YOU CAN HEAR GOD — Episode 3: God Speaks in Many Ways

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Week number three in our series

entitled, You Can Hear God. Everybody say that

with me. You can hear God. You can hear God.

I want us to say it like this. Say, I can. Let's

personalize it. Say, I can hear God. Say it all

together. One, two, three. I can hear God. Right?

And don't let anybody tell you differently. You

know, sometimes people want to be like, oh, you

can. Or sometimes even your own head says, I

can't hear God. I can't hear God. Don't let anybody

steal that from you. And we hope we're establishing

and we're building something in this series that

you can. The Bible says you can. You can hear

His voice. And so guess what? You can. And that's

what we're looking at. So you can hear God. Let's

turn to Romans 8, 14. All scripture that I'm

reading today is in the New Living Translation,

unless it's otherwise noticed on the screen.

But let's read this. Verse 14. For all who are

led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Everybody say all. All who are led by the Spirit

of God are children of God. We could say it like

this. Who you are, your identity, is evidenced

by who or what you listen to or by who or what

you follow. You could say it like this. A characteristic

of being a Christian is that you are led. You're

led by the Spirit. Someone say, I can hear God.

Characteristic of being a Christian is being

led. What does it mean to be led? It means to

hear and to follow the Spirit of God. We've been

reading this passage throughout and it's so strong.

All of John chapter 10. I encourage you to go

John 10 · chapter mention

home and just read John chapter 10 today. Because

John 10 · chapter mention

it communicates this message over and over. But

let's read it together. It tells you this. I

tell you the truth. Anyone who sneaks over the

wall of the sheepfold rather than going through

the gate must surely be a thief and a robber.

But the one who enters through the gate is the

shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the

gate for him, and the sheep recognize, everyone

say recognize, the sheep recognize his voice

and come to him, follow him. He calls his own

sheep by name. Everybody say personal. Personal

invitation, right? Calls his own sheep by name.

He knows his sheep by name. Hallelujah. And he

leads them out. After he has gathered his own

flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow

him. Why? Because they know his voice. They won't

follow a stranger. They will run from him because

they don't know his voice. This passage teaches

us, and we've been looking at this, that the

shepherd speaks. He's speaking to his sheep.

And the sheep recognize and they know his voice.

The shepherd leads and the sheep follow. So hearing

is receiving communication. Right? They're not

only just hearing it, they're recognizing. And

recognizing is knowing who it came from. We saw

in week one, you know, in this time, many shepherds

would store their sheep in the same sheepfold.

And then when the shepherd would come, he would

call his sheep out of the, and they would follow

him. Not all the sheep would come, just his sheep

that he knew by name. would lead and follow.

And that's the context of what Jesus is sharing

here. He's like, my sheep will hear me. My sheep

recognize my voice. They know me and they follow

me. So the issue isn't, is God speaking? The

real issue, church, is do I recognize him when

he does? Do I recognize his voice? Do I know

His voice when He's speaking to me? God is speaking.

The challenge, though, the thing that we have

to develop is learning to recognize it's Him.

We have to learn to recognize His voice. Now,

if I say, you can hear God, what's your first

sort of thought in your head? When I say that,

you can hear God, what is that? It's like you're

just driving in your car one day, and all of

a sudden you just hear, Jeffrey! And you stop.

You're like, what? God, is that you? Right? That's

sort of our initial thought of like, you can

hear God. We think of this big booming voice

in the sky, just, you know, shaking the earth

and reaching out, going, you know. You're Mike,

right? Or, you know, Linda, right? Like, it's

like, that's what we think about. It's our initial

thought. Because the Bible is filled with stories

of God audibly speaking to people, right? It's

not outrageous to think this. And often, the

stories and the people that we see, listen, heard

a voice, heard a word from God. That's why they

acted. And I would argue that that's why they're

in the Bible. Because they heard the voice. They

recognized it was Him, and then they followed

Him. They knew that voice, and they followed

Him. That's why they're recorded in Scripture,

and that's why they did so many great things.

