Hear Ye! Year Ye!

I heard a story when I first moved to Dallas that there were these two gentlemen that were traveling in central Texas, and uh it really doesn't matter where they were traveling from and traveling to, but uh on their way, on the journey on their way to where they were going, they were going to pass uh this town.

Uh and I'll spell it for you because I don't want to pronounce it yet, because that was that's what the whole story is about.

It's M-E-X-I-A.

How many have ever heard of that town before in uh Texas?

Anyway, they were traveling and they were going to pass this town and they saw a sign that said that town ten minutes away or ten miles away.

And so the driver he turns to his friend and he says, Oh look, we're coming up to Mejia.

And and and the uh the the person that's in the uh the passenger, the passenger, uh the person that's the passenger, he said, but no, that's Maxian.

That's how you pronounce that, that's Maxian.

He said, No, it's not Mejia.

And so they get in this big spat for the next you know, ten miles, actually.

They say, No, it's Mejia, it's Maxi Mia.

You know, and they just go back and forth, back and forth.

And finally, a mile before they get to that town, um, they say, you know what, we'll do it, we'll just stop at one of the local restaurants or someplace like that.

Go inside and ask the person behind the counter the name of the place.

So they said, Yeah, let's do that.

So they come to this nice little quaint restaurant, they walk inside, and they talk to the lady, they go up to the lady behind the counter and they say, You know, I I'm sorry to bother you, and we really don't want to order any food.

We'll order a Coke or something if you'd be happy.

But we just need to know the name of this place.

We've been arguing for the last ten minutes what the name of this place is, and so if you would very carefully and slowly pronounce the name of this place, it would just uh really clear up a lot of confusion.

Confusion.

So if you would please pronounce the name of this place very slowly.

The lady behind the counter looks at him strangely and says, Dairy Queen.

Okay.

Okay, but it's, you know.

Alright, what I want you to do is open your bulletin and pull out the notes that are inside your bulletin.

For those of you that are here for the first time, we every week we have sermon notes in the bulletin.

And not to scare you, but if you notice at the very top of the message it says entrance exam.

How many of you ever took an entrance exam to get into college?

SAT, ACT, whatever it may be.

You know, do you all do you guys remember the standardized test?

You know, where they would say things like, you would sit down in your chair and you'd have a proctor up front, and the proctor would say things like, Do not pick up your pencil until I say begin.

Do not turn the page until I say begin.

Do not break open the seal until I say begin.

And they finally would say this.

When I say begin, begin.

Begin.

Okay, so we won't do that this morning.

But anyway, I want you to pull out a pencil or a pen, and we're going to take this entrance exam together.

Alright?

It's called an entrance exam because you can't go into the message until you've passed the entrance exam.

Okay.

So here we go.

Seven questions.

Seven questions.

They're easy questions, just quickly answer them.

There's a couple rules for this exam, though.

Every exam has its own set of rules, and so does this one.

Rule number one is this.

Are you listening?

Rule number one is this.

I will only say the question one time.

Okay, I'm not going to repeat the question.

I will just say it once.

Okay?

Rule number two, no talking.

If you do talking, I will collect your test paper.

Anyway, no talking, and I will only say the question once.

Alright?

Does that sound good?

Easy enough rules, right?

Now the only other rule is this.

You have to mark down an answer.

If you write nothing down, if you don't put anything down, it will be counted wrong.

Or if you put the incorrect answer down, it will be counted wrong.

The only way you can have the uh check mark or a right answer is if you say actually the right answer.

Okay?

So here we go.

I will only say the question once.

And uh those of you that were here last night, there's some of you here this morning.

Some of you here there last night, uh, you guys don't count.

Okay?

So no talking, and here we go.

Question number one, I will go very quickly.

Here we go.

Question number one.

How many of each animal did Moses take into the ark?

Please put your answer down.

Question number two.

Is it possible to end the sentence with the word the?

Yes or no?

Question number three.

Question number three is a two-part question.

The first part is spell the word shop.

Part two, what do you do when you come to a green light?

Question number four.

Listen closely.

A plane of 100 passengers from Texas crashes in Montana.

Fifty of the Texas passengers are killed.

Now here's the question.

In which state will the survivors most likely be buried?

Question number five.

Question number five.

It is noon.

You look at the clock.

The big hand is on the three.

The small hand is on the five.

What time is it?

Question number six.

This is a two-part question, too.

Spell the word silk.

Part two of the question is this What do cows drink?

Number seven, here comes question number seven.

Listen carefully.

You're the driver of a train.

There are 30 people on board.

At the first stop, ten people get off.

At this next stop, five people get on.

Now for the question, what is the name of the train driver?

Okay.

Mark your answer.

Alright, let's grade our quizzes.

Alrighty.

Are y'all ready?

See how well you did.

Are y'all ready to grade the quizzes?

You know, since I've moved to Texas, I've learned how to say y'all.

Does that sound real good?

Y'all?

Yeah, I learned that y'all is singular, right?

When you say y'all, it could be one person.

Now, all y'all is everybody, right?

