YOU CAN HEAR GOD — Episode 1 You’ve Heard Him Before

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. This week we're starting a brand

new series. And that series title is, You Can

Hear God. Look at the person beside you and tell

them that. Say, you can hear God. You can hear

God. You know, we live in a culture that people

think the preacher is the only one that can hear

God. We want the preacher to hear God and then

tell us what God said. Kind of like the Old Testament

where the children of Israel on the way to the

promised land, they decided they didn't want

God to speak to them after the Mount Sinai experience.

They didn't want God speaking to them. We want

God to speak to Moses and then Moses tell us

what he said. But you can hear God. You can hear

God. And sometimes when we talk to people about

hearing God and what is God saying, multiple

people have said, well, that's just not the relationship

that I have with God. I don't really hear from

Him. I don't really understand what you're talking

about. That's not my experience is hearing from

God. Well, God spoke to me this morning. On the

way here, I can't tell you how tired I am. You

know, eight hours in the airport, flying into

MCO after midnight, going to bed, sleeping possibly

three hours, two hours and 45 minutes. And I

woke up, and my left calf was in a hard cramp.

I must have rocked too much in the rocking chair

at Buffalo. My back, the middle of my back was

in a hard cramp at 4 .20 this morning. And I

got up out of bed, and I'm trying to stretch

it out, and finally get it stretched out, go

lay back down in bed. I didn't even look and

see what time it is, and I'll tell you how I

know what time it was, because as soon as I lay

back down, my alarm went off and says, time to

get up and get ready for church. And out of my

mouth said, no! So I laid there another 10, 15

minutes, and then got up and got ready. Like

I said, God spoke to me on the way because I

needed something, right? Does anybody go through

times where you just need something? Let me tell

you how he spoke to me. As I left from picking

up the trailer and started getting closer and

closer to the school, all of a sudden there was

a thick fog. Jeffrey even said when he got here,

he said, what's up with the fog? And what did

I tell you? It was for me. God put a fog right

around this school just for me today. Because

I'll never forget being at Myrtle Beach in the

middle of the night walking out on that ramp

over the dune right beside the indoor pool and

it was so foggy I couldn't see my hand in front

of my face. Middle of the night. One of the most...

Devastating days of my life. Again, and I looked

at a map before we went to bed and said, are

we going to be missionaries in Canada or missionaries

in Mexico? And it's funny now, but it wasn't

funny then. I mean, we pulled out that big paper

atlas and we're like, we're done. You know, either

that or I'm going to be a prison minister. But

God met me. God told me to go out there. I walked

out there, and he asked me a question. He said,

where's the ocean? I said, it's right there.

I mean, I'm talking out loud. If people just

saw me, they'd think I'm, you know, a little

hoo -hoo. I said, it's right there. I'll never

forget it. God said, how do you know it's there?

I said, well, I can hear it. I can feel the breeze.

And the biggest reason I know it's there is because

I've stood here before. I've been here before.

And I know it's right there. And God said, in

a still small voice on the inside of me, I'm

not telling you I heard it with my ears, but

it was louder than hearing it with my ears. He

said, I am here. I went back to the motorhome,

fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I'd been tossing and turning up until that time.

And I woke up to a telephone call. Here's what

the person on the other end of the phone said.

God told me to call you this morning and ask

you if you needed anything. I was like... This

was the first big God conference, right after

the first. And it's like, I was too embarrassed

to tell him what I needed. And here's what he

said, and I'm glad he said it. He said, well,

if you're not going to tell me what you need,

I'm going to hang up. And because I did what

God told me to do, he said, if you can't tell

me what you need, I can't help you. And then

I told him, it was more money than I borrowed

to build our first house. And within an hour,

it was wired to our account in Alabama at that

time. Plus another $1 ,000 so that we could eat

for the month of January. And it wasn't a loan.

It was a gift. Over $50 ,000. But God spoke to

me today. I was tired. I don't want to stand

up here and complain because I'm blessed. I really

thought I was going to spend the night in the

airport after the fourth cancellation in Buffalo.

I thought I was going to, not cancellation, delay.

After they announced the fourth time that they

keep pushing the time back, and then I get an

email saying, you better come through TSA before

nine because they close at nine. If you're waiting

to come for the flight and you're a local, you

better get here or you're going to miss the plane.

So I was like, maybe I'm going to sleep in this

rocking chair. I'd already drop boxed the PowerPoint

so that Jeffrey could open it up and preach today.

