Rick Warren - 6 Ways the Holy Spirit Guides and Strengthens You Every Day

What are you waiting on in your life? Let me

ask you another question. Are you talking to the Holy

Spirit while you're waiting or are you just out there waiting?

I highly recommend you talk to the Holy Spirit while

you're waiting, and he'll help you understand where to go,

what to know, what to say, how long to wait.

You know, if you had been invited to go to

a brand new city. Let's say you won some game

show and you go to some exotic city somewhere that

you've never been to. You've pretty much got four options

on how you're going to know what that city is.

You could just walk around with no direction, no input,

and you say, let's just walk around and see what

the city is all about. And if you just get

off the bus or get off the plane and you

walk around that city, you'll see some interesting things, but

you're going to miss most of the city because you

don't know really what's there. And if you just walk

around and kind of, you know, drift through the city,

you don't get the best of what it's all about. Now,

your second option is to get a map, and you

can get a map of Paris, or a map of London,

or a map of Tokyo, and you open it up,

and now you got a little bit more direction, and

you can use that map to walk around. Now that'll

let's go there, let's go see that. And that's actually

better than just drifting through the city. But it's not

the best You could then number three, get a guidebook.

And then a guidebook it tells you, here's the cool

stuff to see in the city, here's the best places

to eat, here's the attractions you don't want to miss,

here's the stuff that's most fun, here's the stuff that's

most fulfilling.

Here's where you.

Get the best bargains. And having a guidebook now really

opens up the city far better than a map, far

better than just walking around. But the best of all

is to hire a personal guide, somebody who's been there

or lived there all their lives. They know all the

best spots. They know how to avoid the tourist traps.

They know how to get to the real Paris, the

real London, the real Tokyo. They know how to point

out stuff that nobody else knows about. They'll often know

the history, they'll know the background, they know the full experience.

They know the best place to take the picture. Having

a personal guide is the best of all. Last year

Can I went and rented a car to simply drive

around Ireland. Now we could have just done that on

our own, but at one point we got a guide

to help us see some stuff that we would have missed,

and we saw all kinds of really cool things, learned

all kinds of really cool insights, and had a lot

of fun experiences that we would have totally missed. We

would have picked the wrong restaurants, we would have seen

the wrong things, we would have missed the stuff that

the locals know about that the tourists don't know about,

because we simply got advice. We got a personal guide.

Now the same is true for your life. You can

just drift through life. You can get a map, you

can get a guidebook, or you can get a personal

guide through your life. And depending on which of those

things you choose will determine how effective, how meaningful, how significant,

and how fulfilling your life is. You can just drift

through life, and most people do. They don't have a map,

they don't have a guidebook, and they certainly don't have

a guide. I highly recommend you avoid that kind of

lifestyle that's just existing and you go through life not

knowing what really to see, what really to do, what's important,

what's not important. Now, the world will give you plenty

of maps. You can go up to Hollywood and you

can get a map to the homes of the celebrities

and you get you know, go look them up yourself.

But God has given us both a guide book that's

this the Bible, and He has given us a guide

and that guide is called the Holy Spirit. Now, in

this series, which we started a week ago, we called

it Choosing your Future, and I said we're going to

look at five different choices in life. And the first week,

if you missed it, you want to go back and

hear that message on choosing the right values for your life,

because if you don't choose the right values, you got

the wrong foundation.

You're going to waste your life, totally waste your life.

And the world's value system is the exact opposite of

what God says you ought to value in life. And

so if you listen to the world, you're going to

miss out on what your life is really all about.

Choosing the right values. Weekend, I want us to look

at choosing the right guide for your life. Now there

are plenty of guides out there. You can choose, you know,

some talk show host on TV. You can choose some

radio commentator, you can choose a friend.

There are lots of people who will.

Be glad to guide you through life, not necessarily in

the right direction, but there are plenty of guides out there.

But God has provided both a guidebook, the Bible, and

a personal guide who will help interpret the guidebook, called

the Holy Spirit. I don't know if you've ever thought

about this, but why did Jesus go back to heaven

after he came to Earth? Why didn't he just stay here?

Why didn't he just stay on Earth so we would

have a physical, visible model, And we go, Oh, that's

how God wants us to live. That's the way to

handle that kind of situation. That's how to handle that stress.

That's just look at Jesus. He's living in Minneapolis right now.

Let's go ask him. And why did not Jesus stay

on Earth after he rose back from the dead he

went back to have it?

Why?

Well, he said, it's actually better for me to leave better.

How could anything be better than having Jesus guiding us

personally through life?

He said, because when I leave.

I'm going to send the helper, the helper, the counselor,

the advocate the Bible calls the Holy Spirit many things.

He said, I'm going to send my spirit back to earth,

the Holy Spirit. It's just the spirit of Jesus, the

Spirit of God. And he says, this is actually going

to be better than me personally being here. How in

the world is the Holy Spirit better than Jesus? And

how is it going to help you make the right

decisions in life? And how's spirit want to be your

guide counselor guidance counselor and not just have a guide book,

but actually have a personal counselor or a personal helper

through life. Why did Jesus go back to heaven because

he said, I want to send the Holy Spirit. Now,

look at this verse up here on the screen. Jesus

said this in John sixteen. He said, it's actually best

for you that I go away. In other words, that

I go back to heaven, because if I.

Don't, the Helper won't come to you.

But if I do, if I go back to Heaven,

I go away, he will come because I will send

him to you. And when he the Spirit of truth.

Now I want you to remember this. The Holy Spirit

is called the Spirit of truth. When the Spirit of

Truth comes, he will guide you. There's the guidance. He's

the guide for your life. He will guide you, he

will lead you, he will direct you, he will show you.

He will guide you into all truth. I've given you,

he says, the truth. But I'm going to give you

the guidance counselor who's going to guide you into all truth.

He's going to explain this to you, and he will

tell you what is yet to come in your life.

That is a guide, and he is called the Holy Spirit.

How is having the Holy Spirit better than Jesus? Because

when Jesus was here, he was limited to one location.

When he was physically in a body, he could only

be in Jerusalem. He couldn't be in Jerusalem and you know,

Hong Kong the same time. He couldn't be in Buenos

Aires and Berlin and Manila all at the same time.

But now his Holy Spirit can be everywhere. He can

be with all of us, and he can help all

of us, and he can be in all of us.

This is a big deal. This is why Jesus said

it's better for me to leave, because I could only

be in one place in one time. I'm in the

physical body. I'm going to go back to heaven. I'm

going to come back in my spirit, and my Spirit

is going to be in you. Christ is going to

be in you. The Father will be in you, the

Holy Spirit will be in you. God is not three gods.

He's one God. So if you've got Jesus in your heart,

you've got the Holy Spirit in your heart, You've got

the Father in your heart.

God is God.

He's just one God, but he has three different personages.

