Learning to Listen | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

Yeah, look around. Tell somebody you missed them

this week. Let them know that you are praying

for them and their sickness, right? And so you

may hear it in my voice. We just came off of

prayer and fasting, and every year by the time

the Christmas feasting is done, my flesh... is

never looking forward to it, but my spirit is

always in anticipation for the week of prayer

and fasting, and I was not at all feeling spiritual

during prayer and fasting. I was down with COVID.

I missed the prayer nights. I was so bummed,

and I wasn't feeling like, God, I got to preach

in a couple weeks. I need to hear from you, and

all I can do is shiver under the covers. And

so I was, though, reading as I've been beginning

my new Bible reading program for this year. I

was in the book of Job. There's nothing like

starting out your Bible reading program in the

book of Job. But when you do the chronological

study, right, Connie, that's where you really

are beginning. And so I was in the middle of

Job, and I came across a verse, and immediately

my spirit was quickened. And so I want us for

a few moments today, it's very simple, and I'm

reading this out of the Christian standard here,

but in Job 22, 22, it says, receive instruction

from his mouth and place his sayings in your

heart. And I was struck by that, especially considering

that the context of this verse was the book of

Job. This was a man in suffering, right? Everything

had been taken from him. He was a man in suffering.

And here in the middle, we have this verse, receive

instruction from his mouth and place his sayings

in your heart. Last Sunday in Petersburg, Derek,

we all love Derek. You all have to say yes because

his sister Izzy is over there. Derek, who's at

College, I had him preach for us in Petersburg.

And so he did a great job. It was 18 minutes,

which was one minute faster than the last time

he had preached it. But it was so full. Wasn't

it, Vanessa? So full of good things. I said,

Derek, you've got to slow down just so we can

digest what you've brought to the table. And

I was just, as we were worshiping and those words

were coming forth today, there was one thing

that Derek said. He said, when we worship in

suffering, it is not denial. Right? We're not

denying that everything is going wrong in life

when I worship. So when we worship in suffering,

it is not denial. But worship in suffering is

defiance. I was like, oh yeah, that was my big

takeaway. I only needed 18 minutes to hear that.

Because I thought of the number of times that

I stood in that front row. All my life I've been

a front row worshiper. It's the best place to

be. And there's room for others. But I remember

in moments standing, God, my husband thinks he's

dying. God, I don't know if this child in me

is going to come out with a heart that is healthy.

And I remember those, and I say it to you often,

my most significant moments of worship, because

it's in those moments that I did feel defiance.

Satan, I don't care what you're doing. I don't

care what the circumstance is. I'm going to worship,

right? And there's that defiance that kind of

arises out of that. I was like, man, Derek, that

is so good. I'm going to worship in defiance.

And there's some of that that has to kind of,

You know, you kind of got to get a little bit

of a backbone for that in a way, spiritual backbone

to say, I am not subject to this life. I am not

subject to the enemy and his opposition. I'm

not subject to situations. I will worship. I

will worship. And so Job is a great lesson in

this. And so I want us, for a few moments today,

there's two parts to this verse, right? So we're

going to spend a few moments in the first part.

Receive instruction from his mouth. I hope you

have a notebook today. Should I be taking notes?

If not, I can find you one. Pull out your notebook.

Receive instruction from his mouth. We just came

off prayer and fasting, and we often talk about

prayer, don't we? We often talk about intercession

and making requests before the Lord. And we quote

the verse, you have not because you what? Ask

not. And so when we think about our prayer lives,

we are often thinking of that. I better start

asking. I better start requesting. I better come

boldly into throne room to make my request known.

And that's good, and that's proper, and that's

right. However, how many of you have a friend

or a family member that is a talker? How many

of you, that is you? And in those conversations,

you can't hardly get a word in, right? They're

just talking, talking, talking. It's a, Todd.

Catherine and Todd will need marriage counseling

following this. I'm pretty sure Todd's not the

talker. She forgives him. When you are talking,

talking, talking, at what point are you able

to stop and listen? And so my question for us

today is, what does your prayer life look like?

