Hear Him - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. It's good to be back in the

pulpit. And again, thank you for praying. Dr.

Bell was here last week. We heard comment after

comment how he ministered to you on the word.

And so grateful. Called on him at last minute.

And he was just willing to come and share and

preach the gospel. And if you don't know Dr.

Bell, you need to stop and talk to him. He's

got extensive knowledge. and has been in many,

many circles in the church of God. He's been

a professor, a pastor. He's worked as a liaison

to the general overseer, the international general

overseer. Extensive writing that he's done. He's

a very bright man. So if you get a chance, just

chat with him. He slips in with us once in a

while. He's part of LifeHouse. He's retired now,

but he's busy all the time preaching and teaching

in different places. But if you get the chance,

stop and talk with him. Amen? Amen. Well, I read

an article just a few weeks back that talked

about hearing, right? Hearing, our sense of hearing

and how vastly underrated our sense of hearing

really is. If you'd ask most people, if you gave

them a choice, would you rather lose your vision

or your hearing? You'd probably say neither,

right? But if you had to pick between the two,

most people would say, I'd rather lose my hearing.

than losing my vision. And thank the Lord we

don't have to make that choice. We don't have

to decide between the two. But in this article,

it began to talk about and state that how we

undervalue our ears because actually your ears

are much quicker than your eyes to pick up on

the information around you. If you catch something

out of the corner of your eye, look at the person

beside you right now because they're in the corner

of your eye, right? If you pick that up, it takes

you about a second to turn, recognize who that

person is. It takes a little bit for your neurons

to calculate all that and then to process that

information. But your ears, when you hear something,

actually are quantitatively faster than your

sight. It's about 10 times faster. In 10th of

a second, your body will react to a sound. If

there's a sudden loud noise, how many of you

have ever gotten startled by a loud noise that

went off, right? And when that happens, it is

almost instantaneous that takes place. And there's

a chain of neurons that begin to go from your

ears and actually to the nerves in your spine.

And it converts into this defensive mode that

you go into. Intensive a second. Some of you,

if you get startled, you kind of hunch over,

right? Your shoulders tighten up, your muscles

tighten up, and you're wondering what in the

world's about ready to jump on you and eat you

in that moment, right? In seconds, in tenths

of a second. And it's the simplest form of hearing

that takes almost no brain power whatsoever.

It's reactive in nature. That type of hearing

is easy. It really is. But it is hard to intentionally.

listen to someone, right? If you've got a reactive

hearing is very different from intentional listening.

It is much more focused and concentrated when

you've got an intention to listen to someone.

We had the marriage seminar the other night,

and it talked all about that, how guys have selective,

raise your hand if you've got selective hearing,

and you're a man in the house. Amen, okay? I

had some women like amen before you even put

your hand up, right? But there's a difference

between that sense of hearing and reactive and

the sense of hearing and learning how to listen

well. And you can train yourself to listen well.

That's true in a marriage. That's true in a relationship.

And it is even true with the God of the universe.

So this morning, I'm going to answer a question

that I probably get asked more than any other

question or as much as any other question as

a pastor. How do I hear God? How do I hear God,

right? How do I hear him? How do I know it's

him? How do I know when he's speaking to me individually?

How am I sure that the Holy Spirit is communicating

into my spirit? What does that sound like? I

want to hear God, but I'm not sure what he sounds

like, right? I don't know if it's him sometimes.

I feel like it might be him. And we can struggle

with this kind of communication because God doesn't

communicate like you and I communicate together.

Hearing you is easy. We stand toe to toe. I recognize

your voice. You recognize my voice. I'm watching

your face. You're watching my face. I can read

your lips. You can read my lips. You see my body

language. I see your body language. We engage

in this audible conversation that goes back and

forth face to face. And there seems very easy

to do if we're standing face to face. But how

do we know we've got a lot of disadvantages when

it comes to God? We're not standing face to face

with God. You're not hearing, probably not hearing

an audible sound coming from God himself. We're

not seeing his body language. We're not reading

his lips in any kind of way. And it can cause

us to begin to doubt that there's even a God

out there. We begin to doubt in our spirit that

we can hear God and sometimes even discount that

he's even there. But God is there. He wants to

speak to you. He wants to engage in conversation

with him. You just gotta learn to listen his

way. And that's really what I wanna do this morning.

