YOU CAN HEAR GOD — Episode 7: Is That God or Just a Thought?

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Week number seven in our series,

You Can Hear God. Look to the person beside you

and remind them, you can hear God. You can hear

God. This is week number seven, so I decided

to back up and remind us about the things that

we looked at. In week number one, we talked about

how important it was to hear God. As a matter

of fact, it's impossible to have faith without

hearing God. Because faith comes by hearing,

and hearing by the anointed utterance. And guess

what? You can't be a Christian without having

faith. So if you are a Christian, you have heard

God. Now you might not have realized it when

you heard Him. You might have thought it was

the preacher talking. But I want to tell you

something. The preacher doesn't have power to

save you. The preacher can share the gospel.

He can share the good news. But as I look back

over my life, I mean, I'm a preacher's kid. So

how many messages did I hear? How many times

did I actually hear the gospel as sound waves

coming into my ears that I did not hear the anointed

utterance of God? You can look back on your life

and see the same thing, right? I mean, I doubt.

There's many people who responded to the gospel.

I mean, it's possible. I'm sure it's possible.

But I mean, I was saturated because my dad was

a preacher, right? So I heard and heard and heard

and heard and heard and heard a lot. But I'll

never forget a Friday morning when dad was up

there talking at the end of vacation Bible school

when he shared the gospel. And boy, I heard it.

I heard the anointed utterance from God. I heard

the conviction of the Spirit. Now, I wouldn't

have been able to articulate that. But now that

I look back on it, I heard God. I heard God.

Now, as a little boy, I thought I was hearing

my dad. But now that I understand, I heard God.

I responded to God. Because if I wouldn't have

heard God, I wouldn't be a Christian today. You've

heard Him before, if you're a Christian. Week

number two. We talked about positioning ourselves

to hear. You've got to want to hear God and plan

to hear God and position yourself to hear God

to hear God. If you're so busy with your own

life that you don't have time for God, you're

not going to hear Him. And you can be busy with

important things. Are you with me? You can be

busy with good things. I'm not talking about

bad things. But if we want to hear God, we're

going to have to want to hear Him. And we're

going to have to position ourselves to hear Him.

Week number three, we talked about, you know,

as many ways as we could find. I'm sure there

are more than that. But as many ways as we could

find in Scripture of how God has spoken to people.

Because there's a lot of different ways that

God speaks. A lot of different ways. Week number

four, we talked about hearing God in Scripture.

Ultimately important. I'm just going to put that

right there. Hearing God in Scripture. When we

read the Bible, we don't just read the Bible

to see how fast we can read and get through with

our reading plan. Hello? Somebody say, oh me

or amen or something. Okay? We're not just speed

reading the Bible to check something off a list.

We're asking God, the Holy Spirit of God, to

cause the Word of God to come alive on the inside

of us in such a way that His anointed utterance

begins to transform us. Hallelujah. I'm getting

happy and this is just introduction. Week number

five, we talked about the inward witness. Because

we don't always hear God with our ears. We don't

always hear God the same way. There is a way,

the inward witness. And the main thing we targeted

on was, you know, God leads us, the Holy Spirit

leads us with peace. Peace. I wish somebody would

have told me that. A long time ago. I wish somebody

would have told me that. Because I've made so

many bad decisions in my life when God was trying

to help me. The Holy Spirit. I mean, I didn't

have peace. I had pressure. So much pressure

to make decisions in my life. And every time,

I'm going to tell you, every time I made a decision

to do something that I did not have the peace

of God, I made the wrong Every time. So God leads

us by an inward witness. When you're between

two things, I want to tell you, always follow

peace. Because God leads us. I mean, we looked

at it in the New Testament. We looked at Paul.

He's wanting to go one place. Nope. Can't go

there. So he wanted to go another place. Nope.

Can't go there. There were good things. I mean,

he was going to preach. But God stopped him.