If I was still in Buffalo, I would have got another

plate of wings. If you saw those posts. Had a

lot of free time in the airport. Anyway. But

every time I see a dense fog while I'm driving

on Sunday morning, it's like, God's here. God's

here. He's going to help me. He's where my help

comes from. And he just wanted to show me on

the way here because I was like, am I going to

pass out while I'm preaching? Am I going to have

any energy? Am I going to be mumbling so much

that you can't even understand what I'm saying?

No. Am I going to crash and sleep all afternoon

until tomorrow morning? Yes. I'm full of energy

right now. The Bible is filled. I don't know

if you've ever looked at it this way, but the

Bible is filled with stories of people who heard

God. Just think about it. People who heard God.

From the Garden of Eden to Abraham to Noah. I

mean, it's a book filled with people. The stories

of people who heard God. 2 Timothy 3 .16 says

this. All Scripture. Somebody say all Scripture.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

And if you look up the Greek word for inspiration,

I think that's what's coming up next. I'm not

even going to try to say it. I know, not because

I've studied Greek in depth, but I know that

theo means God. That's where we get theology,

right? Theo means God. And pneuma is wind or

breath or spirit. Okay? So it's like a compound

word. It has both of those words in this one

word. And instead of inspiration, the direct

translation is God -breathed. Everybody say God

-breathed. So, this is telling us that Scripture

originates directly from God as His spoken Word.

See, the Holy Spirit breathed the Word of God

to the writers of the Word of God. The Word of

God was spoken. So it could be written. So that

it could be spoken again. It's God breathed.

God breathed. And think of it this way. The text

comes from God exhaling his truth. It's not just

a creative human spark. It's God exhaling his

truth. The word of God. Everyone needs to hear

God. You might be sitting here and saying, I

don't hear God. I mean, I don't even know what

you're talking about. I hear God. Really? Well,

it's vital that you hear God. This is why we're

doing this series, because so many people think

that they don't hear God or can't hear God. I

mean, if you're sitting there saying, well, I

hear Him all the time. Well, you're the exception.

It's vital that we hear God. And it should be

normal. It should be normal for a Christian to

hear God. Now, we're going to talk about a lot

of different ways that God speaks in this series.

You know, we're going to help you out with that.

Because sometimes you might, you know, I could

drive into fog and I could miss it that it's

God speaking to me at a point when I really need

it. I'm telling you, with my hand up, God spoke

to me today when I hit that dense fog just right

before I got here. And it was for me. It was

for me. Because I needed it today. It should

be normal. That we hear God. Some people think

when God wrote the Bible, He quit speaking. It's

like, that's it. He spoke everything He wanted

to speak, and then He quit speaking. Well, Jeffrey

and I wrote a book. We didn't quit talking. Of

course, our book is nothing like His book, because

His book is perfect. It won't take you long to

probably find some errors in our book, not intentional.

I mean, we tried to write it as best as we could,

but we didn't quit speaking. And, you know, our

first book was Faith Act, and I'm going to talk

about faith today. And I'm going to tell you

some things that I learned yesterday in the rocking

chair that I really didn't even know. I keep

speaking. I keep speaking. And I keep learning.

How many of you know God doesn't need to learn

anything else? He's all -knowing. He got it perfectly

right the first time, but that doesn't mean He

quit speaking. Romans 8, 14. Let's you know how

vital one verse, I mean, there's a lot of verses

I could pick, but... One verse to let you know

how vital it is for you to hear God, and it needs

to be a normal thing. It says this, all who are

led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Does anyone consider themselves a child of God

today? Well, because you are a child of God,

you can be, it's still up to you, you can be

led by the Spirit of God. And how are you going

to be led by the Spirit of God if you never hear

the Spirit of God? How could you be? Let's look

at a familiar text probably. John 10 verses 1

John 10:1–5

through 5. This is Jesus talking. He says, I

tell you the truth. Anyone who sneaks over the

wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through

the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber.

But the one who enters through the gate is the

shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the

gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice

and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name

and leads them out. After he has gathered his

own flock, he walks ahead of them. And they follow

him because they know his voice. Look at the

person beside you and remind them that you're

a sheep. And sheep know the voice of the shepherd.

It says they won't follow a stranger. They will

run from him. Because they don't know his voice.