And so he says, I'm going to come back and

I'm going to put my spirit inside you. And that

spirit is called the Holy Spirit. By the way, do

you know there's me, the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Spirit.

I mean some people say holy Ghost, other people say

holy It's like two different things. No, it's a mistranslation.

In sixteen eleven, the first public English translation was approved.

It's called the King James Version of the Bible. It's

the oldest of the English translations. And in the King

James Version of the Bible, there were two different committees

of about fifty people or so each and the word

each working on the translation of the Bible into English,

and half of the committees used the word spirit and

half of the committee the other half used the word

ghost because in those days, ghosts didn't mean what it

means today spooky. Four hundred years ago, ghosts didn't mean ghost.

Four hundred years ago, ghosts just meant spirit.

The word in Greek in the Bible for the Holy

Spirit is the word numa p n e u m

a numa. It's from what It literally just means air.

It means breath. It means spirit. When you have a

pneumatic drill, that is a air pump drill. When you

have a pneumatic tire, it is an air filled tire.

It's not a solid tire. So numa simply means breath, air, spirit.

Half the guys and the translation, and that's why when

you read the Bible, sometimes in the King James it

says holy Ghost and sometimes it says Holy Spirit. And

now you know which translation team is translating that particular verse.

So there's no like ooh, Casper, the friendly Holy Spirit. Okay,

the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. And I highly

recommend you stop using the word ghost because ghost means

something scary today.

It's not what it meant four hundred years ago.

Get it good?

All right?

So the Holy Spirit and Holy ghosts of the same thing. Now,

Jesus says this, look on your outline. John chapter fourteen,

verse sixteen. Jesus said, the Father will give you another helper.

He's talking about the Holy Spirit, who will be with

you forever. That helper is the Spirit of Truth. Now

the world cannot accept him because it doesn't see him.

You don't see the Holy Spirit or know him.

But you talking about the believers, you know him because

he lives with you and he will be in you.

So he is our helper. He's the Holy Spirit. He

is the Spirit of Truth. He will be with us

and he will be in us. And this is the

guide I highly recommend you choose for your life. You say, okay, great,

got it, Rick, got it?

How do I do this?

I'm glad you asked, because that's what I want to

look at in part two, and that is how does

the Holy Spirit want to guide my life?

I'm going to give you five or six ways.

What does he actually do and how do I let

him guide my life? And what are the benefits of it? Okay,

everybody ready for this? All right, let's get started. This

is one of the most important things you learn in

life is how to be led by the Holy Spirit,

because the Bible says in Romans chapter eight, only those

who are led by the Holy Spirit are the children

of God. Oh so if I'm not led by the

Holy Spirit, I'm not in God's family. I'm not a

child of God. I'm not going to Heaven. I'm not

on the in crowd. The mark that you are a believer,

that you're a child of God, you're a daughter of God,

your son of God, is that the Holy Spirit guides you.

And leads you.

Now, when you first start off in the Christian life,

you're not very good at this. You don't really know

how to let the Holy Spirit lead you. But you

get better at it, and you're going to learn to

understand his voice. Just like the person if you're married,

you've been married.

To some time, and they pick up the phone and talk.

They don't have to say, Hi, this is your wife.

You know her voice. You've heard it enough. Hi, this

is your husband. You know his voice. When you first

start walking to Christ, you don't know the voice of

the Holy Spirit. It's hard to go Is this God

talking to me or is this just me talking to myself?

Did I just you know, eat a bad pizza, or

did I just have some idea that came off of

some movie I just saw. As you grow in the Lord,

you get bet he go, that's God. That's God. Talk

to me and he puts these impressions in.

Your mind and he leads you.

So let's start off by let me give you five

or six ways the Holy Spirit wants to guide you.

He wants to be your guide through life. When you

understand these, you're going to go, I'm in. I want this.

I want the Holy Spirit guide me because everything he's

been sent to do is everything you want in your life.

Every single thing he says, I'm here to help you.

So how does the Holy Spirit help me? And how

can he help me on Monday morning? How can he

help me on Tuesday night? How can he help me

when I'm you know, out playing some sport or in

some business deal. Well, let me give you five or

six ways. Number One, if I listen to the Holy Spirit,

I let him be my guide.

He will help me. Number one know what I need

to know.

That's the first thing the Holy Spirit is sent to

do to help you know what you need to know.

There are things you need to know in life that

if you don't know, you're going to fail.

It's essential information.

There's a lot of stuff you don't need to know

in life, and that's all on television. But stuff you

do need to know in life. The Holy Spirit will

teach you. He will guide you, and he'll help me

know what I need to know. That means the truth,

the info, the insights, the things that I need. Now

here's the cool thing about the Holy Spirit. If you'll

learn to let the Holy Spirit lead your life, and

I'm going to teach you how to do this on

a daily basis. If you'll do this, he not only

helps you know what you need to know, he helps

you know what you need to know in that moment,

the very moment I need it.

Now we're talking.

It's not like I'm gonna teach you all this stuff

and I hope someday you use it. The Holy Spirit

brings to mind in your mind what you need to

know when you need to know it, at the very

moment you need it. So it's not just what. There's

the win and He's going to give it to you

the very moment you needed. For instance, have you ever

read a Bible verse, maybe at the beginning of day

and later that was the exact Bible verse you needed

that day. Yeah, well, that was the Holy Spirit. You

didn't even know it, but it was the Holy Spirit

calling your attention to a certain thing a verse. You

didn't even know you needed it, But he said, I

know what you're gonna need at ten o'clock. I know

what you're gonna need at two pm in the afternoon.

And he helps you in advance. He gives you what

you need to know when you need to know it.

And sometimes he gives you right before it happens, and

sometimes it'll give it to you the day before. But

he knows already what's going to happen in your life,

and so he gives you what you need to know

when you need to know it. Sometimes you'll read a

book and later on in that week, you just go,

that is exactly what I needed. I just read that.

I just read it yesterday. That was the Holy Spirit.

He was being your guide. Sometimes it's a song and

a song comes on the radio and you hear that song,

you go, that is exactly the song that I need

right now.

I'm discouraged. I'm frustrated, I'm.

Mad, I'm angry, I'm sexually frustrated, whatever. And that's exactly

what I needed to hear. That was the Holy Spirit.

He gives you what you need to know at that moment.

Sometimes you read an article and like at a Christian

magazine or something, and you know, a few hours or

a few days later, you're talking with a friend and

you go, you know, I just read an article, and

you share with you that was the Holy Spirit. He

was giving you what you needed to know when you

needed to know it.

Now.

Sometimes God does this for you for your benefit, but

sometimes the Holy Spirit gives you what you need to know.

For somebody else's benefit. Let me give you an example.

