Rediscovering The Holy Spirit | Hearing God’s Voice

Good morning.

Good morning.

Welcome.

Welcome to Freedom Church.

We're glad that you're here.

If I haven't had a chance to meet you yet, my name's Jason.

I get the privilege of being pastor here.

And like every Sunday, especially for those who are here for the very first time, it's always our privilege to have you here.

In fact, we're we're so glad that you're here.

In fact, can we just put our hands together and just welcome everyone who is here for the first time today?

We're in week two of our series on the Holy Spirit.

We're calling it Rediscovering the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, it sends to be one aspect, one person of the Trinity of God that is wildly, if I could put it in one word, misunderstood.

In fact, a lot of us were comfortable with the idea of God the Father, God the Son, and we're comfortable with those ideas, but then we talk about God the Holy Spirit, and then it starts to get a little bit confusing.

We don't really know what to do with that.

And so if you missed last week, I would encourage you to go back.

We could lay some foundation around the starting point for understanding the Holy Spirit is you have to understand Jesus first.

The Holy Spirit, an encounter, an experience, your relationship with the Holy Spirit is on the other side of your encounter with Jesus.

And today I want to talk to you about um another aspect.

I think it's a wildly like felt need for most of us, and and it's the desire to want to hear God's voice.

In fact, you you may not even know that.

I don't know.

We have a lot of different backgrounds, church backgrounds, but maybe maybe you haven't been taught that.

Maybe you haven't heard this before.

You can know, you can know God's will, and you can hear God's voice.

Now, I'm I'm sure we can relate to this.

It's like I I kind of wish it was a little bit more clear from time to time.

You're like, it's not, it's not always, it doesn't feel like it's always easy.

Listen, some decisions are easy, right?

Some decisions are easy to make.

You're like, I I actually don't even need to pray about it.

I know, I know exactly what God's will is here.

That's that's real.

Then there's other decisions where it's just not like that, is it?

It's like, I don't, I don't know whether to move, I don't know whether to take a job, I don't know what's next.

I'm gonna make a you know a very big family decision, whatever that might be.

And so some decisions we we kind of wish we had a big a red phone, the red phone, pick it up, God's on the other line.

Oh that would be nice.

Some of you think I have that phone, I don't.

It's a lot of pressure you're putting on me oftentimes, because you think I have that phone, I don't have that phone.

I wish I had that phone.

That would clear some things up, though.

But no, and and here's the other thing, here's the other thing that doesn't really help us out is the way a lot of Christians speak.

It doesn't, it's not very helpful sometimes because you hear a lot, especially if you've been around, if you've been a Christian for a while, you've been around church world for a while, you you've been you've heard it.

Maybe you're this person.

It's like, well, God told me.

I was like, wow, that's a bold statement, you know.

God told me, I heard God speak to me, He led me.

It's like, my goodness, I just wanted to know why you bought a boat.

That's all I wanted to know.

But it's like the Lord has I guess that's the end of it.

There's no more, no more discussion.

The Lord has spoken.

I'm like, I'm the pastor, and I'm like, man, I wish I had heard God that clearly.

That's amazing, you know.

God has told me.

Now, I listen, that's not all bad.

It's not to say that you can't have a relationship with the Lord where you can feel confident that God has spoken to you.

You you can you can be in that place, you can get there.

Um, I think I think one of the things that that's hard to understand about the voice of God is that it's like a lot of voices in our life.

There's a your ability to recognize it comes with your familiarity with it.

Like the the closer you are to God, the longevity of your relationship with Jesus, led by the Spirit, is going to increase your familiarity and your ability to hear God's voice.

I think about when when Bethany and I got married, you know, when you're first married, you get a little, there's a lot of arguing at the first, at the at the beginning.

You're arguing about a lot of things.

And then you get a little older, you get a little farther along in your marriage, and you look back and you realize, you know, we really weren't even always arguing because we weren't on the same page.

We were arguing because we didn't know how to tell each other that we were on the same page.

You know what I'm saying?

It's like, oh, turns out we did want the exact same thing all alone, you know.

But there's something about, but then you get you get a little farther along, and and now we're not arguing about any of those things anymore.

Why?

Because because there's a familiarity, and so even when we don't even say it right, we still kind of know what we mean, right?

Because we're we're around one another, and we we can recognize things that we couldn't recognize previously.

And and and this is this is no different than than your connection with with God and your ability to hear his voice.

It's not a coincidence that that Jesus said things like like in John 15, he says, you he says, I'm the van vine, you're the branches, abide in me.

Like stay connected, stay close, be be be in me, and and I in you.

We can it's gonna be a great partnership moving forward.

It wasn't just some religious poetry, it was like you want to flourish in your life, you want to win.

You're looking for the winning formula.

He's divine, you're the branches, you and I, let's let's stay in him and him and us.

Or how about this?

You ever notice this?