Stopped him twice. And we think, Paul, man, you

wrote most of the New Testament. At least he

didn't plow on and keep going when God tried

to stop him. I wish I would have stopped when

God tried to stop me. And last week, we looked

at hearing God in prayer. And we talked about

the importance of prayer not being a monologue,

but being a dialogue. Prayers aren't us just

deciding what we want. And then coming to the

point where we're going to pray about it now.

So I'm going to beg God for what I have figured

out in my human reasoning that I want. Now I'm

going to beg him to do it for me. That's not.

How many of you say, well, that's how I've prayed

a lot in my life. Listen, if you think prayer

is begging God, you need a radical transformation

in your prayer life. You need to start praying

biblically. I'm just trying to help you. So don't

get mad at me. Some of you looking like you might

be mad at me. I'm trying to help you. I'm trying

to help you come to the place where you can say

the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous

man avails much. Because that's the way prayer

is supposed to be. That's biblical prayer. Hallelujah.

Let's have an invitation right now. So, week

number seven. What are we going to talk about

on week number seven? Well, you're going to have

to wait because I'm not just going to give you

the title. Right out of the gate. Romans 8 .14

says this, For all who are led by the Spirit

of God are children of God. How many of you have

been to this series long enough to almost memorize

this verse? I mean, this is week number seven.

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children

of God. So a characteristic of being a Christian

is that you are led. By the Spirit of God. How

are you led? Well, in order to be led, you've

got to hear or perceive something to follow,

and then you've got to follow. But remember,

God doesn't always speak. He rarely speaks, and

what we would say would be an audible voice.

I don't know if I've ever heard Him with my natural

ears, but I want to tell you something. There's

been times when I've heard Him, and it's been

louder than I would have heard Him with my natural

ears. But that's not the way I live every day.

Maybe it should be, but it hasn't been my experience.

But a lot of people say, I can't hear God. That's

not my experience. Some people talk about hearing

God, but I can't hear God. Listen, you can hear

God. All of us, it's vital that we do hear God

because it's impossible to please God without

faith. And faith comes by hearing the anointed

utterance from God, the rhema Christos, the word

of God. So if we're going to be led, we're going

to have to hear. And then when we hear, we don't

just hear and say, well, that was nice. That

was nice. No, we say, yes, sir. Yes, sir, is

what we say. John 10, verses 1 through 5. I tell

John 10:1–5

you the truth. These are Jesus' words. 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 listen, the sheep recognize his voice

and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name

and leads them out. After he has gathered his

own flock, he walks ahead of them and they follow

him because they know his voice. They recognize

his voice. They know his voice. And they follow.

Everybody go, I'm a sheep. They won't follow

a stranger. They will run from a stranger because

they don't know his voice. The shepherd speaks.

The sheep recognize and know his voice. The shepherd

leads and the sheep follows. To understand this

a little bit, there was a sheepfold. They had

sheepfolds where multiple shepherds would bring

their sheep and put them in the sheepfold. So

it wasn't just one flock of sheep. It wasn't

like every shepherd had their own personal sheepfold.

They'd have a sheepfold, multiple shepherds,

when they needed to, they would bring their sheep,

put them there, and then they would go. Maybe

they would go home and sleep. Who knows? Why

they needed to leave their sheep. If you were

a shepherd, wouldn't you think you'd need to

leave your sheep every once in a while? So they'd

put them in the sheepfold. And then they would

come back to the sheepfold. And they would walk

into the sheepfold and they would begin talking

to the sheep. Every one of their sheep would

recognize and know the voice of their shepherd.

And only that shepherd's sheep, even though there

are hundreds of sheep in the sheepfold, only...

the sheep that belonged to that shepherd would

just willingly follow the shepherd out. All the

rest of them would stay in the sheepfold. Why?

Because their shepherd wasn't there. They're

not going to follow this other shepherd because

they don't recognize his voice or know his voice.

To give us some understanding about this word

that Jesus talked about, because everybody listening

to him when he said it originally, I mean, they

were shepherds and sheep all over the place.

So they understood what a sheepfold was. I mean,

there's just one right down the street from where

I live. So I went to Romania a couple times.