If you got your Bibles, you can turn to John

John 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. And as you do, I'm gonna pray. Father,

we thank you for this day. Thank you for the

word. God, as we turn to your word, God, make

it quick and powerful in our life. And Lord,

I pray right on the recesses of our heart, God,

that we might know you and know you well. In

Jesus' name, and amen. Now, let me give you a

little context while you're getting to John chapter

John 10 · chapter mention

10. In John chapter 9, Jesus heals a man who

John 9 · chapter mention

was blind from birth. And as a result of that,

there are several conversations that begin to

take place with Pharisees and Jews who did not

believe. And it's heated. And there's this stirring

takes place. And they just don't believe that

Jesus did this particular healing. Even though

Jesus has explained from the beginning that he's

the son of God, even though he's proven time

and time again that the father's power rests

with him, even though he can heal with a word

or with a touch and that had never been seen

before, even though he has power over the demonic,

even though he had power right over the winds

and the waves and power over nature itself, Jesus

walked on the water. He commanded fish to jump

into a net, right? The disciples' net commanded

him. He opened blinded eyes. healed lame legs.

He speaks the word and stuns those who are listening.

And even when the crowd gets violent and does

not believe him, Jesus has the ability to slip

away in the middle of a crowd and nobody knows

where he went. And they still don't believe.

These Pharisees, these Jews don't believe that

he's son of God. And this same discussion continues

with this group of people in the chapter 10,

but Jesus ceases to spoon feed them spiritual

truth. to convince them that he is the son of

God. And he begins to speak in a parable. He

begins to speak in something that would cause

them to begin to think in his frustration with

this crowd of people who simply wouldn't believe.

And in John chapter 10 verse one says this, Moses,

John 10 · chapter mention

surely I say to you, he who does not enter by

the sheepfold, the sheepfold by the door, but

climbs up some other way, the same as a thief

and a robber. But he who enters by the door is

the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper

opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls

his own sheep by name and leads them out. And

when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before

them and the sheep follow him for they know his

voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger,

but will flee from him for they do not know the

stranger's voice. Jesus shifts the conversation.

He shifts the debate. He shifts everything. And

he starts to talk about shepherds. and sheep,

right? He starts to tell this little story about

shepherds and sheep and how they communicate

with one another. Because how many know there's

definitely a language barrier or communication

barrier when it comes to sheep and humans? Anybody

agree with me on that? How many of you have talked

to sheep lately and got a good, meaningful conversation

out of it, right? Does anybody in the house speak

sheep? Go ahead and raise your hand if you speak

sheep. We got one in the back, all right? It's

a bah language. That's my joke for the day, right?

Bah, right? But Jesus begins to talk about a

shepherd and the sheep. He starts to talk about

how they hear and they listen and they communicate,

how they would understand one another, how there's

familiarity between the shepherd and the sheep.

And it might be hard for us to relate to this

because a lot of us don't know too much about

sheep. We don't know much about shepherds. Anybody

in the house know professional shepherd? Raise

your hand. All right, nobody this time. If you're

online and listening, if you know a professional

shepherd, type it in the chat. We wanna talk

to you actually, all right? We're not familiar

with this. And Jesus starts off with this. Most

surely I say to you, he who does not enter the

sheepfold. by the door but climbs up some other

way, is a thief and a robber. But he who enters

the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And this

statement would make complete sense to the group

he was talking to, but not so much to us. And

you got to understand something. In ancient Israel,

shepherds would be out in the fields with the

sheep. And at night, there was this fenced -in

area. I want you to picture this in your mind.

There was this fenced -in area, and sometimes

they would corral the sheep. into a fenced -in

area. And I want you to picture in your mind

this fenced -in area. It could be round. It could

be square. It's your sheepfold fence. You can

make it anything you want. It could be white

picket. You can make it bar -bar, whatever you

want to. But there's this sheep that are inside

this area, and there was only one entrance into

that fenced -in area. And it was open. And the

shepherd would take his sheep. He would take

them in there for protection. because there were

wolves and there were thieves. And he would virtually

get them all inside of there and he would lay

in the gate and sleep. He was virtually the door

to the sheep gate. Now that was in the country.

If you went into the city and you brought a flock

of sheep in as a shepherd, you came in, there

was a common area that was similar. It was a

large common area that was fenced in. one gate

opening, and there was actually a doorkeeper.