Because His sheep hear. Say, I can hear. I can

know. I can recognize. But part of learning to

recognize God, is understanding that He doesn't

communicate in only one way. Just like you and

I, we communicate in a lot of different ways.

God's not limited to just one form of communication.

And we're going to see that this morning. We're

going to look at some of the different ways.

In fact, in week one, we talked about several

different ways. We're going to recap that a little

bit. But God speaks. He speaks through nature.

Everybody say nature. The Bible says in Romans

1 .20, For ever since the world was created,

people have seen the earth and sky, and through

everything God made, they can clearly see His

invisible qualities, His eternal power, and divine

nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing

God. Nature, God speaks through nature to every

single person. Every single person. We should,

the initial thought when we look out at the sky

and the stars and we learn more about how the

earth, you know, operates and functions. We should

recognize a higher power is involved. We should

recognize something greater is at work. Something

greater created this place, right? That should

be our conclusion. But the truth is, many people,

they don't recognize nature as God. That God

created it. They don't recognize that it's Him.

They don't recognize that it's His voice who

spoke and created the universe. They just don't

recognize it. So they have no excuse for not

knowing God. In Psalms 19 .1, David writes, The

heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies

display his craftsmanship. So God communicates

to us his invisible qualities, his eternal power

and divine nature through his creation. God also

speaks through conviction. Everybody say conviction.

Conviction. We looked a little bit at this in

week one. John 16, 8 through 9 says this, And

when He, referring to the Holy Spirit, comes,

He will convict the world of its sin and of God's

righteousness and of the coming judgment. Get

this. Notice this. The world's sin is that it

refuses to believe in me. Notice that word here.

It refuses to recognize. It's clearly seen we're

without excuse. The world speaks of the magnitude

of who God is. And the real transgression is

refusing to believe. Refusing to see what's clearly

visible. Now, we talked about this salvation

being the point of contact for Christians and

point of contact for God. A lot of times, you

know, at salvation, you didn't hear an audible

voice saying, you're a sinner, right? If you're

a child of God, if you believed in Jesus, maybe

you did. I'm not saying it couldn't happen. I

would say the majority of our experience, right,

we didn't at one point hear the audible voice

that's like, you're a sinner. Yet, somehow, if

you're a Christian, you became aware of your

sin, right? You became aware of it. Now, at salvation,

did you physically see Jesus hanging on the cross?

Were you there? Are you transported back in time?

Do you see him? No. Everybody say no. Yet, the

cross became personal. All of a sudden it went,

wait, Jesus did, he died for me. He took my place.

He paid the price for my sin. That's what I deserve.

But he stepped down and took my place, bore my

shame, bore my guilt. And as we looked at already,

salvation is not the end of hearing God. It's

not the end. It's the beginning of a relationship

that includes. Continuing to hear him. Why? Because

conviction, and that's what the Holy Spirit does,

he convicts the world of sin, right? Conviction

then is communication. It's God speaking to the

world and to his children through conviction.

Now, I don't know about you, but one of the ways,

like the early ways when I recognized God's voice

was through... when he convicted me about something,

right? All of a sudden, on the inside, I realized,

I was like, maybe this thing that I was doing,

now it's no longer okay. Now he kind of convicted

me of it, or this thing that I was watching or

doing, all of a sudden it becomes uneasy. I don't

feel at peace about it anymore, right? And this

is the... part. We kind of miss this. We see

it at salvation. We get this kind of urge or

this feeling, you could say, where it's just

an uneasiness and we start to see things, but

we don't recognize it as God. And it's real easy

for us to kind of go, ah, that's just, you know,

that's something else. I don't know what that

is. And just kind of brush it off. But in those

uneasy moments, I feel like that's God leading

us. And often at the beginning, He's reaching

out to us in that still small voice on the inside.