One time, we were going to a women's prison where

I was going to sing that day, and somebody else

in the group was going to speak. So we were talking

in the van. All of a sudden, the van just comes

to a stop. Now, the driver of the van could not

speak English at all. We could not speak Romanian

either. But all of a sudden, stops. There's sheep

everywhere. All across the road. There's a house

beside us. Sheep all in the yard. We couldn't

go. We're up on those sheep. And the driver's

just blowing the horn. Here's what the sheep

were doing. Thank you. Thank you. Hadn't done

this in about three weeks. I decided to throw

it back in there. A lady comes out on the porch

of the house. She's got a broom in her hand.

She don't want those sheep in her yard. She's

swinging the broom at the sheep. Screaming at

the sheep. Get out! In Romanian, of course. I

said I didn't understand it, but you can understand

when somebody's upset in any language. She's

swinging the broom. She's screaming at the sheep.

Guess what the sheep are doing? They don't recognize

or know the voice of the horn on the van. They

don't recognize or know the voice of the lady

swinging a broom at them. All they know is that

there's trouble. and they don't know what to

do. They don't know how to respond. There's a

bunch of loud voices. How often do we hear a

lot of loud voices in this world? Fear, worry.

How do we respond? We don't know how to respond,

do we? So like, what am I going to do? What am

I going to do? How is this going to work out?

I just don't know. We're sheep. Don't know what

to do? Listen, I know God put me right there

because He knew. 14 years later, I was going

to be preaching this message. Because I just

finally began to see some things that I'd never

seen before. All of a sudden, this guy walks

out from beside the house. Lady's still screaming

and swinging her broom. Horn's still blowing

on the van. I can hear those things because I've

got the window cracked. I see this guy walking

out, and I see his mouth moving, but I can't

hear anything he's saying. Obviously, I wouldn't

know what he was saying anyway because he's speaking

a different language. But he was just calm. Just

walking out. He's just talking. He walks by the

sheep in the yard, walks across the street behind

the van. Every single one of those sheep walk

towards him, get right behind him, and follow

him into the field across the road from the house.

You know why? They recognized his voice. They

knew his voice. They knew. Listen, they knew

that he was going to take care of them because

they were in a situation where they didn't know

what was up and they were in danger and they

didn't know how to respond. But they knew when

they heard the shepherd's voice that he was going

to take them to still waters. They knew that

he was going to take them to green pastures.

They knew their shepherd. Come on. Is that a

good lesson for us? If you're ever at that point,

what are we going to do? What are we going to

do? How's this going to work out? I don't know.

We need to position ourselves to hear the shepherd

because we know the shepherd. We know that he's

going to lead us to green pastures. We know that

he's going to lead us to still waters. Hello?

Because we are confident in the goodness of God.

See, here's the deal. God is speaking. You've

got to know this. God is speaking to you. He's

not silent. He's not withholding. He's speaking

to you. He's wanting to lead you and guide you.

He's wanting the Holy Spirit. God is on the inside

of you. He is your comforter. He is your guide.

He never leaves you. He's in you. God is with

you. God never leaves you or forsake you. He

never, never, never, never, never leaves you

or forsakes you. He cares about you. He loves

you. He's speaking to you. The issue is, Do you

recognize His voice? Do you recognize that He

is speaking to you? That's why we're doing this

series, because we want you to know that God

speaks in a lot of different ways, and we need

to be ready to recognize His voice. I know this

may be hard to believe, but sometimes when I'm

up here preaching, I'm saying things I ain't

even studied, even thought about saying, and

I know God is speaking to some people in the

room. You might think it's just the preacher

speaking. I don't want you to ever think that

I'm God, but I want you to hear God when God

is speaking through me. And if I ever say something

stupid that doesn't line up with the Word of

God, I want you to throw it out as quick as you

can. Do not let it enter your mind. Because I'm

not God. Don't set me up to be God, because I'm

not. But I am telling you that I've already said

some things today that I know God is speaking

directly to some people in the room. And you

need to recognize it and hear that it's God,

not just Dean. We've got to recognize it. Romans

8 .16 tells us that His Spirit, the Holy Spirit,

joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's

children. What does it mean to affirm something?

