The Power of Discernment | Quick to Listen Slow to Speak

I have my friend Malachi help me out

here this morning.

>> All scripture is God breathed and is

useful for teaching, rebuking,

correcting, and training in

righteousness so that the servants of

God may be thoroughly equipped for every

good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

My dear brothers and sisters, take note

of this. Everyone should be quick to

listen, slow to speak, and slow to

become angry. James 1:19. This is the

James 1:19

word of the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God. All right. Thanks,

Malachi.

>> Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you.

>> All right. So, if I have not had the

chance to meet you yet, uh my name is

Ralph Garcia. I get the amazing

privilege of uh serving as a pastor here

at Radiant Church Exit. And I'm so glad

that you guys joined us. with summer

breaks and stuff, you know, it can get a

little thin, but uh it is so good to see

all of your faces and just carving out

time uh to come with one collective

voice and worship God. And today, we're

going to lean into his word and we're

going to ask God, what would you want us

to learn from you today? And uh we are

just kicking off a summer series. So, if

it's your first time, you're you're

joining at the right time. We're just

kicking off uh what we're calling a

summer of power. and we're going to

examine the word of God and we're look

at all the ways that we are empowered as

Christ followers through Jesus through

the Holy Spirit and what that means for

us and more than that what that looks

like in our daily lives as we walk and

we follow him. And as I was kind of

going through this series and thinking

about the different things we're going

to look at, I was reminded of some of

our favorite movies. I was reminded of

Peter Parker and Spider-Man, right? Like

the whole thing is not so much that he

has these superpowers, but for the first

part of his life, he's like largely

unaware that he has them, right? And

it's not till later in his life, life

circumstances come and he's he's forced

in this step into his calling, right? If

you have little ones, uh maybe you're

familiar with the movie The Incredibles.

I watched it about a hundred times. Do

you know the movie? It's a It's a movie

about this family of undercover

superheroes and they have these powers,

but uh they're really unaware of like

how they're going to look and operate in

the world and the world is kind of like,

hey, uh that just shelf that like that's

too much. They kind of get blacklisted

almost like um their their uh the world

is like, hey, that actually looks bad

and actually is for their good. And so

as I was kind of reflecting on this, I'm

like, man, how many of us as Christians,

as followers of Jesus, walk around kind

of largely unaware of the power that we

actually have in and through him.

And not only that, or and or we're we're

just kind of um not sure how how they

fit in or where to apply them. Uh and so

that's what we want to talk about this

morning. As we talk about the different

powers, we want to talk about the power

of discernment

because discernment is the key to

stepping into all of these things. We

have to be able to discern and trust God

and hear him as he's calling us into

these different ways that we're called

to operate. And so last week we kicked

it off with the power of blessing.

And we talked about how um we don't work

for blessing, we work from a place of

blessing. And we looked at how this

happens. And it happens on the very

first page of your Bible in Genesis

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. It says that God created male

and female. He created them both. He

breathed life into them. And before they

could do anything but breathe, God says

that he blessed them.

Before they can uh before they can

disobey him, before they could obey him,

he blessed them. And then we looked at

Jesus. the first 30 years of his life

largely just a normal life from what we

can gather from the scriptures. No

miracles yet. And at 30, he comes and

stands in the Jordan River under an open

heaven. He's baptized. The spirit

descends on him, empowering him. And God

says, "This is my son whom I loved and

with whom I'm well pleased." Again, no

miracles.

And still God says, "I'm pleased with

you." And we walked away with knowing

that who God says we are is the most

important thing that we can come to

learn. And so as we segue into this

power of discernment, I also want to

start off with with another uh passage.

2 Timothy 1 verse 7.

2 Timothy 1:7

It says, "For God has not given us a

spirit of fear, but of power and of love

and of a sound mind.

This power is required because we are

called to a supernatural calling. We are

called, think about this, to to call

people from darkness, spiritual darkness

to light. We are called to come against

strongholds.

We are called to to proclaim and declare

what's good about God.

That takes a supernatural equipping. We

cannot do that on our own accord. We

cannot pull this off by our own

willpower. We must we must depend on God

to equip us for this work.

And so as we start to look at um the

power of discernment,

we're going to look at how critical this

because we want to bless people, right?