It's more than it's like plural.

And then if you want to be plural possessive, it's all y'all's, right?

So uh look at all y'all's papers and let's grade them.

Here we go.

Question number one.

Question number one was this How many, listen, how many of each animal did Moses take into the ark?

How many say two?

How many say two?

Now, if you're real theological, you'll say two of some kind and seven of the other, right?

No?

How many put zero?

Yeah, the answer is zero.

Moses didn't take anyone into the ark.

It's none.

Yeah, it was Noah.

Yeah, it wasn't Moses.

It was Noah.

Okay.

Read through Genesis and you get all.

Question number two.

Is it possible to end a sentence with the word the?

How many say no?

Uh, how many know that I just said that?

Is it possible?

Listen to the sentence.

Is it possible to end a sentence with the word the?

I just did.

I just so the answer is yes, it is possible.

I just did it myself.

Okay, you know, someone I've heard someone come up to me before and say, it is impossible to end a sentence with the word the.

You simply cannot end a sentence with the word the.

There's no way on this earth that you can end a sentence with the word the.

I'm like, you keep doing it.

Okay.

Number three.

Spell the word shop.

Spell it with me.

S H O P.

What do you do when you come to a green light?

Go.

Okay, hopefully you didn't put stop.

Okay.

Question number four.

A plane with 100 passengers from Texas crashes in Montana.

50 of the passengers are killed.

Now the question: in which state would the survivors most likely be buried?

Survivors aren't buried.

Okay.

So that's the answer.

At least we hope they're not buried.

Here we go.

Question number five.

It is noon.

You look at the clock, the big hand is on the three, the small hand is on the five.

What time is it?

It's noon.

It's also time to buy a new clock.

Your clock is broke.

Okay.

Number six.

Spell the word silk.

Spell it with me.

S-I-L-K.

What the cows drink?

Water.

Yay.

Okay.

And question number seven.

Listen carefully.

You are the driver of a train.

There are 30 people on board at the first top ten.

People get off, and the next top five people get on now for the question.

What is the name of the train driver?

The answer is your name.

You should have put your name down.

Okay.

Okay, now let's grade our quizzes.

Pass them forward, please.

No, I'm just you'll get a letter in the mail soon to tell you if you passed or not.

Uh no, let's just, I just want to see how well you.

I'm just teasing.

I want to see how well you did.

How many?

First of all, how many got at least one right?

Got at least one question.

Well, let me ask this.

How many didn't get any of them right?

You really just you really botched it up.

How many missed them all?

Raise your hand if you missed them all.

Okay.

They're scared too.

Okay.

I saw a couple people going.

Okay, how many got at least one right?

At least one right.

Keep your hands raised, okay?

Keep your hand raised if you got one right.

How many got at least two right?

Oh, there go a lot of hands.

How many got at least three correct?

Three?

Got three right.

How many got four right?

Wow.

How many got five right?

Five of them.

How many got at least six right?

How many got all of them right?

Alright.

Yeah.

Have you taken the test before?

Alright, very good.

Very good.

Well, uh, you drove home my point.

We were taught this quiz was all about listening.

About listening.

Listening real closely.

Okay, I've got a few questions for you to begin this message.

Have you ever been talking to someone when you finally realized you're not listening to me?

Or how about this?

Have you ever have you ever poured out your heart to someone, someone you thought that really cared about you?

You started sharing your deep, intimate thoughts, and in the middle of it you realize you're not listening to me.

You're not really caring what I have to say.

How about this?

Have you ever been frustrated with a language barrier?

Like someone from another country with another language and you try to talk.

Uh I I like to tell this story.

This when I worked at Christ for the Nations, uh about at least a third of the students, probably a third of the students are from, at least 20 to 30 percent are from another country when they come to Christ for the nations.

So a lot of them step off the plane with little, very little English understanding.

Very, very little.

And they may only know one phrase.

So, you know, they they come to class, and you uh I really uh it's it's it's boggling in my mind how they receive so much from the school, but they still do.

It's you know, it's hard to receive from speakers when they speak English and you don't.

But uh, you know, you go up to them after class and you say, How are you doing?

And they go, Thank you very much.

Uh and you say, So, uh, so how are you adjusting to the American culture?

Thank you very much.

You know, everything is thank you very much, thank you very much.

So, have you ever been frustrated with a language barrier before?

Yeah, let me ask you some other questions.

How about this?

Have you ever thought, does God still speak to people?

Or if he does speak to people, why doesn't he speak to me?

Have you ever thought that before?

Or maybe even this, if God does speak to me, why is it that I can't hear him?

Why can't I hear what he has to say?

Well, this morning we're gonna talk about listening to God.

Listening to what he has to say.

If you turn your Bible to Acts chapter one, we're gonna start reading at verse one.

Acts chapter one, verse one.

Let's read it together.

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering, by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

And he said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Let's pray together.

Lord, I just ask you today, that truly, as I prayed before, that when we leave this place this morning, we can say, We have heard from God today.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

First thing I want to talk to you about, if you turn your notes over, you'll see on the back of my three points.