Now, to understand what's taking place here,

there were times when shepherds would take their

sheep and put them in a sheep fold. Now, this

sheep fold could be for a lot of different shepherds

and a lot of different flocks. But they would

put them in this big gated area. And what Jesus

is saying is, you know, when the shepherd comes,

the gatekeeper opens it up. And he just starts

talking to his sheep. And even though they might

be three or four different flocks in the sheepfold,

his sheep are going to follow him because they

know his voice. And God gave me a beautiful picture

of this in Romania. I think it's been a while

since I've shared this story. This is not my

picture, but it reminds me of my picture. because

my camera would be very blurry, because this

had been a long time ago. All right? So, we were

in Romania. We were in a church van going to

the women's prison to speak. And on the way,

I mean, I was just talking with someone who was

on the mission trip with me, and the driver,

we couldn't communicate with him at all anyway.

I mean, he knew no English. and there was no

translator. We're just in the van. We're headed

to the women's prison. All of a sudden, he brakes

really hard, and he starts blowing the horn because

across the road was more sheep than this. He's

up on them. I mean, just right on them, blowing

the horn. And guess what the sheep were doing?

That's what the sheep were doing. They weren't

going to move out of the road. They were frightened.

They didn't know what to do. They were just moving

around and trying not to be the closest one to

the van. But they weren't getting out of the

road. I looked over. Let's see what side I was

on. I looked over to my right at the side window

of the van. And there were more sheep, and they

were in a lady's front yard. Now, most people

in Romania don't cut grass. They don't plant

flowers. You know, coming out of communism and

everything, they're just happy to not be in a

concrete block or a concrete, poured concrete,

you know, four -story, five -story apartment

building. So she had her own little place, and

she had flowers. Those sheep were all in her

yard. She had a broom. She's swinging the broom

at the sheep that are in her yard. Guess what

the sheep are doing? They weren't leaving her

yard. They were just trying to not be the closest

one to the broom. We sat there a while. broom

swinging, horn blowing. Sheep aren't going anywhere.

All of a sudden, a man walked from the side of

the house. He wasn't whistling. He wasn't screaming.

He just walked beside the house. I could see

his mouth moving. He wasn't talking loud enough.

I mean, we had the windows open. He wasn't talking

loud enough for me to even hear him. He's just

calmly talking and walking. And as he walked

through the yard and into the street and across

the street, every one of those sheep followed

him. Isn't that what Jesus just said? And I was

just blessed to have sheep blocking the road

one day. Because I knew nothing about sheep.

But I learned a lot that day. Because when trouble

came, When danger came, they didn't know what

to do. Hello? Come on, somebody. Does anybody

ever have trouble coming your way? Or danger

coming your way? That's when you need to hear

the voice of the shepherd. You need to hear him.

And you need to quit doing this. What if, what

if, what if? Oh my, oh my, oh my. What am I going

to do? What am I going to do? What am I going

to do? Need to be still. Don't go to God last

when it seems like there's no hope. Run to God

first. Hear from Him. Follow Him. He's going

to take you to still water and green pasture.

Woo, this ain't even in my notes. I'm preaching

myself happy right now. It's important to hear

him. It's vital to hear him. It should be very

normal that we hear. Everyone can hear God. Listen,

if Jesus said, my sheep, hear my voice, my sheep,

recognize my voice, my sheep. Know my voice,

my sheep. Follow my voice. If we're sheep, we

can hear him. If we're not hearing him, listen,

it's not his fault because he's speaking, leading,

guiding, directing. He's speaking. It's just

that it might be. That we don't value our need

for hearing Him in every situation. It might

be that we run everywhere except to Him to try

to figure out a way out, a way of escape. We

run everywhere else. Consult everybody else.

And then we get to the point where, well... I've

tried everything. I guess all I got now is to

pray. Why? Look to the person beside you and

say, why? Why? Why would we do that? He knows

everything about everything. You might think

He only knows spiritual things, but He knows

everything about everything. Somebody smile.