We want to provide godly counsel. We

want to come against strongholds. We

want to declare reconciliation between

man and God. We want all of these

things. We want to be able to counsel

one another, but we're not going to be

able to do this if we're not hearing

from God. And with all the noise that's

going on in the world, how do we

separate? How do we distinguish

God's will, God's voice, from all the

other voices that are competing for our

attention? That is going to require

discernment.

And so, we're going to dive into that

today. And I think it's going to be good

news. I think you're going to be

encouraged about this. And so, what does

discernment actually mean? I think, you

know, maybe it's not a word that we use

too often uh in our day-to-day. I think

like uh in most of our uh usage of the

word kind of um in the world, I think um

discernment is the ability to recognize

what's really happening and what's

actually true. And wisdom tells us what

to do about it. I think sometimes

discernment and wisdom get kind of

coupled together and they're kind of

like cousins. They kind of look like

each other, but they're different,

right? They each stand on their own. Uh,

but I think when it comes to spiritual

discernment, uh, is a little bit

different. But, um, discernment in our

day-to-day, it is super important.

Discernment helps us to choose friends,

right? Uh, it helps us to choose a

career. Discernment helps you to choose

who to hang out with. Should I go to

that party? Should I go to this college?

These are all ways that we that

discernment shows up in our lives. But

spiritual discernment actually is just a

little bit different.

And spiritual discernment, I want you to

think of it as like the base or the the

stream in which all other forms of

discernment flow. And so for spiritual

discernment, I would define it this way.

I would say that spiritual discernment

is the God-given ability to recognize

God's voice and to separate it from all

the other noise competing for our

attention.

And again, this is critical because

without listening,

it's impossible for us to discern. James

James 1:19

1:19 says it this way is what Malachi

read to us. My dear brothers and

sisters,

take note of this. Everyone, turn to

your neighbor and say, everyone.

Everyone. Not just some people, right?

Not just the slow ones. Not just the

special ones. It says, "Everyone

should be quick to listen, slow to

speak, and slow to become angry."

Notice this verse says, "Take note."

Like, write this down because I don't

think it's something that comes

naturally. I know it doesn't for me. The

temptation is to speak first. The

temptation is to get my point across

first. Like, I got important things to

say. I have the right idea. You should

hear it. And you should hear it right

now. And so the temptation for us is to

speak first before we listen. But how

many of us know that the faster we talk

and the less we listen, the more our

emotions start to come out, right? And

then we start speaking from this place

of emotion, whether it's fear, whether

it's worry, whether it's doubt, it's

insecurity. And man, in that the Bible

says when we're speaking fast and not

listening, it actually lead to anger.

And when we're angry and we're caught up

in our emotions and we're and we're

attached to our emotions, our ability to

discern is next to impossible.

It's next to impossible.

What James is saying is go in reverse

order. Don't get angry. Don't talk fast.

Listen first.

Man, that is a hard thing. I think

that's why it's it's a superpower. And

you know these people, if you think

about it in your life, they stand out.

You have some friends, maybe some

family, some people that you come in

interaction with and they're really good

listeners,

right? They listen. You love spending

time with these people because they

listen so well and you walk away,

sometimes they don't even say anything

and you walk away like, "Man, that was

good. So glad I got together with that

person. Man, I feel so much better." And

they actually didn't say much. They

listened. Guys, listening first is a

superpower.

Listening first, speaking last is so

critical.

And this is important. We want to hear,

we want to learn, we want to understand

what God is saying.

And we want to know, is is this God or

is this the pizza I ate last night?

Right? Like what what's going on? We

want to be able to discern these things.

They're important. And just a quick

note, you'll hear me use this phrase,

God's voice or God speaking throughout

the message. I just want to clarify one

thing. I'm not talking about an audible

voice that you can hear like the example

we looked at when when the sky opened

and Jesus spoke uh God spoke to Jesus

and he could hear it. Everyone else can

hear it. And and I've heard accounts

that people have experienced it. I'm not

discounting that. What I'm saying is

that the most evidence we have supports

that God does still speak to us today.

And I want to talk about three different

ways that God does that. And not the

only three ways, but primarily the three

different ways that God speak to us

because I think it'll be helpful as we

shape the rest of our talk this morning.