The first point is this is the key to unlock your destiny.

We want to talk about the key to unlock your destiny.

I want to present to you two different case studies from one person's life.

Two different case studies from one person's life.

And the person I want to talk about is Paul in the New Testament.

His name used to be Saul.

This is Saul, Saul of Tarsus, the one that persecuted the church, the one that actually could be considered a murderer of Christians, someone that hated Christians so much that he killed them.

But you know what happened.

We've heard the story before.

On the road to Damascus, he had a radical transformation that changed his life.

I want us to read it together.

If you would just turn a few pages over to Acts chapter 9, we're just going to read the first five verses.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 9, verses 1 through 5.

Acts 9:1–5

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Listen closely.

As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

Listen to verse 4.

Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, Lord?

Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

You see, on that very day, that very day when the light shone from heaven and he heard God's voice, his life was changed forever.

I mean, forever changed.

And we know the story.

Forever changed.

When he heard God's voice, when he heard God speak to him, his destiny was unlocked at that point.

If you listen closely, at the same time you hear God speaking to Saul, you can also hear the unlocking of his destiny, of Saul's destiny.

Why was Saul's destiny changed forever?

It was because he heard the voice of the Lord.

He heard God's voice, he was changed.

Second case study, same person, actually a new person now.

Same man, but now a new man.

His name was changed from Saul to Paul.

Again, the whole deal of him being changed, transformed on the road to Damascus, radical transformation.

He heard God's voice, he was changed forever, road to Damascus.

Okay, after that he becomes a radical preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen.

I mean, he was radical.

Got beaten, stung.

So many things happened to him, and he was radical for God.

And I want to read a scripture in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

If you want to turn just a few pages over.

Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Let's pick up somewhere in the middle of Paul's ministry.

He was Saul before, now he's Paul, radical for God, Acts chapter 16, verses 6 through 10.

Acts 16:6–10

It says this.

Now when they, and they is referring, by the way, to Paul and Timothy.

Timothy had joined Paul at this time.

Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.

So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas, and a vision appeared, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.

A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.

Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

I want you to look back up at verse 6.

Can you put verse 6 back up again, Meredith?

Verse 6 it says this.

Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, listen, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

Obviously they heard a word from the Lord saying, Do not go to Asia.

Do not go to Asia.

That's what the voice of the Lord said.

Verse 7, after they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, a second place they tried to go into, but the Spirit did not permit them.

Again, the Lord told them, You were not to go into Bithynia, you're not to go into Asia, and you're not to go into Bithynia.

But then if you read on what we just read, was that he had a dream of a man from Macedonia coming to him in the night, and he said, Please come over to us.

And they concluded that that was actually the Lord speaking to them and telling them to go to Macedonia.

You see, what happened was this.

They heard, Paul heard the voice of the Lord.

Again, he heard the voice of the Lord, and because of it, it changed countless numbers of people's lives.

The people, the Macedonians, which Thessalonica and uh other places are up in up in Macedonia, but so many other people's lives were changed because he heard the voice of the Lord.

Now, I don't know if you realize this or not, but Macedonia is now what's considered Greece, and that's in Europe, and that was the very first place, uh the very first place outside of Asia that the gospel was ever proclaimed.

In other words, that was the first place of the uttermost parts of the earth.

The very first place.

And many scholars believe this.

Listen, many scholars believe that because Paul went to Macedonia, because he heard the voice of the Lord and he went to Macedonia, that Macedonia was the starting place of the gospel being spread all through throughout the world.

The known world, all throughout the world, the gospel was spread because he went to Macedonia.

So now you realize that because Paul heard the voice of the Lord, not only was his own destiny unlocked, but so many other people's lives were as well.

And even we are sitting here today because Paul went to Macedonia.

Isn't that amazing?

The gospel was spread throughout all the world because Paul heard the voice of the Lord.

I want to submit to you this morning that the key to lock, to unlock your destiny is this is to listen to God.

To listen to God's voice.

We're talking about listening today.

The key to unlock your destiny is to listen to God's voice.

In fact, I want to say this.

Do you want to know what the key is to hear God?

You might say, I, you know, I want to know how to hear God.

Let me tell you, it's so simple.

Let me tell you what it is.

The key to hearing God's voice is this.

Listening.

That's it.

I'll say it again.

It's so simple, it's so easy to miss.

The key to hearing God's voice is this.

Listening.

Just to listen.

If you desire to listen, he desires to speak.

In fact, I'll say this.

God desires to speak to you more than you desire for him to speak to you.

I'll say it again.

God desires to speak to you more than you desire him to speak to you.

It says in Matthew chapter 4, verse 4 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Matthew 4:4

Let's read that again.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

In other words, what's that verse is saying is that every single word that comes out of God's mouth is our sustenance.

That's how we live our lives.

By the way, that word proceeds in the original Greek.

It's not a past punctilliar sense.

It doesn't mean it happened one time.

Every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God is actually a present continuing sense.

We can actually say it this way: man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that is proceeding, proceeding out of the mouth of God.

