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Hear and recognize

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  1. Welcome to the Cross Power Church podcast.

  2. You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.

  3. We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the

  4. cross. Now let's join the service.

  5. Sitting there thinking about all the the background music in that

  6. and the way they do it, you know, and that the guy that's

  7. playing all the all and all of her songs is he wasn't at the

  8. studio. His name is Milo.

  9. During, during, I think is how you say it during.

  10. And he did all the Eagles stuff. I mean, listen to the Eagles.

  11. He did all the Eagles stuff. A lot of your mainstream he

  12. played with, I'm pretty sure he played with the Eagles, but I

  13. know he did all their backup stuff, but they send that stuff

  14. to him. He's maybe in a motel room at

  15. his house and he puts all the stuff together and they send it

  16. back. But I had this thought that

  17. there's a scripture that talks about that, what the enemy meant

  18. for evil. And I begin to think of all the

  19. songs he probably played backup on that wasn't godly.

  20. And you know, now he now he's playing for a lot of these Main

  21. Street and gospel groups and stuff.

  22. And you know what the we we're going to see that one of these

  23. days. What they what, what the enemy

  24. meant for evil. God turns it into good.

  25. I thought about it. We're hearing about our circuit

  26. rider brother, what he give his life to the Lord.

  27. How just a month ago when Ben came to a meeting, they was at

  28. Thursday night and they got got hit on his bike and and lost his

  29. life, but he gained life. You know what the enemy meant

  30. for Eva? God saved him just in time.

  31. Isn't that isn't that awesome to know he lost come to know the

  32. Lord a month ago and then the Lord took him home and that's

  33. wow what the enemy means for Eva.

  34. I might just preach on that. Amen.

  35. Now I'm not going to preach on. I got something else here, but

  36. good to be in the House of the Lord tonight, Wednesday night.

  37. It's a little different atmosphere in here.

  38. I don't use a Sunday morning. People bringing it with them.

  39. Or are we losing it on Wednesday?

  40. I don't know, huh. Spirit tear.

  41. I'm going to preach to you some things tonight that I just been

  42. on my heart. And I think it's very important

  43. and I think it's lacking in the body of Christ and there's some

  44. things it's kind of kind of confusing to me as well, but

  45. we're going to share it tonight. Amen.

  46. Let's stand one more time. Go to the Lord in prayer.

  47. I I titled this tonight here say with me here and recognize very

  48. important in your Christian walk very important because I dare

  49. say there's a lot of Christians. The majority do not hear from

  50. God. They say they don't.

  51. I hear people say it all the time.

  52. God doesn't speak to me. People that are his children.

  53. The truth is God speaks. They don't hear, right?

  54. And when we hear, we don't recognize the voice of God.

  55. And I want to explain some of this tonight.

  56. The Father, we come to you tonight.

  57. We pray that we would hear your voice in our life.

  58. We pray that we would recognize your voice in our life.

  59. And then we would act upon the uptions of the Holy Spirit that

  60. comes upon us in our life that leads us toward the cross of

  61. Calvary. Father, we pray tonight that you

  62. give us ears that hear a heart to receive that would fall upon

  63. good ground. That's in your son's name.

  64. We ask and pray Amen. Being John chapter 10 verse 10

    John 10:10

  65. is talking about the Good Shepherd.

  66. It's very familiar verses of Scripture, but out you can be

  67. seated. I'm going to read a little bit

  68. here, but in John chapter 10 and verse one Jesus talking, he

    John 10 chapter mention

  69. said, verily I say unto you, he who enters not by the door into

  70. the sheepfold way, the same is a thief and a robber.

  71. I'm reading out of the King James tonight.

  72. If y'all want to change, it doesn't matter.

  73. It's close enough. But there's a few things in here

  74. that I that I do like out of the King James.

  75. But see this proclaims to us that there is a door.

  76. There is an entrance into everlasting life and despite

  77. what is being taught today, there's only one door.

  78. Say that with me there's only one door.

  79. There's only one way that leads to eternal life.

  80. This is probably one of the greatest teachings and most

  81. simple teachings that Jesus taught on and yet they still

  82. didn't understand it because they he was explaining who he

  83. was and what he came to do. In verse 2, it says, but he who

  84. enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

  85. See Jesus is alone. The shepherd he had to enter

  86. into the door of the blood covenant before we could even

  87. think about getting near the door, right?

  88. And it says to him, the Porter opens, it opens, it means that

  89. the law of the doorkeeper. This was immediately it admitted

  90. Jesus. Why?

  91. Because he was, He had made, He had perfected the law, something

  92. that man could never do. God had realized man cannot keep

  93. the laws that I put up on this earth.

  94. There's no way. There's no how.

  95. But Jesus had came in the form of a man, and he had kept every

  96. law, and he was perfect in the eyes of God.

  97. So he says I am the perfect shepherd.

  98. And it says the sheep to him. I'm going to back up and read

  99. that again to him. The Porter opens, the door opens

  100. and the sheep hear his voice. The sheep hear his voice.