I got I got a bunch of kids, and so when my kids get around a bunch of other kids, and then they they and then it's always the younger ones, too, you know.

So I look across and I see them like that's trouble.

Come on, parents, you know what I'm saying?

You're like, that's just trouble.

I know it's gonna, and then I can I can be in a in a group with a bunch of other kids.

I'm like, and then they know they like her up, they're like, oh my god, they're like they they hear that, right?

Why?

Because they know the voice of their shepherd.

That's why they that's why they that's that they perk up right there.

That's what Jesus says.

He says, You can you can get like that.

That's what he says in John 10.

He says, the sheep know the voice of their shepherd, and they won't go to another.

It's like I you can actually get to this place where you're able to recognize God's voice.

Now, there's a lot of misconceptions around hearing the voice of God.

In fact, maybe there's actually more misconceptions than there's actually accurate knowledge around hearing God's voice.

I I've been, well, I think we've all been here, especially if you if you've been in a place where you're wanting to hear God's voice.

How many of y'all had this thought?

It's like, I just wish it was clear.

I just wish it's like prophecy.

Why?

Why are we doing prophecy?

Like, can we just be direct?

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I like, can we bottom line this, Jesus?

Like, please, where do I go?

That would that sounds it sounds really good.

This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, and I've taught it a few times.

It's one you just don't think you just gloss right over.

I just think the story's hilarious.

It's John 12, verse 28.

John 12:28

Jesus is praying, he prays out loud, all these groups of people, and he says out loud, he says, He says, Father, glorify your name.

And then a voice came from heaven.

That's the audible voice of God.

I have glorified it and will glorify it again.

And then everyone was like, We heard God.

No, the crowd that was there and heard it, so they heard it, they're like, it thundered.

This is like there's a thunderstorm, no clouds in the sky, but that must be thunder.

So we're like, and then they argue, nah, it's not thunder, it was just an angel.

We assume that when God speaks, if he was just direct, we would automatically be able to understand.

Let me give let me teach you a theology word.

It's called condescension.

Condescension, it's a kind of a theology idea, okay?

Um, usually when we say that somebody is condescending, we kind of mean it in the negative way.

We're like, you're presumptuous, kind of arrogant, right?

You're talking down to me.

Okay, with God, it's the exact opposite.

It's actually, it's actually presumptuous and arrogant to assume that if God were to just talk to you, that you and I would just be able to understand him.

So, so with the the theologically, this is called the condescension of God.

God had to condescend, he had to come down to our level, he has to speak at our level so that we can understand him.

And so he he came to us through prophets.

He gave us the Old Testament, he gave us writings, right?

And then eventually he condescends to us so much so that he comes in the person of Jesus.

And then everybody just wildly understood him, clear as day, because he was in the flesh walking around.

Not it's like ever he's in the flesh, and he was wildly misunderstood.

He's condescending to our level so that we can understand him, and yet they're missing him.

And then Jesus, then he finally does the unthinkable.

He actually willingly goes to the cross, he dies, he resurrects.

Everyone's mind is blown, they're trying to figure out what's happening.

Then he leaves, they're all a bit sad about that.

They're like, I thought this was, I thought this was it.

They're like, No, there's more, but I'm gonna leave, but I'm not gonna leave you by yourself.

He says, I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit.

He's condescending to us again because he's going, I don't just expect you to write this all down and just remember it and just live your life.

And and there it is, I did it all.

Live at peace and go and win.

No, no, no.

He says, I'm gonna give you my Holy Spirit, and I'm gonna lead you, and He's gonna guide you, He's gonna convict you, remind you, show you things, and help you understand the things that I taught you.

That's called God condescending to our level.

And then we have moments and we go, why isn't God clear?

Why, why doesn't He just speak?

And I think we just have to be honest with ourselves because for some of us, it's like you you have you have IKEA furniture that could not be any clearer.

It comes with pictures, seven steps on how to put it all together.

It's clear as day.

Don't tell me the directions are faulty because I'm pretty good at putting that furniture together.

So I know that the directions work most of the time.

But we wonder why we get done building a piece of furniture and the drawer opens sideways or it doesn't open at all.

But we're convinced, God, if you just give me the directions, I'll build my life accurately.

Oh, really?

If he would just speak to me, I would listen.

It's like, well, your spouse has been speaking to you for years, and you stay listening to her.

Burn! I'm just saying, though.

He didn't leave us alone, though.

He condescended and he gave us his spirit.

And the truth is, is that you can hear his voice and you can recognize his voice.

You can.

So, how do we how do we begin to do that?

How do we know the voice of our shepherd and then discern that voice from somebody else's voice?

Or how about just our own like internal selfish desires?

Right?

Well, we're we're masters at that stuff, right?

How do we discern what's God and what's not?

Well, I'm gonna give you some some rundown.

Here, here's the first thing.

One is his word.

That's one of the first ways that you discern um God's voice.

His word.

