That Sounds Like God - Pastor JD Davis

Welcome to our podcast.

We hope this powerful word from City Center Church transforms your mind and grows your relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Thank you for joining us, and let's get into the word of today.

I'm excited to give this word here this morning.

I've been praying for everybody that was going to be here today.

I've been praying for uh my heart as I prepared this word because some of my favorite sermons to preach are the ones that God preached to me first.

And so you're just gonna get the overflow of what he preached to me.

And so today, uh I'm just grateful to be in this place because I don't believe that we're gonna hear just another sermon from another preacher today.

What what my hope is today is that we're gonna hear a word from God and have the courage to respond to what we're hearing today.

And and today we're gonna be in our word, amen.

And so if you have a paper Bible, if you'll turn with me, we're gonna be in 1 Samuel chapter 3, and we're gonna begin with the eighth through the ninth verse today.

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

1 Samuel chapter 3, starting at the 8th verse.

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

Church, I need you to lean in this morning with me.

Can you lean in with your seat?

Can I just see everybody lean forward?

I need you to be pressed in today, amen?

Because I believe that God has a word, he has something that he wants to share with you today, and I believe that it's for everybody.

Are you ready?

Come on, look at your neighbors, say, Let's go.

We're gonna find out if you're really ready today, 1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 8 through 9.

1 Samuel 3:8–9

The Bible says that a third time the Lord called Samuel, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me.

But then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy.

So Eli, watch this, told Samuel, go back, lie down, and if he calls you, I want you to say this: say, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

We're gonna talk about that this morning.

I want you to look at somebody, look them dead in their eye, and I want you to say, that sounds like God.

But but but but do it like JD, that sounds like God, which is the title of our message here today.

If you're taking notes, that sounds like God.

Can we pray?

So, Father, we come before you now, thanking you for your word.

Holy Spirit, I'm just asking that you'll preach this word in and through me today, that you'll open up hearts to receive all that you have for them to hear.

And God, we thank you for everything that you're gonna do through this mighty and powerful word here today.

We give you all the glory in Jesus' name.

Come on, if you believe that, will you say amen?

Come on, don't say amen.

Shout amen.

Amen.

Charles, thank you so much.

Sir, you're amazing.

Can I ask you all a question?

Let me ask you just something real quick.

How many of y'all answer the phone when you don't know who's calling?

Can I get a wave of hands real quick?

Wow, there's actually quite a few hands in this room.

Wow, some of y'all are just out here living dangerously.

I'm not gonna lie.

You don't know who's calling you, you don't know why they're calling.

You don't know how they got your number, but you answer the phone anyways, my guy.

Now there's a whole nother group of people in this room, and these are my people.

Uh where are my people that don't answer the phone when you don't know who is calling?

That's what I'm talking about right here.

You see, um, if if your number is not saved in my phone, you better text me before you call me.

Amen.

But but but but but there's people who will call you multiple times trying to reach you.

This bothers me, church, because this they think that they can bypass the do not disturb by calling multiple times.

Which means when you call me multiple times, I'm starting to think, well, maybe there's an emergency, so I need to answer this phone, or there's somebody trying to call me, offering me an extended warranty on a car that I bought three cars ago.

It's gonna, it's a confusing time, but that this is where we are.

You don't have to answer the phone every time somebody even calls you anymore.

Isn't it interesting that we're living in a day and age where we have these little AI robots who will answer the phone for you?

They'll answer the phone and they'll say, uh, please state your name and the reason for why you called, and I'll see if the person is available.

Have you ever heard that before?

Church, we've gotten so bougie we don't even have to reject our own phone calls anymore.

We have a robot that will do it for us.

But here's the reality.

Let me ask you another question.

Have you ever had someone call you?

You saw the name on your caller ID, you answered the phone, but when you answer the phone, it wasn't the person you thought it was.

Have you ever answered the phone?

It was one of your homies, it was one of your boys, and you was like, What's up, bro?

But it was his wife.

You say, Hey, what's going on?

Man, these chiefs, though, and she goes, Oh, sorry, this is this is this is her his wife.

And then you have to change your voice and be all hawked on and be like, oh, hey.

And then you start, you know, looking at your phone, like, wait, did did he call me?

Did she call me?

Because the whole thing is you were expecting one conversation, but now that there's another person on the line, now we're having another conversation.

And while I was prepared to talk football with my homie, now I'm starting to wonder, am I in trouble?

Did my wife call you?

Because you thought who was calling you was somebody that you knew, but when you heard the voice, you realized you had the wrong person.

I'd like to set the sermon up for you here today.

I have to be dramatic sometimes.

You just gotta rock with me, amen.

And that brings us to our story here today because uh before we go any further, we need to talk about a man named Eli.

I want you to write that in your notes.

Everybody say Eli.

Eli was a priest.

This is significant.

You should write that down.

He was responsible for serving in the house of the Lord.

He knew what it meant to honor the Lord, but Eli, somebody say Eli.

Eli had a problem.

In fact, he had two problems, and they both shared his last name.

They were his sons.

His sons' names were Hophni and Phineas.

These were Eli's sons.

In fact, the Bible calls them scoundrels.

Mercy, Jesus.

You know, if the Bible calls you a scoundrel, you know that you are a scoundrel.

And and the Bible be direct sometimes because it needs to get our attention.

Now, I need you to understand something.

These were grown men, and they were priests also.

They had the title of priest, but they were not living like they knew the Lord.

They were supposed to be representing God, but they were uh serving themselves.