  101. And he calls his own sheep by name.

  102. Isn't that awesome? And he leads them out.

  103. If we follow Him, He will lead us out to to great pastures and,

  104. and and make our way right and in verse.

  105. Four, it says that when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes

  106. before them. How can he lead us?

  107. Because he's going before. Us right he has planned

  108. everything and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice and

  109. a. Stranger they will not follow,

  110. but they will flee from him, referring to the thieves and

  111. robbers and the false prophets, for they know not the voice of

  112. strangers. The Parable.

  113. Spoke Jesus unto them, but they understood not that the things

  114. that were which He spoke unto Him, they couldn't understand

  115. that. I fear today there's a lot of

  116. people that still don't understand it.

  117. And I want to look at some things he said here, you know,

  118. as Jesus is the one true shepherd.

  119. You know, pastors, I often heard them referred to as shepherds.

  120. And you know, we we. Seem like most of the time

  121. we're. Pulling and trying to pull

  122. people in the right direction. But I like what it says here.

  123. They know his voice, and his sheep follow him, and to a

  124. stranger's voice they will not. Follow.

  125. But as a shepherd or as a pastor, you know, I'm not the

  126. Good Shepherd. There's only one that's Jesus

  127. Christ. We know that.

  128. But my job as a pastor is, is I feel like more to keep sheep on

  129. their feet, to keep people standing up, because this world

  130. will knock you down, right? It would walk.

  131. Knock you down and walk over you, but I'm tired of sheep that

  132. lay down and don't get up. We have to learn to stay on our

  133. feet. Hey, man, we have to learn to do

  134. this. And the number one way that

  135. we're seeing sheep get knocked down, we're seeing sheep and

  136. God's children, that's who He's referring to here, not following

  137. the Good Shepherd because they are following another voice.

  138. Let's go to Matthew Chapter 7 and verse 15.

    Matthew 7 chapter mention

  139. Jesus warned of this, and right there we just read it that he

  140. said it. And he puts forth his own sheep.

  141. He goes before them. The sheep follow him, for they

  142. know his voice. And a stranger will they not

  143. follow, but they will flee from him.

  144. You know, when we look at the body of Christ today, it seems

  145. that almost every Christian I know seems to be looking for

  146. another way. If we could just grasp that when

  147. we come into this life, did anybody bring anything with

  148. them? You look back, say, man, the day

  149. I was born, I had that thing. It was mine and I brought it

  150. into this world. Anybody, maybe somebody give you

  151. something, but you did not arrive with anything but a mess,

  152. right? Many people leave with a mess,

  153. but we brought nothing into this world.

  154. Scripture says that we will take nothing out of this world, but

  155. yet we spend our life while up on this earth trying to acquire

  156. and be busy and accumulate things that will not be going

  157. with us right. And many times I said that to

  158. say this, I believe that's why we don't hear.

  159. That's why we don't recognize because we're focused too much

  160. on the here and now and not the Yonder Amen to where we're going

  161. to spend eternity. But yet I see Christians every

  162. day, every month, every year, the same old thing.

  163. They they come to church and yet they're looking for another way.

  164. I'm going to give you a heavy Revi tonight.

  165. There's no other way. There's one way the way the

  166. truth and the life. And the problem is, is we're so

  167. caught up in this life that for many Christians that are not

  168. hearing the voice of God that are not following.

  169. If you don't hear how you're going to follow right, if you

  170. can't hear him, you can't follow him.

  171. But that's what Jesus was telling him here.

  172. I'm the way, the truth and the life.

  173. I'm the Good Shepherd. I'm going to put you in a good

  174. pasture. I'm going to give you good

  175. things and the good you know, I I'm the I'm the lion of the

  176. tribe of Judah, but I'm going to become the lamb.

  177. I'm a shepherd right now for this three and I had this 33

  178. years that I'm here, but I'm soon going to become a lamb that

  179. will be led to slaughter. Amen.

  180. And then I'm going to return another roaring lion.

  181. That's what he was telling them. But yet people are always

  182. looking and it seems that they hear these, they all this is a

  183. new way to serve God. Run from that.

  184. There's no new way to serve God. They meant read your Bible, pray

  185. and see God and hear the voice of God.

  186. There's a lot of people that read.

  187. There's a lot of people that pray, but there's not a lot of

  188. people that here right here. There's not a lot of people that

  189. here, but in Matthew 7 of 15, Jesus explained this.

  190. He said beware of false prophets.

  191. The church is full of false prophets today.

  192. Can I say that again? It is full of false prophets

  193. today which come to you. They don't come as a false

  194. prophet. They come just as Jesus did and

  195. they they came, they come as a shepherd, but they're in sheep's

  196. clothing. But he said inwardly they're

  197. raving wolves. Beware of false prophets, he

  198. said. And in verse 16 he says, How

  199. will you know? Them.

  200. He says you shall know that it's never changed.

  201. Amen. Why were the people following

  202. Jesus? Why was why was the multitude

  203. seeking after Jesus? Why were they following Him?