His Bible, right?

John 1.1.

In the beginning was the word, the word was God, and the word was, or the word was with God, and the word was God.

God, God speaks, God also spoke.

I think we we forget this.

It's like God, we want God to speak, but God did, but God did speak already.

And he and he gave us his word.

So we we have the ability to know his voice and to know what it to know what it sounds like.

And for some of us, it's like we we wanna we we feel like we need like we want to hear the spirit, but listen, the spirit's voice and the word are the same, they're the same.

So it's amazing to me how many over the years it's like, well, God, I feel like God has told me or given me special circumstances, and he's telling me this.

And it's like, yeah, but it already, he already said it right here that that's a stupid idea.

It's right there.

That's a stupid idea.

It's right there in the Bible, right there.

It's red letters and everything.

You know, it's a word, his word, and his spirit same voice.

How about this one?

His people.

So he speaks to you through his word, and he also speaks to you through his people.

Now, I I want to say this because most of us have been lied to about this.

Really, if I could be serious, we're just saying, most of us have been lied to around God's people in your life.

Because we've we've bought in, I listen, I love freedom.

We named our church freedom.

My goodness.

I love freedom.

But we've bought into a very like Western Americanized version of freedom where it just says, I'm this I'm the captain of my ship spiritually, I'm responsible for all that.

It's like, no, hold on a second, hold on a second.

When you come to Jesus, you come to the family of Jesus.

And the Bible's really clear.

He places you inside of spiritual family, he places key strategic relationships called a church, called a church.

He places you inside of relationships, he places relationships in in your life.

And see, and there's we bought into this lie that just says, well, well, relationships are optional.

Relationships with other people are it's all transactional.

If I feel it, if this works for me this week, and and and we get we get real, we cheapen the people.

And some of us were going, I need to hear God's voice, I need to know God's will.

And could it be, could it, could it be that he's trying to tell you something about your future and your life and trying to give you some guidance, but he's trying to do it through the people he's strategically placed in your life, but we've decided to just be flippant about those relationships, and so we come into a place and nobody knows us, and we don't know anybody, and you could miss this week or that week, and nobody knows any different.

I'm just gonna tell you right now, you need to be in a place where people know when you're not here.

And I'm not saying that everybody here needs to know you or that you need to know everybody, that's not realistic, but somebody ought to know you.

You ought to know some somebody ought to ask.

Where are you where's where they've been?

Anybody seen that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That that I'm just telling you, he speaks through his word, he also speaks through his people.

Well, not just for you.

Like, guess what?

When you when you don't engage, is that that means other people are missing out on their relationship with you as well.

There's probably some people that need to hear from you.

They need some encouragement from you, but but but we're MIA.

So he speaks to you through his word, he speaks to you through his people.

We also call those trusted voices.

Trusted voices.

How about this one?

His word, his people, and his spirit.

He can speak to you through his spirit.

Like he can, he can bring things to your attention.

He can he can remind you of things.

He could there's things, there's times where I've read scripture and I'll have thoughts come into my mind.

I'm like, man, I haven't read that scripture.

I don't even remember.

That was last year's Bible reading plan, and at the beginning of the year, and then suddenly, boom, I'll think of some things.

That's the Holy Spirit, like bringing some things up, reminding me of some things in some like strategic moments.

The Spirit can do that for you.

But here's the here's the here's the tension.

You ready?

Is that we just assume that what we've decided is the priority for our life.

We've assumed that Jesus agrees that that's the priority for your life.

We've just assumed that those are the same.

See, we're going, I want an answer.

And the Holy Spirit's going, I want to strengthen your relationship with Jesus.

Which may mean that you're wanting answers, and He's not giving you the answers that you are asking for, he's giving you something else.

I mean, someone's like, Well, I just need something fresh, I need something new, and it's like, I need the next thing.

Yeah, but you haven't listened to the last thing.

We got he's a he's a you're going, Jesus, I need you to speak into my religion.

He's like, Well, I there is some things I did already say, and it's right in here.

So I want his spirit goes, I want to lead you and guide you, but he doesn't have to rewrite the canon.

You know, it's right, it's right, it's right there.

So he's speak to you through his word, he'll speak to you through through trusted voices, his people, and then he'll also speak to you through his spirit.

Now, there's a lot of misconceptions around this too.

Remember the remember the word?

Misconceptions, right?

So let's let's misunderstandings.

And so there's some misconceptions around how the how the spirit works.

Because I hear this a lot.

It's like, well, it's like the God told me, the Holy Spirit told me.

Remember that?

And we turn that into like the trump card.

It's like, what am I supposed to do with that?

I got nothing, I got nothing to say.

And so we often oftentimes we confuse this.

We try to like, I hear this a lot.

It's like, well, I'm looking for a sign.

I need a sign from God.

I need God to give me a sign.

By the way, there's nothing wrong with asking God to confirm something.