Tuesday night, I went home and Andy, Andy Lewis Kay's brothers,

my brother in law was at our House's at our

house for dinner, and we're sitting around talking and all

of a sudden, Andy, just out of the blue, brings

up the subject of who was the very first Christian

rock artist, the very first contemporary Christian artist of the

modern era. And his name was Larry Norman. Some of

you remember Larry Norman. His first album came out in

the nineteen sixties he put out about thirty different albums.

His most famous song was called I We'd All Been Ready.

There was a song that came out and he was

very big in the sixties and the seventies. Larry was

the original Christian rocker. There was nobody before him. He

broke ground. Nobody had ever heard of Christian contemporary music.

Everybody was still singing hymns in those days. There none

of the kind of music we use in churches today.

Larry took a lot of flak for taking modern contemporary

music and putting Christian words to it, and he was

really a pioneer in that. And his first three albums

that came out in sixty eight, sixty nine, and seventy

one were really classic and they were so good. People

like Capitol Records, who had the signing for the Beatles,

wanted to sign Larry Norman because he was that good.

He was respected by secular as well as as Christian

and Andy and I just got in. I hadn't talked

about Larry Norman in at least thirty five years, okay,

I hadn't even thought about the guy. And as we

were talking about that, and he goes let's listen to music.

And something inside me, holy Spirit said sit down and listen.

And I had this little nudge that said just sit

down and listen.

And for the.

Next couple hours, Andy and I listened to those original

two or three albums and just talked about the implications

of those songs. I had plenty of other stuff I

needed to do, tons of other stuff you need to do.

It was enjoyable, but I really needed to be doing something.

The next day, I was flying to Nashville to speak

to the National Religious Broadcasters, and then I had to

come back for Rick Mitchause fly back here for his surgery,

and then I had to fly back to North Carolina

for Billy Graham's funeral.

And it was very, very busy week for me.

God just gave me this little nudge sit down and listen,

and we listened and we talked. We listened and we

talked about Ran Norman. Hadn't talked about him in thirty

five years. The next day I flew to Nashville to

the National Religious Broadcasters. I spoke, there was an opening

keynote speaker. After I was through, I was pretty tired.

I was going to go straight to bed. I was

walked out of the big grand ballroom, walked out and

a woman came up to me, and she looked like

she was in need, And I said, can I help you?

And I looked down at her name and saw her

name and a caller my name. She said, how do

you know my name? I said, well, I just read

your name, dag. I'm spooky, it's right there on your name.

How do you know my name? She goes, I'm Larry

Norman's wife. Now, he died probably a decade ago, and

she was in deep need. You think that was an

accident the night before. No, God had prepared me to

help her, to help her? Why because I listened to

the nudges.

Of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I don't always seem right.

Shoot, I got a million things to do, sit down

and listen to this music, and I did. Now you

call that a coincidence, You have to have a pretty

big faith if to believe in the astronomical odds of

that happening. Me talking about her husband, me flying to Nashville,

me being there, her being out there, her walking up

right at the right time, and me saying can I

help you. God knew what he's doing. I could give

you tens of thousands of examples of that in my

life because I listened to the Holy Spirit. I listened

to his nudges. And by the way, he doesn't always

speak in In fact, he never speaks in these and thous.

You know, it's not like thou sit down and listeneth

to thy songeth Now, it's more like Rick, sit down

and shut up?

Got it, Lord? Got it?

Okay? So I could give you thousands of examples of that.

Now.

The Bible says in John sixteen thirteen, when the spirit

of truth comes, that's the only spirit. He will lead

you into all truth. He's going to give you the

truth you need. And you need the truth because if

you build your life on lies, you've got a faulty foundation.

It's gonna stumble, it's gonna break, it's gonna fall over,

it's going to crack up. Now, when the Holy Spirit

tells you what you need to know, when he gives

you the truth that you need at that particular moment,

there's a word for it. It's called revelation. Revelation is

when God tells you something you need to know. This book,

of course, the Bible, is God's complete revelation to humankind.

But God also reveals things to you. How does he

do it? To the Holy Spirit, And He'll give you

these little nudges, and he'll give you these little insights,

and they'll be thoughts, and you go. I would have

never thought of that. It's a revelation. The Bible says

in Luke two twenty six about Simon. It had been

revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit, and Simeon had

been told he said, you're not going to die until

you see the Messiah. He would have never known that.

The Holy Spirit had to tell him that. And God

will reveal things to you. It's never going to contradict

this book. In fact, if he does condredict the book.

It's not from God.

God's word and God's will never contradict each other. So

God tells you to do something that's the opposite in

his book, you're wrong. That was not the Holy Spirit.

That was the evil Spirit giving you that thought. But

the first thing the Holy Spirit does is he helps

me know what I need to know when I need

to know.

Number two, if I listen to.

The Holy Spirit, he will help me get to where

I need to go. He will help me get where

not only know what I need to know, but go

where I need to go. He'll help me get where

I need to go. There are some places you need

to get in life, and there's no way.

You're going to get there by yourself.

God has put a dream in your heart, a desire

in your heart, a vision in your heart, and you

have a dream of where you're going to be someday.

There's no way you're going to get there on your own.

But if you'll let the Holy Spirit guide you, he

will guide you into places that you never ever imagined

you'd be. And I could give you a lot of

examples of that in my life. He will help me

know what I need to know, help me get where

I need to go. He's going to open doors of

opportunity for you. At Chris at Easter, we're going to

start a new series on the doors of destiny, the

doors of opportunity in your life.

Spend some time on that.

And God says, I've set before you an open door,

and it's an open door that nobody can close. And

God opens the door for you, nobody can close it.

And so what you want to do is let the

Holy Spirit guide your career. You want the Holy Spirit

guide your relationships. You want to let the Holy Spirit

guide who you marry. If you're not letting him guide

you and things like that, then you're gonna make a

lot of errors. You're gonna let make a lot of mistakes.

The Bible tells us in Luke two twenty seven, the

Spirit led Simeon, this is the guy we just talked

about to go to the temple. And when he got there,

you know what, he saw Joseph and marrying the baby Jesus.

And Simeon was the man given the highest privilege of

dedicating the baby Jesus to God in the Temple of Jerusalem.

If Simeon had not been sensitive to the Holy Spirit,

he's probably sitting at home in his bark a lounger,

you know, doing a crossword puzzle, and all of a

sudden he gets an impression and the Holy Spirit says,

go to the temple, and so he gets up and

go because he knows the voice of God, and he

goes to the temple when he gets a lo and behold

there's Barry Joseph, the baby Jesus. He gets the privilege

of dedicating the baby Christ. He would have missed it

and you will miss things in your life if you

don't learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit. The

Bible is full of examples of the Holy Spirit will

do and what I call nudges. Where he nudges you,

he puts an idea, go do that. He'll tell you

stuff to know, but he'll also tell you where to

go if you'll listen to him. In Acts, chapter eight

twenty nine, it says, then the Spirit told Philip, go

catch a ride with that chariot.