How do you affirm something? I see affirming

as some kind of communication being involved.

You're affirming it. And when we are born again,

the Spirit of God, don't you know that your body

is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?

When you're born again, He comes on the inside

of you. And get this, we're created in the image

of God. I know I can't preach all these sermons

over and over and over again, but listen, we're

created in God's image. And you know what makes

us created in God's image? We're spirit beings.

He's a spirit being. So many people struggle

with that. So many preachers struggle with that.

So many theological books struggle with that.

But it's very obvious. We're the only living,

breathing thing in this creation of God that

is an eternal spirit. We are spirit beings. We

have a soul. And we live in a body. But we are

spirit beings made in the image of God. And listen.

Our spirit is dead in trespasses and sins. And

then when we're born again, His spirit moves

in and joins with our spirit. And He affirms

to our spirit. He communicates to our spirit

that we're now God's children. We're new creatures.

New creatures. We're born again. We're alive

under God. So here's the way God communicates

with us. Since God is a spirit, And we are a

spirit. God communicates with us, with born -again

believers. He communicates with us spirit to

spirit. Spirit to spirit. The Holy Spirit is

joined with us, who we are. He's joined with

our spirit. But the communication has to continue

flowing. Are you with me? It's got to continue.

Because it's got to work in us. Holy Spirit communicates

with our spirit. Now our spirit has to communicate

with our soul. Our soul is our thought life,

our mind. Our will are our desires. And our emotions

are our feelings. That's the communication channel.

Because you have to come to a point where you

recognize the Holy Spirit is speaking to your

spirit. Now your spirit is now speaking to your

thoughts. And then you've got to recognize. Everybody

say recognize. You've got to recognize and you've

got to know that it's God speaking to you. It's

God behind that thought. It's God behind that

desire. It's God behind that feeling. Then we

are spirit -led. I'm glad two of you are with

me. I would say just trust me, but it's going

to take God. Bringing revelation to you for you

to grab hold of this. I'm just trying to help

you. Listen, your mind is not where God's communication

originates. How many of you have some thoughts

and you would say, that definitely wasn't God.

That definitely wasn't God. That's not a God

thought. There's no way that that thought is

from God. Anybody but me have some of those every

once in a while. So your mind isn't where God's

communication originates. But your thought life

is either going to help you or hurt you. It's

either going to help you hear God or stop you

from hearing God. Now some of you think that

your thought life is too holy to stop you from

hearing God. Just because you're in church. And

you got a little halo over your head. And you're

acting like you don't know what I'm talking about.

But our thought life is going to have to come

into play here. If we're going to be people who

say, yeah, I hear God. If we're going to be confident,

I hear God. God leads me. I hear Him. I follow

Him. We're not going to get to the point probably

where we're perfect and all that and never make

a mistake. So I'm just going to give you a little

grace. I'm sorry, a little mercy. But everybody

in this room can be better at it tomorrow than

you are today. And if you don't think you can,

then you probably won't. I am having some more

kind of fun today. God, listen, God, His Spirit,

joined with our spirit, bringing thoughts. Because

today we're talking about you can hear God through

your thoughts. That's the title today. Listen,

you may recognize this when I start reading some

of this off. God sometimes brings things to your

remembrance. I want you to think about it. As

I read these, Has that happened to you before?

Maybe you didn't recognize or know that it was

God's voice, but all of a sudden, you remember

something. All of a sudden, your attention is

directed. All of a sudden, a thought is illuminated.

But right in the middle of that, our minds sometimes

can also be filled with human reasoning, with

outside influences, with worry, with fear, with

distractions. And sometimes that can stop us.

From hearing God. From taking hold of the thoughts

that he is bringing to our minds. Romans 12 .12

.2 says this. Don't copy the behavior and customs

of this world. But let God transform you. Into

a new person. How's he going to do this? By changing

the way you think. I'm just going to read that

again. Just because I need to hear it. Let God.