And so we kind of distilled it down to

three different areas or three different

filters that we can look at when we're

trying to discern is what I'm hearing,

what I'm perceiving through my prayer

life, through uh counsel with others,

through the word of God. Am I hearing

God on this? And so I think the first

and foremost thing that we need to ask

ourselves is, does what I'm hearing

agree with scripture?

This is the primary way that God speaks

to us through his written word. We have

the Bible and we know that the Bible

even about itself says it's alive and

it's active. Things that are alive and

they're active, they speak. They

communicate. They're living. Dead things

don't speak. Things that are alive, they

speak and they communicate. And so we

know that the Bible is the first and

foremost and primary way that we can go

to God and say, "God, what do you have

to say about this?" And he does speak to

us through his written word. I can

testify to that. So many times in my

life, I've gone to the word for whatever

reason or season that I'm in. And God

speaks directly to my heart. And I know

if I opened up the mic that many of you

would have the same testimony, but the

thing is that we actually have to read

it. You have to read it. Sermons are

great. Small groups are great. But guys,

if I can encourage you with anything

this morning is to read your Bible. It

is the word of God. It's his spoken word

to us. And I would encourage you to

create a h a healthy rhythm of reading

the Bible so that you can um have have

these uh moments where you can discern

by using the go the word of God to help

you through that. And so couple quick

thing discernment sifts through

everything we hear through the Bible. Uh

when when we're hearing from God and

perceiving things, he's never going to

give us a new commandment outside of

what's written in the word of God. He's

not going to give us a new thing to do.

there's not going to be a new way to get

to salvation. And we're going to talk

about some of those warnings and how

they pop up in our culture. But, uh, I

think we can't say that enough is that

the the the that God's not going to

contradict himself with what he's

already written. And so, first and

foremost, we hold the word of God as our

first primary source of hearing from him

and discerning. Number two, we can ask

ourselves, what I'm hearing, what I'm

sensing, does it reflect the character

of the Holy Spirit? Right? Discernment

tunes our hearts from the inside.

Remember Jesus told us in the book of

John, we'll take a look a little bit

more here in a minute. But but Jesus

tell us the Holy Spirit is going to come

in my place. It's better that I go. And

they're like, "What do you mean it's

better that you go?" How does that make

any sense? And Jesus like, well, while

I'm here, I can be with one person at

one time. But when the Holy Spirit

comes,

he's going to be able to be with all of

you at the same time. And Jesus drills

down a little bit deeper in here. He

says, "He will remind you of every word

that I have spoken."

Man, if the Holy Spirit is reminding us

of something, that means we're going to

hear it in one way or the other. Right?

When my wife reminds me of something, I

can hear her reminding us. When my phone

reminds me of something, there's an

audible thing that happens, right? It is

communicating with me. So, when we're

going to be reminded by the Holy Spirit,

this means there's going to be some form

of communication with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a reliable source to

confirm the word of God. And the Holy

Spirit helps us to discern. And we

actually can't do any discerning without

him.

Number three is what we're hearing or

what we're sensing, can it be confirmed

through godly community? And what I mean

by that is the sermon often it clarifies

our choices through godly counsel. The

Bible tells us that we should counsel

one another that that through many

advisors victory is sure, right? that

there's a place in community where we

come and we say, "Hey, brother man, I

have this decision to make or I feel

this tensing on my life and I've been

praying about it, but would you join me?

Would you pray with me in this?" And

then and then would you share with me

any impressions you get from God? Like

like the the community of believers,

there's power in that as well. And so

many times through godly counsel,

through community, through a small

group, through a discipling

relationship, God will confirm

sometimes, a lot of times what he you're

already sensing from him. And sometimes

you're like, "Ah, I don't know. I don't

know if I should go and do that thing.

That sounds hard. It's going to take a

lot of faith." And then your brother

calls you. He's like, "Hey, I've been

praying for you and I feel like, yeah,

you know, I I just had this picture of

you out serving at at an orphanage or

whatever it is, right?" And you're like,

"That's funny. I was thinking about

serving at an orphanage." Those things

will happen when we're living in

community and we're trusting one another

and we're doing life with one another.

And so the word of God helps us discern.

The Holy Spirit helps us discern. And

godly community helps us to discern.