Now let me tell you the background.

Philip's walking down a dusty road one day, mind in

his own business, singing songs, having fun, walking down a

dusty road, and all of a sudden, a guy comes

buying a chariot, which means the guy obviously was a

man of wealth or power or influence. He's probably an official.

He sees this black guy go buy in a chariot.

We later find out that he is an Ethiopian leader,

major leader in Ethiopia.

And as that chariot goes by.

And Philip sees this black guy go buy in a chariot,

the Holy Spirit says to him, I don't want you

to just know what you need to know. I want

you to go where I want you to go. He says,

go catch your ride to that chair. Hitchhike, go go

catch your ride with that chariot. So he runs up

to the chariot and he sees the guy's got a

book in his hand, and I said, what you're reading?

And then I goes, well, it's the Book of Isaiah,

but I don't understand it. Now Philip knows why he's there. Well,

I know it. I understand it. And he said, tell

me what you're reading. And he's reading the passage in

Isaiah about how the Messiah is going to come one day.

And Phillips goes, by the way the guys come and

he was just crucified, and a few days ago he

was resurrected, and he's alive and he's walking around Jerusalem

now for forty days and it's a very cool thing.

The guy says, tell me more. And God had that

Ethiopian reader coming by in a chariot and said, and

he gives a nudge to Philip, said go catch a

ride with him. He explains to him in Christ. He

gets up in the chariot. They keep traveling together. As

he's kind of talking with the guy and he says, well,

you know, I guess what do.

I need to do next?

And Philip goes, you need to be baptized as a

symbol that you've you know, you've said I'm all in,

I've accepted Christ as my savior. And they're driving along

and he sees a creek bed and the Ethiopian leader goes, well,

there's some water. What's to keep me from being baptized

right now? And Philip goes nothing, So they stopped the chariot.

You read the whole story, go down to the creek,

Philip baptizes, this guy, gets up, The guy takes off

in his direction, heads back home. Philip goes back the

other direction. That man took Christianity to Africa, and that's

why the oldest Christian churches in.

Africa are actually in Ethiopia.

Why is that? How did Christianity expand to Africa? Because

somebody listened to a nudge of the Holy Spirit. Somebody said,

go catch your ride with that chariot. That was Holy Spirit,

and so he did. If I had time, I could

give you hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of examples of

this happening in the history of this church. At saddleback.

We call it catching a wave. Now, surfers know that

waves have to be caught. And surfing looks easy, but

it's actually pretty hard. Requires balance, but most of all,

it requires patience because you get on your board and

you paddle out past the waves, and you get out

there out the back, and you just stop and you

wait for the right wave. And every surfer knows that

not every wave is worth surfing. Some of are short waves,

some are duds, some of them are incomplete waves, some

are broken waves. And so you go out there and

you just wait and you wait and you wait until

God brings the right wave along, and then you start

paddling as fast as you can. Jump your knees jump

up and you ride it in. And the whole goal

is to ride that wave without losing your balance and

then getting off the wave before it wipes out. That's

how God wants you to live your life. Now, every

surfer knows surfers don't make waves. Only God makes waves.

Only God can make a wave. Surfer's job is just

to surf the waves of God.

Great.

You know what I see? I see so many business

guys out there trying to make a wave. I'm trying

to make a wave. I'm trying to make a wave

so my business will grow. I'm going to try to

make a way. You can't make a wave. But I

tell you what, if you'll listen to the Holy Spirit

and he tells you what wave to catch, God will

do more in one year than you can do in

ten years on your own in your business. It's whether

you're listening to the Holy Spirit or to listen to yourself.

Most people are out there trying to make a wave.

I want to get married, I want to do you

know whatever, and you try, you can't make a wave. Sorry,

this growth, the growth was side of that church. Was

not my business and it was not the business of

anybody else. Is because God is creating a wave and

we had enough people in this church. You're smart enough

to go that's the way God's going. Let's hop on

that one. And we're always looking at where's the next wave,

and we catch that. We've caught many many waves over

the last four decades. We don't try to create them.

Only God creates waves. I'll say it again, get it good,

all right twice. Haven't done that in a decade so now.

But the point is you got to be listening because

he'll show you what you need to know, but it'll

also show you where you.

Need to go.

By the way, Sometimes you'll find yourself in a situation

and somebody asks you a question that you don't know

the answer to, and you're going I have the slightest

idea what to say right now. Or you're in a conflict,

or you're at a graveside, or you're in a situation

that's upsetting somebody and you don't know what to say.

You know what I'm talking about. Ever been in those situations.

I haven't the slightest idea what to say in this

situation right I'm on the phone. They just asked how

in the world am I supposed to respond. That's when

you need the Holy Spirit. Number Three. If I listen

to the Holy Spirit, he will help me say the

right things. He helps me know what I need to know,

He helps me go where I need to go, and

he helps me say what I need to say at.

The right time and in the right way.

That is extremely important when you're having a conflict with

your spouse that you listen to the Holy Spirit, because

if you listen to yourself, you're going to say something

really dumb and make the problem worse. I am exhibit

a of this. I could tell you many, many dumb

things I've said in an argument with K. On the

other hand, when I listened and I say, Holy Spirit,

you need to tell me what to say, I'm the

slightest idea, what say what this moment just had, Then

God will teach you what you need to say. Mark

Chapter twelve, verse thirty six. The Holy Spirit led David

to say, Now, not only does he tell you what

to know, tell you where to go, but he tells

you what to say. If you'll listen, that's what a

guy does. And if you'll listen, you'll you'll stop saying

so many stupid things if you just listen more to

the Holy Spirit, and you won't get yourself in so

much trouble. Now, the Holy Spirit has used you many

if you're a Christian, he's used you many, many times

without you even know it. And he puts an idea

in your mind and you say it and it affected

somebody in a way, and you didn't even know that

they needed to hear that. You were sitting in your

small group and you said something offhand, and you don't

even honestly don't even remember it. But it was like

the light turned on for somebody else in that small group,

and it was like God spoke directly to them and

shot an arrow at their heart. God used you to

say what they needed to hear, and you didn't even

know it. You just got an idea, so you said it.

You didn't realize it was from the Holy Spirit. How

many times have you come to church and then you

walked out and you said, Shoot, I felt like Rick

was talking directly to me. I was. I was.

He said, I feel like you're reading my mail.

I don't need to. I have the Holy Spirit.

And and I pray every time.

God. I don't even know what you want me to say,

but you put in what I need to say because

you know who's going to be there. That's why I'm effective.

I'm not brilliant. I just depend on the Holy Spirit.

God tell me to say what I need to say

and how to say it. Because you know who you're branding.

So if you know who you're bringing the church next

weekend and you know what you want to say them,

it's okay with me. You can just do it through

me or Tom or but or anybody else as long

as the word gets out. Holy Spirit has used you

many times now. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will tell you

in advance what you need to say. That's just good preparation.