It's like, I think I'm supposed to do X, Y, and Z.

It's like, God, I need you to like confirm that.

So, you know, I don't want to be in left field, right?

And so that there's nothing wrong with that.

But then we start going, oh, I need a, I need a I need a sign.

And we're driving down the road, and we see the car in front of us, and we're just like, there's my sign.

It's like, ah, that's just a guy from Montana with a vanity plate.

That's not a sign from that's not a sign from God, you know.

It's like, well, I just, I just need God, you know, everything, God's in control of literally everything.

And so, you know what?

Just you know what I need to do.

I got I need a word.

What do I do?

And Judas went out and hung himself.

Oh, goodness gracious, what am I supposed to do with that?

That's a bad plan.

That's bad, that's not good.

Signs! I need a sign, a different sign than that.

It's in the Bible.

Okay, we need a sign.

Um, open doors.

That's another misconception around following the Spirit of God.

Oh, an open door.

God gave me an open door.

I get that.

You know, that's Bible language.

That comes from the Bible, the idea that God would open a door, close a door, whatever that might look like.

But I I want to be really clear because that's that's only part of the that's only part of the Bible.

See, the other part of that is it was an open door, and we confirmed that because we were able to preach the gospel, or we confirm that because they received the gospel.

We so I don't hear a lot of people going like, well, there was an open door, and we confirmed it because the gospel was preached.

I was like, I don't know anybody's ever told me that before.

But see, we leave out half the equation.

I'm not saying God doesn't open doors.

Sometimes we do need to, I'm just saying that not every open door is God.

I mean, let's be really honest.

Sometimes we're like, God opened a door, and it's like, no, you opened that door.

No, you did that.

So, oh, God, God has opened a door.

Yeah, but that door should have never been opened in the first place.

That's supposed to be a locked door, right?

Now you're just trespassing by walking through that door.

Just say open door theology.

It's not God can open doors, but you gotta confirm that doesn't mean that it is God.

And that's really clear, and it's really important that we don't that we don't miss that.

We don't miss that.

I I will say this when it comes to like signs and open doors, God will use anything to get your attention.

He can.

He can use anything to get your attention.

I mean, I yeah, there there are times and you know, I one of the things I love doing, I love driving.

I know some of you hate driving.

I like driving.

I like long road trips, I like that.

I love seeing wildlife, I love scenery, big landscapes.

I love it.

It really does it, it really does it for me.

Like when I go on, we go on long drives.

I drive the whole time.

Not because, well, maybe a little bit because I got some control issues, but that's another story.

That's another sermon.

Okay.

But my but I like seeing everything.

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not nodding off or anything.

I like the scenery.

I love seeing all the wildlife, and you know, I know it's like some people say it's the worst drive ever.

This that like drive you go down that this it's through Wyoming, right?

You know what they're talking about?

That like back drive.

I can't remember the town.

Miles, you go through Miles City, head south.

It's like you know, cell reception for like three hours.

I love that.

I'm like, nobody can get a hold of me.

And there's antelope for miles.

That's what I love it, you know, not at night, but during the day.

And um, I love that.

And I'll be over there, and I'll be seeing in the I remember one time I looked over there and I saw in the middle of the day, which is really wild, a pack of coyotes in the middle of the day running across the field.

I was like, Oh, look, look at the coyote.

That's amazing.

You know what to me, I I just feel like in those moments I'm like, I'm God's favorite.

That's what I feel like.

Like he loves you, but I'm his favorite.

He just he there's just he does that for me.

I feel like that's God going, Seeing, he's just like refueling my soul.

Do you know what I'm not doing?

Look at the peck of coyotes.

I think it's time to move.

God gave me a sign.

I don't make any sense.

So I'm not listening signs, sure.

God can speak to you, God can give you, he can get your attention, he can remind you in ways that you never thought possible.

God can do anything.

But don't miss this to hear him accurately is to know him accurately.

To hear him accurately is to know him accurately.

How do you know him?

Right here.

This is how you You know him.

This is how you recognize his voice.

I'm just telling it.

Look at this.

Because we're actually called, when you when you think you're hearing from God, you're actually supposed to test it.

You're actually supposed to go, is this the Lord?

Somebody comes to you and goes, No, no, no, God has spoken to me.

It's like, well, I let's see.

Let's find out.

That's not unbelief.

That's called obedience.

Test and approve the spirits.

Listen, some of us, we've been caught up in this.

It's just like, but it you thought it was a spirit.

It's a spirit.

It just ain't the Holy Spirit.

And that's real.

Look at this, Romans 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

Don't conform.

I want you to see the order of this.

This is not trivial.

Don't conform to the pattern of this world.

Meaning, stop assuming that your old priorities are still the new priorities.

Stop assuming that what you thought was right and good and normal, now that you're in Jesus, is still right and good and normal.

Stop conforming to the pattern of this room, but be transformed.

How do we do that?