And I'm so grateful. I want I want to

just lift up one of the the greatest

people I know that has this gift of

discernment. My wife Lucy. She is one of

the best discerners that I know. I go to

her so many times when I need godly

counsel, when I'm like, man, I'm really

struggling with this decision and I can

trust that she's going to tell me the

truth. Sometimes a little a little too

much truth. But um but I know she'll

give it to me straight. But but I I have

watched her in her life take and discern

things by holding it up to the filter of

the word of God by going to God in

prayer, by not being quick to speak

about something

and then coming to me and saying, "Man,

I know this is God because this is not

actually kind of what I wanted to

happen." But she has the faith to speak

it out anyways, even in the hard times,

into the hard things.

And I don't think I do too bad at

discernment. It showed up early in my

life. I started off as a Giants fan when

I was a kid. And then God helped me

discern that the Dodgers were actually

the better team. And so I'm working on

it. It does show up in my life, and

there is some fruit there. So keep

praying for me. All right. I got the

mic. All right. So,

um, but man, on on a serious note

though, I was thinking about this and I

was talking to my wife about this about

discernment and I thought, I don't know

if there was another moment in history

where discernment could be more critical

than right now.

I think about that for a moment. Beyond

the internet, remember when it was the

internet? Like, oh my gosh, it's the

internet, right? And then it was like,

"Oh, Google, enter AI."

Okay, let me tell you something right

now, church. If we do not have

discernment,

you will be deceived.

Guaranteed.

Discernment. The power of discernment.

Asking God, fill us with this power of

discernment. Could not be more timely.

could not be more timely. Not just in

our personal lives, but more so in the

spiritual. Think about it. You can get

on your phone right now, hop on YouTube,

and someone can have a a following of a

million subscribers,

a platform

not tested by any sort of uh character

test, life experience, spiritual

covering, pastoral oversight, nothing.

You know what's required? A ring light,

a Wi-Fi connection, and a smartphone.

That's it. You can have a whole

ministry. Unknown. This person is

unknown. And they get their reels and

they go viral and they and we share

them.

Man, if we're not discerning

what's being put out there, we will be

deceived. And Jesus warned about this.

The Bible has many warnings actually

about this, about testing the spirits,

about discerning. The Bible speaks of a

people called the Bereans in the book of

Acts. And it says the Bereans were of

more noble character because every day

with eagerness they went to receive the

word of God and then they went to the

word to see what Paul said was true.

Man, if they fact checked Paul, you

better fact check me. You better fact

check me. You better fact check the the

the the Instagram reel that gave you the

goosebumps and you shared with your

small group before you went and actually

discerned if that's the word of God.

Because the Bible says that we will be

deceived not by wolves with fangs, but

in sheep's clothing. That'll actually

sound true. That'll actually look good.

It'll sound right.

Our enemy

number one tactic is to deceive.

Think about it. What was the first

deception? Did God really say?

Did God really say? Did that is that

really what you heard?

He runs the same play, guys. The enemy

doesn't have to come up with a new

thing. But now, now enter the world of

AI and instant platforms

and influencers.

Man, the gate is wide open for

deception. And I don't say this to

create paranoia. It's not what I'm

saying. I'm not saying be suspicious of

every single person. We have to have a

healthy degree of of awareness is what

I'm saying. We just can't take the bite

from every apple. We're hungry for the

word of God. I'm hungry for the deeper

things, too. But what happens is when

you're too hungry, you eat anything put

before you. Right? It's kind of like

what Esau happened to Esau. He was so

hungry. He was so starved. He sold his

birthright for a bowl of soup. Yeah. We

want to hunger and pan for the word of

God, but we don't want to put whatever

eat whatever's put before our our table.

We want to slow down. We want to be

quick to listen, slow to speak. Right?

This is so timely, guys. This is so

powerful. Listening

is an art and it must be practiced.

So, uh I shared with you that I recently

retired from uh the the career field of

law enforcement. And when I first became

a police officer, um I had the

opportunity to join our crisis

negotiation team. And part of that was

the training they send you to the FBI

school for hostage negotiations. And I

was like, "Oh man, this is going to be

cool. They're going to teach me how to

get out of any situation with my words.

They're going to teach me the art of

persuasion. I'm going to be able to get

my kids to clean their rooms, no

problem. Like, this is good. I went got

there early, sat in the front row,

notebook open. I'm like, teach me. I'm

ready to learn the secrets.