So that means. There's got to be some cooperation

on our part, right? Hello? It doesn't say God

will. It says let God. Let God transform you.

God wants to transform all of us to look more

like Jesus this afternoon than we did this morning.

It's a continual transformation process. The

Christian life is a transformation process. So

we need to let God transform us into a new person

by changing the way we think. That's how important

your thought life is. Because as God changes

the way you think, some things are going to happen.

As God changes the way you think, then you're

going to learn something. You're going to learn

what God wants. Read it. I mean, I know I'm adjusting

a little bit, but is that what it says? When

your thinking starts changing, then you're going

to start learning something. You're going to

learn to know God's will for you. We're going

to learn God's desires, what God wants. Let me

tell you something. What God wants? Oh, it's

good. It's pleasing. It's perfect. What God wants.

You know, we think what we want is good and pleasing

and perfect, but how many of you know it doesn't

always work out that way? I mean, we think it's

going to be, but then it don't work out that

way. But when we learn what God wants and when

we desire what He desires, oh, it's going to

be good. It's going to be pleasing and perfect.

And how's it going to happen? By cooperating

with God and His process to transform us into

new people by changing the way we think. This

is powerful. If we'll be doers of the Word, not

hearers only, this will be a big deal. See, God

wants us to cooperate with Him in transforming

and changing our thought life. And how's He going

to change it? He's going to change our thought

life. from always being natural to being spiritual.

And our transformation, our personal transformation,

and our discernment, because the Holy Spirit

is joined with our spirit, He's communicating

with our spirit, and then now it's got to get

to our thought life, and our discernment of whether

this thought is from God or not is coming through...

us changing our thought life from being natural

to spiritual, and God helping us do that, and

Him working in us to that, now we're going to

be able to discern, is this God or not? You can't

say that every good thought is from God. Because

Paul had a good thought. To go over here. Go

over there. I mean, he had some real good, holy

thoughts. Just wasn't God's thoughts. So God

stopped him. Listen, a mind that has been renewed

by God, when our thought life has been changed

by God, we will begin to quickly recognize God's

voice and cooperate more with the leading of

the Holy Spirit. How many of you can already

say, I'm going to have to listen to this again

Monday afternoon? I think we need to listen to

it. I'm going to be listening to it. Because

I'm not preaching down at you, I'm preaching

at me. Because I need this as much as anybody

in the room. I'm glad you didn't shout me down

too hard right then. It might have hurt my feelings

a little bit. But I need this as much as anyone

needs this. John 14, 26. Jesus talking again.

He says, but when the Father sends the advocate.

Everybody say Holy Spirit. When the Father sends

the advocate as my representative. That is the

Holy Spirit. He will teach you everything. And

will remind you. Of everything. I have told you.

So he's in us. And he's going to teach us. And

he's going to remind us. How many of you know.

To be taught and to be reminded. That involves

your thought life. I mean you know. It's just

common sense. But unless you say it. You don't

think about it. Listen sometimes hearing God.

Sounds like this. And it's God's voice. And God

is talking to you. And God's communicating with

you. But sometimes hearing God. Sounds like remembering

something at exactly the right moment. And you

might say, well, that's a nice thought. I wonder

where that came from. And you might not recognize

that it's God speaking to you. But sometimes,

I mean, it's God speaking. When all of a sudden

you remember something at exactly the right moment.

I'll give you an instance of that in just a minute.

Have you ever had somebody come to your mind,

just suddenly come to your mind? You hadn't thought

about this person. You haven't communicated with

this person. All of a sudden, it's like, I'm

thinking about it. I wonder why I'm thinking

about them. I haven't talked to them. I haven't

talked to them. Some people, this happens to

me, I ain't talked to them in two or three years.

And all of a sudden, they're just on my mind

all day. I'm just thinking about them. Now, how

many of you can recognize that that might just

be God speaking to you? You might say, that's

not God speaking. Just because I think about

somebody, that's God speaking to me? Yeah. Yeah.