By the renewing of your mind.

Right there.

He's talking about his word.

He's talking about knowing his word.

Be renewed, renew your mind.

Then, look at the order.

It's then that you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, which that's good news because it means that you can know God's will.

And again, we got some different church backgrounds here.

And so you maybe you didn't know that.

It's like, well, his ways are not my ways, and his thoughts are not my thoughts.

That's true.

That's what the Bible says.

But except for the thoughts and the ways that he's made known to us, his thoughts are not our thoughts, except for the thoughts that he's actually led us in on and given us clear direction on.

His ways are not our ways, except for the ways that he's actually told us to follow him in.

Now we know.

And you can know that.

You can know his will.

You can test and approve his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Look at Philippians 1.

He says, This is my prayer, that that your love may abound more and more in what?

Knowledge.

No right here.

In knowledge and depth of insight.

Well, that's that's fascinating.

Why?

So that you may be able to discern what is best.

And listen, this is what happens.

It's like our this isn't to beat you over the head and be like, you don't read your Bible enough.

That's not what it means.

It means that you we're putting a lot of energy and trying to figure out what God is saying and leading and leading us to do.

And it's like our entire ability to even discern whether it's God to begin with is totally handicapped when we don't start here.

That's what I'm saying.

Discern what is best, maybe pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

Look at 1 John chapter 4.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

This right here, this ought to just blow up some of some of our thinking around how God is leading us right here.

He says, Dear friends, don't believe every spirit.

Your world, some of your worldview doesn't have any space for this.

You're just assuming it's God, the spirit, people.

That's it.

No, no, no.

You're that's not what the Bible says.

Don't believe every spirit, meaning there's more than one spirit.

Okay, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, which means that they might not be from God.

I mean, that's what the that's what he's saying.

It might not be from God.

Well, won't it be obvious?

Well, it'll be obvious, right?

Because he's gonna come through here with a with a pitchfork and some horns out of his head, he'll have a shirt on that says, I hate Jesus.

And well, oh no, don't follow that guy.

Uh no, he says, Many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Look at 2 Corinthians 11.

He says such people are false prophets, or apostles, deceitful workers.

Look at this, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

So they don't actually wear a shirt that says I hate Jesus.

Maybe they walk in with a shirt that says I love Jesus.

Now I saw somebody had that shirt on earlier, and if you're still in the building, I'm not talking about you.

I just want to be clear.

I just saw that.

I thought of that as I said that.

Wait a second, I saw somebody wearing that shirt.

No, no, we're not talking about that person.

That's not what we're doing here.

We believe you that you love Jesus.

Okay.

But I think that's what we do.

I think we assume that it's gonna be obvious.

We think that this whole idea of being like deceived and led astray, that's for the weaker-minded folk.

That's for the new believers, not for us seasoned folks.

We've been around for a minute, we know.

Really?

Because they're going around masquerading, and no wonder, because Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

It's not surprising then that his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness.

So maybe maybe the voices, see, it would be it would be nice if they just came in and just said, Hey, stop worshiping Jesus.

That's not the right voice.

But maybe they come in saying other things.

Maybe they come in like everybody who came in after Paul, after he planted a church, everywhere he went.

People followed him, they came in, they tried to build on the ground that he was building on.

They tried to say things like, hey, that was great and all, but there's actually some deeper stuff for you.

Oh, that was great and all, but the but but he's not actually telling you the whole gospel, right?

We're the fivefold ministry people, and so we've come in here to give you all of the gospel.

Okay, we I'm just saying it comes in and it sounds appealing, it sounds good, but but see, I'm just gonna tell you right now, the spirit of God isn't going to lead you at the expense of his word.

What?

He's also not gonna lead you at the expense of his people in your life.

Like, oh my goodness, I think I'm yeah, but why is it that we haven't seen you in three months?

Well, I'm just following the voice of the spirit, I'm just following the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, but but we we don't we don't really see much of you anymore.

What is that about?

It's like, oh, hold on a second.

It's subtle, it's subtle, comes masquerading as workers of righteousness.

It requires discernment, it requires testing, it requires approving.

Some of us, you you don't even have this whole idea of the Holy Spirit is even is totally foreign to you.

Look at Luke 11.

You need the you need the influence of the Holy Spirit in your life.

But look what he says.

He says, If you that we read this last week, if you, though you're evil, know how to give give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give you the give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

And see, you can you can have you can have the Holy Spirit, you can have the influence of the Holy Spirit.

We're gonna talk about more about what that means to have the influence of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Here's the here's the short of it.

You ready?

Is it it's it's not like it's not like we just make a decision, hey, you know what?

I've just decided that I'm gonna stop following Jesus for a few weeks.

Said I've never heard anybody, at least bold enough to admit that to me.

But what it normally looks like is we're led to do something or not to do something, and we don't really, it doesn't line up with what we actually want, and so then we just ignore it and we just sort of push the influence of the Holy Spirit out.