Just kind of going, look, you used to do this,

but now you are no longer who you used to be.

You are a new creation in Christ. The old things

have passed away. Behold, all things have become

new. I'm on the inside of you to lead you and

to guide you, to transform you. And I want to

say this. Many people, they seek God's direction,

right? Or cry out to God when you're in trouble

and you're like, I'm seeking God. What do you

want me to do? What do you want me to do? I heard

a preacher one time say this. He's like, many

people will live and die, but never act on the

first thing that God told them to do. They'll

never act on the first thing. And sometimes I

feel like God's going, look, he gives you a word.

He asks you to change. He asks you to do something,

and you just kind of hold on. You're like, okay,

maybe that was just the bad pizza I ate last

night, right? some weird thought, some random

thing. You don't recognize it as God, and then

time passes. You get busy. Things come up. Life

happens because you don't respond immediately.

And all of a sudden, you find yourself in a situation

going, God, where are you? Like, can you give

me a word for this thing? And he's like, I've

given you a word. Respond. And He'll remind you.

There's no time that passes where all of a sudden

it won't just come up if you turn to Him. But

if you want to hear God's direction, you must

first obey His correction. And then, of course,

God speaks through His Word. Everybody say Word.

His written Word. 2 Timothy 3 .16 says this,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

And we've looked at this word inspiration means

God breathed, meaning that it originates directly

from God as his spoken word. So the text comes

from God exhaling his truth, you could say, not

just a creative human spark. John 14, 26 says

this, but when the father sends the advocate

as my representative, that is the Holy Spirit,

he will teach, everybody say teach. He will teach

you everything. Is there something that the Holy

Spirit can't teach you? Is there anything you

go through that the Holy Spirit doesn't have

information on? No. He knows exactly what to

do. It's better than Google. Better than AI.

Come on. He will teach you everything. And he

will remind you. of everything I have told you.

And then later on in John 16, 14, he, the Holy

Spirit, will glorify me. How does the Holy Spirit

glorify Jesus? For he will take of what is mine

and declare it to you. Notice that word here,

declare, speaking, to you. So the Holy Spirit...

takes what God has already said, what God has

written in His Word, right? Because think about

it. Last time I checked, you know, you can't

turn to a passage and find your name. It's not

like, oh, Jeffrey, this passage is for you. Right?

Right? Last time I checked, Paul didn't write

me a letter. Right? So how do we take this book,

this collection of 66 different books written

thousands of years ago, how do we take this and

learn from it today? Do we just make up? Do we

just read it and come up with our own explanations

and our own conclusions and just kind of go,

that's it? Is that inspired? Everybody say no.

That's why there's so much division in the church.

Dad talked about that. If we were all being Spirit

-led, and when we read the Bible, and if we really

yielded to Him, guess what? If we really were,

we would be in perfect unity. We'd be in perfect

unity. Get a hold of that. Think about that.

There would be no division. That's what God wants.

For in unity is the commanded presence of the

Lord. So, we need God speaking to us. We can't

continue on in our Christian life without being

Spirit -led people of God. We've got to hear

His voice. We've got to follow His voice. But

the Holy Spirit is the one, listen, the Holy

Spirit is the one who takes this, words on a

page, information. Written in different languages

and not even in our tongue. He takes this. He

takes this and makes it alive. Makes it understandable

to you. He's the one who declares it to you.

Takes what has been and declares it to you today.

Makes it applicable to your situation. He'll

remind you of something. Guess what? You can't

be reminded of what you don't know. What you've

not read. Come on, we've got to get in the Word.

Don't say I'm not about the Word. We need to

read the Word. We need to study the Word. We

need to be students, disciples of Jesus and His,

you know. and the Holy Spirit, and the Word of

God. But in order for it to become personal to

us, that can't be accomplished in your own peanut

brain. It's going to take the author who spoke

it into being, who inspired it in the first place,

right? That's what we need. As people of God.