  204. There was one reason he he proclaimed to be the Messiah,

  205. but they didn't believe his words.

  206. They didn't believe he was who he said he was.

  207. But yet they could not deny the fruit that he was dropping that

  208. was falling off of him, right, Because people are being saved,

  209. they're being healed. They were being changed.

  210. And as he come, as they come to him one way, they left another,

  211. right, So they could not deny the fruits.

  212. And whether you spend the rest of your life in this church or

  213. another church, I challenge you. You shall know them by their.

  214. Fruits. But yet we have we have all

  215. these people. You know, I, I really got a lot

  216. of this back when, when when Olsteen put put Oprah Winfrey on

  217. his stage on his platform, the biggest platform to preach the

  218. gospel. And you put a woman up there or

  219. man, it doesn't matter. He's put both that claims that

  220. there's many ways to God. There's many ways to God.

  221. I've heard her say it. But yet why would he need that?

  222. But see, you will know them by their fruits.

  223. He goes on to say, does men gather grapes or thorns or figs

  224. from thistles? Pretty simple, isn't it?

  225. You can go out there to that locust tree as it begins to

  226. bloom here in a few weeks, as they will.

  227. And you reach up there to pick some fruit off of that locust

  228. tree. And I got news for you.

  229. You're probably going to grab a thorn.

  230. A locust tree ain't never bared an apple and it never will

  231. because it's it's not in his DNA to do so.

  232. See it's possible for false doctrines and things that and

  233. false prophets, they can bring forth some good fruit, but is it

  234. godly fruit? You know most things today, most

  235. of so many preachers and messages you hear it's about

  236. prospering in this world and this world is not going to last.

  237. So that is a false doctrine. Amen.

  238. So as we read on here. Says, You shall know them by

  239. your fruits. The men gather grapes from

  240. thorns, and figs from thistles. Verse 17 Even so, every good

  241. tree, he turns it around right here brings forth good fruit,

  242. but a corrupt tree brings forth. Evil fruit.

  243. Pretty simple. A good tree cannot bring forth.

  244. I like that right there. A good tree cannot bring forth.

  245. Evil fruit. Why?

  246. Why can a good tree not bring forth evil fruit?

  247. We see, we see people that are good, that have been in the

  248. church, maybe taught a class, even preachers today that

  249. they're they, they were a good tree, but yet they begin to

  250. bring forth some bad things in their life, right?

  251. They were. Up here and could preach

  252. eloquent and and say the right words, but yet their private

  253. life was much different. Right.

  254. We're in it and it is being exposed.

  255. They they're pulling these people out.

  256. These pastors and these false prophets, they're being pulled

  257. out day by day almost. You can hear of it every time

  258. you turn the news on, it seems. Why?

  259. So what? Why did Jesus say?

  260. Even so, every good tree. Let's read that again.

  261. Even so, every good tree brings forth good.

  262. Fruit. But a corrupt tree brings forth

  263. evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth

  264. evil fruit. Why?

  265. It wasn't a good tree right because it but you know,

  266. sometimes I think that it what maybe was a good tree, but it

  267. quit hearing it quit recognizing right you can be a good

  268. Christian, but do you and and go to church all the time and still

  269. never hear from God right and things in your life can become

  270. bad. We know that he said neither can

  271. a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit and in verse 19 he brings

  272. it all all home. He says every tree that brings

  273. not forth good fruit is home down and cast into fire.

  274. Talking about the judgment that will ultimately come.

  275. You can go read about it and in Romans 1 and 18, but he said

  276. wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.

  277. Hello. I think when people go to church

  278. they really don't look for the fruit, not of the pastor even.

  279. They look for a good message. A good message don't mean I bear

  280. good fruit though I know all the big words, it doesn't mean that

  281. I'm bearing good fruit in my everyday life.

  282. Hey man, check it out. Know the scriptures, Know who

  283. you're hearing. From but he he he says that that

  284. the Kingdom of heaven and salvation.

  285. There's only one entrance. You can't enter by any other

  286. way. And the sheep recognize his

  287. voice. So we read in John 16 and 13, he

  288. says. How be it?

  289. When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into

  290. all truth and all knowledge. How are you going to be guided

  291. if you don't hear? Because it's a spirit, you're

  292. not going to see it, right? He says.

  293. It's going to come and it's going to guide you, but yet

  294. we're still looking with the eyes to be guided, right?

  295. Doesn't work that way. We got to start hearing right.

  296. We got to start hearing how be it when the spirit of truth

  297. comes and then the King James says is come.

  298. He will guide you into all truth.

  299. That means he's here to guide us not some truth, but all truth

  300. see there's only one shepherd, but today there there's

  301. estimate. You know that I read this today

  302. and just got in my in my spirit, the way that that Jesus said

  303. this, because when we look today and I look this up by the study

  304. of global Christianity, there is 45 to 47,000.

  305. Can I say that again, 45,000 to 47,000 Christian denominations

  306. in the world. But Jesus said there's one way.