Everyone needs to hear God. We need it. We need

to realize that. And we need to hear Him. He's

not going to just, like a parent, if a child's

doing something wrong, sometimes a parent will

come up and just like slap you on the back of

the head and say, hey. He's not wanting to slap

you on the back of the head. You've got to want

to hear from Him, to hear Him. But He's not going

to hold back. And it might not be on your microwave

drive -through timeline. Okay, God, I'll give

you 37 seconds. Speak to me. If we really value,

you know, time's not going to matter. Because

the most important thing is to hear Him. A lot

of times we ask Him and we don't expect Him to

answer because we're already figuring out how

we're going to figure it out even while we're

asking Him. Come on, somebody. We need to hear

God. And this is what we're going to focus on

today, on the first lesson out of the gate, the

first message. If you are a Christian, you have

heard God. So it shouldn't be foreign to you,

because you've heard Him. Maybe you didn't recognize

that it was Him that was speaking to you. Maybe

you thought it was the preacher or a teacher

at church. Maybe you thought that it was somebody

else. But if you're a Christian, you've heard

God. You've heard Him. If you're just a religious

church person and you're not a Christian, you

might not have ever heard Him. Ephesians 2, 8,

9. Very familiar verses. For it is by grace.

Everybody say grace. You know, people say that

grace is the unmerited favor of God. I've expanded

that definition to call grace this. Grace is

God's acts and activity of kindness and favor

towards us. Jesus did so much. He has completed

so much. Made so much available to us. Grace

is His acts of kindness and favor towards us.

Not that we earned it. Not that we deserved it.

Even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for

us. I mean, He acted in grace for us. Even though

we were just totally... Unaware. We weren't even

born. And he did acts of kindness and favor towards

you before you were ever born. So it's by God's

grace that you have been saved. But it says this,

through faith. So God did everything necessary

for you to be saved. But only people who respond

in faith to His grace invitation and His grace

gift of eternal life and forgiveness, only people

who come to Him in faith receive it. Because

we're saved by grace through faith. And this

is not from yourselves. It's a gift of God. So

that's even telling us that God has something

to do with this faith that we can receive His

grace gift with. He has something to do with

it. It's not just you. It's a gift of God. Not

by works. You can't be good enough. You can't

keep enough rules to be born again, to be saved.

Because if you could, it says, you might boast

about it. Boy, I'm such a good person. God's

so proud of me because look what I did. And look

what I didn't do. I'm a good person. Good people

don't go to heaven. Because none of us are good

enough. None of us are perfect. Good people do

not go to heaven. If that's in the back of your

mind, just erase it. Because it's not by anyone's

works so that they could boast about it. Is that

what the Bible says or not? Thank you. One person.

So if God has something to do with our faith,

For us to be able to receive His grace gift,

we're talking about salvation, but hey, every

one of His promises are grace gifts. So what

does God have to do with it? This is what I learned

at the rocking chair yesterday. I've been so

excited to share this with anybody, somebody.

I mean, you know, it just wasn't a roach crawling

by. I couldn't tell. At the airport, I never

saw. And if you've been around the Galatian church,

you've heard this verse before. If you've been

around me, you've heard this verse before. Romans

10, 17 says this. So then faith, faith comes

by hearing. So you're not going to have any faith,

the God kind of faith, unless you hear something.

So that means something has to be spoken so that

you can hear. Are you with me? Boy, some of you

are looking like that. Faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the Word of God. That little word

and, I don't know if you can tell, it's white.

It's a little bit brighter than all the other

words. Who in their right mind would sit down

in a rocking chair in Buffalo and look up and

in the Greek. I guess me. See, I've heard it

like this. Faith comes by hearing and hearing.

That just means that we've got to hear it and

not only hear it once, but we've got to hear

it again and we've got to hear it again and we've

got to hear it again and we've got to hear it

again and faith is coming because we're hearing

it again and again and again and I'm cool with

that. I'm cool with that. But that little word

and, the Greek word is only D -E. It's like D

-E -H is how you pronounce it. And listen what

I found in Thayer's Greek lexicon. This word,

when it's joined, to terms which are repeated.

Are you with me? Hearing and hearing. So you

got the same term twice with this little word

right between it. Hearing and hearing. When it's

between two terms which are repeated, it brings

emphasis and I'll just go ahead and read what

Thayer said, even though it's not the way I talk.

It is joined to terms which are repeated with

a certain emphasis and with such additions as

tend to explain and establish them more exactly.

I'm going to put it in Dean's words. It's like

faith comes by hearing, but just in case you

don't know what I'm talking about. I'm going

to explain for you. I'm just thinking. Let me

explain to you. Lucille Ball is from Jamestown,

New York, which is where I was. I did not go

to the Lucy Museum. Let me explain to you. This

word between hearing and hearing is saying, wait

a minute, I don't want you to just interpret

the word hearing however you want to interpret

it. I want to give you some explanation and I

want to establish what I'm talking about more

exactly. I don't want to leave it open to just

whatever, whoo, hearing. I don't want to just

leave it open. And all that's just in that little

word, and. It's like, how have I missed that?