I don't wait till I walk out here on stage

and goes, what are we going to talk about this weekend?

Anybody read a good novel lately? You know, book review? No,

I am all weak praying. I've had four flights this week,

and on each of those airline flights, I'm sitting there

with my eyes closed in the Lord Holy Spirit, What

do you want to say to your people this weekend?

And I'm reading scripture and I'm praying, and I'm just

letting him tell me. God, you know who's going to

be there, So why would you give me something to

say that makes no relationship to where they are? He wouldn't.

So if he's going to bring you to church this weekend,

then he's going to tell me what he wants to

say to you, and you can. You don't have to

wait till last second. He gives it to you in

a dance. You prepare and you prepare for it. But

sometimes Holy Spirit just tells you right in the moment.

And that's a fun thing too.

You know, I do a lot of interviews, and I

was at the Billy Graham funeral. I probably did twenty interviews.

Every major network, every major magazine or newspaper, just one

right after another. It seemed like every time I turn around,

somebody is sticking a microphone in front of me. Well,

when you're doing an interview, you don't know what they're

going to ask. You don't say, tell me the questions

in advance, and I'll tell you if I want to

do the interview. And oftentimes they want to trip you up,

and they want to, you know, cause you to say

something stupid or get involved in some controversy. Stuff like that.

And people say, you know, Rick, when I watch you

doing interviews, you don't ever seem very nervous.

I'm not. He said, Well, you don't know the questions.

I don't.

Well, they could try to trip you up. They do,

But you're not nervous. No, why because I have an

advantage they don't have. I have the Holy Spirit. They

don't have the Holy Spirit, but I do. And the

whole time they're asking that offensive question, I'm going, Okay, Lord,

how are you gonna handle this one? Can't wait to

see what you're gonna say, because I'm not saying anything

till you give it to me. So this is gonna

be fun. And I love just laying it out on

the edge. And you put yourself in a corner where

you're bound to fail once God bails you out, and

they ask some of the most outrageous questions, and you're going,

let's see what you have to say about this Lord,

And then I wait, and the Holy Spirit will then

give you the impression he will not only tell you

to know what you need to know and go where

you need to go, but.

Say what you need to say.

And so you need to do this with your boss,

with your neighbor, in a witnessing situation, you don't know

what say, just don't panic, throw up an instant prayer

and go, Holy Spirit, what do you want to say?

Holy Spirit? What do you want to say? Right now?

And then just wait. If you'll do this, It's like

a muscle. The more you do it, the stronger it gets.

The better you understand the Holy Spirit, the quicker you

get the answers you'll falter it start. That's okay, I did,

but I've been walking with the Lord for over fifty years.

I know the voice of God when I'm a doubt

when I know the voice of God because I've heard him.

He's my best friend. I've walked with him so long,

I've spent so many hours alone with him. I know him.

And the longer you spend time in this book with God,

you know what he's going to say, and he's going

to bring it to your mind. Matthew ten Verse nineteen twenty.

Do not worry what to say or how to say it.

You've got to make a presentation, you've got to go

for a job interview, you've got to make a proposal.

Do not worry about what to say or how to

say it. At the that time, you will be given

what to say, for it will not be you speaking,

but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. This

is why the Holy Spirit is here to know what

we need to know, to go where we need to

go to say.

Help us know to what to say what we need

to say.

Number four, If I listen to the Holy Spirit, he

will help me. This is a big one. Wait for

God's perfect timing. He will help me. Wait for God's

perfect timing. Friends, I didn't realize him importance of this

in my younger days that I have discovered that timing

is everything.

You know.

All over America, the same baseball pitchers throw the exact

same sized ball, and they all stand on the same

sized mound, regulation mound, and they stand the exact same

number feet away from the batter. But the difference between

a Hall of Famer and amateur is timing. It's the

timing on how they throw that ball. And in knowing

the right timing, a sermon can be a success or

a dud. A speech can be a successor dud. A

project can be a successor dud. It's all about timing.

You can do the right thing at the wrong time

and it doesn't work. Maybe you've got God gave you

an idea to start a new business, and you thought, well,

I got the idea, should just start start it. No,

there are always three parts to a vision. You need

to write this down. It's not no the notes. Write

this down. Three parts to a vision. When God gives

you a vision for your business, or your marriage or

anything else. Number one, First, he tells you what he's

going to do. That all a vision always comes in

three parts. He tells you what He's going to do

Now what happens is once we know what God says, Yeah,

I'm going to do this in your life, then we

go out. We started as if we can just.

Do it any way.

We want to do it any old time, want to No, no, no,

we started. We started probably too soon and in the

wrong way, and then we fall flat on our face

and we come back crying to God and go, God,

did I miss you? Did I miss your will? I

thought you told me to start this business. I thought

you told me to start this career. I thought you

told me, And God said, well I did, you just

didn't wait for Part two and part three of the vision.

Part two is the how and how God does. What

he does in your life will usually be the exact

opposite of the way you'd like to do it. In fact,

you can you normally take the normal way you would

do something and do the opposite, and you're probably being

God's will by God says, by ways or not your ways.

I didn't say do it like I said I was

going to bless your business. I didn't say I was

going to bless it any way you wanted to do it,

You got to wait for the how, and then you

got to wait for the third part of the vision,

which is the win, and that's the timing, and that's

the most important at all. God often will give you

a peak to your future. We'll look at this in

the Doors series, a peak to your future, and he says,

this is where I'm taking it. You're not there yet.

I've got to get you ready. I've got to build

your spiritual maturity. I've got to get you stronger in

the Lord, because the success that I'm going to give

you with this.

You're not ready to handle.

Timing is everything, and so one of the things Holy

Spirit what does is he gives you the right timing. Now,

there's no way you can know the right timing for everything,

but there is a way for God to know the

right timing for everything. And the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes,

there's the right time and the right way to do everything.

And so if you're going to wait on God's timing,

you know what it means.

It means this.

You don't freak out over delays. When you freak out

over delay, I had this vision, but it isn't happening

as fast as I wanted to happen. It means you're

not trusting God's timing. We waited thirteen years to get

our first piece of property for the Lake Forest Campus.

Thirteen years of delays, and the church kept growing from

two people to two hundred, to two thousand, to four thousand,

to eight thousand to ten thousand. We were having over

ten thousand and at tenance before we got property for

the first building. Now we're waiting on property for all

of our other campuses, and God will give us the

property in due time, in the right way. But we

don't get worried about delays because God's timing is perfect.

If we had jumped ahead of God's timing, for instance,

at the Lake Forest Campus, we would have settled for

so much less. When God wanted to give us one

hundred and twenty acres, that was way beyond my idea.

My big when I started church, my big dream is

have fifty acres, which was crazy because no church California

had fifty acres. God said, well, a good idea, Rick,

but it's just a little small. I'm going to give

you one hundred and twenty And if we hadn't waited,

we would have missed. If you don't wait, God always

gives his best to those who leave the choice to him.