God is always talking.

So the question is not this.

Does God speak?

The question is not, does God speak?

Here's the question.

Do I listen?

Do I listen?

That's the question.

You know, I want to give you a couple testimonies of my own life.

Uh when we lived in West Virginia, I Mary Beth and I were married in 1994.

We were married for a year when uh one Sunday morning I was actually working in civil engineering uh for the Department of Highways in West Virginia, and uh really happy there and really had no plans of going to Bible school or anything like that.

One Sunday morning I was in church and my pastor comes to me and gives me a tape and some music because I helped out with the worship team.

Um a tape and some music.

And so I took it to work with me the next day to pop in the tape in my cassette deck while I was you know doing my work.

And I listened to the tape and opened up the tape case and saw that it said, for more information about Christ for the nations, call 1-800, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You know, 1-800, call CF and I or whatever the number was.

So I thought, you know, I'll give these people a call.

I have no idea who they are.

I may have only heard of Christ for the nations once or twice before in my life.

I really didn't even hardly remember.

So I called the number, I asked the lady if she could send me information.

She said, sure, I'll do that.

I hung up the phone.

As I hung up the phone, the Lord spoke clearly to me.

He said, You're going to Christ for the nations.

And honestly, the Lord had rarely spoken to me in that strong of a sense before in my life, just a couple other times.

But when I hung up the phone, the Lord said, You're going to Christ for the nations.

So I said, Okay, Lord, I'll do it.

This was around March or April.

We weren't even planning on going to Bible college.

We were happy in our lives.

We knew God had called us to ministry, but didn't know to what extent, you know, to what degree.

So, anyway, um, I waited a little while before I tell Mary Beth.

I'm a little fearful about telling my wife, hey, we're Backing up our bags and moving to Dallas.

You want to come?

You know, because we've only been married maybe nine months, and the Lord is calling us to move to Dallas.

So about a week or so goes by, and finally, one night, actually I heard the Lord say, just wait a few, wait a few days before you tell your wife.

Finally, one night the Lord released me.

I really sense it because I kept trying to say, Lord, can I can I do it now?

I was listening intently to the Lord, and finally said, Yeah, tell your wife tonight.

So I told Mary Beth, I said, I think we're supposed to go to Christ for Nations in Dallas, Texas.

Immediately Mary Beth said, Okay.

I said, What?

She said, Okay, we go.

See what happened that very day.

The very day that the Lord released me to tell Mary Beth, Mary Beth was uh uh in her house, she was in the kitchen, and she had kind of a daydream that she was telling one of her relatives that she was going off to Bible school.

And she thought, why am I having this daydream?

This is kind of weird, but I'm even thinking this.

So anyway, she dismissed it, went on about her business.

See, God prepared her heart.

God prepared my heart.

So we so I said, I told her, I said, okay, we're supposed to go to Christ for the nations.

This was around March.

I said, let's save up our money for the summer and start school in the fall.

So I told her that, she said, yep, let's do it.

Amen.

Okay, so I started feeling uncomfortable.

I thought, something is going wrong here.

Something is really wrong.

Something was unsettled in my spirit.

You know, let me tell you, whenever you hear God's voice, you will know for sure that it's God's voice because you'll have a peace.

A peace that passes all understanding.

And I didn't have that peace.

I just sensed an uneasiness.

There's a difference between uh not having peace in your mind and not having peace in your spirit.

Oftentimes our mind will think, okay, should I do this, this, this, or this?

Yeah, don't leave me your ununderstanding.

But oftentimes there's not a peace in your spirit.

That's what you have to listen to.

And I didn't have a peace in my spirit, so I started praying.

I said, Lord, what should we do?

So it was a few weeks later in April, actually April 30th, I was at my church.

It was a Sunday night service.

I went to the altar and I said, Lord, I'm just-I just right now lay this down to you.

If you don't want me to go to Christ for the nations, I won't go.

But if you want me to go, please show me.

Please, I'm listening to you.

I want to hear you.

I desire to listen and I desire to hear your voice.

And when I prayed that before my very eyes, and as I hadn't, as I had my eyes shut, I saw right before my eyes, Christ for the nations, the words, just in big milk letters.

The Lord gave me that vision.

And I said, Thank you, God.

Thank you for revealing that to me.

And I knew it was God.

I knew it was.

But I knew there was something still uneasy about everything.

So I said, God, maybe the timing's wrong.

Maybe I'm not supposed to save up through the summer and go this fall.

Maybe a year from now, maybe two years from now.

I don't know.

So I said, Lord, show me.

And the Lord told me, May 23rd.

I mean, I heard it clearly, May 23rd.

Leave May 23rd.

This was April 30th.

It was three weeks and two days later.

I had to pack my bags and leave.

So in faith, the very next day we started doing everything, turning off our cable, you know, trying to uh take care of everything so that we could go ahead and move in three and a half weeks.

How many know that was a step of faith?

I had never been to Dallas before in my life, never stepped foot.

We had never stepped foot on the campus of Christ for the Nations.