For, I don't know how long I've been preaching,

since 92? How have I missed it? Because I didn't

think that little word, and, was important enough

to look up in the Greek and study it out and

say, wow! It's like. Let me explain to you. Faith

comes by hearing. And this is the kind of hearing

that faith is going to come from. The faith that

pleases God. Because without faith, it's impossible

to please God. Without the God kind of faith,

right? So the God kind of faith that comes by

hearing is by hearing by the Word of God. So

do you see how important it is to hear God? Come

on. Because if you don't hear God, if your relationship

with God isn't like that, then you're not pleasing

God. You've got to hear Him. You might say, wait

a minute, that just means reading your Bible.

Well, the first time I read this verse, that's

what I thought. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing

by reading your Bible. Let me explain to you.

Word. There are different words in English, in

our English Bibles that are translated. Word

in English. But you got logos. I can't remember

the third one right now, but one of them is rhema.

Everybody say rhema. So it's a specific kind

of word. A lot of times we just read our Bible

and we are not listening for God to speak because

we want to intellectually, with our human intellect,

figure out what God is saying. And wouldn't it

make a whole lot more sense while we're reading

the Bible to say, hey God, you wrote this, so

why don't... Why don't you interpret it for me

and let me hear what you said? I had this thought

this week. And it's like, wait a minute. If everyone...

wanted to hear God on what a Bible verse said,

we would all be in unity. Now we're all going

to fight. Well, my translation is from God. Yours

is not. I mean, just think about all the denominations,

all the different denominations. Listen, if we

all had the Holy Spirit interpreting the Word

of God correctly, rightly dividing the truth,

there wouldn't be a bunch of denominations. That

was just like... How much does God talk about

unity? God's not bringing up division. He's bringing

unity. So if we've got His Word on His Word,

then we've got unity. I spent a lot of years

of my life never even having that thought occur

to me. Faith comes by hearing. And hearing by

the spoken word. Utterance. Hearing by the spoken

word. And there, I found this in Helps Word Studies.

Thayer said, rhema is a spoken word made by the

living voice. I love that. Spoken word made by

the living voice. And when you just read this

verse, you would think, okay, the living voice

of God. So it must be theos, like I talked about

a minute ago, because it's translated God. Guess

what? It's not. The Greek word here is Christos.

Christ is not Jesus' name. It's not his proper

name. It's not like his name is, his first name

is Lord and his second name is Jesus and his

third name is Christ. Like Elisha, James, Forrest.

I mean, he's going to have three. My grandbaby's

going to have three names. But the first one

and the last one are titles. Jesus is his name.

Lord is his relationship with his followers.

He is Lord. He is master. He is boss. He's the

one in charge. It's a title. Lord. Jesus. Christ

is a title. It means the anointed one. The empowered

one. He's anointed with God. He's empowered by

God. He is God, but he's empowered by God. So

the literal translation here is by hearing the

spoken word or utterance, We could say that is

empowered or anointed by God. It's transliterated

Christ. Christ, we also take that to mean Messiah.

But the literal translation is the empowered

one, the anointed one. So let's get this straight.

All faith. All faiths. Including saving faith.

Because I know if you're a Christian, you have

heard Him. So, the faith to become a Christian,

to receive God's grace gift, it came from hearing

an utterance, a spoken, anointed, empowered word

from the living voice of God. Can I get three

people to smile? Can I get one person to say

hallelujah? All right. I'll read this again.

All faith. And this is how we please God every

day. Without faith, it's impossible to please

God, the Bible says. Believing. Well, hearing.

Hearing the spoken, anointed, empowered word

from the living voice of God. Hearing it. Then

wholeheartedly believing what he said and then

acting on it. Because faith without works, faith

without action is not even real faith. It's dead.

Are you with me? Because y 'all are just locked

in hard today. Take another fight or a flight.

See, we need to hear God. We need to have a word

that becomes alive in us. A word that becomes

now in us. A word that is personal to us. A word

that brings clarity and direction. And it has

an invitation to respond in faith. Does anyone

read your Bible? I'll pause there to see if anyone's

reading their Bible. But does anyone read their

Bible? And you might be reading something that

you've read before, something that you might

be familiar with, and then all of a sudden, it's

like, boom! It's like, I've never seen this before.

