has assignments to you. I've— listen, in the 610 00:39:16,650 --> 00:39:20,450 last like 20-some years, I've been in 30 different countries on 611 00:39:20,450 --> 00:39:24,090 like 70 different trips. I have had more adventures 612 00:39:24,250 --> 00:39:28,010 than I even dreamed were possible. If your 613 00:39:28,010 --> 00:39:30,170 life is boring, start obeying. 614 00:39:31,530 --> 00:39:35,050 I'm serious. Just listen to God and do what he 615 00:39:35,050 --> 00:39:35,450 says. 616 00:39:39,700 --> 00:39:40,660 All right, that's point 2. 617 00:39:43,620 --> 00:39:45,780 Point 3 is this: 618 00:39:47,620 --> 00:39:51,300 we hear the voice of God when we stop listening to everything 619 00:39:51,300 --> 00:39:54,900 else. Now, this point 620 00:39:54,900 --> 00:39:58,740 is perhaps the most important of all the points that I've shared today, 621 00:39:59,700 --> 00:40:01,940 and it's probably the most challenging. 622 00:40:03,700 --> 00:40:06,340 But— and this is not gonna make me popular, but I'm gonna say it anyway. 623 00:40:09,620 --> 00:40:13,420 First of all, if you're depending on 624 00:40:13,420 --> 00:40:16,340 me to hear from God, that's a problem. 625 00:40:18,660 --> 00:40:22,220 There is no speaker or teacher. Our 626 00:40:22,220 --> 00:40:26,040 job is not to play God for you or hear to God you— from 627 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:29,660 for you and say all this stuff. Our job, if we stand on this 628 00:40:29,660 --> 00:40:31,900 stage, is to teach you how to hear the voice of God, 629 00:40:33,260 --> 00:40:35,020 to teach you how to run to God. 630 00:40:37,500 --> 00:40:41,260 God gave us his word. He gave us 631 00:40:41,260 --> 00:40:44,940 an easy button. You want to hear from God? Break open the 632 00:40:44,940 --> 00:40:48,780 book. Like, it's like, hmm, how could I make— 633 00:40:48,780 --> 00:40:52,500 these are sheep. Okay, they're sheep. It can't be 634 00:40:52,500 --> 00:40:55,030 too hard. I'll put it all in a book. 635 00:40:56,470 --> 00:40:59,750 You can open the book and hear the voice of God. 636 00:41:03,270 --> 00:41:07,030 These people can't travel all over to destinations and climb mountains 637 00:41:07,030 --> 00:41:10,790 and talk to the guru and all this stuff. I'll just put my Spirit right 638 00:41:10,790 --> 00:41:14,550 inside of them. You can simply say, "God, 639 00:41:14,550 --> 00:41:18,310 Holy Spirit, speak," and he will speak to you. 640 00:41:20,240 --> 00:41:24,080 God God made— gave us the easy button to hear from him, to have 641 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:27,480 our lives changed, to radically change our 642 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:30,760 communities, to radically change our families, to 643 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,400 radically impact the world. And so obviously, 644 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:37,520 all of us just continually run to God to listen to his voice, 645 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:42,640 right? I mean, that's what we do. That's not what we do? Wait, 646 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,290 what do we continually run to? Oh, that's right, we 647 00:41:46,290 --> 00:41:49,890 continually run to social media. We continually 648 00:41:49,890 --> 00:41:53,530 run to television. We continually run to that 649 00:41:53,530 --> 00:41:56,810 little voice in the back of our head that says, "God doesn't really like you." 650 00:42:02,410 --> 00:42:06,250 If we wanna hear the voice of God, we have to tune out all of 651 00:42:06,250 --> 00:42:07,050 the other stuff. 652 00:42:10,660 --> 00:42:13,940 Social media is primarily a self-worship machine. 653 00:42:16,740 --> 00:42:20,500 I scroll through what I worship and post about it so people will worship me. 654 00:42:22,980 --> 00:42:26,379 I love seeing on social media when somebody has a sporting event or there's a 655 00:42:26,379 --> 00:42:30,020 new baby or something like that, but social media is 656 00:42:30,020 --> 00:42:32,980 killing all of us. It's evil. 657 00:42:35,860 --> 00:42:37,900 We're doom-scrolling instead of life-finding. 658 00:42:44,370 --> 00:42:47,890 We're all going to give account of our 659 00:42:48,050 --> 00:42:51,730 time, and it's just 660 00:42:51,730 --> 00:42:53,650 not worth the amount of time we give it. 661 00:42:55,490 --> 00:42:58,290 Television is primarily a lust factory. 662 00:43:00,530 --> 00:43:04,260 Lust of what? Lust of the eyes, lust of the 663 00:43:04,260 --> 00:43:07,660 pride of life. Jesus said, all that is in the world— lust of the eyes, 664 00:43:07,980 --> 00:43:11,540 lust of flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life— are not from 665 00:43:11,540 --> 00:43:15,300 the Father. They're not from the 666 00:43:15,300 --> 00:43:17,660 Father. They're not life-bringing. 667 00:43:19,660 --> 00:43:22,540 But whoever does the will of God abides forever. 668 00:43:24,060 --> 00:43:27,780 So we haven't slowed down to listen to God, but we're running to 669 00:43:27,780 --> 00:43:31,520 all these things. The news, the news 670 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:32,760 is a grumble factory. 671 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,400 They don't just tell you the news, they tell you the best way to vent 672 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,920 about the negative things happening in our world and why everything is going 673 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:45,679 wrong. You know who was a grumble factory in the Old 674 00:43:45,679 --> 00:43:49,520 Testament? The children of Israel. And 675 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:53,200 do you know what the cost of the grumble factory was? 40 676 00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,680 years in the desert walking in a circle. 