That's how we're going to be spirit led. Not

just information led. Not just our own understanding

led. We got to be spirit led. Because those are

the children of God. That's our identity. As

a people. Amen. Amen. There's a little more teaching

than like stories today. You know like it's a

little different. It's a little different. God

also speaks through messengers. Everybody say

messengers. Now, I'm going to group these into

people and angels, as we see in Acts 9, 10 through

17. Now, Saul had already had a great experience

on the road to Damascus. God reveals to him,

speaks to him, shines out, calls out to him in

this very dramatic way. Right? But we also see

a messenger involved, a person involved. Now,

couldn't God just come and speak to Saul again?

Couldn't he have just appeared again and said,

Saul, you know? No, but there was a messenger

involved. This was God's will. Everybody say,

God's will. God's will. This is God's way of

communicating. Because he's not limited to just

one form of communication. He sends Ananias.

He gives Ananias a word and he says, go speak

to Saul. You know? So God uses Ananias to deliver

his word with a message. Now, I don't know about

you, but sometimes, you know, you seek God. How

many of you have ever sought God before? You

know, God lays it on someone else's heart to

talk to you about it. Has that ever happened

to anybody with me? Has anyone ever just like,

you just don't even know how, like how did they

know what was happening, right? And all of a

sudden they come to you and they say the exact

thing that you needed to hear, right? They're

coming with not just something from their head,

they're coming with something from the Spirit.

And they just, something's on their heart and

they got to share it with you. And your spirit

knows that it's from God. Because there's no

way in the natural they could have known that

information, right? Maybe even here, while you've

came to this church or at another church, sitting,

you know, with a pastor or something like that,

how many times has the pastor just kind of said

something, like, even off track from what he

had prepared to say? And all of a sudden it just

kind of hits you square between the eyes and

you're just like, whoa, wait, wait, wait. Did

God call that person up, you know, before the

message and be like, hey, you need to say this,

right? How did they know? Well, that's the spirit

communicating through someone. It's God communicating

through someone, through his people. Because

this is normal. If I say normal, this is to be

expected. If someone's living on the inside of

you, wouldn't it be normal to have communication?

Wouldn't it be normal experience to have fellowship

with that person? Wouldn't the abnormal be distance

from someone living, taking up residence on the

inside? You know, even if you don't like the

people in your own house. You're communicating

with them, right? Even if you had a visitor from

out of town and you're like, I don't know if

this is going to work out. You're still in communication

with them, right? How much more, how much closer

is God than even the people around us? How much

more real is God on the inside of us? How much

more does He want to speak to us? How much is

he speaking and how much are we not recognizing?

How much are we refusing, refusing to acknowledge?

God also speaks through angels. He uses angels

as messengers. We see God sent Gabriel to Mary.

Again, couldn't God just visit? Think about it.

Couldn't God just visit? I mean, that was a pretty

big word, pretty big task, right? I don't know

the explanation of why he sent Gabriel. Don't

have to know. He has his own reasons. I don't

have to know. But I know in Scripture it's recorded

that God didn't visit. Gabriel came with a word

from God. Said, you are blessed and highly favored.

Amen. How important of that, that word. And how

transformative that word was to her and to the

world. And I just want to throw this in here.

Because I can and I have the microphone. When

God speaks, it's always leading you. It's always

correcting you. And it's meant to transform you.

The world wants to teach Jesus was a man of acceptance.

That he taught acceptance. That's a wrong view.

Jesus taught repentance. He taught repentance.

And he taught transformation. Because when his

word, if it's really God and his word, and you

receive it, guess what? It accomplishes something.

When Jesus speaks, his word is sent to accomplish

something in you. There's never a null, idle

word. Our mouths are filled with so many idle

things, so many vain things, so many worldly

things. Jesus' mouth was not filled with those

things. His words were filled with purpose. His

words are filled with direction, correction,

and a call. an invitation to be transformed.