Wow! Let me go tell somebody about it. That's

what kind of word that faith comes from, that

faith is built on, that it's established from.

It's like, yes, I hear you. All of a sudden,

the written word becomes a living word, and it's

like, I'm just, yes. That's God speaking to you.

That's the Holy Spirit bringing, breathing life

into the written word where it becomes a living

word. It becomes a now word. It becomes a personal

word. Hallelujah. So let's talk about it. So

if we take hold of God's grace gift of salvation

and all of His other grace gifts, if we take

hold of them by faith, let's apply what I've

been talking about to the gospel. Because in

one form or another, you heard that everybody

has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We've all missed it. Look at the person beside

you and tell them, you missed it. I've only met

one person that told me they were perfect, but

when they told me that, they lied so they weren't

perfect anymore. Because I believe the Bible

is true, and I believe that woman was a liar

that told me that she was perfect. She never

sinned. She's in her 80s. She's like, I've never

sinned my whole life. I said, you just did. I

wasn't putting up with that junk. You just sin

in multiple ways. There's pride. There's lying.

You just committed more than one. I'm backing

up. Might be a lightning coming. I've lived a

perfect life. I've never sinned. Right. The Bible

says all have sinned and fallen short of the

glory of God. Can you remember a time in your

life where you came to the realization that you

were guilty in the presence of a holy God? That

you were a sinner? We don't ever need to get

completely away from that point. Put it in a

rear view mirror so far that we don't even think

about it anymore. We all have sinned and fallen

short of the glory of God. And I remember that

Friday morning at Vacation Bible School in Buffalo,

South Carolina. I remember feeling and experiencing

the weight of my sin. Now, my dad was talking

because he was the preacher. I didn't fully understand.

That it was God speaking to me. But all of a

sudden, it became personal and real. See, I'd

grown up listening to my dad. This wasn't the

first time he said that all have sinned and fallen

short of the glory of God. I mean, I'd heard

it with my ears so many times, but it had never

become personal to Dean. A now word for Dean.

Are you with me? I'm a sinner. I messed up. I'm

guilty. Romans 6 .23 says this, the wages of

sin is death. The wages of sin is death. I didn't

understand what a wage was, but I understood

what a paycheck was, even though I never had

one at that age. But I knew what a paycheck was.

You work for something, and you get paid. I'd

had a few agreements, even though I didn't get

paid to do my chores. But every once in a while,

if I could hold a paintbrush and help my dad

and my brother paint, all of a sudden, even though

I was nine years old, I got a little piece of

a paycheck. It wasn't much. I obviously did way

more work than I got paid for at nine years old.

But I understood that. Somebody says, if you

do this, then I will pay you this. Well, I'll

never forget. I'm a sinner, and not only have

I messed up, I deserve. Stay focused. She's fine.

She's fine. I'm not asking you to take her out.

She's fine. We just have to learn how to be focused.

Because if we're going to hear from God, we're

going to have to learn to be focused. Because

there's always going to be something to try to

distract you to keep you from hearing God. Always.

Hello? But I'm like, I deserve death. I deserve

spiritual death. I mean, I'm guilty. And there's

a paycheck that I have worked for in my failure

to live perfectly. I deserve a paycheck, and

that paycheck... is spiritual death, and that's

being separated from God. That's like not being

able to go to heaven. I will be eternally separated

from God. I'm like... I had... I had been scared

of that before. I don't know if I've shared it

with everybody, but we had this drama team come

to our church. And the choir loft became heaven.

And the vestibule in the back became hell. And

it was a play. And it was like people were living

their lives. And it's like, you know, somebody

dressed up like a demon would come grab them

and drag them into hell while they're screaming.

And then we'd find out about somebody else's

life. And then they would take them to the choir

loft and put them on a white robe. And I'm sitting

there and I'm not a Christian. I sure was scared.

I was scared of hell and I was scared of that

devil. And to top it all off, at the end of it,

They came and grabbed my dad, took him to heaven.

Came and grabbed my mom, took her to heaven.

Came and grabbed my sisters. Both my sisters

took them to heaven. Came and grabbed my brother,

even though he was lost as a goose, lost as a

ball in high weeds at this point in his life.