The shepherd would take the sheep to the doorkeeper.

They would corral them in there. And then the

sheep would intermingle with other shepherds

who came into the city. And this would be full

of sheep that were intermixed together with this

one entrance. And it was the doorkeeper's responsibility

to keep those sheep safe until the shepherd would

come back to retrieve them. And when the shepherd

would come back, all these sheep were in there

just milling around together. They're just inside

of this area. And what would take place is they

had to figure out whose sheep was who. And how

they did that is the doorkeeper would allow the

shepherd to walk up to the sheep and call them

by name. See, shepherds had such a close relationship

that a shepherd could come and call the sheep.

and the sheep would come out from among the other

sheep and follow the shepherd. Most of the time,

these shepherds had all of their sheep named.

They knew them personally. The sheep knew the

voice of the shepherd. The shepherd knew the

voice of the sheep. The bobs of the sheep, they

knew what they looked like, and they would literally

come out. I heard a story about this in World

War I. There was a shepherd who was out on the

hillsides near Jerusalem, and soldiers came by,

and they were actually going to steal the sheep.

from the shepherd. And this took place in the

evening. The shepherd woke up to these soldiers

stealing a whole flock of sheep. And of course,

he's just one shepherd. They're armed. They're

soldiers. He couldn't really do anything about

it. But he waited until they got a little bit

away, and he began to call out to the sheep.

And the sheep turned around and came back. And

they kept trying to take him. He just kept calling

to them. He didn't have to do a thing. He just

kept calling. The sheep kept returning. They

kept coming back, and the soldiers finally gave

up and just went on their way. So with that knowledge,

let's read this verse again, and then I'm going

to unfold four things that you need to know about

hearing God. John 10, 1 says, Moses, surely I

say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold

by the door, but climbs up some other way, right,

over the fence, the same is a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd

of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and

the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own

sheep by name and leads them out. And when he

brings out his own sheep, he goes before them

and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

Yet they will by no means follow a stranger,

but will flee from him for they do not know the

voice of a stranger. Jesus used this illustration,

but they did not understand the things which

he spoke to them. And Jesus said to them again,

Moses, surely I say to you, I am the door of

the sheep. All whoever came in before me are

thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear

them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me,

he will be saved and he will go in and out and

find pasture. The thief does not come except

to steal, to kill and destroy. But I have come

that they might have life and they might have

it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The

good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But

a hireling who is not the shepherd, one who does

not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves

the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the

sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because

he's a hireling, right? And does not care for

the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my

sheep and they know me. and I am known by my

own. As the father knows me, even so the father,

I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep

I have, whichever not of this fold, them also

I must bring and they will hear my voice and

we will be one flock and one shepherd. We simply

have to learn how the good shepherd speaks to

us. He wants to know you. He wants to know you

and call you by name. He wants you to hear, and

he wants you to know his voice, and you know

his. He wants it both ways. And Jesus speaks

to us in a couple different ways. Now, I want

you to write this down. If you don't write anything

down ever that I preach, put this in your phone.

Write this down, but he's going to speak to you

four ways. I'm going to give you four this morning.

Now, I know there could be more outside of this,

but this is the four main ways. One is word.

Say word. One is wisdom. Say wisdom. One is whisper,

say whisper. Number four is wonders, say wonders.

He will speak in word, wisdom, whisper, and wonders.

The primary way that God is going to speak to

you, and keep them in that order, by the way,

the primary way God is going to speak to you

is through the written word of God. The Bible

is the primary way that God is going to begin

to let you know who he is, what he has to say.

It is the standard. It is the measuring line.

It is the stick. It is the thing that the Holy

Spirit will inspire in your heart. We should

check every thought that comes into our heart,

every thought that we think is from God, every

idea we think is from God, every message we think

is from God. We measure it against the scripture.

God gave you this written word. If you get something

rolling around your head, how many of you ever

had something rolling around your head? How many

had that happen today? All right, could be while

I'm preaching. All right, there's something else

rolling around your head. And you wonder, is

this from God or is this me? Is this God speaking

to me or is this just my emotions talking to

me or my intellect talking to me or somebody

else's voice I heard in the past talking to me?