  307. What does that tell me a bunch of folks wrong, right?

  308. If there were five, there's still 4 wrong.

  309. If there were two, there's still one wrong.

  310. Right, Because we're so divided and we preach.

  311. There's so many different things going on in the boat.

  312. We're messed up 47,000 ways to to to be a Christian and Jesus

  313. said there's only one follow the shepherd.

  314. Pretty astounding, isn't it? But when you.

  315. Look that up and you'll find that that there's 40 can't name

  316. them. You know, you're pretty well.

  317. I know about all. There's no way to know what

  318. they're making up because people are inventing ways.

  319. Wolves and sheep's clothing have come in and you know the enemy.

  320. When I was young, I always thought the Antichrist when he

  321. come on the scene would be very recognizable.

  322. And there's some things about him that.

  323. Will, but we're. Already being prepped for it in

  324. the church. Amen.

  325. Because we've let so much junk in, when the Antichrist comes on

  326. the scene, the stage is already set.

  327. He takes over a people that's willing to believe anything.

  328. I never thought it would be the church.

  329. I never thought it would be the body of Christ.

  330. But I'm seeing it more and more. One voice, 1 shepherd.

  331. So this tells me that the majority is wrong.

  332. You can back up a few scriptures in Matthew 713 and 14 Jesus said

  333. straight is the way, narrow is the gate and few say that with

  334. me. Few be there that entered in in

  335. Matthew 721 and 20 he three he says not everyone that.

  336. Cries Lord Lord, just because you're one of these

  337. denominations that man made and God did not make, just because

  338. you cry Lord Lord, don't mean you're going to enter into the

  339. Kingdom of God. Right?

  340. So that tells me I better be hearing a man.

  341. I better be hearing from something more than elder,

  342. bored, or Deacon. Bored or or even just the things

  343. that come into my head. I need to know that it's God.

  344. How about you? So I want to break this down to

  345. some ways that we have to know. Two ways.

  346. Write this down. The sheep hear the Good

  347. Shepherd's voice. We just read that John 10, three

  348. and four, the sheep hear the good Shepherd's voice.

  349. If you're a Christian that says don't hear the hear God, you

  350. better start hearing God, Amen, because you will be LED astray

  351. if you're not hearing from God. The second thing is not only do

  352. they hear, but they recognize that that voice belonging to the

  353. Good Shepherd because you're going to hear a lot of voices.

  354. Hello. You're going to hear a lot of

  355. things that come in and creep into your mind and you have to

  356. discern. So the keys here are hearing

  357. from God and recognizing God and it takes a long time.

  358. It don't just come overnight. Amen, Because you will.

  359. Fail. You will mess up.

  360. You will have good ideas that aren't God ideas.

  361. I have learned that. But what does the voice of the

  362. Holy Spirit sound like? I got to grab some water.

  363. What does the voice? If you've ever heard the voice

  364. of God, what does the voice of the Holy Spirit sound like?

  365. It's a good question. He just said that when the

  366. spirit of truth comes. He not just going to tell you a

  367. little bit of things, He going to tell you all things, bring

  368. you into all truth and all knowledge, right?

  369. He's going to bring that to us. So let's look at this.

  370. What does the voice of the Holy Spirit sound like and how do I

  371. listen to him? It would be interesting to

  372. record some Christians responding to that, wouldn't it?

  373. I dare say some young Christians, new, new people in

  374. Christ can hear better than old people sometimes, right?

  375. Than those that have lived for God a long time.

  376. Because we tend to quit listening.

  377. Sometimes we tend to get at peace in Zion.

  378. But see, we read A good illustration of this is in first

    1 Kings 19:11–13

  379. Kings chapter 19 verses 11 through 13.

  380. Elijah. How many know who Elijah was?

  381. He had called fire down from heaven.

  382. He'd done all kinds of things. But Elijah.

  383. Had recently just killed 400 prophets of baal, a false God, a

  384. false God of a Pagan God, a God that the.

  385. World is still worshipping today.

  386. If you turn your TV on, it doesn't matter what it.

  387. Is you're going to find, you're going to find things in it.

  388. That is what the God of Baal worshipped.

  389. It was infidelity. It was sexual sins, it was

  390. things of that you can't. You can't turn on the radio or

  391. television or you would just have to refrain totally from the

  392. world reading any billboards, doing anything if you were going

  393. to take the God of the bow that they worshipped here and do away

  394. with it. And Elijah had just killed 400

  395. prophets of Bow, and he had Queen Jezebel chasing him.

  396. There's a Jezebel spirit I preached on that that's still

  397. here today. Amen.

  398. It's here today. And it's the same thing that

  399. caused the Roman Empire to fall. It's the same thing that's

  400. caused Babylonian to fall. It's the same thing that forced

  401. the children of Israel and scattered them abroad.

  402. And it's the same thing that will destroy America if we

  403. continue. But Queen Jezebel, she had

  404. threatened to kill him. Think about it.