We were on the road for 20 years and every week,

you remember? Every week when we would finish

up a meeting, I would say, I want you to promise

me to do something. Every time Gane and I and

Jeffrey, as he grew up, every time you think

about us from the day forward, I want you to

know that that's God telling you to pray for

us. I've told over 100 ,000 people that. Every

time you think about me, That's God telling you

to pray for me. There's not going to be a big

thunderclap. Pray for Dean. No. But when somebody

suddenly comes to your mind, this is God speaking

to you. Maybe you need to write them a note.

Maybe you need to call them. Maybe you need to

pray for them. Maybe you need to do all the above.

Maybe you need to ask them to go out to eat.

I don't know. I don't know. But I do know. that

God is putting that person in your heart and

on your mind? Have you ever been talking with

somebody about what they're going through, and

then all of a sudden, a Bible verse just clearly

comes into your mind? I mean, it's not really

something that you've worked hard to memorize

and memorize and memorize, and you might not

even know where to find it in the Bible, but

all of a sudden, you have a clear thought of

this verse. God hasn't given you a spirit of

fear. He's given you a spirit of power, a spirit

of love and a sound mind. You're just talking

to somebody and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit,

he's like, well, the issue here is fear. Tell

him this. Now again, it's not like, this is God.

Quote this verse, King James 1611 version. It

won't work if it's not 1611. And if you write

it, make sure you put an F where every V goes

and a V where every F goes. Because it won't

work. Because it won't have no power in it. Don't

just say, where did that come from? Don't say,

why am I thinking about this verse right now?

This is God talking to you and God wanting to

talk through you to talk with somebody else that

He wants them to hear Him. He don't want them

to hear you. He wants them to hear Him. Have

you ever just started thinking about last week's

sermon? Or some series that we did a year ago?

Just yesterday, riding in the car. We were riding

in the car. All of a sudden, I remembered the

series on the names of God. And I just began

to say, Thank you, God, that you are Yahweh Rapha.

You are the Lord, our healer. Thank you, God,

that you are Yahweh Shalom. Thank you that you

are... My peace, God. Thank you that you're my

peace. Thank you that you are El Shaddai. You

are more than enough for any situation that I

face today. I mean, I just started shouting that

out going down the road. I hadn't even wrote

this sermon yet, so I wasn't like setting up

my own illustration. Has God ever brought recall

to you so that you would begin to be a doer of

the word instead of just being a hearer? Don't

say, why am I thinking about that? That was last

year. It's God speaking to you. Nehemiah 2 .11

says this, Then I arose in the night, I and a

few men with me. I told no one what my God had

put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, nor was there

any animal with me except the one on which I

rode. Sometimes God... Sometimes God puts something

on your heart and you just can't shake it. It's

Nehemiah's case. For months, God had put something

on his heart. The walls around Jerusalem were

all broken down and broken up. And God put it

in his heart to rebuild those walls. Now, he

went to talk to the king and the king gave him

papers and gave him resources and just, I mean,

you know, here it is. Go do it, buddy. But he

wasn't talking to everybody about it. He had

some people come against him when he started

talking about it. But listen, he had this on

his heart for months. God had put something in

his heart. How many of you know for God to put

something in your heart and for it to stay in

your heart and keep being in your heart, it's

going to involve your thought life? Is it going

to involve your thought life? I mean, don't think

that I'm just reading a whole bunch of stuff

in here that it doesn't say. But have you ever

had anything on your heart that you never thought

about? Let's just be, you know. Jerusalem had

become a burden occupying his thoughts. He couldn't

shake it. He prayed about it. He thought about

it for months, day after day, night after night.

Sometimes hearing God sounds like something that

keeps coming back to your mind. And you might

say, well, hallelujah. I keep thinking about

this person I'm mad at. And I keep thinking about

how they hurt me. And that's God speaking to

me. No, it's not. No, it's not. If God's speaking

to you about it, He's saying, forgive, love.