But we left three and a half weeks later, come to Dallas.

I start worrying because we don't have a job, we've got to get a job real quick.

How are we going to, you know, the the husband, you know, the man of the house, they start worrying, all that kind of stuff.

Well, that's me completely.

So I started worrying.

A few days later, Mary Beth gets a part-time job at Christ for the Nations.

And I'm thankful for it.

I go get, and I get pretty much a part-time job too, because most people won't hire you full-time if you're going to school.

So I get a part-time job, she gets a part-time job.

Mine is off campus, it's working for an engineering company, she's working on campus at Christ for the Nations.

Well, in the middle of the summer, around June or July, uh Mary Beth is offered a full-time job to go from that part-time job.

In other words, the part-time job is going to progress into a full-time job.

She accepts the job, and at that time, at Christ for the Nations, whoever has a full-time job at Christ for the Nations, any of their family members goes to school for free.

So God totally provided for us because we heard God's voice and he said, leave May 23rd.

Something a little more close to home for you guys, I want to tell you how I came to Gateway Church.

About a year and a half ago, I came on uh on a Sunday, or I'm sorry, a Saturday night.

We used to have Saturday night services only.

Came on a Saturday night for two Saturdays in December and led worship.

And uh after the second Saturday night, Robert comes up to me after after the service and he says, You know, I'm not doing this to manipulate you or to control you or anything, uh, but because I want you to hear the Lord's voice.

But he said, The Lord's already spoken to me.

He said, and you're you're supposed to be here.

I was I'm telling you, I was happy at Christ for the nations.

I really was.

I thought that was the dream job.

I never wanted to leave.

But he said, The Lord told me you're supposed to be here.

He said, I'm not trying to manipulate you, but I feel like God's told me you're supposed to be here.

And I said, You know, you're right.

You aren't manipulating me.

I'm going to hear the Lord myself too.

So so I went home and prayed about it.

In fact, it was in December.

I went back to West Virginia, back to see our relatives.

While we were home one morning, the Lord said, I want you to pray about it right now.

Pray about the gateway thing.

And I started praying.

I said, Lord, I want to hear your voice.

Because listen, guys, listen, I desire to hear God's voice.

Because I desired to listen, He spoke to me.

Again, that's the key to hearing God's voice, is just listening.

That's it, really, just desiring to listen.

God will speak.

So I said, Lord, speak to me.

I have to hear your voice.

I'm not going to move an inch unless you speak.

And again, God gave me another vision, and what I saw was two doors opening up, kind of the shape of French doors opening up, and a light coming through the middle of it.

And the Lord said, This is the way, walk in it.

And I knew then the Lord was calling me to Gateway Church.

I knew it.

So I come back to Dallas.

Marybeth and I come back to Dallas from our time in West Virginia.

When we come back, I meet Robert for lunch, and I say, Robert, I uh, because we were going to meet, and I told him I would pray about it during Christmas, so I told him I would tell him at this lunch what the Lord has what the Lord has spoken to me.

So when I met with him, I said, Here's what the Lord did.

I said, I was praying one morning in West Virginia, and what I saw was a vision of two doors opening up and the light shining from the middle of it, and the Lord said, This is the way, walk in it.

He gets the goofiest grin on his face, Robert does.

Which I know you can't even imagine what that looks like, right?

But anyway, he gets this goofy grin on his face, and I can tell he's preoccupied, and so I'm not I'm not sure what's going on.

So I finished and he says, he said, I just need to tell you something.

He said, but first let me say this.

I'm really happy that you're coming gateway.

I I really feel like this is a lure.

He said, but I need to tell you.

He said, during the Christmas holiday while you were gone, we redesigned the logo of the church, and the logo is now two doors opening up with a light shining through.

So before that time, we didn't have that logo.

You know the logo we have now?

That was the exact logo that I saw in my vision.

So God knows how to confirm things to people, right?

The thing is this, are we listening?

The question is not, does God still speak?

The question is, do we listen?

So I just want to tell you the key to unlock your destiny, the key to knowing what God has for your life is to listen.

I mean, really, I just want to pose this to you.

Are there, do you think there are decisions that you need to make in your life that God wants to help you with?

Really, do you think that's true?

Do you think God wants to help you with your children?

Do you think God wants to help you with big career moves in your life?

Do you think God wants to speak to you about those things?

If you're single, do you think God wants to speak to you about your future mate?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

He wants to speak to you and listen.

So that's the key to unlock your lesson.

Let's talk about point number two.

That is listen, don't listen.

For the next few minutes, what I want you to do is just imagine yourself as someone else.

Okay?

And let me tell you who that someone else is.

Just imagine yourself as someone else.

This person is very plain, very ordinary, very run-of-the-mill, you know, plain vanilla, no sprinkles please kind of person, right?

Just plain.

Just an ordinary person.

No book has ever been written about this person, nor should a book be written about this person.

They're just plain.

No, really, there's not much even to speak about, but but they're a plain person.

Just an average, average Joe, okay?

So you are this person and you are standing on a beach.

Okay, you working with me now?

