Did You Hear That? | Ps. Keith Pittman

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Who's ready to be challenged by God's word today?

Okay.

Nine o'clock.

Only Susan says something.

So I'm glad that the 1030 came in ready to be challenged and rebuked.

When's the last time you had a good rebuking?

It's not that.

But it is going to challenge us a little bit on just what it means to really engage the presence of God.

If you have your Bibles, join me in 1 Kings chapter 19.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

Very familiar passage that we're going to be reading from.

We're going to be reading verses 1 through 18.

It's a large portion of scripture, but I wanted to make sure I painted the whole picture of this particular text.

As you're turning there, I want to remind us that we are in our spirit within series.

This series is centered around the Holy Spirit, and it was really mined out after just sending out a survey to our church community and asking, what is it that you want to know and grow in as it relates to the Holy Spirit?

What data reveals is that most of us have a sense of strength and foundation when it comes to Jesus.

We have a good awareness when it comes to God the Father.

But when it comes to the Holy Spirit, that's where there's often room for confusion.

We've seen him misused, manipulated, or all around ignored.

And so we wanted to have a healthy view in which the way that we see the Holy Spirit, but what does it really mean in the day-to-day life of a believer?

And so for the past couple of weeks, we've been talking very practically but theologically around the person of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

So if you miss any of the previous uh messages, I would encourage you to go and check them out.

So we're going to continue in that same line of thought, the spirit within.

And I believe today's topic is one that's relevant for every single one of us.

Um, starting at verse number one at first Kings 19.

If you have it, say amen.

If you don't, it's okay to come up on the Bible in the sky.

But let's let's read this and see what it is that the Lord wants to speak to us today.

Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, May the gods punish me and do so severely if I do not make your life like one of those by this time tomorrow.

Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life, and when he came to Beersheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there.

But he went on a day's journey into the wilderness, and he sat down under the broom tree and prayed that he might die.

He said, I have had enough, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.

Then he laid down and slept under the broom tree.

Suddenly an angel touched him.

The angel told him, Get up and eat.

Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread and baked over hot stones in a jug of water.

So he ate and drank and lay down again.

Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him and said, Get up, or the journey will be too much for you.

So he got up, ate, and drank.

Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights into Horeb, the mountain of God.

He entered a cave there and spent the night.

Suddenly, somebody say, Suddenly.

Suddenly the word of the Lord came to him and said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?

He replied, I am been very zealous for the Lord God of armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, tore down your altars, and killed your prophets with a sword.

I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.

Then he says, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord.

At that moment the Lord passed by.

A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake, there was a fire.

Earth, wind, and fire, guys.

Um, do you remember?

Anyway, but the Lord was not in the fire, but after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.

Suddenly, somebody say, Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

I have been very zealous for the Lord God armies.

He replied, But the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, tore down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.

I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.

Then the Lord said to him, Go and return by the way you came to the wilderness of Damascus.

When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazel as king over Aram.

You are to anoint Jehu, son of Nishu, a king as over Israel, and Elijah, son of Shaphat, of Abal Mahlach.

That's Hebrew.

You guys are tracking with me?

They're like, did he speak in tongues?

As a prophet in your place.

Then Jehu put to death everyone who escapes the sword of Hazel.

And Elijah will put to death whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu.

But I will leave 7,000 to Israel, every knee that has not bowed to Baal at the very mouth that has not kissed him.

There's so much here that I think is meaningful for us because I think all of us, when we look at passages like this, and there's things that hopefully popped out to you.

I know that it did to me when it says that the Spirit of the Lord was on Elijah.

The Spirit of the Lord said to Elijah, the Spirit of the Lord touched Elijah.

We see these varying moments of Elijah receiving instructions and prompting and things to do.

But when we're practical and we're honestly saying, But how do I know that this is God?

How do I know that that prompting is from God?

How do I know that this indeed is the Holy Spirit?

I believe that when we unpack this passage and we can pull some principles from it and we can be encouraged what it looks like to apply some of these things to our lives.

So if you're taking notes, and of course I hope that you are, I want to remind you, you can do that in our church center app.

All you need to do is click on the watch messages tab on the home screen.

That'll bring you to a screen that has our messages there.

And in that is where you can actually put in the notes for today's message.

But if you're taking notes, uh, I want you to write down this message title Did You Hear That?