Because that's who God is and that's what God

tells all of us. Sometimes hearing God sounds

like something that keeps coming back to your

mind. It just keeps coming back. And when it

does, when it's something that's lining up, With

what God has said in His Word. I don't want to

preach that message because that message is coming

up about how we discern. Right? So I don't want

to unload the whole apple cart before we get

to that message. But listen. If something keeps

coming back to your mind, you need to stop dismissing

it. And you need to start praying about it. Just

like Nehemiah did. He didn't just think about

it one day and say, You know what I'm going to

do? He didn't take off running. No. It burned

in his heart for months. He prayed about it for

months. Not telling everybody else about it.

Just realizing and recognizing God's voice. It

wasn't just something he wanted because he was

a Jew. It's God saying, it's time to rebuild

the walls. 1 Kings 9, 19 verses 11 through 13.

Look to the person beside you and say, listen

fast. I'm about done. I read this week that when

the preacher says, I'm about done, it's like,

that's a faith statement, not a promise. 1 Kings

19, 11. Then he said, this is God talking to

Elijah, go out and stand on the mountain before

the Lord. I got to give you a little bit more

setup. Does anybody remember Mount Carmel? Where

fire came down, right? And the whole nation fell

on their faces and said, the Lord is God, the

Lord is God. What an amazing day. Well, then

Jezebel said, I'm going to kill you. And all

of a sudden, Elijah, who just called down fire

out of heaven, is now running, scared. She said,

she's going to kill me. God comforted him a little

while, gave him food, comforted him, let him

rest. But then God said, hey, Elijah, go out

and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And

behold, the Lord passed by in a great... And

a strong wind tore into the mountains and broke

the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the

Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind,

an earthquake. But the Lord wasn't in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake, a fire. Could you imagine

just standing on the mountain and all of a sudden

you see these things? I mean, it's not like next

week or next month. I mean, he's seeing these

things as he's standing on the mountain. One

after another, the Lord wasn't in the earthquake,

the Lord wasn't in the fire, and after the fire,

a still, small voice. Still, small voice. So

it was, when Elijah heard it, the still, small

voice, not during the wind, not during the earthquake,

not during the fire, but when he heard God's

still, small voice, he wrapped his face in his

mantle, in his overcoat, just wrapped his face.

and went out and stood in the entrance of the

cave. And suddenly a voice came to him and said,

What are you doing here, Elijah? What are you

doing here? It's like God saying, Okay, I took

care of you. I comforted you. But this isn't

where we're going to stay. Hello, somebody. This

is not where you're going to stay the rest of

your life. Now, you might want to stay here the

rest of your life, hiding from Jezebel, living

in worry and fear. You might want to stay there,

but hey, wake up, man. Wake up. What are you

doing here? I mean, this wasn't his next words,

but it's almost like this. Didn't you just talk

to me and I sent fire down from heaven and consumed

the altar and the rocks and it drank up the water?

We got some things to do, Elijah. You've been

crying and whining about you being the only one.

I'm just the only one. No, there's thousands

more. Or hundreds, I can't remember exactly.

You correct me, Google it, whatever. I just,

a lot more. You're not the only one. You're not

the last one left. So get up. We got some things

to do. Listen, the loudest thought isn't always

the most important thought in your mind. The

loudest thought, just think of the sheep and

the horn and the lady screaming and swinging

her broom. The loudest thought isn't always the

most important thought. Here's a word for the

wise. Never let volume determine the source.

Because Elijah could have said, there's got to

be this wind that's shaking mountains and cracking

rocks. There's got to be this earthquake. Has

anybody ever been in an earthquake? I've been

in a little bitty one before. And I was the only

one at home. And I thought the rapture took place

and I got lit. The whole house shaking and stuff

shaking. And you hear this roar. And that was

a little. Elijah could have said, well, that

earthquake, that had to be God. Because it's

loud. I mean, it's loud. That fire roaring, it's

got to be God. No. It was a still, small voice.