And the guy get steps up there, and he

goes, "I bet most of you guys thought

you were coming here because you were

going to learn the art of speaking and

how to persuade people. You're wrong.

what I'm going to teach you to do is how

to listen because listening saves lives.

I was like, whoa. And right away, I

start making these spiritual connections

right away. It's not about what you say

that's going to save someone in a

crisis. It's letting them say the thing

that got them in the crisis. And that's

what happens in spiritual communities.

And that's why small groups and

communion with one another is so

important.

The art of listening is so powerful and

it originates in scripture is what I

love about it. And so we want to train

our ears to hear before we speak.

And so as as we uh spend the rest of our

time together, I want to just kind of

it's such a broad field and and again

this series will continue, but I think I

just want to hit on two things as as a

practical note on where discernment

where we can deploy discernment right

now and how it and how it shows up right

now in the time that we find oursel in

the church because there's two things

that the enemy wants to weaponize,

Right? We said the first one, the word

of God. He wants to try and distort that

word. And the other thing is he wants to

come against the power of God. And so he

wants you to get to doubt that God still

moves through the supernatural.

Because if he can get you to think that

he doesn't anymore, then we are robbed

from those experiences. It says the

Bible says that these things are

actually to edify the church. the gifts,

the fruit of the spirit. The gifts of

the spirit are used to edify and build

up the church, not us, not to give us a

platform, but to make much of Jesus. And

so, the enemy knows that. And so, it

wants to hijack those things through

counterfeit experiences and counterfeit

teachers.

And this way, when they're found out,

you go, "Aha, see, I knew it. I knew it.

The gifts are dead. God doesn't speak.

That guy was a phony."

Well guys, this has been happening from

the beginning. Again, first John tells

us to test the spirits. Don't simply

believe everything you hear because it

sounds spiritual.

Spiritual discernment helps us to guard

against that. Acts chapter 8, you can

Acts 8 · chapter mention

write this down if you're taking notes.

Acts chapter 8 tells a story about Simon

Acts 8 · chapter mention

the sorcerer. And this is a very

interesting story because it says that

Simon is amazing the people of uh

Samaria where he's living with the power

of sorcery and all the details aren't uh

laid out in that chapter I think. But

what's important to conclude is that the

Bible says that people called him the

great power of God. That was his

nickname. You ever met a guy with a

nickname the great power of God? I never

have. But what would someone have to do

to get that name? Some pretty fancy

things, right? And so that's where Simon

is when the disciples descend upon

Samaria. And the disciples come with a

different tactic. They actually display

the power of God. And so by displaying

the power of God rooted in the Holy

Spirit, it says that faith starts to

break out throughout Samaria. And Simon

takes notice. He's like, "What's

happening here? I thought I was ruling

the roost here. Who are you guys? And

they show up and people start believing

in God. They're getting baptized. People

are getting converted so much that Simon

starts pressing in. And and the Bible

says that actually for a time he

believed and he was baptized. But then

here's what happens. The enemy hijacked

his old life. He starts seeing that the

disciples are laying on the hands and

they're and they're giving the Holy

Spirit and they're doing all these

things. And then Simon approaches them

on the side and says, "Hey, um, how much

do I have to pay you to get that?"

He wants to buy the supernatural power

of God that he's seeing because he sees

the influence that they're having. And

Simon falls right back into his old

ways. It's kind of like the the hearts

uh the the soil of the hearts that we

looked at last summer.

It it felt it got choked out. His faith

got choked out early because he saw the

influence that the other guys were

having and he wanted that. He wanted to

counterfeit

the experiences and the supernatural

work of God. And [snorts] so what do the

disciples do? They engage discernment

right away. They're able to discern his

heart. They look at him and they go,

"Your heart is not good, Simon.

Your heart is hard toward God." And you

know what they do? They boot him out of

community. They're just like, "You got

to go." Why? They're safeguarding the

flock against something super important,

God's supernatural power and the way

that he works. They're saying, "You want

to counterfeit that?" And we won't allow

that as long as we're holding the gate.

You got to go. You got to go. And you

say, "That might sound harsh." But you

know what's harsher is the enemy

invading the flock

and counterfeiting miracles and hurting

people's fate. That's more devastating

than telling the guy, "You got to go."