But he had been baptized and he was a member

of the church, but he was lost as lost could

be. They grabbed him and took him to heaven and

left me sitting there. I was scared. But we're

not saved by grace through fear. God was not

speaking to me, but I was afraid. One night I

took JT to a church. What was it called? Do you

remember? Judgment House. And all the students

had to fill out a card. And at this point, J

.T. was not a Christian, so he didn't put that

he was. And then we're standing at the judgment

seat of Christ, and God's on the throne, and

he's like, he calls out J .T. I'm like, that

ain't right. Filled out that card before it started.

And he's like, JT. I apologized to him on the

way home. Because you're not saved by grace through

fear. I apologized. Kind of the same thing I

went through. Except maybe even a little more

dramatic for me. You punched a demon the next

time you went? That's good. Demons deserve to

be hit. The wages of sin is death. Boy, I realized

that I was a sinner and I deserved to be separated

from God forever. But this time, instead of fear,

I was hearing God. It was real to me. Why? Because

it was the voice of God. Sometimes you might

think it's me talking to you, but it could be

the voice of God talking to you. But then that

verse goes on. I love this. The wages of sin

is death. Now that left me in a low place. I

was a sinner. I deserved to be separated from

God. Left me in a low place. That was some bad

news. Everybody say bad news. But then I heard

some good news. But the gift of God is eternal

life. In Jesus Christ our Lord. Or in Christ

Jesus our Lord. It became real. I deserve to

be separated from God. I'm a sinner, but hey,

God has a gift for me. He's offering me a gift.

He's offering me eternal life, not eternal death.

He's offering me eternal life. He's offering

me forgiveness. And it all, comes through Jesus.

I'll never forget how alive that came to me.

This word just, it was personal. It was for me.

It was for now. Romans 10, 8 and 10. 8 through

10, and I think we're looking at another verse.

It says this, the word is near you. The word

is near you. It's in your mouth, and it's in

your heart. That is the word of faith we preach.

So it... It's not only what you hear. It moves

into your heart and then it moves out of your

mouth. In agreement. In action. In corresponding

action to the faith that comes. That's the word

of faith we preach. Listen, that if you confess.

Everybody say speak. If you confess with your

mouth the Lord Jesus. and believe in your heart

that God has raised Him from the dead, you will

be saved. This word comes alive. Comes alive.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness.

Just like Abraham, righteousness comes by faith,

through believing. Not by doing, but by believing.

We are clothed in the righteousness of God in

Christ Jesus when we are Christians. You can't

ever grow in righteousness. You are clothed in

Jesus' righteousness, and there's nothing you

are able to add to that. If so, you would be

God. With the heart one believes unto righteousness,

and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall

be saved. That was a word for me for now. It's

like, if I call on the name of the Lord, If I

surrender my life to Jesus as Lord and Master,

if I give myself to Him, all that I am, all that

I have, and tell Him I want to live for Him and

follow Him, that's what I have to do. That's

what the Rhema Christos says, the anointed, empowered

Word from God, but it has to become that. It's

not just hearing it with your ears, because I

heard it with my ears so many times. Who heard

it with their ears so many times before it became

a living word in your heart that you responded

to? Am I the only one? So it rose up in my heart.

If I believe in Jesus, that He is God, that He

died for my sins, that He rose from the grave,

and if I confess Him as my Lord, I'll be saved.

I'll be right with God. I'll be righteous. Somebody

smile. Church ought to be the happiest place

in America today. Happiest place. Hey, they say

that the happiest place on earth is down the

road, but it should be right here on Sunday morning.

I need to go on three hours of sleep again. So

listen. If you were born again, you heard God.

And He came alive on the inside of you. It wasn't

like reading a textbook and saying, oh, okay,

yeah. It wasn't like the preacher coming over

to your house and saying, well, I'm going to

read these verses and now I need you to repeat

after me. And now, right after tonight, you're

going to get baptized and join the church because

you're about the age that you need to do that.

That happens. Everybody that hits a certain age

goes to this class and they tell them these verses

and everybody repeats some prayer and everybody

comes out saved and joins the church. Not unless

they've heard the Rhema Christos they didn't.

Faith comes by hearing. And hearing the voice

of God. Speaking to your spirit. Salvation is

not an intellectual exercise. Neither is receiving

any other grace gift from God. It's not just

a human intellectual exercise that I'm just going

to... Put these Bible verses together and that's

it. I heard each point of the Gospel. There was

revelation. There's a revelation of sin. There's

a revelation of the cross. There's a revelation

of His resurrection. It became personal to me.