Let's pray and let's see what it is that Lord wants to speak to us.

God, we thank you so much for your faithfulness.

We thank you for your presence where there's a fullness of joy.

Lord, each of us are desiring, craving to hear your voice.

So, Lord, I just ask for the next few moments that we all decrease and ask for you to increase, um, inspire us, encourage us, challenge us, and give us open eyes to see you and only you, open ears to hear your truth, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

And amen.

You know, one of the things that I have grown to really appreciate about moments when I have an opportunity to travel is I love when I have an opportunity to get to the airport just a little early and to do a little bit of people watching.

And I mean this from the standpoint of like when I when I get to the airport, I'm always kind of blown away at like the operations of an airport, all the nuances that go into it.

But then it's like, then there's the people.

You have the the TSA agents that are yelling at you and you don't know what to do.

Like, take off your shoes, but don't take off your shoes.

Like, it's just really fascinating, just that that anxious movement that we get when we step up, and then you go through security and and then you get to your gate, and when you get to your gate, there's that moment of like just sitting there and you're looking at people, and in the way that I process things, because I try not to make everything overly spiritual, but I do look at this and I'm like, man, like there's millions and millions of people that are coming in and out of these airports, and and God saw fit that that I'm here, they're here, we're all here at the same time, and and maybe the things that are motivating our travels are different.

There are some that are on vacation, there are some that are on our way to celebrate someone graduating school, there's someone that's going to visit a loved one who's in the hospital, like all these nuances, but we're all here at the same time.

And so there's something fascinating about that for me.

So there's often moments where I'm thinking, like, Lord, like, is there someone I'm supposed to speak to?

Is there someone that I'm supposed to just interact with?

Am I supposed to have a conversation?

Or should I keep my headphones on in noise cancellation mode and lock in and ignore everyone, which typically is my default, but I'm looking for those moments of are there people that I'm supposed to interact with?

Is there an assignment that you have for me in this space?

But in addition to that, there's also this truth that that in airports they are they're busy and they're they're noisy.

You're competing against the sounds of espresso machines and and crying babies and people who are arguing and then that precious old woman who's FaceTime and her husband, who's hard of hearing, and they're yelling out loud, and you can hear the entire conversation while you're sitting there trying to mind your own business.

I'm not talking about anything too specific.

Um, but we're talking about those moments where we're all in the same space, and then while we're there, and if I can if I can offer a critique of the airports, I would just simply say, I think they could do a better job with their announcement system.

Because I'm not sure if it's just me, but there are times where I'm sitting in proximity to my gate, my departure gate, but then I start hearing all these overwhelming voices that are saying it's time to get on, this gate has changed, don't get on yet, there's a delay over here, and you're often wondering which gate it is.

And here's the thing of all the noises that are happening in the airport at that time, that voice is the most important voice.

Because that voice determines when you get on, that voice determines when you get off, that voice determines if your if your gate has changed altogether.

Because you don't want to have the right ticket, but you're at the wrong gate.

But because you're competing with so many different noises, the most important voice often gets drowned out.

I found that in life that we're all just trying to make it to our destination.

We're all just trying to make it to the place that God has ultimately called us to be.

We simply want to be in alignment with God's call and will for our life.

But if I can be honest with you, it seems like there are moments in this terminal of life we're competing with so many different noises.

The noise of politics, the noise of responsibilities, the noise of leadership, the noise of sickness, the noise of dynamics with our children, all of these conflating noises are all converging at the same time, and we're simultaneously saying, Lord, I can't hear you.

Those those moments where I just I need to know, am I in the right spot?

I need to know, do I take the job or do I not?

I need to know am I supposed to stay here after I graduate or do I do I move back home?

I need to know do I do I launch my own business or not?

I need to know if if this is the place that you want me to plant my family over and over again.

We find ourselves in this terminal of life, trying to hear a voice from God, but it seems like there's so many competing voices, it's sometimes difficult to hear him.

We all want clarity.

We all need help with making a decision, and every fork in the road seems like a test that only we can fail.

We've often seen things where God told me to tell you has been used to manipulate.

We've seen instances where church and spiritual abuse has dictated things that didn't align with God's will in our life, but yet we're wrestling with the truth of what does it mean to really discern what God is speaking?

What does it really mean to step into boldness to what God is calling us to do?