And I'm if you if you want to hear the voice of God, I'm just telling you that you that you can, and he wants to speak to you through his spirit.

And so we so we ask him, how do we know it's the spirit of God?

One is his Bible, it's his word, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one, they're not in conflict with one another.

I'm just telling you, it's a it's the it's a telltale sign that somebody is wildly in left field when they try to tell you that the voice they're listening to is in conflict with the word that he gave us.

You know, right there.

Stop it, done.

We know that ain't the Lord.

There it is.

Testing and approved.

There it is.

You don't do not pass go.

It's over.

We know now you need to repent.

Okay, moving on.

The Bible, trusted voices is people.

You know what we say our trusted voices are?

It's people who love Jesus more than they love you.

It may be your best friend, might not be.

It may be your mom and dad.

If you're under 18, it's your mom and your dad.

If you're not, though it might be, might not be.

Caveat.

Are you gonna listen to your parents?

Trusted voices.

Trusted voices, wisdom.

Wisdom, the voice of the spirit, and the voice of wisdom throughout script.

Same voice.

Same.

I'm not saying God won't ask you to do some things that are kind of a little bit out of the box or maybe uncomfortable or kind of push the limits a little bit for what you think are normal.

Then no, the Holy Spirit will ask you to do some things, push you out of your comfort zone.

Wisdom, though.

Same voice, same God.

Your own spirit.

You're not just just a singular, like you're you're made up of a body, a spirit, soul.

Like there's parts of you.

In fact, when you're born again, when the Bible says that you're saved, when you experience and receive salvation, what it is is your spirit is regenerated and made brand new on the inside of you.

Not your flesh, right?

Not not your soul, but your spirit is.

It's brand new.

You've received salvation.

You're saved.

You can know you're saved.

He's regenerated you from the inside, and your spirit can actually, you can be led by your spirit.

Now, it's not always that's that can be a little bit tricky because of what we said earlier.

If you don't know him properly, you won't hear him properly.

If you don't know him properly, you won't understand him and hear him properly.

Now, there's certain issues.

Some issues are obvious.

There's closed-handed issues and open-handed issues, right?

Closed-handed, open-handed issues.

Like closed-handed are issues are issues where you don't actually need to pray about it to like figure it out.

You know what I'm talking about?

Like the authority of the Bible.

That's that's um truth claims about God, truth claims about Jesus.

Jesus was not um just a normal man who then lived a great life and ascended to deity and as God is, so that one day we can be also.

Now, that's called heresy, and that's not the Bible, and that's not Jesus, not the Jesus we find in the Bible.

And so I just want to clear that up for a second.

Those are truth claims you don't have to actually pray about.

I'll just say it.

Okay.

Uh, sexual immorality.

It's like a close-handed issue.

It's like, well, I'm just really praying.

Should I move in?

Should I not move in?

It's like, I don't think the spirit needs to say anything.

It's it's right here.

That's a stupid idea.

Right there.

It just says verse one and two, right there.

It's like we don't have to.

I love it when teenagers come up to us.

We're like, we're in students, we're trying to lead them, we're trying, we have a responsibility for their spiritual growth, and we take it serious, and we prayed all week.

And we're like, how do we how do we help these teenagers step into their calling in their life?

And then we go to them and we're like, we have an opportunity for you.

We want you to do X, Y, and Z.

And they go, let me pray about that.

You're 14.

You don't pray about it.

I prayed about it for you.

Do it.

Come on.

That's parenting advice, right there.

It's like, I prayed already, okay?

Do it.

That's a close-handed issue now.

And then there's open-handed issues, a little less clear in scripture, right?

Age of the earth.

Pastor, you better say it's 6,000 years old, or I'm walking out of here right now.

Calm down.

Okay.

It's an open-handed issue, okay?

My goodness, okay.

Open-handed issues, worship styles.

It's an open-handed issue.

Might be a divide over issue.

That's okay.

But it's an open-handed issue.

Take a new job.

Boy, I wish it was clearer sometimes, but it's open-handed.

Whether to move or not.

Like these are all these are all real things, but they're open-handed.

It's not always that cut and dry.

Now, here's the here's the thing.

This is why it's so difficult sometimes for us to hear it.

It's because the the voice of the spirit is quiet.

Now, there's this whole story in the Bible where Elijah, he goes on the run and he goes to the cliff.

He's like, I need he needs to hear from God.

And it's like the it's like this, the storm, the cloud, and all this, and the fire and the wind.

It's just like all this stuff, and and he's like, it's not there.

And then he hears the still small voice.

A lot of you are familiar with that.

Believe it, I don't actually believe that that's trying to teach us that God's voice is still in small voice.

I don't actually believe that.

Because he did previously speak in all those other ways.

I you know what it is?

You know why his voice is quiet?

Because he's close.

You don't have to yell at somebody when you're close.