A now word. An hour. And here's what this series

is about. Salvation is not the end of hearing.

It's not the end of hearing. It's not, oh, I'm

glad I heard God that one time, and, you know,

I'm just on my own until I get to heaven one

day, and then maybe I'll hear Him talk again.

Salvation is just the beginning of a relationship.

And when you're in relationship with someone,

you communicate with them. If there's no communication,

there's no relationship. So salvation is the

beginning. And it should continue. It must continue.

We've got to hear Him. Got to hear Him. You can

hear God. And if you're a Christian today, you

have heard God. And like I said, you might not

have realized that it was God. Becoming a Christian

doesn't happen by osmosis. It's not like you

do enough time in church and then all of a sudden

Jesus just kind of slowly soaks in until you

become a Christian. That's not the way it works.

There has to be a moment and a time of faith

that comes from hearing the anointed utterance

of God and then you respond to that. That's when

you're born again. If that hasn't happened, you're

just religious. And you might say, well, I prayed

with somebody. I repeated some words after somebody.

I got dipped Dr. Sprinkle. I joined the church.

I love you too much to not tell you that. I don't

want anybody to look at me and say, why didn't

you tell me? Why didn't you tell me? I told you.

I want everybody back here, I'm going to close

your eyes real quick. If you're here today and

you would say, you know what, Dean? As you were

talking, I experienced hearing the voice of God

for the very first time. I know that you were

reading Bible verses and you were talking about

Greek words and all that kind of stuff. But all

of a sudden on the inside of me, this rose up

in a way that it never has before. And I look

back over my life and I might have went through

some motions at one point, but you know, I've

never heard God. And you're telling me that if

I'm saved, I've heard God. I've never heard Him.

It's never come alive to me. I've never experienced

conviction. I've never been compelled by God

to say yes to His gift of eternal life. I can't

look back and see that. I've just had some church

experience and I thought that was enough. If

that's you today, I want to tell you, and I pray

that this would become a now word for you. Today

is the day of salvation. It's always today. When

God is speaking to you, it's always today. Today's

the day of salvation. So if you're hearing, you'd

say, Dean, you know, I look back over my life.

Before today, I didn't understand what you were

talking about, about the Word of God coming alive

on the inside of me and it being mine and personal

for me. But I experienced that. I experienced

God speaking to my heart. If that's you and you

would like to say yes and receive His grace gift

of salvation, while nobody's looking around,

would you raise your hand? Is that anybody in

the room? Okay? Alright? Here's what I'm going

to do. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. But

please listen to me. Believing in Jesus, confessing

Him as Lord is not about repeating words after

somebody. Because we can teach birds to repeat

words after somebody. But if you've heard the

Word of God and you've heard the voice of God

speaking to you, all I'm going to do is put what

I've said into words and I want you to listen

to those words and I don't even want you to pray

it unless you say, yeah, that's what I want to

say to God from my heart. So listen to the words

of this prayer, and if it's what you want to

say to God, say these words or something like

them to God. Jesus, I believe you are the Son

of God. I believe you died on the cross for me,

in my place, for my sin. I believe you rose again

from the grave. And I realize something today.

I realize that I'm a sinner. I've messed up.

I'm guilty. I stand before you, a holy God, I

am guilty. And you spoke to my heart today, telling

me that the paycheck that I deserve for my sin

is to be separated from you. You've made that

real in my heart. I don't want to be separated

from you. I ask you to forgive me. I put my faith

in you. I put my trust in you as my salvation.

And Jesus, today, I confess you as my Lord. I

surrender my life to you. I want to live for

you. I want to know you. I want to follow you.

I want you to lead me. I want to hear your voice.

Jesus, thank you for giving me your gift of eternal

life. Thank you for welcoming me into your family.

Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit. To come

and dwell and live on the inside of me. To comfort

me. To guide me. To lead me. Thank you for your

gift of eternal life. Over the years, Jeffrey

and I have learned that the greatest battles

we face are usually fought in our minds, but

won with our mouths. When we've chosen to speak

God's promises in the face of our fears, failures,

and problems, we've seen God do what only He

can do. This truth has changed our lives, and

it's why we wrote Talk to Your Giants, to show

you how to fight the good fight of faith, speak

in agreement with God's Word, and discover the

victory that comes when you stop talking about

your giants and start talking to them order your

copy of talk to your giants today on Amazon