So never let the volume of the voice that you're

hearing in your thoughts determine whether it's

from God or not. Because fear can be loud. Worry

can be loud. Anger can be loud. Offense can be

loud. Urgency can be loud. They can all be so

loud. So loud. But Elijah heard a still small

voice that brought him out from where he was.

You might need a still small voice to bring you

out from where you are. That's okay. God is speaking.

2 Corinthians 10, 4 through 5, real quick. For

the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but

mighty in God. For pulling down strongholds,

casting down arguments, and every high thing

that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Bringing every thought. Into captivity. To the

obedience of Christ. I don't want you to think

because I told you that God can speak through

your thoughts that every thought is from God

because it's not. It's not. The Bible tells us

to bring every thought into captivity. Every

thought needs to be tested. I want you to think

of your mind as a security checkpoint. The spiritual

mind is a security checkpoint. Has anybody tried

to go to MCO and fly out? Has anybody ever tried

to go into one of the parks? You go through a

security checkpoint. Just because you can walk

into MCO doesn't mean you have a ticket. You

can't get through the security checkpoint without

a ticket. You can't get back there unless you

need to be there, not just because you want to

be there. Think of your thoughts as a security

checkpoint. I'm going to back up to an old series

where we learned this. Think of your thoughts

as like birds flying over your head. You can't

control how many birds or what kind of birds

fly over your head, but you can control which

bird builds a nest in your hair. Security checkpoint

in your thoughts. Every thought gets tested.

Am I going to receive it? If it's a condemning

thought, if it's a thought of guilt, if it's

a thought of shame, are we going to receive it?

Are we going to receive it? Well, three of us

aren't. Because Romans 8 .1 says there's now

no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So this is not from God. This is from the enemy.

This thought does not come from the Spirit to

my spirit to my thoughts. I'm going to reject

it. Because I know something. Because my mind

has been renewed. Hello? At that security checkpoint,

you either receive it, sometimes like Nehemiah,

maybe you need to pray about it. God, is this

you? Is this good? Because it's always going

to be good. Is this good thought from you? Is

it from you? Continue to work it in my thoughts.

Continue to build it in my heart. If it's from

you. Because I actually don't want to do this.

I can't tell you how many preachers I know that

their mama called them or their grandma called

them. One time I was on an ordination. committee

of a young man to ordain him in the gospel ministry.

And I asked him a question. I said, I want you

to tell me about the time in your life where

God called you to be a preacher. Should that

be a fair question? Listen, every other, the

boy had nothing to say. He had no idea what I

was talking about, about a moment or a time when

God called him to be a preacher. God called him

to be a pastor. And you know what? There were

five other pastors in the room, and all of them

looked at me when he left, and the chairman of

the committee looked at me and said, why do you

want to do that to the boy? They were all upset

at me. I mean, this is the first ordination council

I'd ever been on, but all the other preachers

were upset at me. And I just looked at them,

and I said, listen, if God hadn't called him,

he's going to quit. Because you just can't do

this without being called. You're not going to

stand up. When the going gets tough, you're going

to run. Because sometimes the only thing that

keeps you going is you know you were called.

I don't know if that makes sense to you or not,

but that should be the first question that's

asked. Not by the guest guy that just happens

to be preaching in town and then you ask him

to come to the ordination council. I shouldn't

be the one to ask that question for the very

first time. Don't know why I went there. Somebody

needed to hear it. We either receive it, we pray

about it, or we reject it. It's important that

we hear God. It's important that we are led by

the Spirit of God because the children of God

are led by the Spirit of God. His Spirit is joined

with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children

and He speaks to us spirit to spirit that works

into our soul, into our thought life, into our

desires, into our emotions. And this is a way

that we hear God. And I want to end with this

statement. Sometimes you hear God in a thought.

So don't dismiss it. Don't dismiss it. And in

saying that, I'm also saying there are times

when I heard God that I dismissed it. So I'm

sure if I've done it, you've probably done it

too. Even though you're like, no, not me. I'm

super Christian. Super Christian. No. Don't dismiss

it. Take each thought captive. Because we need

to hear God. We need to recognize His voice.

And we need to follow Him. This online worship

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