What does your prayer life, Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, Thursday, da -da -da -da -da, what

does it look like? Are you a talker? Are you

a listener? Do you ever stop to listen? Or do

you just talk, talk, talk, talk, God's ear off?

Right? What does your prayer life look like?

One of the most famous men in the realm of spiritual

formation is Dallas Willard. He's got the classic

book, The Celebration of Discipline. It's an

awesome book. But he says this, it is much more

important to cultivate the quiet inward space

of a constant listening than to always be approaching

God for specific direction. Now, I'm going to

say that again. It is much more important to,

and this word cultivate is a key word there.

To cultivate means we have to do something to

make this space. To cultivate the quiet, inward

space of a constant listening than to always

be approaching God for specific direction. When

I read this, what I immediately thought was,

this is the difference between striving and abiding.

The difference between striving and abiding.

When I am constantly coming to God for, God,

I need direction. God, I need answer. God, I

need this. God, I need this. There's sometimes

a striving in that because we're contending for

something. But I feel like what he's talking

about is more the place of abiding with God.

And when you're in a place of abiding, I cannot

live in my household with my family and not hear

what they say. They talk, right? And so abiding

means I'm not just always talking to God. I need,

I need, I need, I need, I need help. I'm desperate.

Ah! That can be what sometimes that feels like

because we're so worried and concerned. What

he is saying here is, listen, there's a space,

an inward space in our spiritual lives where

there is a quiet place of hearing God, of listening

to God. And it's impossible to be a listener

if you are a talker. We think we can do multiple,

we can multitask, but you cannot multitask talking

and listening if you're really going to hear

what is being said. And so I believe that there

is, we should contend for the victory. We sang

it today. There is that place of contending for

something, of believing for something. But I

believe there's also this place. That is a quiet,

just, God, what are you saying? And this is the

place that I want us to spend a few moments talking

about today because it's not an easy place for

us in our Western culture. And so in 1 Samuel

1 Samuel 19:11

19, verse 11, this is the account of Elijah.

Now, we are a Pentecostal people. And previous

to this encounter with God, Elijah has the encounter

with the 400 prophets of Baal, or if you remember

that. If you don't know that account, you should

look it up in 1 Samuel and read it. It's amazing.

He's the one prophet of God and all these other

Baal gods that he's up against in competition.

We're going to call down fire from God, and we're

going to see whose God is alive. And so they...

call on their God, and nothing happens. And so

Elijah steps up to the plate, and he says, bring

on the water. Anybody try to start a fire with

wet wood? He's like, pour on the water, on the

fire. I'm not going to make this easy for God.

And he calls down fire, right? And then all of

the prophets of Baal are killed. And then, so

he just has this experience. Oh, yeah, that would

be a great Pentecostal experience, wouldn't it?

Us Pentecostals would be like dancing around

the fire with Elijah. Yeah! Where we find Elijah

next, though, is facing Jezebel and running out

of fear for his life because he's afraid she'll

kill him. And I love that God, what he does for

Elijah is he says, Elijah, it's time to take

a nap. I'm going to give you some food, too.

Here's some food, and here, take some sleep.

I love that. And out of that place, then, Elijah

gets up and runs for 40 days to a cave. And it's

in the cave. I mean, a cave doesn't sound like

a great place to be, right? After this great

mountaintop God experience of calling down fire

from heaven, he's alone in a cave. And it's in

this place that God begins to speak to Elijah.

And it sets Elijah up for some of his final assignments

from heaven of anointing a new king and anointing

a new prophet. And so it's in this place that

God meets with Elijah and says to Elijah, go

out and stand on the mountain in the presence

of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains

apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord.