  405. Elijah had called fire down from heaven and burned their galters

  406. down. He'd done all kinds of things.

  407. He had. He had prophesied that it shall

  408. not rain for X amount of days. And it did not rain.

  409. But yet this mean woman. Husbands, feel your wife.

  410. Amen. Fear your wife.

  411. He fled to Mount Sinai, and he was hiding in a cave.

  412. He wasn't just fearing Queen Jezebel.

  413. She had lots of people working for her right?

  414. But he was scared for his life. And the Lord said, He said.

  415. Go forth, can you? Imagine Elijah, the great things

  416. that he had done, yet he's hiding in a cave scared, and he

  417. was needing to say it with me, hear from God, they're after me,

  418. they're going to kill me. And the Lord said this, He said,

  419. Go forth, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.

  420. And behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great strong wind was

  421. rending the mountains and breaking them into pieces, and

  422. the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the

  423. wind. He was not in the wind after the

  424. wind and earthquake, but He was not in the earthquake and after

  425. the earthquake of fire. But the Lord was not in the fire

  426. after the fire, a second gentle blowing wind.

  427. Oh, this must be God, he thought.

  428. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle,

  429. and he went and stood at the entrance of The Cave, and behold

  430. a voice. Came to him and it said in the

  431. steel. Smallness, after all the smoke

  432. and all the fire and all the rocks crumbling, he asked him

  433. this question. I preached a great message on

  434. this one time. What are you doing here?

  435. You're a child of God. You called the fire down from

  436. heaven. Elijah, you've done great

  437. things. Now you're an old Christian

  438. that's lost faith. Get up.

  439. You're a prophet of God. What are you doing here?

  440. God did not speak to Elijah in a powerful, dramatic way.

  441. But yet we haven't called fire down from heaven.

  442. We haven't killed 400 prophets of Obama.

  443. Now let me take that back. We haven't killed 400 whatevers.

  444. False doctrines, right? We haven't done that, but he had

  445. killed the other side of his enemy.

  446. But see, we think that those things are enemies, and they're

  447. not our enemy at all. It's Satan working through

  448. people, right? It's Satan working through the

  449. right or the left. He's in both sides, right?

  450. He actually is right in the middle and they don't even

  451. realize it. But he had killed. 400 prophets

  452. and yet God says, what are you doing here?

  453. Why are you hiding? God didn't speak in a powerful,

  454. dramatic way, but yet the Christian today is still waiting

  455. for God to speak that way. I hear it all the time.

  456. If God would just show me, I would do it.

  457. No you wouldn't because you wouldn't be able to hear him.

  458. You're looking in all the wrong places.

  459. He used a strong wind. He used the earthquake in a fire

  460. to demonstrate that he was still God Almighty.

  461. But see, yet he spoke in a still gentle breeze and said, Elijah,

  462. what are you doing here? See, in the same way that he got

  463. Elijah's attention, the Lord may use a powerful dramatic thing in

  464. our life. Can I get a witness?

  465. He's used it many times to get our attention right, but

  466. sometimes we still don't hear the voice of God.

  467. We're in the middle of it. It's after everything settled

  468. and we look back and we say, man, he, he was trying to tell

  469. me that. Then I just didn't listen.

  470. When He actually speaks to us, it will be with a tender, loving

  471. inner voice. And to hear Him and to recognize

  472. that sometimes we have to get rid of the distractions, get

  473. alone in a quiet place, that we can feel His gracious words.

  474. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us, most of the time it's an

  475. inner thought. Almost like our own thoughts.

  476. But then there's something that checks in your spirit said,

  477. whoa, I didn't come up with that.

  478. That has to be God. Your heart will recognize it.

  479. It's the Holy Spirit speaking to you, and we must understand it.

  480. So how do we do that? I think back, you know I.

  481. When I was little, my mom would always call my middle name to

  482. try to get my When Lance wouldn't work, she'd say Lance

  483. Neil and I knew something. Was up a little bit, but I

  484. still, I wouldn't really scare the mom.

  485. She didn't whoop that hard, but I knew that she could tell

  486. somebody. But I could be in a room full

  487. acting like a Heather and it didn't matter what age didn't

  488. matter. I was kind of like Swayze.

  489. I stayed with my grandparents when my when my mom and my

  490. biological dad had divorced, I was four years old.

  491. I stayed with my grandparents and you couldn't get a spanking

  492. there. One set you could, but I didn't

  493. stay with that set. I like staying with the other

  494. one. Kind of like Swayze.

  495. She knows I ain't going to do nothing.

  496. I mean, I can threaten, I can pick it up, I can put it in my

  497. hand, I can stomp my face. She knows I ain't going to do

  498. nothing. And that's sad.

  499. It ain't right, but I can't help it.

  500. I'm trying. But I think about my dad.

  501. He didn't have to say my name. I could be in a building,

  502. running wide open, doing whatever, and I could feel it.

  503. I could see his face. I could see one eyebrow.

  504. Got a little uneven. It got cocked a certain way and

  505. he didn't have to say nothing. My night was ruined because I

  506. knew when I got home. He liked to make you wait.