You're standing on a beach.

In fact, let's say that this beach was, you're standing on this beach about 2,000 years ago.

Okay?

2,000 years ago.

You're standing on this beach.

In fact, you're helping your dad.

Uh you're a fisherman by trade.

You and your dad are fishermen by trade.

You're helping your dad mend the nets.

It's been a long morning.

You've been out catching fish.

Uh you're mending your nets now because a few of the net strings or whatever got broken.

So you're mending, you're mending your nets.

And while you're standing on the beach and mending the nets, talking to your brother possibly as well, you see this man walking down the beach.

Now, this man catches your attention real quick and you think, is that that guy that I've heard about?

Have I been hearing something about him?

And in fact, he starts getting closer and closer.

And every once in a while you you look back up to see who that is.

And as he gets closer, you think, yeah, I think that's that's the one.

Yeah, that's that's the one they've been talking about.

That's the one they've been calling the Messiah.

The one called the Messiah.

You know, the one that's actually, according to tradition, according to tradition, he's gonna be the one that's gonna take the kingdom of Israel and put it back in the hands of the Jews.

Take it out of the tyranny of Roman dictatorship and put it back into the hands of the Jews.

He's gonna be our king.

That's what I've heard about him.

He's gonna be the king.

So it gets closer and closer and closer.

You think, is he getting closer to me?

Is he coming towards me?

And he comes right up to you.

Okay, this man comes right up to you.

The guy that they call the Messiah comes up to you and he says two words that change your life forever.

He says this, follow me.

Follow me.

And you think, is he talking to me?

You kind of do a double take.

Is he talking to me?

And you turn to your dad and you say, Dad, what should I do?

I don't know what to do.

And your dad said, You'd be crazy when you go with you, you'd be crazy.

He's gonna be a king someday.

You want to be a part of his entourage.

Go, go.

So you think, sir, I want to be a part of this guy.

This guy is gonna be the king of Israel someday.

He's gonna overthrow Roman dictatorship and he's gonna set up a kingdom for Israel, and it's gonna be our land again.

So you follow this guy.

Your understanding of the Messiah at this point is that he's gonna be an earthly king.

Are you following me so far?

He's gonna be an earthly king.

So for the next three years, you watch his ministry, you watch the things that he's doing, you see many miraculous things.

What I find interesting, guys, is this that oftentimes, by the way, you're one of the disciples.

If anyone figure that out, of course, you're one of the disciples.

Uh for the next three years, you see very, very many miracles, signs, and wonders.

But what really is interesting to me is oftentimes the response that the disciples gave when Jesus did different things.

Let me give you some uh some examples.

He feeds the five thousand.

Remember that.

He feeds the five thousand.

It's a deserted place.

Um the disciples come to him and say, uh, let's send these guys home.

It's getting late.

They need to eat dinner.

And Jesus says, This, what do we have for food around here?

And basically you say, Well, uh, you go up to him, you say, Well, all we have is uh this boy here.

He has five loaves and two fish.

And what does Jesus say?

He says, Sit them down.

Let's just sit them all down.

We'll feed them.

And you see right there before you rise a miracle take place.

A miracle of God.

Amazing.

But you know what?

Just a few chapters later, a few days later, there's four thousand people together.

He just fed 5,000, come together, and there's 4,000 people.

Listen to what the disciples say.

I'm quoting verbatim.

Well, with the English translation.

Okay.

Feeding four, I can't read Greek, so I'll just read it in English.

How does that sound?

Okay.

He's feeding the 4,000, and he said, and the disciples say this, where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a multitude?

And you know, I think to myself, why are they thinking this?

Because he just fed 5,000, and this is only 4,000.

And they're saying, Where could we get enough bread?

Isn't that interesting?

Could it be that their perspective was kind of skewed a little bit?

Could it be?

Jesus, when they're uh when they're in the boat together, you're one of the disciples still think you're still a disciple.

You're in the boat with Jesus.

Jesus starts talking and he says, This, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

You know what the disciples say?

It's because we don't have any bread.

We forgot the bread.

We forgot the bread.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

Oh, God, we forgot the bread.

Why'd you forget the bread?

And you think, I didn't I didn't forget the bread, you forgot the bread.

And Jesus says this, guys, listen, I'm not talking about that.

Did you not just see me feed a bunch of people?

I we got plenty to keep us.

I'm not talking about earthly bread.

I'm talking about a philosophical viewpoint of the Pharisees and the Sadducees invading your spirit.

Don't let it happen.

Don't let it happen.

You see, oftentimes the disciples' perspective was on their earthly situation when God was trying to speak to them in eternal truth.

Do you hear what I'm saying?

Again, God was trying to speak an eternal truth.

Jesus was speaking eternal truths, and their hearts and their minds were on a temporary perspective.

At the transfiguration was Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.

The three of them appeared together.

And what does Peter say?

Hey, can I build some tents for you guys?

It's just kind of interesting, really.

Can I build tents for you?

You know, again, you know, don't laugh too quickly, because you know what?

What would you do if you were in the same situation?