What is that? The first place you start to check

if this is something from God is the word of

God. And you can find this in Hebrews 4, 12,

because it says the word of God is living and

it is powerful and sharper than any two -edged

sword. Even division or piercing the division

of soul and spirit of joints in the marrow is

the discerner of the thoughts and the intents

of the heart. Notice what the word says here.

First, it says that it is living and powerful.

The difference between the Bible and any other

document you will read on the face of the planet

is that it is a living word. You will read no

other document in no other religion that talks

about the history of that religion that will

be living kind of word. The Holy Spirit is alive

and active in believers. When you come to Christ,

the Holy Spirit comes within you and it becomes

a living word. None of you have the author breathing

in your ear with any other book. No other religion.

It'll just be a teaching or wisdom from another

religion that will be speaking to you, but it

will not be alive. The word of God is alive first.

It is living. It is powerful. The Holy Spirit

lives within us to speak into our spirit. He

bypasses your intellect, your mind, your soul,

and speaks definitely into your spirit. But you

see another part of this in scripture where it

talks about that it divides the soul, right?

Soul from spirit. Keep that scripture up there,

Hebrews 4 .20, 4 .12. It says it's the division

between soul and spirit. And you have to understand

something here. There's a difference between

your soul and your spirit. There's a soulish

part of you that is your mind. It is your will.

It is your emotions, right? It is your preferences.

All those things, that's a soulish part of you.

When you get all emotional, you can just tell

somebody, you're being all soulish on me, okay?

It's your soul stirring. It's that soul part

of you. Your spirit is the eternal part of you,

and it is different from your soul. It is the

part that God connects with. It is the part of

you that is going to be eternal in one place

or another. It's the part that the Holy Spirit

begins to communicate with. And the difference

is that you have to understand when you're getting

souls being fed and when your soul is being spoken

to and when it's the Spirit of God speaking into

your spirit. And it's not that there isn't emotion

involved when God speaks to us, because most

of the time, if God speaks to you, it's going

to be an emotional deal, right? I know people,

man, are like, God spoke to me, and they're crying,

and they just can't get over themselves, and

they're excited about what God said, and they're

just like, they're just talking 100 mile an hour.

It's an emotional thing. But you got to understand,

the emotion follows God's word. The emotion doesn't,

it doesn't form God's word. There's a huge difference

between that. Your emotion doesn't form God's

Word. Your emotion is a result of God's Word

speaking into your spirit. So you've got to divide

out whether this is a soul thing in my life.

You know, is this just going along with my preferences?

Anybody ever try to make Scripture fit your preference?

I have. Come on. It's true, right? We want to

make it work for us. I was going to do some examples,

but we could go too far with all that, right?

Understand if it's your soul or if it's the spirit.

We always start with Scripture, but then we begin

to work out, you know, is this the Word of God

speaking into my spirit? Does it line up with

the Word of God? Then it's the Spirit of God

speaking to me. It even says joint and marrow.

If you look at joints and marrow, that's the

exterior of the bone, the joint. The interior

of the bone is the marrow, right? It gets into

the core of who it is. This is one reason we

talk about Bible recaps so much. You need to

be in God's Word. You need to know God's Word

so that when that thing comes into your spirit

or into your soul and you're trying to figure

out, is this God or is this me? If you know the

Word of God, if you're reading the Word of God,

you're going to be able to determine it. You're

going to be able to say, oh, wait a minute. I

saw something there. I remember reading this

back somewhere. I remember this taking place

in God's word somewhere. And you'll begin to

know that it's God speaking into you. It's a

foundational filter that you need to use. Number

two is wisdom. Say wisdom. Wisdom. My brethren,

James 1, 2, my brethren, count it all joy when

you fall into various trials, knowing that the

testing of your faith produces patience. But

let patience have its perfect work, that you

may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing. If

any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.

All right? Many times we're calling, we're asking

God for something, right? I need some kind of

wisdom, God. I got this situation. I got this

circumstance. I got this job in front of me.

I got this person I think I might want to marry

someday. I got this. I got that. And God, I need

wisdom. I need spiritual arrows pointing to where

I need to go. Wouldn't it be cool if God could

just drop a big old arrow in your front yard

like, go this way. God, written at the bottom,

right? Jesus, sign Jesus. Wouldn't it be neat

if he had a red light, green light, or yellow

light just in your house? Like, okay. You go

and pray, Lord, tell me. Bing! The green light

would click on, go, right? Or yellow light, just

wait for a little bit. Or just stop, right? Don't

go. Or some Jesus GPS would even be better yet.