  507. He thought the good things come to those who wait.

  508. I heard from him it wasn't good when he was waiting on Dad.

  509. But he didn't play. He didn't play with it, and I

  510. knew it. But see, I would recognize my

  511. dad. Why?

  512. Because He didn't play when it come to doing what He said.

  513. I got news for you today, God does not play.

  514. I don't know where we got this mindset that God plays, but when

  515. God is trying to get our attention, can I tell you God

  516. does not play when it comes to getting you and out of heaven,

  517. Amen. He does not play.

  518. He will cause the earthquake, he will cause the fire, even if it

  519. takes scars to prove that he gave his only begotten son so

  520. that you and I come out and preach with me tonight could

  521. have everlasting life. He does not play.

  522. Salvation is is is free, but it's not cheap.

  523. But why was it like this? Because I knew my dad wasn't

  524. playing, you know, But I'll never forget if they, if they

  525. and my dad at the end of his life, he, you know, he, he

  526. would, he always was on me about working.

  527. And doing these things and he he instilled some things in me that

  528. I would have never gotten. He come to me when I was 13 and

  529. he said, you're probably not going to like me till you're

  530. about 20. He said, but I just made some

  531. mistakes on my other kid and I'm not making it on you.

  532. And that voice is echoed many times.

  533. And I'll never forget right. Not too long before he went to

  534. be with the Lord, he he hugged me right back here and he said,

  535. he said all the things I've done.

  536. Wrong. I did this right.

  537. Why? Because he knew and he had

  538. learned. But yet we play in life.

  539. We play with our salvation. We play with the things that God

  540. holds dear. Hey, man, we play with it many

  541. times simply because we don't take the time to hear.

  542. Simply when we do hear, we don't recognize.

  543. How many read books here? I'm not a big book reader at

  544. all, but I understand that people that are they, they can

  545. read a book and not that it's a bit, I guess it's a big deal to

  546. people that read a lot of books, but they read the literature on

  547. these authors and they, they're familiar with the writing

  548. styles. And if you read enough of these

  549. books that you know, you can, somebody can hand them a book

  550. and they'll read this book and they're like, you know, I know

  551. who the author is without even reading who wrote it because

  552. they understand the style and the familiarities that this

  553. author writes. You understand what I'm saying

  554. there, Because they recognize that's the way we should be with

  555. God. That should we should understand

  556. as we go to hearing it because there's some things write this

  557. down. If you're trying to hear from

  558. God and you're trying to recognize his voice, you got to

  559. go to first John. You have to go to first John

    1 John 1 chapter mention

  560. Chapter 1. I like to call it John's test

  561. because it's a test that we can take.

  562. I'm going to sum it all up so I can close, but recognizing.

  563. We hear the voice, but do we recognize it?

  564. But do we? Recognize His voice is speaking

  565. within us and go a step beyond that.

  566. After listening to what we believe the Holy Spirit has said

  567. before acting upon it, we should submit these things to a testing

  568. process in first John he describes tests that can help us

  569. hear the voice of God and know that what we have heard is of

  570. God. See the Holy Spirit in inspired

  571. John to write them and John one and five it says write these

  572. things down If you want to summarize the voice of God will

  573. always lead us toward the light you like that.

  574. Not darkness. Light and darkness can't stay

  575. together. One has to flee.

  576. But yet, when we come to Christ, most Christians spend the first

  577. six years of their Christian walk whining about the friends

  578. they lost that are partying and doing all the things of the

  579. world. Oh, I just lost.

  580. I just. It's Waller.

  581. You know what I'm talking about. Why?

  582. Because you're being LED toward the light.

  583. Now. Light and darkness cannot flee.

  584. They just don't talk to me no more.

  585. They act different when I come around.

  586. Big deal. You're being LED toward the

  587. light. The second thing, does it lead

  588. us away from sin? I was laying in a in a camper

  589. one night and this young man that had just came to the Lord

  590. not too long before he he was still struggling with things

  591. when he left the rodeo. He went out to the bars that

  592. night and I was staying with another guy that was a cowboy

  593. minister and we've been sharing the Lord there.

  594. Will he come in we hours of the morning and the other guy asked

  595. him, I'd done been picking on him that day.

  596. So the other guy asked him, he says he said, where you been?

  597. He said rodeo been over a long time.

  598. He said, oh, I just went out and hung out at the club a little

  599. while with him bar. He said, I feel like there's

  600. somebody in there. I'm not going to lead to Jesus.

  601. He said, well, if you're that interested in him, he said, why

  602. don't you sit on the curb and catch him before they go in

  603. there. I said, that's pretty good.

  604. That's pretty good. Two ways to look at it.

  605. But when you when you hear the voice of God, I will always lead

  606. you toward light. John chapter 1 first John

    John 1 chapter mention

  607. chapter one. It will lead us away from say it

  608. with me sin. I hear some preachers today

  609. preaching in such a way that it's almost like they're okaying

  610. sin. Can y'all say Amen right there.