I'm still trying to get my kids to understand this.

Like, dun, dun, dun! It's like calm, calm down.

I need you, I'll love what Pastor Logan said.

I need you to use your outside voice right now, not your I'm lost in the woods voice.

You know what I'm saying?

Some of us are like, I can't hear God.

It's like, that's because he's not lost in the woods.

You know, it's like he he's he's close.

And and and oftentimes we're not able to hear him, if we're really honest, because our normal way of life isn't really conducive to being able to hear the voice that's right next to us.

Well, we we got we're we're in a hurry, we're busy, and I get it.

I mean, uh pot calling the kettle black up here.

I mean, I get the tension of being busy and in a hurry.

Disordered desires, like not everything that we want is actually of the Lord.

And and our what we want mixed with our hurry and our busyness, you put that all into a pie, mix that recipe up, and it equals I'm not hearing the voice of God real clearly.

You know, bad habits, got some bad habits, and just and it's not like you know, I rarely ever meet anybody that just says, hey, I've decided I just want to I want to veer my life off to the left where, you know, six to twelve months I'm dysfunction with my kids and my my marriage is on the rocks.

It's like said nobody ever, right?

We just have a series of habits and a way of life that just sort of land us in those kinds of places.

So we need it, we need a different, we need a different way to live our life.

So I'll give you this.

This is not all inclusive or anything, but this is this reflects kind of the way of life that we want to promote as a as a church.

You know, we've we've said these for years as a church, and so and so I'm gonna give you four habits to hear, to better hear God's voice in your life.

We just believe when you live your life this way, for a lot of us in our church, well, a lot of us are committed to living this way and doing these kinds of things.

And so we would just invite you to join us and make some of these habits your habits.

And you you might be surprised at how your ability, one, your familiarity with the spirit goes up, and therefore your ability to hear the spirit goes up.

Here's the first one slow reading your Bible.

Slow reading your Bible.

It's like there's no bonus points for reading the most.

But but you you do need to you need to be in your Bible.

And so if you're on our app, um, if you're not, you can get on there.

It's on get on our app.

There's a message notes one uh button at the top, click that.

And then we every week we have in there, you have the notes for the sermon, but then at the end of it, you also have the slow read portion of scripture.

And so sometimes it's one verse, other times it's a few, other times it's a it's a section of maybe a whole chapter.

And what are we saying?

We're saying read that.

Read that every day.

The same verses, yes, the same verses every day.

Like read, read that.

You might be surprised how much Bible you know after 52 weeks.

Okay, that's what we're saying.

We're saying this isn't about a quantity thing, this is about a consistency thing.

It's not just you reading it, it's allowing it to read you and read it slowly, you know, not in a hurry.

Uh, prayer.

Prayer.

I can I set some of you free?

Some of y'all are overcomplicating this.

You don't have, you don't have a set goal, like a set, like, what's my framework?

What how much should I pray?

We just live with a perpetual guilt over us that just says, I should do more.

Nobody knows what more is, but everyone feels I should do more.

It's like, let's let's clarify that so that you can start rejecting some of this unnecessary, not from God kind of guilt that we're just sort of carrying around.

So slow read some scripture.

There you go.

But it was only one verse.

You can reject the guilt that you're not doing enough now.

How about for prayer?

Some of you, we're on different seasons of life.

And some of you, you your kids are out of the house, you got a little bit more free time.

Great.

You're spending an hour, hour and a half with the Lord every morning.

Man, praise God, good for you.

Spend time with some of you, you're moms, and you're like in the throes of mom life right now.

And it's just like, acknowledge him in all your ways.

How about that?

Let's just start with that.

Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he'll make your path straight.

I do he doesn't ask a whole lot from us, but yet that we might think about him from time to time.

We just we overcomplicate this with way too much.

It's like life with Jesus, not just always try to schedule a daily event with him, like life with Jesus.

Pray.

Slow read.

How about this one?

Community.

Like there's people in your life.

Again, like that's not just it, this isn't just supposed to be a bonus to your life.

It's actually, it's actually a new way to live your life.

Like that not only does God call you to himself, but then he calls you to his kids as well.

And I don't, you know, maybe you're like, I wait, can we can we return our brother?

Can sister go back to the hospital?

Can brother, can brother not be a part of our family anymore?

Because I don't like brother and I don't like sister, maybe, okay?

But you don't get a choice, do you?

Because welcome, that's your mom and that's your dad, and these are your siblings, and now you're gonna deal with it, right?

And you're gonna like each other.

And if you don't, we're gonna put that one shirt on you where you're both in the shirt, and we're gonna make you stay there for like 30 minutes until you love each other, right?

Not here at the church, that would be weird, but you know, at home with the kids.

Community.

Community.

Here's the fourth one margin.

Margin's a God idea.

The idea that you would have margin in your budget, that's a god idea.

You're like, well, that would be nice.