That'd be at bomb .com, right? So we, you know,

all those things. We need to know. We need to

know what to do. We need to know how to do it.

We need to know when to do it. We need to know.

We need to know. Why should I do it? You know,

who should I do it with? We have all these questions.

Anybody ever hit that kind of crossroad in your

life? How many are there right now, right? You

got this thing going on. You got this situation

going on, and you're not sure what the next step

is. It's a crossroad. Who should I be? Should

I marry this person? How many of you asked that

question for all you singles out there? If you

ask that question, you can go to God's word.

First of all, you can start off there because

the word of God says, don't be unequally yoked

with unbelievers. So you know that you can start

there. You can talk about the word of God. I'll

talk about the wisdom, you know, don't be unequally

yoked. Don't marry a fool. Don't marry a scoffer.

Don't marry a sinner, right? You can start eliminating

people pretty quickly, you know, off of that

list. But then you got this mess standing in

front of you that you're thinking about marrying.

And how many know? We're all a mess, right? Yeah.

You got this mess standing in front of you that

you're going to marry. And like you're checking

all the boxes. Like, yeah, they're a believer.

You know, they're not a scoffer. They're, you

know, they kind of, the word of God lines up.

But how many know when you go to the word of

God, you're not going to find, you know, thou

shalt go marry Pete. You're not going to find

that anywhere. Thou shalt go marry Betty, right?

Or a business partner relationship. Thou shalt

get in business with John or Sally or whoever.

Right? You know, you're not going to find that.

Because it's unique to you. And you need the

wisdom of God. You need to get humble and go

seek him and ask him. God can give us direction

daily. He can do this. He wants to do this. He

can speak into your spirit at times. And you

start with the word of God. And then you look

for the wisdom of God. And the wisdom of God

sometimes comes from a biblical. Context, sometimes

you need to go talk to somebody. You need to

go talk to somebody that's godly. You need to

go talk to somebody that's been where you've

been or where you are right now. And they got

through on the other side successfully. You need

to go get some good spiritual advice from somebody.

Excuse me. And find somebody who's competent.

Can you do that, please? Amen. How many know,

you know, sometimes we go find people, we go

ask for advice, good godly sound advice in the

most incompetent people. And I don't mean that

rudely. You may have a wonderful friend who is

this amazing person, but they have no competence

in the area that you're talking about. Maybe

it's a business decision that you need to make,

and this person's never been in business. Don't,

you know, sure, get them to pray with you, but

go find a godly business person who's gone that

road. Go find a person who's got married, right?

They're 10, 15 years in. They're going to give

you the real deal. Amen? You want to find it.

God gives us people. He puts people in our paths.

One of the wonderful perks of being in a church

is that you have people around you to go get

godly advice from. You would not believe the

people in this church that have experience in

not only being godly, but experience in particular

areas. I call people all the time and say, hey,

I'm not completely versed in this area of life.

Can you give me some godly wisdom on this? Can

you tell me, right? I need somebody who's competent.

I need somebody who's godly. I need somebody

of character. And you talk to them about it.

Happens all the time. Proverbs 15 .22 says, without

counsel, plans go awry. But in the multitude

of counselors, it will be established. Proverbs

19 .20 says, listen to the counsel and receive

instruction that you may be wise in the latter

days. Proverbs 11 .14, where there is no counsel,

the people fall. But in the multitude, say the

multitude, get you a whole group, right, of counselors.

There's a safety. Proverbs 12, 15, the way of

a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds

counsel is wise. Find those people. There are

thousands of hours of wisdom sitting right here

this morning. Thousands and thousands of hours

of wisdom. Draw on that. Seek the Spirit of God.

When you talk to somebody, the Spirit will begin

to bear witness within you. with that person,

right? And I love what James 3, 17 says, but

the wisdom that is from above is first pure,

then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full

of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,

without hypocrisy. I've learned that if I keep

my spiritual advisor group big, I'll have big

wisdom. If I keep it small, I have little wisdom.

I have walked in that foolish lane. more than

one time and paid the price for it. Number three,

say number three. Whisper, say whisper. Turn

somebody beside you and whisper unless it's weird.