  611. The third thing is it leads us to seek forgiveness and

  612. cleansing of sins we have committed doesn't lead us away

  613. from it. You know, that's a, that's a,

  614. that's the enemy's greatest trick is to get somebody.

  615. To pray the sinner's prayer, get baptized and then get in the

  616. church. And then all of a sudden they go

  617. out here and do something stupid and then he pours some

  618. condemnation upon them because they don't know the word enough

  619. to know that it's already been forgiven.

  620. A man I just got to line back up.

  621. Keep walking and pretty soon I'm going to be LED.

  622. Away from those things and they're going to be replaced

  623. with better things. What are we on four or five?

  624. The voice of God will always this is in chapter 2, verse

  625. three and five. It will always align you with

  626. God's commandments. I get so tired of hearing

  627. Christians say well, I've read that it's in there, but God

  628. don't play. There's no, but it's your butt

  629. that's in the way. Align with God's commandments.

  630. The next thing it will encourage us to respond as Jesus would.

  631. Well, that's hard. That's really hard.

  632. It will. Lead.

  633. Us the next thing away from hating toward loving other

  634. people. I've had several people in my

  635. life the last few weeks that I even quoted this to my wife

  636. today. I said we got to overcome evil

  637. with good. That's the hardest thing to do.

  638. Is it not hard for you? It's hard to do when especially

  639. when you've helped somebody out and you went far beyond anything

  640. could ever imagine and give and give and give and, and, and they

  641. do, they still respond to you with evil.

  642. It's hard to overcome evil with good.

  643. But you know, there's a verse in the Bible that says when you do

  644. that, you really want to get them.

  645. It says you reap burning coals over their head when you return,

  646. when you return good for evil. God help us with that.

  647. Amen lead us from hating toward loving other people right.

  648. We were talking about that the other day one of our brothers.

  649. It was stirring thing at a circuit router and you know, I I

  650. just stood up pressing God. What do you want me to do?

  651. So I want you to love him what you do in a way to love him but

  652. correct him and you know, I've had a couple come to me and say,

  653. man, that was a good way to do it.

  654. God did it. Hey, man, I just loved him and

  655. it made him like what I was telling him and love that he was

  656. wrong, right. And God did it.

  657. And then I hear God's taking care of it now, right?

  658. He'll lead us away from hating. But it's easy to, you know, to

  659. it's easy. We see this today, especially

  660. the election times, man, I heard an old preacher the other day

  661. preaching. He said, I'm tired of the whole

  662. why he was on Sunday morning live and he was old guy.

  663. He didn't care. No more getting like me.

  664. He said. I'm so tired.

  665. Of hearing our president and all of them up there, he said.

  666. I ain't heard nobody up there but two people not curse.

  667. And he said they're all dropping F bombs but they all Christian,

  668. they all love Jesus, but they don't control their ways.

  669. Well, he was getting on them. It will encourage us to know God

  670. better. Encourage us to know God better.

  671. There's no other way. See, went back to the story of

  672. my dad. Why did I know when the eyebrow

  673. went up? Why did I know that?

  674. I knew a weapon was coming, but I also knew that it was going to

  675. Even after the weapons, I knew it was going to affect my

  676. everyday life. Right.

  677. How many I'd take the weapon. It was the you're not going

  678. anywhere. That was the bad deal, wasn't

  679. it? You're grounded.

  680. He didn't drown much. That's what I like about that.

  681. He just beat you half death and send you on your way.

  682. There was no grounding. There wasn't no grounding, but

  683. now we ground them for go over there for 10.

  684. They, I mean, I said getting time out and it lasts for about

  685. two seconds and then they're running all over doing the same

  686. thing. But I knew it affected my

  687. everyday life. But I also see I had a

  688. relationship with my dad. I knew that he required.

  689. Something and I knew if I didn't do what he required that there

  690. was discipline going to happen, right.

  691. But we live in a world you know. Do you think God gave his only

  692. begotten Son so that he wouldn't discipline those that broke his

  693. commandments and his? Rules a lot of the church

  694. believes that but the Bible says those whom he.

  695. Loves he chastens. He says that if we aren't

  696. corrected then we are bastard Childs is what the Bible says.

  697. That means we don't know our Father, right?

  698. So He corrects those whom he loves, but it will encourage us

  699. to know Him better. And it will always be the truth.

  700. Never deny or diminish who Jesus is or what he's done.

  701. But I challenge you and summarizing this whole message

  702. tonight, he says that these things say that with me.

  703. Let's go to first John two, First John chapter 2 and 26.

    1 John 2 chapter mention

  704. He says that these things I have said, I have written concerning

  705. those who are trying to deceive you, those who might deceive us,

  706. whether intentionally or unintentionally, include what

  707. other people, their own desires, evil spirits, these things I

  708. have written to you concerning those who try to turn you away.

  709. See, the Holy Spirit will never conflict with any of John's

  710. test. They will always lead us toward

  711. the light. They will always.