That's true in a husband or a wife, in a career,

God always gives his best to those who leave the

choice to him. God, you, at the right time and

the right way, bring the right business, the right job,

the right piece of land, the right partner, and on

and on and when the Holy Spirit is guiding you.

This doesn't delays, don't bother you. You just wait confidently

you're not discouraged. Galatians five to five. We are led

by the Spirit to wait. Sometimes the spirit says go,

but sometimes spirit says wait. We're led by the spirit

to wait. How in the confident hope of righteousness through faith?

Let me ask you, what are you waiting on? What

are you waiting on in your life? Let me ask

you another question. Are you talking to the Holy Spirit

while you're waiting? Why are you just out there waiting?

I highly recommend you talk to the Holy Spirit while

you're waiting, and he'll help you understand where to go,

what to know, what to say, how long to wait?

Number five, If I listen to the Holy Spirit. If

I listen to Holy Spirit, he will help me. This

is a big one. Resist things I can't normally resist.

I like this, and if I listen to the Holy Spirit,

if I let him be my life guide, he will

help me resist things I can't normally res this. So

I'm talking about temptations, compulsions, desires, addictions Galatians five, seventeen eighteen.

The desires of self indulgence are always in opposition to

the spirit. In other words, what I naturally like to do,

that's the opposite of what the Holy Spirit wants me

to do. And the desires of the Spirit are in

opposition to your self indulgence, which keep prevented, keep you

prevented from doing the things you want to do. But

when you are led by the Spirit, you are not

in bondage to the law. Once you say in here,

the Holy Spirit's power is stronger than will power the

stuff that you say. I really wish I didn't say that.

I really wish I didn't act that way. Why do

I get so insecure? Why do I get so angry?

Why do I get so shy? Why do I get

so impatient? Why do I get so lustful? Why do

I wish I didn't do that? Well, the Holy Spirit's

power is stronger than the self indulgent power of your

natural self. By the way, this is one advantage that

Celebrate Recovery has over every other recovery program. We have

the Holy Spirit, and now we have the Holy Spirit's power.

It's not just will power that's helping me stay sober

or or not a codependent, or all any of the

other habits and hurts and hang ups that we deal with.

The verse before that, Verse relations five sixteen says it

this on screen. If you're guided by the Spirit, you

won't fulfill Notice, you won't fulfill the selfish desires of

your sinful nature. Now I want to leave that up

there for a minute. Notice it does not say if

you're guided by the Spirit you won't have selfish desires.

You're going to have them. It doesn't say you won't

have them. It says you don't fulfill them. This is

very important. Whatever your area of weakness is, whether it's

sex or anger, or drugs, our money, whatever your downfall is,

you're going to struggle it with it the rest of

your life. It doesn't say that when you follow the

Spirit you no longer have no temptation. No. In fact,

the more you grow as a Christian, the more Satan

tries to tempt you not less more because he's trying

to take you down. Satan hates you. God loves you

as a wonderful plan for your life. Satan hates you

as a terrible plan for your life. Why does Satan

even care about you? He wants to hurt God. And

the quickest way to hurt somebody's hurt his children. And

so you'll never have an air in your life where

you're temptation free. It just says, if you walk in

the spirit, if you're guide to be the spirit you

don't fulfill, you may still have that natural attraction the

rest of your life. But an attraction is not an action.

An attraction is not a sin. An action is if

you walk in the spirit, you don't fulfill the lust

of the flesh. I might have a natural attraction to

want to have sex with other women who aren't my wife,

but an attraction is not an action, and an action.

Is the sin. You know, I'm not gonna do that.

Why Because the Holy Spirit gives me the power to

say no. Because there's some other things that are more

important to me, far far more important to me. So

I'll be able to resist the things I can't normally resist.

Let me give you one more. If I listen to

the Holy Spirit, he will help me. It's a big one,

avoid dangers and mistakes. This is why it's so important

to be led by the Holy Spirit. If I listen

to the Holy Spirit, he will help me avoid dangers

and mistake. Part of the Holy Spirit's job is to

protect you, to shield you. The Bible use of the

word shield, the word shelter, the word defend, to keep

you from disaster, my protector, my rock, my defender. It

is the Holy spirit job to protect you from dangers

and mistakes. And one of the ways he does this

is by warning you and cautioning you. And the Holy

Spirit just doesn't whisper sweet, nothing's in your You're good,

You're great, You're fantastic. You know, I believe in you. Yes,

the Holy Spirit encourages you, But sometimes don't you dare

do that. Sometimes he warns you, sometimes he corrects you.

Sometimes he speaks in your mind a word of protection,

saying if you go down that road, it is disaster, buddy.

You're headed into a dead end real quick. So if

you want to avoid mistakes and dangers in life, you

just have to listen to the Holy Spirit. The less

I listen to him, the more mistakes I'm going to make.

The less I listen to him, the more problems I'm

going to have, the more dead ends I'm going to face. Now,

I want you to write this down on your outline.

I am most likely to hear the Holy Spirit when

I'm relaxed. Write this down. I am most likely to

hear the Holy Spirit when I'm relaxed. It's almost impossible

to hear the Holy Spirit when you're tense, when you

are nervous, when you are upset, when you're angry, and

especially when you're fearful. He said, how do I know

if what I'm hearing right now is my fear or

God's spirit?

Okay, read my lips on this, and.

If there's an element and fear in it, it is

not from the Holy Spirit. The Bible says God has

not given us a spirit of fear, but power and

love and a sound mind. Anytime you feel fear, that's

not God talking. The Holy Spirit can warn you about something,

don't do that, but it's not going to be a

fear based thing. Fear based is never of the Holy Spirit,

never of the Holy Spirit. So he will warn you

and letting the Holy Spirit lead, you'll spare you from

a lot of unnecessary pain.

Acts twenty one to four.

The Holy Spirit warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

Why because there was a conspiracy there to murder him.

He didn't know about it, and Holy Spirit and told

him and said don't go there. And he said, okay,

I don't have to know why, but I'm not going

to go, And so he didn't. All right, quickly, how

does the Holy Spirit guide? And then I'm going to

give you just quick.

Steps and this is fast.

How does the Holy Spirit guide? Oh?

Ye have little faith? Forget it. I'm going home.

Figure it out yourself, all right? All right, you wimpy,

wimpy wimpy pee Paul. Have I told you lately that

I love you? Do I preach to you long? Yes?

Do you still come? Yes?

It's the whole counsel of God.

Now, it's like the farmer said to other farmer, buddy,

it's good to feed your flock, but you don't have

to give them the whole bail. Hey, yes I do.

How does the Holy Spirit guide?

Well, I could give you a big long list of

ten ways, but because you're so weak, I'm going.

To give you just three.