677 00:43:57,510 --> 00:44:01,030 Do I really want to train myself to walk for 40 years 678 00:44:01,110 --> 00:44:04,910 in a circle of grumbling and complaining, or do I want 679 00:44:04,910 --> 00:44:06,470 to hit the button off? 680 00:44:09,270 --> 00:44:12,590 The little voice in the back of your head that says God doesn't really care 681 00:44:12,590 --> 00:44:16,390 about you, he doesn't want to talk to you— that 682 00:44:16,390 --> 00:44:19,110 voice has two names: fear and shame. 683 00:44:20,230 --> 00:44:22,950 And both of them come from Satan and not Jesus. 684 00:44:27,820 --> 00:44:30,540 Listen, cutting, cutting down our social media, 685 00:44:32,060 --> 00:44:33,660 turning off our television, 686 00:44:35,580 --> 00:44:39,020 telling that negative voice talk to stop in Jesus' 687 00:44:39,180 --> 00:44:43,020 name— these are a lot easier than we think. Jesus said 688 00:44:43,020 --> 00:44:46,660 if something causes you to sin, like your right arm causes you to 689 00:44:46,660 --> 00:44:50,420 sin, cut it off. Throwing away a television is a lot easier than 690 00:44:50,420 --> 00:44:51,210 cutting off your arm. 691 00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:58,000 Jesus wants you to understand your identity. 692 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:02,600 And if we're going to understand our identity, we need to hear the voice of 693 00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:06,000 God. And if we're going to hear the voice of God, 694 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:10,640 number one, don't treat God casually. 695 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,960 He's not a plaything. He's not a genie in the sky. He's not 696 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:18,090 cheap or trite. He made the ocean. 697 00:45:19,370 --> 00:45:22,650 Talk to God. Don't talk to the air. 698 00:45:24,170 --> 00:45:27,890 Number 2, obey what Jesus tells you to 699 00:45:27,890 --> 00:45:31,690 do. What was the last thing 700 00:45:31,690 --> 00:45:34,010 God told you to do? Did you do it? 701 00:45:35,290 --> 00:45:38,170 He might be on pause because he's just waiting. 702 00:45:40,970 --> 00:45:44,760 Maybe just ask him, what do you want me to do? And he'll tell you. 703 00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:52,360 We've got to unplug our ears if we want to listen to God. 704 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:57,360 We need to cut down on social media and, and dive 705 00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:58,360 into the Word of God. 706 00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:07,600 I, I was praying earlier and I said to 707 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,290 God, God, I really, I really want people to 708 00:46:11,290 --> 00:46:14,850 have chains of addiction broken 709 00:46:15,810 --> 00:46:18,130 and replaced with cords of affection. 710 00:46:20,210 --> 00:46:23,930 And I'm like, can you please just like let every person that 711 00:46:23,930 --> 00:46:27,090 hears this word just have their chains of addiction 712 00:46:27,170 --> 00:46:30,930 broken and just have cords of affection? Can you just 713 00:46:30,930 --> 00:46:34,530 do that for every person? And God and the Holy Spirit said, no, I 714 00:46:34,530 --> 00:46:38,080 can't. But I can do it for 715 00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:39,680 anybody who really wants that. 716 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,320 I can't make you hear from God. If I could make you hear from God, 717 00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:46,400 you'd all hear from God. 718 00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:53,160 The parable of the soil says it's all about your heart. What do you 719 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:56,920 really want? Jesus said, my sheep hear my 720 00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:00,640 voice. Uh, we're gonna have the prayer 721 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:01,440 people come down. 722 00:47:04,750 --> 00:47:08,150 If you hear from the voice of God, I want you to come down and 723 00:47:08,150 --> 00:47:11,910 pray for somebody who doesn't. If you don't hear from 724 00:47:11,910 --> 00:47:15,670 the voice of God, I want you to come down and pray that God 725 00:47:15,670 --> 00:47:19,230 unstops your ears. If you need to repent and confess 726 00:47:19,710 --> 00:47:22,910 that you have delighted more in the world than the Maker, 727 00:47:23,390 --> 00:47:27,110 repent and confess, not just at church but at home in your 728 00:47:27,110 --> 00:47:27,390 life. 729 00:47:32,970 --> 00:47:36,330 Listen, God delights in you. 730 00:47:37,050 --> 00:47:40,490 You are delightful. You are special. 731 00:47:41,530 --> 00:47:45,130 You are beautiful. You are designed. You are handcrafted. 732 00:47:45,370 --> 00:47:49,130 You are a treasure. You have a calling. You have a 733 00:47:49,130 --> 00:47:52,690 role. You can make disciples. You can heal the 734 00:47:52,690 --> 00:47:53,050 sick. 735 00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:01,400 Ask for it. Seek it. Find 736 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:04,160 him. His sheep hear his voice. 737 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:10,240 Don't leave out of here not hearing the voice of God. 738 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:13,360 He's ready to come meet with you. Amen.