  712. God's voice will always lead us from sin.

  713. They will always lead us to seek forgiveness and cleansing when

  714. we have committed sin. They will align with God's

  715. commandments. They will encourage us to

  716. respond as Jesus would. They will lead us away from

  717. hating toward loving other people.

  718. They will encourage us to know God better.

  719. We need these things. If you want to hear the voice of

  720. God, these things have to be in your life.

  721. If you want to hear from God, these things have to be present

  722. in your life. They will never deny or diminish

  723. who Jesus is or what he's done. And as much as I love the United

  724. States of America and I believe it's the greatest country that

  725. has ever been placed upon planet earth, I will always believe

  726. that. But when I look at our Nation

  727. Today, for the most part, we try to diminish who Jesus is as a

  728. nation and what he's done. We get excited when people

  729. mention Jesus because we know that at the mention of his name,

  730. demons have to bow. We know that demons can flee and

  731. people that can be healed. But, you know, if they don't

  732. recognize and they don't hear the voice of God, they can't

  733. lead us in the right direction. But I challenge you, in the

  734. world you live in today, we must know how to hear the inner voice

  735. of the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

  736. We must know that. But you know, there's a lot of

  737. people still saying, well, if God would just speak.

  738. God cannot look upon us until we have a glorified body and just

  739. speak. He didn't look up on.

  740. Why did Jesus feel forsaken at the cross?

  741. He felt forsaken because for a slight moment God had to turn

  742. away because He's a holy God and He had to watch His Son become

  743. sin for all mankind and He had to turn away.

  744. He couldn't look upon it because He's a holy God, right?

  745. And then he took Jesus. You know, people said, well, I'm

  746. just waiting on God to speak. And they get real confused right

  747. here because he's a triune God. He's God the Father, God the

  748. Son, God the Holy Spirit. But Jesus said the Father has

  749. already came. He's already died upon a cross,

  750. and now he's already rose again. And because I'm going to sit at

  751. the right hand of the Father, quit listening for the voice of

  752. God. Listen for the voice of the Holy

  753. Spirit, right? That's his job is to speak to

  754. us. I understand he's a triune God

  755. that, you know, a lot of people get confused.

  756. I don't. I can't explain the Triune

  757. Godhead. I can't explain how a mother,

  758. how a mother loves us, cooks. For us and yet wipes our rear

  759. end. But she's still mother, right?

  760. But does all three. That's the easiest way I've ever

  761. known how to explain it. He's God the Father, He's God

  762. the Son, He's God the Holy Spirit.

  763. You always know He's there, you always know He loves you, know

  764. He died on the cross to forgive you of your sins, but yet you

  765. feel His holy. Spirit upon this earth every day

  766. yearning Learn to recognize his voice as we stand and go to

  767. we'll close in prayer. How many want to hear?

  768. How many want to hear 2? It's only three.

  769. How many want to hear? Hey man, how many want to

  770. recognize There's a whole nother part of this message you want me

  771. to preach the rest of it? No, you don't.

  772. You got to work in the morning. You know what?

  773. The third party is here. Recognize.

  774. React. React, React.

  775. That means act like I'm saved. Sometimes I don't feel saved.

  776. Do you? I feel like I'm in a mess.

  777. I feel like I'm going through part of the tribulation here on

  778. Earth sometimes, don't you? But yet I gotta act like I'm OK

  779. because I am. Your feelings will catch up

  780. later. They say, well, I can't act.

  781. You're going to learn to what is What is being happy when you're

  782. really sad? Is that acting or is it inner

  783. peace? Some people can act that way.

  784. I had a aunt she used to could cry when she wanted to cry and

  785. laugh when she wanted to laugh. People recognize that about her.

  786. She just start crying when she's talking to you if she's wanting

  787. something. Anybody ever seen anybody like

  788. that? Y'all just pin all this

  789. Wednesday night stuff. Does anybody know anybody like

  790. that in your life? They could just turn it on.

  791. Tony Ray. I bet I know who it is.

  792. I know more about y'all. Before she found the Lord, she

  793. could turn it on, couldn't she? We ain't talking about her or

  794. your wife. No, I'm going to get in trouble.

  795. But you know, sometimes I've found that when I'm sad and I

  796. begin to act happy, it's because of what I'm thinking.

  797. It's because of what I'm hearing.

  798. I'm hearing the voice of God saying it's going to be OK,

  799. we're going to make it through. But see, the thing about it is

  800. your head's bowed. If you hear and you recognize

  801. and you react. I didn't get to preach on that.

  802. You know what happens next. You develop relationship.

  803. You develop relationship. My beautiful wife, I can tell if

  804. she's happy or sad without her saying a word because I've lived

  805. with her 35 years, right? God's the same way.

  806. Thanks for listening to the Cross Powered Church podcast.

  807. May you know that true hope, peace, and salvation can only be

  808. found in Jesus. If you're near Campbell, TX, we

  809. would love for you to join us in person.

  810. You can find service times at crosspowerchurch.com.