Go ahead, whisper to them, whisper to them, all

right? I want you to practice a little bit, whisper

to them. Listen for the whisper of the Holy Spirit.

This may be a nudge or the shove of the Holy

Spirit. Might be the nudge or the shove. There

might be a prompting from God. It might be a

nudge or it might be a shove. It might be a whisper.

It might be a shout. And John says this, these

things I have spoken to you while being present

with you, but the helper of the Holy Spirit,

he's your helper. Say helper. Whom the Father

will send in my name. He will teach all things

and bring to you and remembers all things. Listen

to this next part. Peace I leave with you. My

peace I give to you. Not as the world gives,

do I give to you. Let your heart not be troubled,

neither let it be afraid. The Holy Spirit will

whisper into your spirit. He will teach you all

things. He will bring all things back to your

memory, especially if you're in the word of God.

He'll bring it back to your memory. And what

will take place as you seek him, as you listen

for the whisper, is there's a peace that will

come. A godly peace that will deposit into your

spirit. Philippians 4 says, be anxious. For nothing.

But in all things by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving, let your request be known

to God, right? And the peace of God, which surpasses

all understanding, will guard your heart and

your mind through Christ Jesus. When the Holy

Spirit whispers into our spirit, whether that

is a nudge or whether that is a shove that he's

doing in your life, he'll do both, by the way.

Sometimes he'll nudge you along, and sometimes

you've been stubborn, he'll shove. He'll shove

you along in something. He will teach, he will

instruct, but there will be the peace of God

that will rest inside of you. He will deposit

a peace. I can't tell you the number of times

that Dixie and I have prayed over something easy

or difficult. Could be something simple, something

hard and difficult. And we've got the nudge and

the shove. And then all of a sudden the peace

of God shows up and it settles into your spirit.

And you know it is the peace of God. You get

nudged, you get shoved, but there's this deep

abiding peace. It could be in something extremely

difficult, something that's not gonna be pleasant

at all to step into, right? Well, we're always

looking for the pleasant path. God, show me the

way. As long as it's pleasant, we go. We think

that's it. Sometimes God's going to take you.

He's going to shove you into the hard thing because

that's what you need to wade through to get to

the next thing that he has for you. And you're

going to need the peace of God in you. You're

going to need to know that when you call on him

and the Holy Spirit goes in and you're going

to be like, this makes no sense. That looks really

hard. I don't know if I really want to do that.

All of that. But then all of a sudden the peace

of God deposits in your spirit. You're like,

I know, I know, I know I got to go that way.

I know this is it. I know this is what I have

to do. The Word of God declares the peace of

God. It will not be a worldly peace. Worldly

peace is circumstantial. All right? Get this

and understand this. Too many times Christians

are looking at things and they're like, well,

the circumstances all line up. Sometimes God

does that, but not always. Sometimes if the circumstances

are good, well, then I have peace, right? That's

normal and natural for us. If everything's going

good, we're like, oh, this is peaceful. This

is amazing. That is very different from the peace

of God. That's the worldly peace. Peace of God

is like, man, there's chaos happening around

me, and I got this weird peace inside of me that

I know what to do. I know where to go. I know

where to step. It is the peace of God. It is

a word, right? There's wisdom, and then there's

a whisper in your spirit. in his order, and it

starts to get entrenched inside of you. It's

a peace that passes all understanding. It doesn't

have to make sense. You have to make sure it's

him, right? As the worship team comes, I'm going

to give you the last one, number four, wonders.

Say wonders. I want you to get this in your spirit.

Visions, dreams, prophetic words, other uses

of the gifts of the spirit. All through scripture,

God speaks through visions, through dreams, through

gifts of the spirit, right? In Acts 2 .17, it

says, and shall come to pass in the last days,

says God, I will pour my spirit out on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

That word prophesy means that there'll be spokesmen

for God. Your young men will see visions and

your old men shall dream dreams. Now I need to

take a little survey. How many of you have ever

had a God dream? Raise your hand. Congratulations,

you're old. All right? You're older than dream

dreams. How many of you have ever had a vision

from God? God showed you something. Some of you

are young, all right? You have a vision. God

gives dreams. He gives visions. He does this

sometimes. When the shepherd is speaking to us,

there's these wonders that take place. And God's

dream is very different from a pizza dream. I

have pizza dreams all the time. If I eat pizza

late, I have a bunch of weird dreams, right?