Amen? But it's important to remember that God

is the source even when someone else is the messenger.

Talking about God speaking through people, God

speaking through angels. God is the source even

when someone else is the messenger. I'm going

to keep rolling. God speaks through desires,

the Bible says. Everybody say desires. God speaks

through desires. Philippians 2 .13 says this,

For God is working in you. Everybody say, in

me. He's working in me. Not just around me. God

is working in me. Doing what? Giving you the

desire and the power to do what pleases Him.

Pop quiz, what pleases God? What does scripture

say pleases God? Three, two, one. Somebody say

it. Man. Thought you had it. Faith. Hey. Ding,

ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Well. Well.

Well. What pleases God? It's faith. You know,

it's impossible to please God. It's what Scripture

says. It's impossible. Impossible. There's not

many impossibles in Scripture, right? But it's

impossible to please God without faith. Everybody

say faith. It's impossible. Can't do it. Gotta

have faith. Faith's important, church. But thank

God. God is working in me, giving me the desire.

And the power to do what? Have faith. To have

great faith. To please Him. Faith is not you

working up in the flesh. Doing your very best.

Faith comes how? By hearing. Hearing. But it's

and hearing, right? And hearing the anointed

word. The anointed utterance. The rhema Christos.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word

of God. It's not just hearing. Listen, it's not

just passive listening. You can sit in a service.

It's not about that. Faith doesn't come by you

just hearing information being spoken. Faith

comes by the anointed utterance. By the anointed

utterance. It's not just reading Scripture. It

comes when the Holy Spirit declares the truth

and the power to you. But thank God He gives

us this. This is His grace gift. Amen? This is

a gift. Faith is a gift. And He gives you the

desire. Ooh. Think about that. So God speaks

to us through our desire, and he gives us the

power, the ability to do what pleases him. So

when God speaks to you, like we've talked about,

he gives you direction, gives you instruction

on what to do, right? Sometimes it's easy for

us to look at our natural and say, well, I can't

do that. I'm not equipped to do that. I don't

have that ability. God, you must pick the wrong

person. Right? That's our natural instinct is

to look at ourself and our own ability. But God's

the one working in you. He doesn't leave you

alone. He doesn't give you direction and then

leave you on your own. He calls you and leads

you. Psalms 23 says He leads us. The Good Shepherd

leads us into green pastures, still waters. Now

I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

It can look really bad. It can look hopeless.

It can look really bad. He's not promising everything's

going to be okay, but He's promising provision.

He's promising supply. He's promising protection.

In the trouble. Amen? He gives you the desire

and the power. So sometimes God speaks through

your desires. You suddenly, you could describe

it like this, you suddenly get the urge to give,

to serve, to call someone, to help someone, go

somewhere, to start doing something, stop doing

something, kind of get a check in your spirit,

or pray. Like all of a sudden, someone's on my

heart and I need to pray for them. How many of

you have ever had that happen? Right? Where does

that come from? You can't sit there and say God

doesn't speak to you when all of a sudden you

get an urge saying, I feel like I should pray

for this person. Who is that? Is that not God?

Is that not him speaking to you? You might not

have heard it with your ear, but your spirit,

you heard it. Amen? Huh? That's a long one. I'll

be real short. So one night I was laying in bed

and it was recently, like in the past. I don't

know, at the beginning of the year. And I just

saw this lady, one of my co -workers from Disney.

I saw her. I hadn't seen her in a bit because

she works mornings, and I typically work late.