And so we see discernment right away

work through the disciples here. They're

able to discern Simon's motives. And

that's what discernment does. It

actually it separates truth from lies.

And and it brings to light hidden

motives. It brings to light

manipulation. And you're able to see

clearly. And again, this is why it takes

the power of God to do these things.

And so the other way it shows up is

through protecting the flock against

false teachers, false prophets. Jesus

actually tells us there's going to be

false prophets out there. You need to be

on guard. You need to be looking out.

And if you think, "Oh, that just sounds

like a thing that happened back in the

day." It's not. It's happening today. I

don't know if you've been following any

current events at all within different

faith communities, but you've seen that

there have been a number of people with

some pretty sizable followings that have

moved in the prophetic that had been

found out to actually be counterfeiting

these things. And these are from

reputable schools and reputable

ministries that have been really

pressing into the prophetic. And man,

this is hurtful.

This is so hurtful.

Again, this is the enemy saying, "See,

wasn't real. These guys are fake

and they were fakes."

But we know that there's going to be

wolves disguised in sheep's clothing.

And maybe they didn't start out that

way. Maybe they maybe they were

operating under the power of God. Maybe

they were filled. And maybe like Simon,

they started to see that man, actually,

I can glorify myself in this. We don't

know. We don't know all that, but we do

know that they're starting to be

exposed,

and that's a good thing. And one of

these actually hit pretty close to home

for us. Um, I don't know, about 10 years

ago, uh, when we're still living in

Southern California. Some friends of

ours, uh, were really excited about this

conference that they found on Facebook.

And they said, "Hey, this guy, he's a

really reputable guy. He's a real

powerful teacher, and he moves in the

prophetic, and we want to go. We're

going to attend one of his uh, events."

And so, they went and we asked him,

"Hey, how'd it go?" And they said, "Man,

pretty awesome. Actually, we we actually

got called out from everyone in the

crowd. They kind of singled us out." I

said, ' Really? What happened? He said,

'Well, the guy said, 'Hey, does the does

the name Bubba mean anything to anyone?

And that was kind of funny name. Well,

their dog is named Bubba. And so he's

like, I have a dog named Bubba. He goes,

well, come up here. Who are you here

with? My wife brings him up to the

stage, starts prophesying over them,

telling that they're going to uh have

children. Well, unbeknownst to this guy,

they've been struggling with infertility

for a really long time. And so, they

hear this word and they receive it and

they're like, "God is speaking over this

and they're so excited, so overjoyed by

it. Um, they start investing in in uh in

IVF."

She takes a year off work. They spent

about $100,000

on IVF treatments. And this is about 10

years ago. They're still not pregnant to

this day. But when the story came out,

the first one that I saw actually named

that guy by name that had prophesied

over them that day. And when they were

telling us a story, Lucy and I were

driving home and I said, "Babe, I want

to be excited for them, but something

doesn't sit right with me about this

guy.

It's just something in my spirit is is

is not sitting right." And and I asked

my friend Justin. I said, "Hey, how

how'd you hear about this conference?"

He said, "Oh, on Facebook." And I'm

driving home, I remember his Facebook

profile, uh, because he was a police

officer, didn't want to use his real

name, so he used Bubba St. Pierre. That

was his name. And I thought, man, he

heard about this on Facebook. His name

is Bubba on Facebook. Oh no, the guy

wouldn't do that. Sure enough, this man

actually, the article that I read

actually said he was using Facebook to

learn things about people before they

showed up, so he can use a word. The

same guy to my friends

hurt their faith, guys.

Thank God by the grace and blood of

Jesus, they are faithful disciples

today. But man, they walked through it.

They went back to the word. Guys, we

must safeguard the flock against the

counterfeit. We must. And the only way

we can do that is through discernment,

filtering through the word of God,

asking the Holy Spirit, is this your

character? And through godly community,

saying, "Hey, I think I got this word.

What do you think about it?" If we can

do those things, we can walk in the

power discern. We can safeguard the

bride that is Christ Church. This is so

important because it is real. God does

speak. God does move. God does open

wombs. He does. He heals the blind. He

does all these things. But we don't get

to command them like a magic trick. He's

not a vending machine in the sky. We

must submit ourselves and come low and

say, "God, I believe you have this

power. If it's within your will, would

you do it? But I am putting my request

before you. And I will ask and I will

seek and I will knock.