All right, write these down. Don't write the ones I'm

mentioning right now, look up here. God can lead you

through wise counsel. He can lead you through visions. He

can lead you through dreams. He can lead you through circumstances.

He can lead you through miracles. We'll go over that

some other time, but let me give you the most

common ways that the Holy Spirit guides. Ninety nine percent

of the time, it's one of these three ways. Number one,

by revealing the meaning of what he said. By revealing

the meaning of what he said, I'm talking about the Bible.

If he's the Spirit of truth, he's certainly going to

use the Bible, because the Bible is the truth. So

if you want to know God's will, get into God's word.

God's will is found in God's word. Stop looking for

a vision, start looking for a verse, stop looking for

a sign, start looking for a scripture. The Spirit of

Truth will lead you in truth, and so he's going

to take you to the Word. But here's the problem.

Sometimes you get to the Word and it doesn't make sense.

Anybody ever had that problem? Or sometimes you read a story,

go nice story, What in the world's have to do

with me that you ever had that question. Of course

you have. Of course that's why you need the Holy Spirit,

because we not only have the guide book, we have

the author and his personal commentary in our ear. It's

the only book that you can read that when you're

reading the book, you can go, now, what did you

mean when you're saying this, and the author's right there

to go, well, here's what I mean. So you get

not only the guide book, you get the guide Sometimes.

We don't understand the verse.

Look at this first Grindians to eleven fourteen. The man

without the Spirit does not accept the things that come

from the Spirit of God for their foolishness to him,

and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

First place, if I'm not a believer, if I don't

have the Holy Spirit, there's no way I'm going to

understand the Bible. I cannot understand the Bible without the

Holy Spirit. To understand the truth, I need the Spirit

of truth. So God knew this, and he assigns the

Holy Spirit to be our interre. And in John fifteen

twenty six, the helper will come the Holy Spirit, the

spirit who reveals the truth.

And that's why I said with this.

Book, you get both the book and live commentary from

the author, because the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. So

the first way is I need to know what you

want me to do.

Lord.

I read the Bible and he reveals to me the

meaning of passages. This is what it means in my

life right now. That's called an application. This is what

it means in my life. I know what happened a

long ago. What does this mean to me right now?

The Holy Spirit gives you the application. He applies it,

He illuminates it, he reveals it, and he applies it

to your life. Second way that the Holy Spirit guides first,

as I get in the book and he helps me

understand it. Number two by reminding me of what he said.

He not only reveals what he said, reveals the meaning

of what he said in the Bible. He now reminds

me of what he said. One of the Holy Spirit's

job is to remind you of truth that you've already learned.

It is his job to be your mental reminder to

bring it to remembrance. John fourteen twenty six. The helper

will teach you everything, and notice this circle. It will

cause you to remember all that I told you. This

helper is the Holy Spirit.

So what is he saying.

If I've heard a sermon and I've taken down notes,

and I've read a Bible and I've taken down notes,

and I've been in a Bible study and I've been

in a small group and I've taken down notes, then

I've put some stuff in my mind. But I don't

remember everything I've read, heard and taught and learned and discussed.

I don't do that.

But the Holy Spirit knows what's already been put in

my mind, and he can bring it to remembrance when

I need it. Isn't there verse in the Bible? It

says and he brings that to mind. Now follow me

on the logic on that, the more the word you

put in your mind, the more he can bring the remembrance.

That makes sense.

Right, So the more Bible I get in my brain,

the more he can a bigger library he's got. If

I only got a little bit of Bible, he didn't

have a whole lot.

To pull out.

The Holy Spirit cannot remind you of stuff you've never

heard in the first place. This is why you need

to read the Bible. Every day. This is why you

need to listen to God's word. You need to read

God's word every day. You need to fill your mind

with God's word. The more you put in your mind,

the more He can remind you. But he can't remind

you of stuff you haven't ever heard. So you got

to get into the word of God. By the way,

have you ever thought about this, Since you know, the

disciples didn't walk around with binders, they didn't have notepaper,

How in the world did they remember all these stories

and the example of the stories that Jesus and the

things that Jesus said, and they wrote down the sermon

on the mount. If I asked you write down last

week's sermon, could you remember it? I don't even remember it.

Come on, So unless you write notes, you don't remember.

How in the world. So how to the world we

get the Bible? Well, look up here on the screen.

The Bible says this. You need to know two Peter

one twenty that nothing in scripture was just thought up

by the prophets themselves. It was the Holy Spirit who

directed and reminded them of these true words from God.

SOA's only spirit who years later, says Peter write this

stuff down, and John write this stuff down, and Matthew

write this stuff down, and Mark write this stuff down.

There was only spirit who brought it to mind. They

would have not remembered all this stuff that's in the

New Testament. But the Holy Spirit reminds us of what

he said. Okay, so he helps us understand what he said.

He reminds us what he said, and the number three

He guided by giving us nudges and confirmations. Nudges and confirmations.

Now these are mental impressions. It's often called an internal witness.

The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. It's just

a sense that you know internally. Nobody's told you this,

but you know that. You know that, you know that,

you know that, you know because the Holy Spirit has

said this is the truth, and you know it and

it's hard to recognize it first. But the longer you

walk with God, the better you can hear God's voice

if you're in the word Romans eight sixteen, I Love

the Message. Paraphrase says, God's Spirit touches our spirit, our spirits,

and confirms what we really are. God will often use

a nudge to confirm something you know. God will often

use an impression to confirm, sometimes to warn, but a

lot of time to confirm. Last week, Rick and Laura

Machau had not decided on where they were going to

have their surgery. They had gone to a hospital. One

hospital and the hospital said your surgery. Your cancer is inoperable.

It's inoperable. And I said, Rick, you think we're going

to give up with that?

Really?

I mean, if you got a million dollar racehorse, you

don't take them to the local vet. You go wherever

a million dollar racehorses get worked on. And so my

wife Kay began to do a lot of research and

talk to doctors who were knowledgeable in the area of

cancer that Rick Macho had in his brain. They found

a hospital that said we not only can, we will

do your surgery. Rick had a multiple different ones. He

didn't know which one to choose. I mean, I had

four or five hospitals to choose from. And early this

week he had called and he said, Rick, will you

and Ka pray with me and Laura on which one

we should take? And I said, well, what have you

heard so far? And he said, well, we went to

this one and I really really felt good about it.

He said, every person I met. I just felt the

internal peace about it. Every doctor I talked to, even

the check in nurse and he goes. Everybody there just

it just felt so right. And I said, Rick, I'll

be happy to pray with you, but you don't need

my prayer. You already got your answer. The Holy Spirit

has given you your answer. You don't need to pray

about it. You've already had five or six little nudges,

so you don't really And so I said, well, pray

it with him. I prayed with him, but you don't

really need to pray about it because you've already been

nudged six times by the Holy Spirit. And he went

there and Wednesday the surgery was successful. Yeah, and they

got about ninety plus percent of the tumor and now

they're looking at the microscopic parts that they could get

by radiation chemo and working on a plan on that.