But I saw her, and she was in the hospital, and

she was in really bad shape, hooked up to all

kinds of stuff. And I just thought, that's a

weird dream, you know? Must have been something

that I've eaten. Strange. But I had this urge

to just pray for her. And I was like, well, she's

on my mind. I'll just pray for her, right? So

I go and, you know, I pray for her. And then

that morning, I just can't shake it. You know,

usually when you have a dream, you kind of forget

it by the time you wake up, or at least that's

my experience. This time, though, I didn't. I

couldn't shake it. I couldn't get away. I was

just like, I keep thinking about this lady. It's

not even somebody that I really know. You know,

it's kind of weird. I just keep thinking about

her. And I was like, I wonder. And I'm just like,

no, no, no. I just keep pushing it off, pushing

it off. And as I'm sitting there, I was drinking

coffee like every good Christian should do. I

was drinking coffee in my chair in like the two

hours of comatose, just trying to like start

my day. And like. everyone shouldn't do. I was

doom scrolling on Facebook and all of a sudden

I come across, I come across this, a picture

of this lady in the hospital and she's got cancer.

Her body's eating up with cancer. They're not

giving her long to live. It's really bad. And

I just kind of sit there like with my mouth open

and I'm like, oh, whoa. Okay. Now you would think

a normal sense reaction would be like, man, that

was God. Like that was God showing me something.

Like I should, you know, I should go to her.

I should like pray for her. But immediately when

I saw it, I knew that's what I was supposed to

do. But I just, I did everything I could to not

say, you know, to just be like, this is not God.

What is this lady going to think if I show up?

I don't even know what hospital she's in. How

am I going to find her? So I'm going to have

to reach out. How awkward would that be? I've

got to reach out, find what hospital she is.

I've got to go stroll in there like, I'm going

to go, you know, look at me, I'm the pastor.

I'm going to, you know, come up here and pray

for some lady. She was in such bad shape, she

didn't even know, like she was already, you know,

hooked up and out. They were rushing her for

surgery and stuff like that just to try to save

her, but it wasn't looking good. But anyways,

to make a long story short, I told Caitlin about

it because we saw it at the same time. And I

was like, do you think we should go? And she's

like, well, that'd be kind of weird. And I just

went, that's a good sign. I ain't going. I was

like, I ain't going. I ain't doing it. A month

later, fast forward, a month after that point.

I see that she is, you know, well. She's at home.

Like, she's in remission. Like, things are doing

very well. And God kind of lays it on my heart

again. It's like, you need to go speak to her.

And I'm like, but God, she's good. Like, I was

just kind of cutting, you know, mental gymnastics

trying to not recognize this is God. I'm arguing.

And at the same time going like, I don't want

to do that. That's not convenient for me. Just

being real. But this time I spoke to Kayla and

I just said, look, I was like, I don't even know

why, but I just got to go. And so I reached out

to her, I messaged her, and I went. And it was

such a great time. And, you know, honestly. I

don't even know if it, you know what I'm saying?

Like, I mean, I'm sure it was encouraging to

her. She was very shocked that I showed up at

her front door and we prayed and all this kind

of stuff. But I don't know what happened and

why God wanted me to go. But that's okay. That's

okay. The good thing is that when I went, all

of a sudden, there was just peace. There was

peace in my heart. It was like God saying, thanks.

Thanks for listening. You know? And it was good.

Everything that happened was good. I'm just saying,

I don't know what the long -term reach of small

acts of obedience accomplishes. I don't know

why God wanted me to go, but guess what? He wanted

me to. He called me to. And I dragged my feet.

And I avoided doing what I knew I should do,

right? And it really took me to an interesting

place. Like, I just, I didn't feel as sensitive

to the Holy Spirit. I didn't feel, there was

like almost a detaching thing that like God was

saying, you need to do this. I couldn't shake

it. But every desire isn't from God, but he can

place these things within us and move us. with

purpose, with his purposes and his plans. That's

how we accomplish his work in the earth. God

speaks through dreams and visions. I won't stay

on this long, but in Acts 2 .17, it says this,

in the last days, this is a prophecy, God says,

I will pour out my spirit upon all people. Your

sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young

men will see visions, and your old men will dream

dreams. So, and we see this throughout Scripture,

and we'll see it more and more in the last days.