How do I navigate through all of these challenges and all of these competing voices?

And how do I know if this is really God or if this is just an idea, if this is my fear, if this is my emotion?

The truth of the matter is you're not alone with this challenge.

The truth of the matter is the Holy Spirit is indeed always speaking.

Can I get a good amen to that?

God is always speaking to us, but he is rarely the loudest voice in the room.

Which means it requires us to turn our hearts and our minds to the frequency of the King of Kings in order to hear exactly what he's speaking to us.

When I look at this text that we just read, I believe that it's filled with principles that are meant to help us to understand what it looks like when we're at a space where we're genuinely trying to discern the voice of God.

Remember for Elijah, this is a man who'd been called by God, a prophet who speaks on behalf of God, but he he he hit a threshold in his life where he didn't know what his next steps were going to be.

So he, just like us, was at a crossroad where he needed to hear from God.

Do I got anybody that needs to hear from God today?

Do I got anybody in here that's just trying to get clarity on what it is that God wants you to do, what steps you're supposed to take, and what the next season is going to look like?

If that's you, then I believe we have some principles that are going to help us.

The first thing I think we need to do, and I want you to write this down, not just on a piece of paper, but write it down in your soul that when we're trying to hear from God, we need to slow down.

I know that that's counterintuitive.

Because typically we we're we're believing that there is this rush, I need to know now.

I need to understand it now, I need the clarity on it now.

But the more and more that I read the Bible and I look at the life and ministry of Jesus, there's something that has been eye-opening but also eerily frustrating to me, and that is that Jesus is never in a rush.

You ever notice that in his miracles, he just seems like he's never in a rush?

Do you remember the story of when he was on his way to go and heal Jarus' daughter, but then the woman with the issue of blood interrupts him?

If I am Jesus' handler, I'm saying, like, listen, you have to wait your turn.

He's on his way to somewhere else, submitting a care request, and we'll get back to you.

We're gonna circle back.

He sees you, he knows you, take your spot.

But Jesus, who's not in a rush, he stops, he honors and he engages this woman, he heals her, and then he goes on about his business.

Jesus is never in a rush.

And sadly, we live in a world, we live in a culture where we idolize the rush, we idolize the hustle.

We're looking for microwave answers to crock pot problems.

Hey, listen now.

Can you give me the quickest answer possible?

But some things you just have to marinate in it and let the flavor go deep into your okay.

Let me keep moving on because I'm getting y'all, y'all not ready for that.

Sometimes we just need to slow down.

We need to slow down.

See, on Mount Carmel, we see this powerful moment with Elijah.

And Elijah is a man who's been in ministry for years.

He's been serving God for years, and so he's had many battles, he's had many things he's overcome.

Like this is the same Elijah who was responsible for calling down fire from heaven.

This is the same Elijah that that said that it wasn't going to rain for a time period of three years.

This is the same Elijah that was able to outrun the chariots.

This is an Elijah who's been in ministry for years, he's overcome many challenges.

And after he defeats the prophets of Baal, that after he has another moment where he he speaks a word and the heavens open and it rains again after three years of drought, this same Elijah gets a text message from Jezebel that says she's going to kill him.

And in spite of his resume of victories, he ran away.

He ran.

He ran for his life.

And I think on the outside, when we're looking at this, we can often wonder how how is it that a man who is as accomplished as Elijah, who literally could call fire down, would run away from one wicked woman.

But I truly believe that it wasn't the woman's statement that caused him to have a mental breakdown, it was the buildup of all the years of output.

Because what I've learned in life is that very rarely is it the single thing that causes everything to crumble, it's the accumulation of all of it.

We call it the allostatic load.

And this is the wear and tear of our bodies and brain that accumulates and overwhelms our stress systems.

And if it revs for too long, and if there's not enough relief, eventually it will cause a breakdown.

Another way of putting it, it's it's when our soul's batteries are drained.

And what I have found is after moments of significant success, moments of significant triumph that should be met with celebration, they often expose our deepest vulnerabilities.

After the victory is when the insecurity often is birthed.

Let's look at what God's word says.

The Bible says that Noah was righteous in the eyes of the Lord.

That Noah was set apart.

He was given an assignment to build an ark with his family, that that literally was going to preserve and save all of mankind and animal creation.

Noah built this incredible ark.

As soon as that ship landed and opened, Noah got off and said, You know what?