But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind,

there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not

in the earthquake. After the earthquake came

a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And

after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah

heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face.

and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

We think that God speaking to us is going to

look and sound a certain way, and sometimes we

miss it, because the truth is that God's voice

is not always an obvious thing. It is a voice

that we have to learn to know in our life. And

that comes with intentionally listening for the

voice. But if we're so busy always talking, talking,

talking to God, that we're never exercising our

ears to hear. This voice that is powerful enough

to create the universe. His voice. His breath

created the universe. Yet it's a voice that we

have to tune ourselves to. It's a voice that

we have to learn. Jesus said it, didn't he? He

said, my sheep know my voice. Have we made room

in our prayer life? to know the voice of our

shepherd. I want you to think about your prayer

life in terms of a pie chart. How many of you

like pie charts? Pie charts are nice because

they give you a quick overview of something,

right? And so if you have your notebook, you

can make yourself a pie chart. Otherwise, I want

you in just the palm of your hand to make yourself

a little pie chart. And I want you in that pie

chart to divide it, to divide it into two, the

ratio of your prayer life that you would say,

I spend this much time talking, I spend this

much time listening. I just want you off the

top of your head, 10 seconds. I want you just

to, hmm, I spend a quarter of the time listening

and three quarters of the time talking, whatever

it is. If you're really honest, maybe you would

say, I spend 99 .9 % of the time talking. And

I might listen a little bit, but the truth is

that when I'm listening for God, it's, oh, I

want an elder to pray over me and give me a prophetic

word. You know what I'm saying? I'm not talking

about that kind of a voice. I'm talking about

you, your spirit knowing, Abba, Father. Your

spirit knowing the voice. of your father. You

don't need any other man to speak for him, you

knowing the voice of God. And so how, that sounds

so good, but how do I practically do this? I

feel a little passionate about this because we

live in a world that is pushing in on you. We

live in a world where you are constantly hearing

the world. You have it on your phone. You have

it on your TV. You have it on your devices. It's

unending noise of this world pushing in on you.

And so there is in us, what word did we hear?

Cultivate. It is in us to develop space. to hear

the voice of our God. It is in us to say, I'm

making room to hear from you. This is why we

talk about families making room around a dinner

table. Why? So they could actually, in the busyness

of life, hear one another talk to each other.

What do we do as families in that moment? We're

making space for one another. And so today when

we are talking about how can I cultivate a space

in my life, in my prayer life, to hear from God,

it's really not that hard. We do it by giving

ourself to the Word of God, your Bible. We do

it through stillness. This is hard. This is hard

for a lot of people to be still, to stop being

busy, to stop, oh, I'm so busy, I'm so busy,

I'm so busy. That is the world's voice speaking,

that this is the expectation of successful people

to be busy. When the word says to be still, and

what? No, I'm God. Be still. How do I be still?

When do I stop? Even in my prayer time, I'm not

being still. I'm asking, I'm asking, I'm asking.

And God is just saying, would you just be still

for a minute? Just stop for a minute. Quiet.

Many of us don't like to be quiet. To turn off

the noise. To turn off our phones. You can turn

off your notifications. I don't tell that to

Darren. I tell Darren to turn on his notifications.

But most of us are so attached. We're at the

beck and call of every outside voice that we

cannot stop and be quiet. Even in our prayer

time, I've got to play worship music. I love

worship music as much as the next person, but

there is a place in my prayer life where it has

to be silent. I don't need another worship leader

worshiping for me. Do you know, I'm not a worship

leader. I'm not gifted musically. But when I'm

walking and I don't have any other noise going,

do you know what often starts coming out of me?

Songs. Songs, I'm like, wow, this could be kind

of a good worship song. I'm not gifted in music.

The worship team would probably laugh at me.

But if I have worship music playing, is that

going to happen? No. But in that moment of quietness,

There arises out of me a song that nobody else

on earth is singing to the Lord. It is my own.

It doesn't belong to anybody else. This is my

worship and my worship alone. But if there's

noise, if there's not quietness, that can't happen.

And so it's not difficult. but it does require

us pushing back. It does. I love Peter Drucker

is a leadership guru, and I love it. He maybe

oversimplifies it, but he says this, listening,

which is the first competence of leadership,

is not a skill. It is a discipline. All you have

to do is keep your mouth shut. It's very simple.

Sometimes we just need to keep our mouths shut

so that God can open his and begin to release

words to you and begin to release his instructions

to you. All we have to do is keep our mouths

shut. I think it's interesting in the book of

Job because if you read through the book, We

were in chapter 22 when we read our text. And

all through the middle of Job, he has his friends

talking, right? His friends have input. They're

all going back and forth trying to figure out

why Job has everything going wrong in his life.