He's working on recovery. He has his arm isn't working

real well and his right leg isn't working real well,

but they said that could be just temporarily. And the

doctor they've seen a lot. The doctor was elated with

the surgery, felt it went way beyond and I'm going Okay,

thank you God, Thank you for your prayers answered. Thank

you for all of that. And so now we just

got to pray for full recovery because we could have

lost him on the table, and he had been told

already it was inoperable, but clearly it wasn't. And so

we listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. All right,

he gives us those nudge. By the way, let me

just say this that I know I'm running behind, but

act feeling the pressure right now. Here's a really important thing.

Every time you get an impression to do good, act

on it. Don't go I'll do it later. Why because

every time you do it, you strengthen the muscle that

here's the Holy Spirit. Every time you go, I got it.

How many times if you've been told say something nice

to that person, do something for that person, send that note,

call that person, offer a meal, give some advice, offer

some prayer, all these goods, and you know, I just

don't have time right now. When you do, you weaken

the muscle that here's the Holy Spirit. Every time you

get a nudge to do something, to do good, do it,

do it because you're strengthening the muscle that actually makes

you tuned, so so the Holy Spirit knows when I

tell him do this, they're going to do it. That

makes sense, So never delay, never awe. You know, say,

if somebody you know, you see somebody over there look

like have a hard time, and you feel like I

should go out and say can I pray for you?

Well, then do it.

Walk out and say can I pray for you? If

they say no, fine, but you obeyed the Holy Spirit.

And if you obey the Holy Spirit, when you get

those nudges, it will get stronger and stronger and stronger

in your life and you're better. You can hear his

voice when I wish I could go into this. When

I hear the Holy Spirit, it's often illumination of scripture.

It's often an interpretation of an event. I'll be sitting

in a meeting and I'm going, Holy Spirit, what's going

on here? And he tells me and I can see

what the real issue is. And sometimes it's an impression of.

People and.

This is their problem and it just comes supernaturally and

it gets better over time. All right, real quick, how

do I let the Holy Spirit lead me? And I'll

just give you the points. I won't even go into

the number one. Here's the steps you need to start

doing every day to let the Holy Spirit be your guide.

Number one, Pause and be quiet. You can't hear the

Holy Spirit very well on the run. Psal I'm thirty

seven to seven. Be still and know that I Am God.

Sit down and shut up. Okay, pause and be quiet.

If you're frustrated and you can't get alone, go into

the bathroom. Sit in a stall. It's the only place

you can get alone. In your office, be still and

be quiet. Psal I'm thirty seven and seven Isaiah thirty,

verse fifty in quietness and confidence will be your string.

So you got to just pause and be quiet, all right.

Number two, Humbly ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.

You have not because you ask not. You've got to ask,

but you've got to ask with a humble spirit. It's

your attitude that the Holy Spirit is looking for Psalm

twenty five to nine. God guides the humble in what

is right, and he teaches them his way. The more

humble you are, the more you're gonna hear the Holy Spirit.

God guides the humble, not the proud, not the arrogant,

not those who think they've got it all figured out.

God.

God, I'm humbly asking you, Psalm twenty seven, verse eleven.

Teach me Lord, what you want me to do. Lead

me down the right path. God, I gotta have it.

I can't do this.

I've got to know what the next step is.

I can't move.

Give me a give me a direction. God, I'm humbly

asking you. I've paused, I'm quiet. I'm humbly asking you

to guide me. Number three, be willing to do what

he says before he tells you. Now, if you approach

this with God, I'll do what you tell me to do.

But you got to.

Tell me first, and then I'll decide whether I want

to do it or not. You're gonna hear nothing. You

must want to be led. You start with desire, with longing.

With cravy.

I've got to have God's guidance.

It's truth.

There's many people don't want God to lead them. They

want to be their own boss. They say, God, I'm

willing to do whatever you say. I'm signing the check.

You fill in the amount. I'm saying yes before you

even tell me what it is you want me to do.

John seven seventeen. Whoever is willing to do what God

wants and chooses, it will know what I teach.

If what I teach couds.

Knowing comes after the choosing God, I choose to do

your will. Now let me know what it is. Number four,

Look to God's word. Look to God's word. Your word

is a lamp to guide me and a light for

my path. We have the guide, but we also have

the guide book, and you need both. We have the

guide and the guidebook. The Bible says, guide my steps

by your words, so I.

Will not be overcome by evil. Number five.

Expect his guidance in faith. Expect his guidance in faith.

If you're not expecting the Holy Spirit to tell anything,

well why should he tell you anything. God works. God

does not listen to your complaints. God listens to your faith.

God does not listen to your gripes. He listens to

your faith James Chapter one. If you want to know

what God really wants you to do, ask him and

he'll gladly tell you, for He's always ready to give

a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him.

But but be sure that you really expect him to

tell you. If you don't ask in faith. Don't expect

the Lord to give you any solid answers. We trust

God's guidance because He's never wrong, but you have to believe.

And finally, number six, it's important wait for God's response.

Don't get in a hurry. Don't get in a hurry,

don't get in a rush. God hadn't told me yet,

So I'm gonna go ahead and start that business. I'm

gonna go ahead and get say yes to that engagement.

Wait for God's response. The Bible says God does speak

sometimes one way and sometimes another, even though people may

not understand it. And if you wait, the waiting will

get clear and clearer and clearer.

Let me pray for you.

This is the most important thing you can know as

a Christian, how to be led by the Holy Spirit. Father.

I pray for our flock. I pray for this family

of God. I pray for every person at every campus

who's going to have to make some difficult decisions this

next week. May we never again make a decision on

our own, but make it first in consultation with You.

You've given us a guidebook. You've given us a guide

Holy Spirit. Help us to learn to hear your voice

to listen to your nudges. Help us to get into

God's word. To fill our minds with your word so

we will remember, and then you can cause us to

remember what we've stored in our hearts. Lord, For everybody

who's having a tough time this week, Holy Spirit, give

them new insight, them to know what they need to know.

Help them to go where they need to go, Help

them to say what they need to say. Help direct

them along the way. Help those who need to wait

for your perfect timing to not get in a hurry.

Help those who are struggling with something that just they

can't seem to resist, to stop relying on willpower and

rely on spirit power. And I pray you would protect

this flock. You would protect them from dangers and mistakes.

And Lord, help us to be smart enough to listen

to your warning and then not walk foolishly into areas

you've told us to avoid.

Lord.

For anyone who doesn't know you here today, may they

right now say Jesus, I want to know you. Just

say that, Jesus, I want to know you, and I

want you in my life. May they begin this journey

today for the rest of their life. I pray this

blessing in your name. Amen, God bless you guys.