I could use a drink right now.

This man who was righteous, this man who was set apart, that after his biggest victory was at a space where he was still vulnerable.

David won many battles, a man after God's own heart wrote psalms, defeated Goliath, continued to honor Saul even in moments of disrespect.

David, this man who was a warrior, poet, and king, this man that we looked to, was also the same man that stayed back and saw Bathsheba and said, Hey, vulnerability birthed out of his victory.

We look at the life of Peter.

He walked alongside Jesus.

When Jesus was getting arrested, he literally took out a sword and cut off a man's ear.

Everybody needs a Peter in their circle.

We all need that person.

Like, I'll do jail time for you, bro.

Like, I you need that person.

Peter pulled out the sword, cut off a man's ear, and it's like, listen, I will lay hands on somebody and not even raise them up.

But this is what Peter said.

I will never deny you, Lord.

I will die with you.

Let's go.

And Jesus looked at him and said, Man, you're gonna deny me three times.

I will never do that.

And then when he was pressed by a slave girl, I never knew him.

Why?

Because he began to follow Jesus at a distance.

Over and over again, we see moments in Scripture that right after moments of triumph, we see vulnerability.

I want you to recognize something.

That triumph doesn't grant immunity, it often exposes vulnerability.

It's often in these spaces when we feel overwhelmed, when we feel exhausted, that we feel like all is lost.

But in those moments, we don't need to start all over.

What we actually need to do is slow down and allow ourselves to get charged up in the presence of God.

It's almost like if you have a phone and it's on 1%, you don't need a new phone.

You just need to close the 15 apps that are running in the background, and you need to slow down and let it charge you up.

Because right now we have so many things that are running in the background and we and we glamorize it in such a way.

So look at God's response in this moment.

Look at how God responds to Elijah who says, Lord, I can't go any further.

I don't have any more strength.

I don't have any stamina.

I can't fight another battle.

I can't go to another prayer meeting.

I can't go to counseling one more time.

Lord, I don't have it in me.

Just take my life.

I'd rather this whole thing be over.

And God does not respond with a lecture.

He doesn't respond with a rebuke.

He doesn't respond with, don't you trust me enough?

He touches him and says, Man, get up.

Get yourself something to eat, get something to drink, and go ahead and enjoy this rest.

What an amazing response from our God.

That instead of strong correction and a rebuke, he touched him and told him that he needed to take care of himself.

Sometimes the most supernatural thing we can experience is God leading us to a place where we actually need to slow down.

Unhurried rest, an unhurried rhythm.

This is literally what Psalm 23 is talking about when it says, He makes me lie down in green pastures and he restores my soul.

We live in a culture that loves to idolize the hustle.

When we talk to one another, what you been up to, man?

I am so busy.

I'm grinding.

Bro, I got a lot going on.

And we glamorize it in such a way that we we use it as a badge of honor.

We create systems that allow us to multitask as we call it.

But all that simply means is that no matter where I am, I'm also somewhere else, and we call that being efficient.

But what if God's ways and his pace was a little bit different?

What if God, before he speaks what your next steps are, he wants you to stop taking steps altogether?

He wants to settle the body so he can free your heart.

Because what we see here is that care precedes the clarity and provision precedes the instruction.

That sometimes God is asking us, will you just learn to slow down and rest in me?

I got you.

I'm gonna speak a word to you, I'm gonna give you some instructions, but instead of being Caught in the tyranny of the urgent, I want you to slow down and rest with me.

Jesus even says to his disciples, let us get away and rest for a while.

There were tons of needs.

There were always another email to respond.

There was always another person to heal.

But Jesus said to his disciples, let us get away for a moment and rest.

When's the last time?

And this is a rhetorical but very honest question.

You took a day to just rest in God's presence.

We call that Sabbath.

A day where you genuinely unplugged, you didn't respond to the emails, you weren't caught in the cycle of doing, but you literally just stood still and trusted that God is Lord.

I believe that these are moments that when we're looking to hear from God and we're looking for Him to speak right now, that He's first inviting us, but can you just slow down and receive what I have for you?

Can you just slow down and plug into my presence and let me nurture your soul?

Hurry is often hostile to hearing.

I want you to hear me, church, and I want you to lean in for this.

Hell shouts, but heaven whispers.