But at the end of the day, it's your

will and not mine."

And we hear these things sometimes they

tickle our ears and they move something

in us and that's great but we need to

discern. One of the beautiful things I

love about our gatherings is is

oftentimes during worship someone will

be feel prompted or feel moved to share

a passage or a word of encouragement.

And that's great. And powerful times

have moved in this very room. But it's

also why if you heard Kevin say, "Would

you come up to Ralph? Would you come up

to Matt, Noah, someone in the front to

help you discern."

We want to be able to hear first. Why?

Because we want to safeguard the flock.

Sometimes it's our own voice. That's

going to happen. Sometimes it's our own

thoughts. It's our own goodwill. We want

good for others. But when we come up and

we and we listen and hey, what what are

you sensing? We want to match it against

the word of God, against the character

of the Holy Spirit and what we know

what's true within the faith community.

And and it's hard sometimes to be up

there to say, "Hey, I think maybe you

should pray about that a little bit

more." Or maybe that's just for you.

Maybe it's not for the entire flock. And

I've been told that before when I've

gone up to share something. Hey, I would

pray about that a little more. You know,

I think that's a good word. I think that

may just be for you. I don't feel

offended, guys. I feel safe by that.

I feel honored by that. I know this is

not a show, but that this is real. This

is the word of God. This is his bride

and it must be protected at all cost.

And so we do that here. That spirit is

here. That the word of God is our first

and primary way that we filter that the

the Holy Spirit, he teaches us what's

real.

All right, we're going to close out

here. Matthew 7:15, Jesus says, "Watch

Matthew 7:15

out for false prophets. They come to you

in sheep's clothing, but inwardly

they're ferocious wolves. By their

fruit, you will recognize them."

The last thing I I want to say is that

uh when we're discerning and we're

looking out for these counterfeit

things, we want to watch how they come

in because it says if they the the real

shepherd comes in through the front

door, but but but the false prophets,

they climb in through a different way.

He starts to tell us what to look for.

And so when we're when we're trying to

discern these things, we want to see is

this person is this teacher someone who

has entered through a spiritual covering

who's known by elders who's known by a

faith community who submitted their

lives to Jesus. These are all good way

because again as you can turn on a

hundred different podcasts on your way

home, a hundred different YouTube

sermons. These are things that we need

to be asking and discerning. Is this

person does they have a spiritual

covering? Are they teaching something

that they're saying is new today that

that it didn't mean back then? These are

all red flags. These are all things we

should be discerning. God does not shift

and change his mind. He's not a man that

he would lie. He is true. He is

faithful. And his word remains the same.

And it's something that we can count on.

But it all goes back to knowing the word

of God. We must know the word of God

because the same attack will come. Did

God really say

in our culture it shows up like did God

really say that marriage is only between

a man and a woman? Is that really what

it says? Because that sounds a little

divisive. That doesn't sound include.

That sounds like hate speech. Does God

have hate speech? And we start to go,

"Oh man, I don't know. I don't know.

Does God really say that he knits babies

together in the mother's womb? That

before they're formed, he knows them?

And that life is inherently valuable no

matter in what stage? Does God really

say that?"

Guys, if we don't know what the word of

God actually says, we will shrink back.

We will doubt. We will fear.

And some of these things are hard

truths.

Does the Bible really say Jesus is the

only way to God? Don't all religions

eventually lead to God? These are the

things that people say to get you to

doubt. Did God really say no? He really

said Jesus is the way, the truth, and

the life, and no one gets to the father

except through him. You know how I know

that? Because I read it.

Because I read it. And you should read

it, too. Don't believe me for it. Some

of these things are hard to say. I wish

I could just give you the sugarcoated

things, the really easy softball

preaching.

But I've been tasked to give the whole

word. Minister, the entire word of God,

not the parts that make me feel warm and

fuzzy, but the entire truth. Because the

entire truth of God is what sets you

free. The entire truth of God is what

breaks strongholds. The entire truth of

God is what reconciles families and

communities. We cannot cherrypick from

the word of God. That's not how he wrote

it. He wrote the whole word.