Just think about it.

Today, if something like that happened, it'd be just kind of interesting.

You might say, You want us to build some houses for you?

I mean, I don't know.

Who knows what you would do?

But it's just real interesting sometimes as you read the scripture, some of the responses that the disciples gave.

James and John, they're brothers, they come with their mother to Jesus.

When they come with their mother to Jesus, the mother says, Hey, whenever you set up your kingdom, which again they're thinking earthly kingdom, can James sit on one side and John sit on the other?

What does Jesus say?

Jesus says, You don't know what you're asking.

You have no idea what you're asking.

See, the perspective was this.

They thought Jesus would be the king, and there would be a string of six little thrones beside his big throne on one side, and six little thrones on this side, with Jesus' throne in the middle.

Twelve disciples uh ruling and reigning over the different provinces or whatever of Israel.

And their perspective was, I want to sit right to your left and right to you right.

And you know what?

The disciples get very mad, very mad at James and John.

You remember that in the scripture?

They got mad.

Why did they get mad?

Do you think it was because they were asking a ridiculous request?

No, because they beat him to the punch.

Really?

They want, I want to be right beside Jesus.

I want to be, you know, so you see, some of the things the disciples said, some of the way that they acted, and some of the things that they asked were things that were skewed because the perspective was on the temporary, not on the eternal.

They come in, the triumphal entry, they come into Jerusalem.

Uh, the people are waving the palm branches.

You have the disciples with Jesus.

Jesus is riding on a donkey, people are waving the palm branches, and by the way, I just want to bring this up.

Back in those days, the national symbol for Israel was not the star of David.

It wasn't.

It was a palm branch.

And when they were waving the palm branches, it's as if today, if you see the president of the United States in a location, everybody's waving their American flag.

You know, you've seen that before, right?

It's the same thing back then.

You see them waving the palm branches, basically saying, You are our king, you're our king.

But what did they scream out?

Do you remember what they yelled?

What do the people yell?

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna.

Today we think that means praise God, praise God.

But you know what Hosanna actually means?

It means save us now.

Save us now.

Save us now.

So what were they saying?

You're the king.

Overthrow the Roman dictatorship, save us now, save us.

We mean save.

And you know what?

The disciples are probably thinking, I'm with this guy.

I'm with this king.

You know, you see me?

I'm with this guy.

You know, just imagine yourself.

You're behind the king, the person that's supposed to be the king.

You probably feel pretty special about yourself.

But what happens right after that?

Jesus, he goes in, clears the temples.

Right after that, he's crucified on the cross.

He dies, he's laid in the tomb.

The stone is rolled over the tomb, and in tune with him is every single hope and every single dream you ever had for kingship.

It's all gone.

Despair.

Despair sets in.

Three days later, third day, Jesus rises again from the grave.

He's alive.

He restores Peter back into ministry.

He appears to his disciples, and for the next 40 days he talks to them about the kingdom of God.

And that's the scripture we read at the very beginning of the message.

Let's look at that again.

Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 8.

Acts 1:1–8

Let's read it again.

Verse 1.

The former account I made on Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles, whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking, listen, and speaking to the disciples of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

He spoke to them about the kingdom of God.

Let's read on.

And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me.

For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Listen to the response of the disciples.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

Interesting.

He spoke to them about the kingdom of God.

Still their perspective was skewed.

Still they were thinking of the temporary.

And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

You know, oftentimes when Jesus spoke, not only did the disciples not get it always, but the people didn't always get it.

For instance, when he spoke a parable, you know, he had the distinct ability more than anybody else to speak on a multiplicity of levels all at the very same time.

To some people, a parable was just a good story on agriculture, on how to how to sow seed.

Yes, yes, don't sow seed here, sow it here.

Please don't sow it here, so here.

You know, I'll write those down.

I'll remember that.

To some people, it was a moral story.

They learned morals from it.

But you know, to some people, it was eternal truths.

They were eternal truths that they were that they were learning.

So God speaks with a voice of eternity, but oftentimes we have ears of temporary.

Oftentimes the things that God is saying to us, even today, we we skew them to meet our own need.

And God is saying today, I want you to listen with ears of eternity.

You know, God might come to you and say, you might feel God speak to you sometime and say this.

You might say, I want you to give X amount of money to that person standing right over there.

And you say, you start thinking to yourself, well, Lord, I don't give a money.

That's about all the money I have.

If I were to give that away, I wouldn't have any money left.

See, my my my perspective right now is only temporary, not the eternal.

Right?

The eternal truth is this it's better for a man to give than to receive.

But Lord, I don't have a money.

So maybe you just want me to pray for that person.

Lord, just bless that person.

Bless them.

I pray they get a thousand dollars in Jesus' name or whatever they need.

Amen.

How about this?

The Lord comes to you and says, I want you to say such and such to that person.

There's a word that you have to speak to that person.

Go over there and tell them.

You honor those.

I'm such an introvert.

In fact, I'm a recluse.

And a stutter on top of it.

Do I sound like somebody from the Bible?

Moses?