And some of us want a louder God while defending a noisier life.

But the shepherd isn't obligated to yell over the stampede that we keep creating.

You're not a machine, you're a branch.

And branches don't grind, they abide.

Don't rewrite your calling when you're in the midst of an adrenaline crash.

Put down the sword, pick up a fork, rest in the presence of God, and let's see what it is that He wants to speak to you from a place of restoration.

Can we get a good amen to that?

Here's the next thing I want you to write down.

Sometimes we need to go back to the beginning.

That when we're looking to hear from God, we need to slow down, but we also need to go back to the beginning.

We need the spirit of truth to take us back to the place and the practices that once formed us.

You know, Megan and I, we have been together now for 30 years.

In fact, our 30-year anniversary is in two days.

30 years.

We've been in the game.

Thank you.

Thank you.

30 years, 30 years.

And I'll tell you that in that 30 years, like we are aligned in virtually every way that matters.

We we're on the same page, different personalities, different temperaments, different approaches and strategies for sure, but we're in a line.

We finish each other's sentences.

It's a it's amazing how in sync we are.

However, we do have one controversial area where we can't seem to come into agreement when it comes to how we navigate this current season.

We ran into this even yesterday, so I need you guys to help pastor your pastors for a moment.

When it comes to watching TV shows and movies, um, Megan and I, we we land on different sides of the spectrum.

If we start watching the show hypothetically, and and we start watching a movie, let's say movie, we watch a movie, and let's say we get 40 minutes into the movie, and then one of us, not me, falls asleep.

Okay?

When we fall asleep, okay, I'll pause it and I'll say, okay, we'll we'll pick this up and we'll we'll continue and we'll finish the movie another day.

So Megan's philosophy is maybe we come back to it three days later, right?

We come back to it three days later, and I'm like, okay, we're ready to watch the movie.

She's like, yeah.

Megan is like, well, let's just pick up where we left off at.

You go into it and you hit that resume button.

So she believes, let's just pick up where we left off at so we can get through it.

I understand the desire to pick up where you left off at, because why would I want to go backwards?

Like we've already seen these parts, let's move on.

However, she does have a right to be wrong.

And let me tell you why that's wrong.

I believe that what can often happen is that if I start watching the TV show and then three days later we come back and we pick up where we left off at, you've you've lost some of the nuances, you lost some of the subtle rhythms.

There are times where that red light that the director wanted to make sure you saw at the two-minute mark, three days later, when I'm looking at minute number 46, I'm not thinking about that red light, and I've completely missed the story that that is supposed to help to contribute to it.

So we have these massive debates where we're saying, hey, we need to start from the beginning.

She's like, no, we need to keep moving forward.

We've already seen that part.

I'm like, I know that you've seen it, but did it bear witness in your soul?

Did you actually retain it?

Do you recall what happened in the beginning of said episode?

And so this continues to be the argument that we find ourselves in.

So just by a quick show of hands, if that's you, if you were one of those type of people that says, like, hey, if we're halfway through, let's just pick up where we left off at.

Can you lift your hands up?

Let's just keep going.

Okay.

This is awkward.

If you were on the other side of the spectrum, and I'm not saying that there's right or wrong, but if you're in agreement with your pastor, the one who hears and labors before the Lord on your behalf, if you're on that side of the spectrum and you're like, hey, I want to make sure we didn't miss anything, let's just go back so we can have pure continuity and see it the way that the director had intended it.

If that's you, can you just give me a quick show of hands?

You know, the Bible talks about only a remnant will be saved.

A remnant.

So be encouraged that we're on the right side of history.

But but but I want you all to stick with me for a minute.

And here's why I'm so passionate about this.

Because I know that it's possible that after I've accumulated a couple of days, I've gotten distracted, I've lost focus, that I don't remember the big picture.

So sometimes it's important to go back with the knowledge that I have so I can see things the way that the director had intended it.

Let me translate that into our reality.

Sometimes when we're trying to hear from God, we have already accumulated our cynicism, we've already accumulated our frustration, and now we're just asking God to speak to me where I'm at instead of me stepping back and going back to the disciplines that I used to have when I first used to hear from God in the first place.

Sometimes I need to go back to the beginning in order to get a fresh revelation in order for me to move forward.

I need to go back to that season when I used to pray and fast instead of me going onto TikTok and looking at theology on there.