I believe we should live like we're in the last

days. We should live with the urgency. If the

disciples lived with the urgency, how much more

now should we live with that same urgency, with

that same like life is a vapor, it's a wind,

it's here today, it's gone tomorrow. We're not

promised this afternoon, right? This could be

it. Hallelujah. Joseph. He was given dreams of

his family and his future and what would be.

Because that's what the Holy Spirit does. He

shows you things to come. And I'm telling you

these things so that they're normal. So that

when you see it, you don't do what I did and

kind of brush it off. When these things happen,

because these should happen in the people of

God. If Jesus is in you, if God is in you and

dwelling you by the Holy Spirit, these things

should be normal. To our Christian experience.

Joseph had a dream. It showed him his future

and where he was going to be. Did he fully understand

it? No. No. But I'm sure on the other side he

did. And it led him. He saw something and it

moved him towards that direction. Paul received

a vision. He received visions. John received

revelation. Remember? told John, said, record

what you see. And that's how we got the book

of Revelation. Record what you see. And this

is God communicating to John and now what we

read about. Think about that. Through dreams

and visions, he leads us. We don't automatically

accept every supernatural experience as God.

This is kind of the trap. That sometimes we fall

into. But neither should we automatically reject

something simply because it's supernatural. Because

it doesn't fit our mold of how we think God should

work. We must discern things spiritually. And

then finally, God speaks from within. Everybody

say within. He speaks from within. Romans 8 .16

says this, The Spirit Himself bears witness with

our spirit. This word here means testify unto,

corroborate by evidence. Spirit himself bears

witness with our spirit. God is spirit, according

to John 4, 24. And who you are is spirit because

you're created in his image, right? We are spirits.

Who we are is spirits. We live in a body and

we have a soul. We've talked about this a lot.

So God is speaking. And He speaks to us from

the Holy Spirit to our spirit. And He illuminates

things to us. This is how He communicates. So

stop struggling to hear God through your body

and through your natural ear. Because how do

you think you would even recognize God speaking

if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit? to bear witness

with your spirit and hear it. Even if it was

an audible voice, I think we would just kind

of brush it off. We wouldn't want to hear it.

So stop struggling to hear God through your ear,

through your natural body. 1 Corinthians 2 .12

says this, and we have received God's spirit,

not the world's spirit, so we can know. the wonderful

things God has freely given us. Did you know

we can know the things that God has given us?

We can know them. How? We've received it by the

Spirit. Amen? So God knows, His Spirit knows,

now His Spirit indwells us. And then His Spirit

is the one who reveals it to us, and then all

of a sudden, we know. See the progression. Don't

miss this. You can just know something that you

didn't learn, that you didn't read, that you

can just know something. You can know. Spirit

reveals those things. The Holy Spirit knows what

God knows, and he lives within us to reveal what

God wants us to know. Proverbs 20, 27 says this,

the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord. Every

morning, if I wake up too early, it's dark in

the house, it's dark outside, and I have a little

lamp. And recently, we've been getting so many

baby items and things that if I walk in there

too quickly, I'm going to trip over something.

I feel like this is just normal experience from

here on out. But like I walk in, I'm tripping

over something, trying to get to my lamp, because

as soon as that lamp comes on, I'm able to see.

I'm able to avoid and navigate, right? So the

spirit of man, listen, the spirit of man is a

lamp, is a light of the Lord. Spirit of man is

a lamp of the Lord. It's saying this is how God

wants to communicate to you, to illuminate things

to you. It's through your spirit. Romans 9 .1,

I tell you the truth, I am not lying. This is

Paul saying, my conscience also bearing me witness

in the Holy Spirit. So God speaks through our

thoughts. He speaks through just... Things that

we know, He calls those things to our attention.

We could call that our conscience. We have a

conscience leading. So my conscience also bearing

me witness, not just in every, but just it bears

witness in the Holy Spirit. There's a check here.