Yeah.

And a stutter, I don't know if I can say anything.

So, Lord, I just pray that you would reveal that word.

Reveal that word to him.

Reveal that word to him in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Alright, I'm done with that, right?

How many times do we do that?

Oftentimes.

You know, I just want to tell you real quick something that happened to me.

I was called into the ministry at an early age.

When I was in high school, I knew I was called.

When I graduated from my secular college in civil engineering, there was a ministry opportunity that opened up for me to go to Florida.

And you know what I did?

I said, that must be God because I'm called into the ministry, and I jumped into it and took it.

But you know, deep down in my spirit, I knew that wasn't the Lord.

I knew it.

I knew it wasn't God.

And I thought it has to be God.

My first ministry opportunity.

You know what happened?

I looked at this eternal truth that God gave me that I was called into the ministry and fit it, try to cram it in this temporary need, and it wasn't the Lord.

Listen to me.

Oftentimes the Lord is speaking, but you have to listen.

Don't just listen.

Listen.

Don't listen.

Listen.

When he's talking about a kingdom, it's not just a kingdom.

It's a kingdom.

He's not just talking about power.

He's talking about power.

So again, listen.

Don't just listen.

Listen.

Finally, point number three, real quick.

Power pack one, two punches this.

Let's take you back to Matthew chapter 5 through 7.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Matthew 5 through 7 is the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus is on top of the mountain.

He's he does this three-chapter discourse.

He talks to the uh to the crowds about uh different eternal truths.

In fact, it starts out with the Beatitudes.

You know the scriptures, Matthew 5 through 7, and he goes on and talks about so many eternal truths.

But at the very end of his discourse, after he's spoken to them for many hours, I'm assuming, quite a long time, he says to them this.

And I'm paraphrasing.

He says, You know what's been good that you've listened to me.

I'm glad you heard me.

I'm glad you listened to the words that I have to say.

And in fact, you've probably even got some eternal truths.

Number one, you listened to me.

Number two, you listened.

You didn't just listen, you listened.

You heard eternal truths.

And let me tell you something.

It's incomplete unless you do this.

And here's the one-to-punch.

Matthew chapter 7, verse 24.

Matthew 7:24

Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them.

I will liken them to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

Keep that up there.

What Jesus is saying is this not only listen, but do.

The power park one too in front is this listen and do.

That's who he likens to.

If you know what the very next scriptures, the next two verses, he talks about the foolish moment.

But everyone who hears the change of mind stop there, you heard it, you were listening, you were listening very well, you heard exactly what I'm just saying, and does not do wrong, does not do what God says.

And the wind was winner, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and the phone, but it was its phone.

That's the foolish moment.

You hear God's voice.

Number one, you say, Yeah, I want to hear God's voice.

So therefore, because you have a desire to listen, you hear.

Number two, you try to listen with the ears of eternity and hear what God is saying.

Number three, you don't act on it.

Guess what?

You're still foolish.

That's what the scriptures say.

So the Power Pact 1-2 punch is this listen and do.

Listen and do.

Finally, I just want to give you this final illustration as we close.

In the Old Testament, Samuel, when he was a young boy, his mother dedicated him to the Lord.

His mother said, I'm going to dedicate this boy to you for the rest of his life.

And we all know that Samuel ended up becoming a great prophet.

A great prophet for Israel.

So he went and lived with Eli the priest as a young boy.

And one night Eli was in bed, and so was Samuel.

I want you to listen closely.

Eli and Samuel were both in different beds.

And Samuel heard a voice that said, This Samuel.

Samuel gets out of bed.

He runs over to Eli in Eli's bed.

He says, Did you call me Eli?

And Eli said, No, no, go back to bed.

That wasn't me.

I didn't do anything like that.

So Samuel goes and lays back down.

Just a little bit later.

He's laying there and he hears it again.

Samuel.

He gets up again, he runs to Eli.

He says, Eli, did you call me?

And Eli says, No, I I didn't call you.

Go back to bed.

And this time, if you hear it again, I want you to say these things.

So he goes back to bed, he lays back down.

Samuel lays back down.

And again he hears it a third time.

He heard he hears his name being called.

Samuel.

And what does Samuel say?

And I want you to listen to this.

Samuel says, speak.

God is always calling your name.

Always.

This morning he's calling your name.

He's saying your name.

He's calling your name.

You need to say speak.

We together need to say it speak.

Speak, Lord.

Lord, I just thank you today.

That your word is eternal.

Your word is true.

Lord, I ask you that you would teach us how to listen.

Firstly, Lord, that you would give us a desire to hear your voice.

Lord, that in the crucial life decisions that we have to make, Lord, that we would listen, that we would listen to your voice, God.

God, give us ears to hear what exactly you're trying to say to us.

May we not try to cram the filter through ears of temporary need, God.

Let us know exactly what you're saying.

We want to live in the truth.

We want to be wanna listen.

We want to do it.

We want to be doing this.

We love the things.

We hear the things.

We are your sheep.

So today I just pray for every single person in this room.

That we will be healers.