You're on a motorcycle. You're riding through

Russia, right? And you're headed to some kind

of, I don't know, you know, creative palooza.

You know, you're on your way. That's a pizza

dream, by the way, all right? God's in it. And

when God's in it, it just sticks in your heart.

And you remember, you know God's in it, right?

And he'll give you a dream and it has meaning

or he'll give you a vision. He'll show you a

picture in your mind at a particular time. God

gives me pictures. Sometimes maybe I don't pay

attention to writing, so he gives me pictures

sometimes. He'll give you a picture of something

and he'll begin to unfold and explain what that

means. That's a wonderful thing. Sometimes God

uses the gifts of the spirit in somebody else

and they come give you a word of wisdom, word

of knowledge. It's all through Corinth. Read

Corinthians. You know, God works in these amazing

ways in all this. And make sure when you hear

that word, you write it down. You put it down

on a piece of paper. You know, and God uses wonders.

Go to the word first, right? Make sure you got

wisdom on this. Make sure you're hearing the

whisper of the Holy Spirit. And if somebody comes

and gives you a word and you've already been,

right? A prophetic word over you. You've already

been in the word of God. You've already got the

wisdom of God through counsel. You've already

had the Holy Spirit whisper into your spirit.

Do you know what will happen when somebody comes

and they got a legit word? It will line up. It

will move in your spirit. You'll feel that kinship

and that relationship. I tell people all the

time, do not grab everything somebody throws

your way. Amen? Find out if it's God. Test it.

Run it through those filters I just talked about.

Run it through. Make sure that it lines up with

the Word of God. Make sure there's godly wisdom

in it. Make sure that the whisper of the Holy

Spirit is confirming in your spirit. And if all

those things are in place and somebody speaks

a prophetic word over you, write that puppy down

and run with it. But if it doesn't line up with

all that, somebody comes speak a word. I've had

people do this. They come speak a word over me,

and I'm like, that makes no sense whatsoever.

And sometimes I'll write it down, but I don't

just grab ahold of that and say, oh, that's for

me. Because they might be off, right? Maybe they

had a pizza dream, and they interpreted it as

a dream. I run through the filter word of God,

right? Then I want to get some godly wisdom on

that thing, and then I want the confirmation

of the Holy Spirit. And if that all doesn't line

up, I just throw it out the window, say, Lord,

help me do it right the next time. But God will

use, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater

either. Sometimes God will use a word. I have

had a right word in the right season at the right

moment, and it changed everything. I was seeking

God on something, and somebody walks up to me,

some person who has no idea what I'm going through,

what I'm walking in the middle of, and they come

up and give me this word, and it aligns perfectly

with what's going on, and it is incredible. They'll

come up, and sometimes it's like, well, Pastor,

I need to give you this word. I don't know where

it came from. I don't even know what it means,

but I'm just going to tell you this right now.

And they spew out this thing that's like, Boom,

right? Mic drop. They don't even know. And you

stand stunned at what the Holy Spirit spoke.

Sometimes you need that. Amen? I'm gonna ask

you to stand. Put this in your phone, write it

down, make it a screensaver, whatever you gotta

do. Word, wisdom, whisper, and wonders in that

order. The good shepherd wants to speak to you.

He wants to speak to you today. He wants to speak

to you tomorrow. He wants to speak to you the

day after that and the month after that and the

year after that. He is not a God who is standing

up in the heavens and he is silent and he's just

waiting. It's either going to be judgment or

well done, good, faithful servant. He's not waiting

up there to swing the sword and chop one group

in two and the other group just say, come on

in. And we just stand here waiting and wondering

what's going to happen. That is not what he is

all about. Jesus paid an enormous price on the

cross so that the Holy Spirit could be deposited

in those who call him Lord and are saved so that

he could speak with you. You just got to know

how he talks. And the more you walk in that,

the more it's going to look like the shepherd

and the sheep. He'll walk up and there'll be

a sea of people and he'll call your name and

you'll know, you'll know. And that's because

I got a weird name, right? Because most people

don't have my name. But he'll call John. How

many know it's a common name? He's like, well,

there's a million Johns. But you'll know his

voice. You'll know it's you. Maybe it's Mary

or Sue. He wants to talk to you. He wants to

talk to you. He wants you to hear. Young, old,

teenagers, learn how to do this young. Learn

how to do it. Hear God. Look into his word. Look

for the wisdom. Most amazing thing ever when

the Holy Spirit whispers into your spirit. Understand

the wonder of God and what he can do. It's amazing.