And finally, finally, we get to chapter 40. Because

in like 38, I think 38, finally God steps up

and starts to speak. And when God starts to speak

in the book of Job, I mean, what else is man

going to say? And Job finally gets this as well.

And he says in verse 3 of chapter 40, Job answered

the Lord, I am unworthy. How can I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth. Maybe that's just

what we need to do sometimes, put our hand over

our mouth. He said, I spoke once, but I have

no answer twice, but now I will say no more.

And then over in chapter 42, God says, you said,

listen now, and I will speak, I will question

you, and you shall answer me. And then Job says,

ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have

seen you. When did Job receive the revelation

of God? When he finally closed his mouth and

just listened. Suddenly he had a revelation.

I had heard of you, God, now I see you. There's

something that happens when we hear the voice

of God that cannot happen outside of his voice.

His voice is creative. His voice is life -giving.

Faith comes by hearing his voice. And until we

hear it, it's secondhand. Well, I know he's spoken

to Candace. I've heard what he's told Candace.

I've heard what he's told Linda. But then you

hear God for yourself, and suddenly I have heard

of this God. Now I have seen God. Why? Because

you've heard the voice of God. We've got to stop

talking and listen. Just stop talking for a while

because the truth is he knows what you're going

through. He knows your situation. He knows details

you don't know about your situation. And so we

don't need to inform him, so maybe we should

just stop for a while and listen to what he has

to say. That's hard. It's hard. But it's easier

when you hear the voice. The hard gives way then

for the easy. And so we want to hear God. And

then the second part of that passage, it said

receive the instruction. So we've got to listen

for the instruction, right, from his mouth. And

then it says, and place his sayings in your heart.

You then are responsible for the instruction

that was given, right? And so I think of this

when, okay, we've moved now into the middle of

January. I don't know about you other gardeners,

but I've gotten my seed catalog. I've ordered

a second seed catalog. Although I'm determined

to just go through all the current seeds because

I have enough seeds that could feed the whole

church all summer probably. But, you know, I

can't help it. I get lured in by all these seeds.

And so those days a couple of weeks ago when

it was like spring, right, I was like, I know

my goal was to organize inside, but I got to

get out there. I got to get in the garden. I

still have a chance to plant garlic. I thought

I had missed my window, but I can plant garlic.

I can't even tell you the weeds that had become

trees in my garden. Listen, I could not, as much

as I loved the garlic seed and when it planted,

I couldn't just go out and put it in the garden.

I had to violently remove with a shovel, a literal

shovel, tree weeds. What was I doing? I was making

space for the garden to receive the seed. This

is the pushback that I'm talking about. There

are sometimes things in our life that we need

to get rid of if we're going to make room to

hear his voice and receive his instruction. And

I was thinking about this this week because I

had a customer come through my shop, and she

came through super early one morning. And I said,

oh, you're here really early today. She said,

yeah, band. an eighth grader and a freshman in

band, and they have to be at school at 6 .50

every morning. David, you're sitting there smiling

like you know what we're talking about here.

And I start thinking about this, and I think

about sports, because sports is no different,

right? Kids are out there practicing a lot of

times hours that you're all still in bed. And

what are they doing when they're out there practicing

band, practicing their football or basketball?

They are being coached. And so there's this voice

that they have attuned themselves to who is the

coach or the director. And so I thought yesterday,

the world has no problem. Calling for sacrifice.

Sports has no problem calling for your kids'

time and your money. Band, same way. No problem

asking for their time. You don't need to sleep,

growing kids. Yes, parents, $90 today. There's

no problem that they have in asking for that.