I need to go back to when I would begin to pray and seek after the Lord and I wouldn't let go until I got my breakthrough instead of me jumping onto a podcast and fast-forwarding revelation.

What I mean by going back sometimes is that when I'm able to go back, I can pass in the things that God has spoken to me.

It can ignite a fire on the inside of me that only he can provide for me.

So sometimes we need to go back for Elijah.

He went back to the mountain, the original mountain, the mountain of God, where God literally carved out the Ten Commandments.

He went back to the mountain where God revealed his name to the children of God, where God revealed his power and glory.

So literally, while Elijah is in the middle of an existential crisis, God brings him back to the origin story to let him know who he is.

Because I believe that whenever God is speaking to us, it's from the foundation of who he is before he instructs us on what he wants us to do.

Elijah is led back to where it all started.

What are the disciplines that you've lost sight of?

What are the prayers that you no longer pray?

What about the times when you would you couldn't wait to get into the household of faith and now you've outsourced it to podcasts and getting caught up when you show up three weeks later?

What would it look like if we became people who were actively trying to hear from God and we retained the discipline that we had when we first got a hold that heaven was for us?

I believe that God is inviting us in this moment that the best way to move forward is sometimes to go back.

Go back to the place where you had that fresh revelation.

Go back to that place where you had that encounter.

Go back to that place when you would read the Bible and you couldn't put it down.

Go back to that place when you would pray and seek after God as a way of your spiritual auction.

Go back to that place where you would lift your hands and worship and declare the goodness of God.

Go back to that place where you would have fellowship with his believers because you knew that was the community that was going to keep you strong.

Go back to that place of when you would trust God and you would be generous even if you didn't have it.

Go back to that place when you would serve, go back to that place of when God showed you who he was because it's often from that space that God is continuing to speak to us.

And so when we're saying, God, I'm looking to hear from you, he's saying, I've been speaking the whole time, you just haven't been in the last place I told you to stay.

I haven't moved, you did.

So I believe that when we go back, this is not regression, but it's reorientation.

You don't need a novel word, you need a near word.

Pick up the book that reads you back and sing songs that build your spirit.

I believe that God is calling us to go back to that foundational discipline so that we can move forward in what he's calling us to do.

Here's the third thing I want to share with us.

We now need to listen closely.

We need to listen closely.

Because for Elijah, he goes back to the very space where God spoke to Moses.

And the scripture tells us that he he finds a cave.

And the thing that we love about caves is that caves serve as coverings, they serve as places of protection, they serve as places for provision.

But if we're not careful, the caves can hold on to us more than they can heal us.

In other words, the caves that once used to keep us sheltered now become our comfort zone.

So it's in this space that Elijah finds himself in a cave.

The very cave that many scholars believe that God put Moses in when he passed by with the cleft of the rock.

You can read this in Exodus 33 and 34.

And he says to Elijah, What are you doing here, Elijah?

What are you doing here?

What are you doing here, man of God?

And I want you to understand the tone of the question.

What are you doing here?

Like, how do you get here?

And I believe that there's some of us right now that when we look at our lives, we're wondering, how did I get here?

How did I get to this space where I'm so depressed?

How did I get here?

How did I get to this space where I feel devoid of hope?

How did I get here?

How did I get here to this space where I'm living paycheck to paycheck?

How did I get here?

How did I get here to the spot where I don't have community around me?

How did I get here?

Elijah says, Lord, I'm I'm here because the situations have been so dire.

I'm here because I feel alone and isolated.

I'm here and there's no one here to support me.

Because oftentimes our trauma will cause us to edit the truth.

Because everything that Elijah said was a rehearsed speech, but it wasn't grounded in truth.

It may have been his reality, but it wasn't biblical truth.

Because the truth of the matter was Elijah wasn't alone.

There was an entire group of people that were still fighting for the things of God.

Elijah wasn't alone.

That when Elijah was on his journey, he distanced himself from his very own servant who was meant to stand alongside of him.

How did I get here?

Maybe I got here because I rejected everything that God has made available to me, and now I've put myself in a cocoon of suffering and I've created an ecosystem of despair.

What are you doing here, Elijah?

I want you to recognize that oftentimes in caves they also become echo chambers.

As we can see, he repeats the same thing over and over again because when we're in isolation and there's no one to confront or challenge our line of thinking, we just repeat it over and over again.