And as long as I'm saying on the stage,

I will deliver to you the whole word of

God

because that's what we've been charged

to do. And that is where the power is,

guys. We must know what the word of God

says. So when the serpent slithers and

crawls up next to you and says, "Did God

really say that?" He can go, "Yeah, he

really did." Because that's what Jesus

did when he was tempted.

40 days and 40 nights he was in the

desert and who did he meet? The serpent

again. And what did he say to Jesus?

Pretty much that did God really say? He

he tempted him to doubt the word of God.

And what did Jesus do to combat it? He

quoted the word of God because he knew

what the father said. We too must know

what the father says. Worship team,

prayer team, would you join me on stage?

Church, as we close out this morning,

the good news, the best news is that we

do have a good shepherd.

We have the good shepherd.

And it says in John that the sheep will

know the shepherd's voice.

that we know his voice and that they

will not follow the voice of a stranger.

And so this morning we just we want to

come together in agreement

and say that the voice of God is a voice

that will be amplified in our life that

we know his voice. We won't follow the

voice of a stranger.

Jesus says he is actually the gate that

he is the door.

The hired hands, they come in over the

fence. But Jesus is a good shepherd and

he lays down his life for the sheep. And

we've been called to do the same, to lay

down our life for one another. Would we

not be like Peter Parker and the

Incredibles? Would we not sit on the

power that we've been given? Would we

not shrink back because we don't know

how that looks like in society or what

someone might say if we believe what God

actually says.

Guys, we can't be undercover Christians.

We have nothing to be ashamed of.

We have everything

everything that we need. The Bible says

we've been blessed with every spiritual

need and equipping through Jesus Christ.

And so today, church, I charge you to

walk in the power of God that he has

laid forth for us to walk in. That we

can bless with our words and that we can

discern his will and his goodness by

relying on the Holy Spirit, the gift of

the Holy Spirit. As we close out, I want

to read this psalm over you. I think

David captures this. We know David

struggled with discernment, man. that he

struggled with discernment. But at the

end of the day, this is what he says.

Teach me, Lord,

the way of your decrees that I may

follow it to the end. Give me

understanding,

discernment,

so that I may keep your law and obey it

with all my heart. Direct me in the path

of your commands, for there I find the

light.

Turn my head toward your statutes and

not toward my own selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things.

Preserve my life

according to your word, God.

Preserve our lives according to your

word, God. We want to turn away from

lesser things, God. We don't want the

cheap counterfeit things that the world

says is better. They're not.

We will not trade in our birthright for

something less than.

Jesus, you poured out your blood for us.

You said, "That one's mine.

I'll die for that one.

I'll die cuz I'm the good shepherd.

I lay down my life. I don't crawl in

I don't seek in through the window.

Jesus declared over all darkness, sin,

and death. You're done.

It is finished. And these are mine.

Is the Holy Spirit.

You came as a gift.

The Bible says that as as the Messiah

ascended back into heaven, the spirit

descended.

is this great exchange.

We get you, Holy Spirit, to partner with

and to hear from right now. I bless

everyone under the sound of my voice

with the gift to hear what you're saying

over their lives. Open our ears. Help us

to perceive. We don't need to ask you or

beg you to come. You're here. We ask and

beg that you would open our eyes and our

ears to know that you are. We don't have

to question if you're speaking. The

question is, are we listening?

We want to be quick to listen, slow to

speak.

So we simply say that your children are

listening. Speak, Lord.

Speak over us as we take up the bread

this morning that symbolizes your broken

body for us. As we take up the juice

that represents your blood poured out, I

pray that we would examine ourselves

with a silver mind. Hey Jesus, I want

you. I love you. You're for me.

forgive my sins. Forgive my rebellion.

I hear you calling me now [music] and I

want to answer.

We love you, Lord. Thank you, [music]

God. You are precious. You are kind and

you're a good father

in Jesus name. Amen. If you need prayer

this morning, we have our prayer team up

here.

If you need the power of discernment in

your life, if you feel like, man, this

is this has been hard for me, would you

come up and receive prayer? If you if

you're like, man, I'm hearing this this

morning. I want to be done with lesser

things. Come up and pray. We would love

to stand with you in this.

Believe God for it.

He wants to give it to you.

Table is set for communion as well.

I love you guys.