So here's what I'm going to ask you to do, right?

It's snowy out there and the roads are okay yet.

I'm saying that by faith. But I want you to just,

if you're comfortable, I want you to move forward.

And I want us just to pray. If you would, just

slip out of your seat. Come stand in the front.

I'm not going to labor long. I'm just going to

pray with you. That's all. Sometimes we need

to come together as a family. We need to pray

together. Sometimes that's proximity. Get you

out of that seat. Get you moving. Get you out

of that normal place you like to stand and sit

and then leave. If you're comfortable, just move

up. Move up as close as you can to those of you

who know me well. Move up close so there's room

in the back. I'm gonna even ask the prayer team

to come up in behind everybody. Just keep moving

up if you would. I want you to hear God. God

wants you to hear him. Just slide up, make room

for people to come up. The key to all of this

is willingness and asking. The word of God is

very clear. If you don't ask, If you don't seek,

you're not going to find. If you're just standing

there waiting for God to hit you with it, and

you don't dive into anything, you don't engage

in a conversation with him, you might be standing

a long time. I can't say, I can't speak for God

in that he might hit you, but you might just

stand there for a long, long time. You got to

begin to pray. Lord, I want to hear your voice.

I want to hear it on the regular. I'm going to

get in your word. I'm going to do Bible recap.

I'm going to start today, right? I'm going to

get, I'm going to start reading God's word on

the regular. I want, I want the wisdom of God.

I'm going to connect with people in the body

of Christ that I trust. When I need somebody

standing beside me and when I'm walking through

something difficult, I want to hear the whisper

of the Holy Spirit. I want the peace of God when

I make a decision. I need the peace of God. And

he might even send somebody by and there'll be

a wonder, a miracle that's attached with it.

in the message. If you'd bow your heads. Lord,

we come with humble hearts. God, knowing, Lord,

that we have no power over the enemy. We have

no power within our own. But God, that you hold

all the power and we need your voice. We need

to hear you. God, I know one day we will stand

face to face. And God, I will see your body language.

You will see mine. One day I will read your lips.

I will hear you audibly. I'll know the tone of

your voice. One day that'll take place. But God,

while I'm here, God, you gave me all these amazing

things to tie into. You gave me these powerful

ways to hear you. And I pray, God, that by faith,

Lord, each one listening to me in the house today

and out of the house today, God will engage.

In hearing you. I can't wait to hear the stories.

More stories of how you've spoken to somebody's

spirit. The things that you have accomplished.

Because all things that you do are good. That's

why you are the good shepherd. God, those Pharisees,

those Jews, they missed it. They missed it. You

were right there. Lord, we don't want to miss

it. God, we just give you praise. We give you

glory. We give you honor. In Jesus' name, amen.

I'm going to read one more scripture because

it's important. And I know I went a little over

today. Amen. You all okay? You all good? This

is important stuff. James 4, 7 says this. This

is used all the time. Therefore, submit to God,

resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

This gets quoted all the time. And I used to

grab ahold of this, and I used to think, well,

I just need to resist the devil, right? Here's

the deal. The devil is more powerful than me.

He is more powerful than you. No, it's true.

Read the word of God. It says, therefore, submit

to God. Then resist the devil. Do you know why

that says that? It's not your power that overcomes

the enemy. And God can't work in your life if

you're not submitting to him. He wants to. If

you're not listening to what he's saying, and

you're not submitting to him, you can resist.

You can call it out. You can stand flat -footed

all you want and resist the enemy. I'm going

to call it out on you, enemy, and he'll laugh.

You can talk to the—I don't got time to go into

you. Look up the seven sons of Sceva in Scripture.

You submit to God and the power of God's working

in your life, then you resist the devil. It's

all of heaven backing you up then, and the enemy

has to flee. He has to go the other way. You

got to hear him. You got to hear him. Amen. If

you have been personally affected by our ministry

and you would like to partner with us as we love

God, love people every day, visit our website

at www .lifehousecog .com.