I'm all alone, I'm all alone, nobody loves me, nobody's for me, I'm all alone, I'm all alone, no one loves me, no one's for me.

So God is saying, I know that you're here, but what are you going to do now that you are here?

What are you doing here?

What is your next step?

What are you doing here?

Being filled with despair.

What are you what are you doing here?

So God tells him, I need you to step out of this comfort zone that you've established for yourself and to listen to what I'm about to say to you.

Step outside of it.

What I've found in my life is that every time I've been looking to hear from God, very rarely does he speak to me from a place of my comfort.

It always requires me to step outside of my comfort zone.

And Elijah steps outside of his comfort zone, and the scripture tells us that there was wind, but God wasn't in the wind.

And that's significant because there was a moment when God would reveal himself through the wind.

Then there was an earthquake.

There was a moment when God would reveal himself through shaking the earth.

There was a fire, but and there was a time when God revealed himself in a fire, but but God wasn't in any of those things.

Why is that so significant?

Because we're talking about a God who is faithful to his message, but he's not married to the method.

And unfortunately for some of us, we keep expecting God to speak to us the way that he spoke to others.

We're expecting God to speak to us the same way that he spoke to us before.

But maybe this time, when we really, really need to listen, it means being open to the truth that maybe God wants to speak to us in a way that we've never heard him speak before.

And the text says instead of him shaking the earth, instead of him shaking mountains, instead of igniting flames, he spoke in a whisper.

But when you really break down the Hebrew words that are used here, it says that he spoke in the silence.

The most important voice is often not the loudest voice in the room.

It requires us to slow down, it requires us to maintain our discipline.

It requires us to step outside of our comfort zone, and it requires us to lean in.

That means shutting down everything around us and being faithful to what God is speaking to us.

But when we listen closely, we begin to see that in the silence, that in the whisper, God begins to tell Elijah what he wants him to do.

I believe it's in this space that we land at our fourth and final thought.

After we've slowed down, after we've after we've gone back to our disciplines and shred ourselves of all the cynical things that we do after we've gotten to a point where we're really listening, we're leaning in.

The next thing we need to do is when God speaks, we need to get confirmation.

Get confirmation.

And the confirmation is not meant to test God and to challenge whether or not God is real or if he meant what he said.

But the reason why we get confirmation is I want to confirm that I've heard from God in the first place.

Because I want you to recognize that the Bible says that Satan can actually appear in a form of light.

Scripture tells us that we need to just try every spirit to ensure that we're hearing from God.

In fact, in Matthew chapter 4, the text tells us that while Jesus was in the wilderness, that he was tempted by the enemy.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And every time the enemy spoke to him, he literally was quoting the scriptures.

Out of order, wrong application, but he was quoting the Bible.

Here's the principle that the devil knows the Bible too.

So if we're not careful, we will hear a word that is in the name of Jesus, but it wasn't spoken with Jesus' authorization.

So when we think that we're hearing from God, we begin to look for confirmation.

I want to discern if this is God.

And how do I discern if this is God?

One, is it consistent with his word and the way that the word is meant to be read on its terms?

Is it being discerned in community as I call it?

The Bible says, in a multitude of counselors, there is safety.

That means that when I begin to talk with people, I don't use the God told me card.

One of the ways in which I process through it, and I'm not saying that I have it figured out, but I've learned through the years, I'm like, I got a sense that God is speaking this.

I want to submit this to you.

What do you guys think?

When I sit with our staff and I talk to them about the vision that I believe that God has given me for 2026, when I did this two weeks ago, I said, I sense that the Lord has put this on my heart.

This is why I feel it, this is why I'm thinking it.

This is how I believe it supports us.

What do you guys think?

I'm submitting it and I'm trying it to discern in community, and I'm looking for folks to, yeah, I see what you're saying, and oh, I was thinking about this as well, and and God spoke this to me, and this is what I was thinking.

Oh, this goes in alignment.

I'm looking to discern and I'm looking for confirmation.

None of us graduate from accountability.

You never graduate from needing healthy counsel.

And so what happens is that we see in scripture is that when God speaks, we look to godly people that can speak into it, that can often help to confirm what it is that God wants to do.

But I want to challenge and caution us be careful of confirmation bias.

Because we have such select communities, we can certainly create a group that will amen anything we say.