I agree, wouldn't that be nice?

I God wants you to have margin in your budget, He wants you to have margin in your calendar and your with your energy.

You know, it's really hard to be generous when you got no margin in your life.

Can I can I tell you, um, can I tell you a pitfall with this?

And I see it all the time.

Because everybody loves margin.

Everyone's like, yes, margin.

I have permission to say no.

Yes, yes, I'm giving you permission.

You can say no.

You don't have to do everything.

It's an amazing thought.

You don't you don't actually have to do anything.

Our kids have sports schedules.

I get it.

It's like be committed to the team.

I get that.

But when you take my kid out of town every single weekend, sorry, no, not gonna happen.

I have permission to say no.

You have permission to say no.

Now let me tell let me tell you the pitfall.

You ready?

It is you don't say yes to margin at the expense of the other ones.

I'm just saying yes to margin.

Yeah, but you said no to community.

Yeah, I'm just saying yes to margin.

Yeah, but we ain't gonna see you for five weeks.

Oh, but for the sake of margin.

It's like no, no, no, no.

It's margin and community and prayer and slow reading your Bible.

It's like, that's like it's a do, it's a different way of thinking.

I'm telling you, you make these your habits.

You might be surprised how well you start to hear God's voice in your life.

I want to end with this.

This is John chapter 16, verse 12.

John 16:12

He says, I have this is Jesus.

He says, I have so much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

Let me tell you how this normally goes when you want to hear God's voice.

Most of the time, we recognize our need to hear God's voice when we're in like a moment of like crisis, challenge, we got a big decision in front of us, and we're going, I need to hear God's voice.

I need, I need direction.

And then what happens in that moment is then all these ideas start flooding into our mind.

Our ideas, our thoughts start dominating, and we start moving into okay, how do I hedge?

Okay, but but I gotta, I gotta be, I gotta protect myself, so I gotta do that.

Well, you know, what would be best?

That would be best.

What were my options?

I could do this, I could do that.

You know what?

You're in a conflict with someone, you're like, you know what?

You know what I need to say to them?

The next time I see them, I know I'm gonna say, I'm gonna let them have it, you know.

I'm gonna let them have it.

You have all these ideas that start going through your head, and then you're like, Holy Spirit, I need you to speak to me.

And then the Holy Spirit comes along and he starts with you.

I'm just telling you, this is how it goes.

He starts with you.

So you're over here like, I just need some wisdom so I can navigate this conflict.

And he's going, Yeah, how about some grace?

I'm trying, yeah, but you don't understand.

No, no, no, no, hold on a second.

I know you, yeah, but I got this line.

I'm almost saying, how about gentleness?

Like, that's what the Spirit of God will do, He'll lead you in this way.

You're over here going, No, no, no, I need a plan, God, because this is not right, this is an injustice, and so you're looking for ways to come out on top, and and you're like, I'm not getting anything.

And he starts reminding you of some things that Jesus taught.

Like, why am I thinking about why am I thinking about because that's how it goes.

Because the Holy Spirit's priorities may not be your priorities, and he's over here wanting to strengthen your relationship with Jesus, and you're just wanting to win.

This approach, I know sometimes it's like in the in the moment, you're like, that's not really what I want to hear today.

I need to, I need a winning strategy today.

I'm just telling you, this approach of following the Spirit through his word, through his people, through his spirit, this is the approach that results in healing and growth and restoration and honestly the the actual peace that you desire for your life.

Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you.

Thank you.

I just I feel like we just have to say thank you.

Thank you for thank you for what you did for us.

Thank you for dying for us.

Thank you that you actually think of us so much that you would give your life for us, but then but then you would you would come back and you would raise us to new life with you and all that.

But then the idea that you would not leave us by ourselves, that you would give us your Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us and protect us and to and to show us things and to bring clarity and understanding and like all of that.

Like thank you for not leaving us on our own.

And for those of us that have never had an encounter with the Holy Spirit, we're just asking right now, would you?

You said you you you you want to give us your spirit.

Would you give us your spirit?

I don't, I've never, maybe we've never had an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

You need an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

Just ask him, would you give me the Holy Spirit?

Would you show me things?

Would you, would you, would you come alive on the inside of me?

Some of you, you you you want all the benefits of being led by the spirit, but you've never actually surrendered your life to Jesus, and you need to do that this morning.

And so I'm just going to encourage you, make this in your own way, just make this prayer of your own.

Just tell them, Jesus, I give you my life.

Thank you for dying for me.

Thank you for taking my sins.

Thank you that you didn't stay dead, that you rose again, and that you said that if I follow you, you raise me to new life with you.

And so I give you my life, and I'm committed to following you for the rest of my life.

Thank you for saving the gift of salvation.

I receive that.

Thank you, Jesus.

It's in your name we pray.

And everybody said, Amen.

Amen.

Come on, let's put our hands together.

Let's tell Jesus thank you.