It's not just everything your conscience you

feel you're led by because we're not led by feelings.

We're not led by what we see. We're led by the

Spirit of God. So it's bearing witness, conscious

bearing witness in the Holy Spirit. So God's

leading becomes recognizable through inward witness,

we can call it, conscience, illumination, understanding,

or even spirit -directed thoughts. So, here's

what we need. I'm usually not alliterative, but

we're going to do it anyways. So, here's what

we need. We got to receive. Everybody say, receive

the word. We have to recognize that it is God.

Everybody say recognize. We have to respond.

Everybody say respond to what He is saying. This

is how we're led by the Spirit. We have to receive

the Word. We have to position ourselves as we

talked about last week. We have to position ourselves

at His feet to hear His voice. Sometimes we have

to turn down our own thoughts, our own worry,

our distractions, the things that... Get in the

way. Sometimes we've got to silence everything

else that's holding our attention to place our

attention in the one who's speaking. Kind of

like Mary and Martha, you know, she said this,

you know, she was doing the necessary thing,

the necessary thing, sitting at his feet, hearing

his word. It wasn't just about hearing his voice.

It was about receiving the word, right? And then

when God speaks, we need to recognize it. That's

why we looked at all these ways that God speaks

so that we can recognize it when He is speaking

and realize that you have heard God. Not only

you can hear God, but if you're a believer, you

have heard God. That was the point of contact

at salvation. And that's how He continues to

speak to you today. We have to recognize it's

God. We have to respond then to what He's saying.

If we really believed, listen, if we really believed

this was God speaking to me and God told me to

do this, we could not do it. You know what I'm

saying? Like, we would be like, oh my God, God

told me that. I've got to do this, right? So

our disobedience to it is... in some part or

in some way saying, I don't fully believe this

is God. I don't fully recognize this is God speaking

to me. I don't know. And that's the danger, church,

that we get in and we find ourselves in. We say,

I don't know. I can't. I can't hear. I can't

understand. I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm reading,

I can't, I'm doing everything I can, but, and

I'm asking, but I'm not hearing. I'm doing everything

I can, but I just can't hear. Is it that you

can't hear or you're not recognizing Him speaking?

Are you not positioning yourself? Do you not

recognize? Have you not responded to something

that He's already told you? We need to receive.

We need to recognize. We need to respond. There's

no excuse. No excuse. Don't become so determined

to explain everything away that you explain God

right out of the conversation. Know Him well

enough to recognize Him. Trust Him enough to

respond when He speaks. Amen? Amen. The goal

of this series, the goal here, is to become so

familiar with the shepherd that when he speaks,

that's our goal at the end of this. The reason

why we've built this, the goal is that when the

shepherd speaks, something in you says, hey,

I know that voice. That's not just a shepherd,

that's... My shepherd. That's my provider. That's

my deliverer. Amen? That's my help in my time

of trouble. That's my God. I know him. He's in

me. And I know it's his voice because I know

him personally. I know him. He knows me. He calls

me by name. He leads me. He guides me. I don't

got to worry about it today because guess what?

He's already got it figured out. That's how I

can be in peace. Because I'm being led. You know?

If you're led, who's the responsibility fall

on? Don't leave things up to you. and your own

understanding. Amen? Know the voice of God. Know

it. Be receptive of it. Be receptive of it. Recognize

that it's Him. And respond. Quickly respond.

This online worship experience was brought to

you by the Friends and Partners of Eulation Church.

Over the years, Jeffrey and I have learned that

the greatest battles we face are usually fought

in our minds, but won with our mouths. When we've

chosen to speak God's promises in the face of

our fears, failures, and problems, we've seen

God do what only He can do. This truth has changed

our lives, and it's why we wrote Talk to Your

Giants, to show you how to fight the good fight

of faith, speak in agreement with God's Word,

and discover the victory that comes when you

stop talking And start talking to them. Order

your copy of Talk to Your Giants today on Amazon.