So when I'm talking about genuinely looking for confirmation, I'm talking about looking to elders, I'm talking about looking to people who are wise, discerning it with people that are trusted, but love you more than they love your love of them.

Did you catch that?

Because sometimes people like you so much that they don't want to disappoint you, so they'll disagree with you.

But you need people that love you enough to say, I don't know if that was God or not.

I love you, but I let's pray about that a little bit more.

I get a little something different from that.

We need people that love us more than they love our present feelings.

Can I get a good amen to that?

With Elijah, God gives him some specific things he needs to walk out.

And the things he needs to walk out serve as the confirmation.

God says, You're not alone.

There's actually 7,000 people that have not bowed to Baal.

You're not alone.

So you know what?

That's pretty easy to quantify.

Elijah could see that he's not alone.

Confirmation.

God also told him, Hey, listen, in fact, I want you to go back the way that you came, and on your way back, you're gonna run into Aram.

I want you to anoint him as king.

So as he's walking it out, he runs into Aram.

He anoints him as king.

God then also says, On your way back, I want you to look for Elijah.

I've already started stirring in his heart for you to anoint him to be the next prophet that's gonna take your place.

So on his way, the confirmation is Elijah had already heard from the Lord and he's able to drop everything because he had been waiting for Elijah to show up.

Confirmation moments.

Over and over again, we see in scripture these moments where we want to confirm that this is God.

I can't log into my email without going through a two-factor authentication process.

I gotta I gotta tell him the name of my firstborn child and the first car I ever drove.

But that is meant to tell the system we know that it's you before we give you access to this.

What if when we begin to hear things, we begin to put it through a two-factor authentication process?

I want to make sure that this is the it's alignment with God's word, and I want to make sure that it's discerned in my community before I begin to act on it because I don't want to miss it.

I don't want to give someone access to my soul because I know the enemy is looking, he's lurking like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour.

And I want to discern that this is God before I step out of something that God has told me to do.

Is this your word, God?

Do I have a sense of peace?

Have I processed it with wise counsel?

God, are you opening and closing doors?

And my last one that I think is super important, if it's God, give it two days.

And and and this is not, this is not, you can take this for what it is, but if I need to make a decision that is weighty, I at least give it 48 hours.

Because if it's God, then very rarely is it a rush.

Just give it two days for things that are appropriate for you to wait that time.

So I believe, church, that the Holy Spirit is speaking.

But I also know that we're in a terminal where there's a lot of competing voices, and sometimes I can feel like we can lose what he's saying.

But I suspect that there are some of us that's in this room that we just need clarity.

We need to hear from God.

And I I know that we're we're running late, we gotta wrap up, but uh, I do want to take a moment to create space for us just to sit.

And in the same way that Elijah went out of the mountain, and he stood in the silence and he heard the voice of God and he was able to get a revelation from God.

I believe that same spirit and that same presence is with us today.

So for just the next literal minute, the next 60 seconds, I'm gonna ask Pastor Vinny to uh stop playing because I don't want us to hear the keys from a piano.

I want us to sit in the silence and maybe there's something you're believing God for, maybe there's a clarity that you're seeking, maybe there's an understanding that you're pursuing.

Let's slow down first.

Let's let's go back to the ancient discipline of sitting in God's presence.

Let's step outside of our comfort zone because sometimes being quiet can make us feel a little uncomfortable.

We want to fill the space with something.

But let us listen to what it is God is saying.

Let's see if this is confirmation.

And then let's begin to walk it out.

So we're going to take a minute, just one minute, to just sit in the silence and let's see what God wants to speak about.

Lord, I thank you.

And even in a short moment like that, where we are limited by time, but you are not, that you've begun to whisper things that are either seeds being planted or things that are being confirmed.

Father, I just pray that we can not get lost in the emotionalism, God, but just genuinely recognize that you are always speaking.

And we need to slow down to hear you.

We need to go back to the purity of our faith.

The childlike faith.

We need to step outside of our comfort zones and really listen to what you're saying.

Above our ego, above our pride, even above our sin, hear what you are saying.

Let it be confirmed through our community and empower us to walk it out.

So, Lord, I just pray for those who are looking for clarity, direction, next steps, wisdom, insight, that there was a work that was either started or watered today that can serve as confirmation and strength for them to take their next step.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

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