And what are they doing? They are forcing the

kids to make space to hear from their coaches

and directors. There is something in us that

needs that kind of tenacity. If the world has

no problem asking for us to make space for them,

why do we have problems calling for us to make

space to hear the voice of our God? There's that

kind of ruthlessness that says, you know what,

that's all so temporal, and there's a place for

it, and I get it, but it is not the most important

thing, right? So we unapologetically, I even

today unapologetically call for you to make space

to put yourself under the voice of your coach,

the voice of your director, and hear what he

has to say about your life. Make the space. And

so in Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 11, we're

Deuteronomy 30:11

going to spend just a couple of moments in these.

passages that are going to move us to the New

Testament. But it says, now what I am commanding

you today is not too difficult for you or beyond

your reach. It is not up in heaven so that you

have to ask who will ascend into heaven to get

it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it. Nor

is it beyond the sea so that you have to ask

who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim

it to us so we may obey it. No, the word is very

near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart

so you may obey it. I have this verse written

in my kitchen. See, I set before you today life

and prosperity, death and destruction. For I

command you today to love the Lord your God,

to walk in obedience to him, and keep his commands,

decrees, and laws, that you will live and increase,

and the Lord your God will bless you in the land

you are entering to possess. This is an amazing

verse because the context of it is the law. right?

And we know that what the law does, it shows

us how much we cannot obey it, how much we cannot

keep it. But yet, in a way, this verse is foreshadowing

the new covenant. It is saying the reality is

God is wanting his word to be near to you. He's

wanting it in your mouth. He's wanting it in

your heart so that you can obey it. In fact,

If we go to Romans 10, we see him quoting it

in this passage. So he's going back and saying,

okay, here's what it said back in Deuteronomy.

Now here's the fulfillment of what he wrote about

in Deuteronomy. And so in Romans 10, 4, he's

talking about Christ being the culmination of

the fulfillment of the law. And he says, so that

there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Moses writes this about the righteousness that

is by the law. The person who does these things

will live by them. But the righteous that is

by faith says, do not say in your heart who will

ascend to heaven, that is who is to bring Christ

down, or who will ascend into the deep, that

is to bring Christ up from the dead, but what

does it say? The word is near you, is in your

mouth and in your heart, that is the message

concerning faith that we proclaim is this, if

you declare Right? If you declare with your mouth,

Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that

God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Okay, so he's saying, what are they saying? Listen,

this is not beyond us. The ways of the Lord,

the word of the Lord is not so far off that we

have to go up into heaven to find it or down

into the deep to find it. No. It is near to you.

It is in your mouth, and it is in your heart.

And so this is why we declare with our mouth,

Jesus is Lord, and it's also in our heart. So

we what? We believe in our heart that Jesus is

Lord. This is so powerful because the truth is

that it says, It is with your heart that you

believe and are justified, and your mouth that

you profess your faith and are saved. So we see

the connection. Deuteronomy is the context of

following the law, which is impossible, but the

foreshadow of what is to come. Emmanuel, God

is with us. John chapter 1, Jesus became the

John 1 · chapter mention

Word, and the Word dwells among men. The Word

has drawn near to you and I. It is in our mouth.

It is in our heart. Jesus, the living Word, is

near to us. This is not a God that's trying to

make it difficult for us to obey and follow him.

He's tried to make it as easy as he can to obey.

And so now Jesus said this. In Luke, he said,

when he was talking to the Pharisees, who like

to overcomplicate it and make it hard, the Pharisees

asked when the kingdom of God would come. And

Jesus said it doesn't come with observation.

They won't say see here or see there. It's not

a kingdom on this earth. For indeed the kingdom

is within you. The kingdom is within you. His

word is in our mouth and it's in our heart. It

is in us. And the heart of God is always, you

can read it in Isaiah 59. He says, I'm going

to put it in your mouth, my words in your mouth,

on your lips, on the lips of your children and

their descendants. In Jeremiah, he says, I put

the law in their minds and on their hearts, and

they will be my people and I their God. This

is a God that has always longed to be in close,

abiding relationship. He has words that he wants

to speak to us, but we have to begin to listen.

We have to change the dynamic of our prayer life,

and maybe what would it look like if we spent

a little more time listening? And so the question

today is, what fills our heart? And what fills

our mouth. Because maybe we need to make some

space for God. Maybe we've got some attitudes

that we need to deal with. Maybe we're so busy

listening to the world that we have no space

to listen to God. Receive instruction from his

mouth and then place his sayings in your heart.

Place his sayings in your heart. I'm going to

ask if the team will come back up this morning.

God will answer your prayers. God will do extraordinary

things. How many of you have had God touch you

in a miraculous way, right? In one of those only

God can do moments that I love for, I believe

for, I pray for, I expect. But that's only one

aspect of our God. Our God wants to live and

to dwell with us. I believe that he wants us

to draw our ears close, anticipating his direction.

God, what do you have today? God, what do you

want to do this week? I was listening to a podcast

this morning and this quote that said, Jesus

is in our hearts, but grandpa is still in my

bones. Jesus is in our hearts, but grandpa is

still in our bones. We've been justified and

redeemed, right? But sometimes we've still got

a bit of that generational stuff in us, right?

Sometimes there are generational curses that

Jesus has to break. And sometimes we've not had

an example in our family line of a good father,

of a good mother. We've not learned how to be

good parents. We've still got grandpa's stuff

going on in our bones. And I believe that God,

his desire is for us to choose to lean in and

to hear from him on how to be a better parent,

how to be a better husband, how to be a better

wife, how to be a better son and a daughter,

how to be a better friend, how to be a better

worker, how to be a better steward. That isn't

always a supernatural changed in the moment kind

of a thing. That's the discipleship of being

a follower of Jesus. And when I come across great

people that I think are doing great things, and

I want to learn from them, when I get around

them, I don't spend all my time talking, do I?

I listen. I need to hear how you've done life.

I need to hear how you've walked with God. What

would that look like if we do that to God himself?

God, you created all this. You knit me together.

You have a plan and a purpose for my life. I

want to hear what you have to say about it. I

want to hear what you have to say about this

situation. My kid. This problem in my family,

my business, my finances, my health. God, I want

to hear what you have to say about it. And so

this week, your assignment, you ready? You have

an assignment. I want you this week to change

your pie chart. I want you this week to move

the needle on your pie chart. And I want you

to spend more time listening than talking. Just

for a week, give it a try. Just for a week, trust

that God knows what you're going through, and

so you don't have to inform him. And so just

for this week, just be quiet, put your hand over

your mouth, and listen. And just see what God

says. See how he tells you to pray for that situation.

See what instruction he gives. And so here's

what we're going to do this morning. It's a quarter

till, but see, we aren't governed by this world,

right? And so you can prolong your lunch a little

bit. And the team's going to lead us in a moment

of worship. And I want you to just create an

altar space. Maybe in your seat, maybe you need

to come forward to the altar. And I want you

to spend a few moments making space. I want you

to spend a few moments just saying, God, I've

had this attitude. God, I've been doing this

behavior that's not been good. But what we want

to do in these final moments is we want to create

space so that this week we can spend our time

listening. So that this week we can just give

ourselves to abiding with the Father and saying,

God, I've been speaking to you for 20 years.

I'm just going to listen now to what you have

to say. But first, we're going to deal with anything

that might be clogging up that inward life. You

might need to put some worship music away this

week and say, yeah, I love Brandon Lake, whoever

your favorite is. I love Stephanie Gretzinger,

if you want a good cry. But I'm going to even

silence that this week. And so I want you in

this moment just to ask Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit,

how do I make space this week to hear you? What

do you want to put your finger on that's been

occupying space that belongs to you, that belongs

to your instruction? that belongs to your sayings.

I want to just clear out closet space to make

room for your voice, to make room for your direction

this week, to say, God, I just don't know, so

I'm just going to listen. I'm just going to hear

what you might want to say to me this week. And

so let's just begin to turn our eyes, just kind

of forget right now about everything that you're

going home to today. Begin to put your gaze on

Jesus, the living word, Emmanuel, God with us.

I want you just to put your eyes on him right

now. And I want you just to open up your spirit,

open up your heart, open up your life, and say,

Holy Spirit, come in and begin to speak. Come

in and begin to speak. Come in and begin to speak.

And some of you, I feel like you do, you need

to make a move to the altar to present it before

the Lord, to release it before the Lord, a physical

act of releasing it before the Lord as we worship.

Just for a few moments, we're going to worship

and give space for him to come in and begin to

speak.