They were supposed to be serving the people, they were supposed to be honoring what was holy, but these brothers were straight up wilding out.

The Bible says that these men were taking offerings for themselves.

The Bible says they were also uh we got any kids in the room.

I'm trying to keep this PG.

Amen.

Let me just read what the Bible says.

Uh, the the Bible says that they were taking multiple women for themselves, they were sleeping with the women who were serving at the gate.

If you don't like what I said, take it up with uh the Bible.

You need to go read first Samuel chapter 2.

1 Samuel 2 · chapter mention

But here's the part that bothers me.

Eli, somebody say, Eli.

Eli knew about what his sons were doing.

He knew about Hapni and Phineas.

The Bible says that Eli heard about what his sons were doing, and to be fair, he did confront them.

He told them that what they were doing was wrong, he warned them about their sin, but they he failed to restrain or stop them from doing what they were doing.

I need all us to hear something real quick before I move any forward, because there's a difference between confronting sin and continuing to tolerate it.

Because here's the reality: what you keep excusing, you'll eventually start accepting.

That was so good, I'm gonna say it again.

I said, what you keep excusing, you'll eventually keep and start accepting.

You cannot love somebody so much that you start excusing what God calls sin.

Now, this is not a sin message, but since I brought it up, I'm gonna go ahead and talk about it.

Some of us know people who are out here living some sensational lives.

They might be sitting in your row, so don't look around, but they might actually be sitting in your seat.

Uh-oh.

Thank you, brother.

Eli, Eli, Eli.

Somebody say Eli.

Eli knew something was wrong.

He knew what his boys were doing.

He spoke about what was going wrong, but he allowed what they were doing to continue.

Now, all of that kept in mind.

I want you to see this, because this brings us to a young man named Samuel.

Everybody say Samuel.

Samuel, write this in your notes.

I want to read to you the story that led up to what we opened up with here today.

Turn with me in your Bibles.

Uh, 1 Samuel chapter 3.

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

I need you to know that Samuel is serving under Eli.

Let me say that again.

Samuel is serving under Eli.

Let me show you in the text.

1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 1 through 7.

1 Samuel 3:1–7

The Bible says that the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli.

And in those days, the word of the Lord was rare.

There were not many visions, the Bible says.

But one night, somebody say one night, one night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.

I wish I had time to work that, but I gotta move on.

The lamp of God had not yet gone out yet, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the ark of God was.

Wow.

And then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered.

He said, Here I am, and he ran to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me.

But Eli said, Boy, I didn't call you.

Go back and lay down.

So he went and laid down.

And again the Lord called Samuel.

And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me.

At this point, have you ever been woken up so many times that you look at that person?

He said, My son, Eli.

Said Eli, I did not call you, go back and lie down.

The Bible says in verse 7, now Samuel did not yet know the Lord.

The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

Let me pick it back up here, put a pen in that.

Now, church, I need you to see something in this particular passage.

Let's go back to verse 1 for just a minute, because verse 1 says something that if you just read past it, you'll read past it.

We have to be careful because the Bible says that in those days, the word of the Lord was rare.

That doesn't mean that the Lord wasn't speaking, it just means that it was rare.

Now the Bible doesn't say that God is not speaking altogether.

What I love about this is that uh uh in a season when the when the word of the Lord was rare, he was about to speak to a boy named Samuel.

And church, that brings me to something that I've been thinking about because we live in a generation that desperately wants to hear from God.

If I did a show of hands in this place here today and asked how many of you could use a word from the Lord here today, many of you would raise your hand.

And I'm not even just talking about young people, I'm talking about the older generation, I'm talking about the younger generation, all those under the age of 42.

Amen.

I'm talking about all of us because we want God to speak in our marriages, we want God to speak in our families, we want God to speak in our finances, we want God to speak into our futures and church.

I believe that that's a good desire, but can I help you today?

What if the problem isn't that God hasn't given you a word?

But what if the problem is that you haven't been reading the word?

What if we're so busy asking God to speak that we've neglected the word that he's already spoken?

We want direction, but we don't want to read his instruction.

We want discernment, but we won't spend time in the scriptures to get it.

We want God to reveal his word, but we won't open up his word.

Come on, church, don't get quiet on me.

I came here to preach to you today.

Because we'll spend hours scrolling through social media, won't we?

We will spend hours listening to a podcast, and then we'll have the audacity to tell somebody, well, I just don't have time to read the Bible.

I just don't have time to open up my word.

Somebody look at your neighbor and say, Oh, really?

Because the results have come in.

We have seen your phone time percentage, and the report, Lord Pulvich, says, You are a liar.

Because here's the here's here here's the reality.

You had time, you just didn't use your time wisely.

I'm talking to myself here today.

How are you gonna recognize what God sounds like if you don't know what God sounds like?

Do you see my question?

Church, we need to open up our Bibles.

Look at your neighbor and say, You need to open up your Bible.

You need to open up your Bibles because 2 Timothy 3 tells us that all scripture is God breathed.

We need to open up our scriptures because Hebrews 4 tells us that the word of the Lord is alive and active.

Church, the Bible is not just a book that is full of ancient stories.

This is the living, breathing word of God that still speaks to our lives today.

And if you want to know what God sounds like, then you need to get familiar with what he has said.

I'm gonna try to help you here today because we need to open up our Bibles.

Now, watch this.

Because here's what gets me about Samuel's story.

Samuel heard the Lord.

Stay with me.

Samuel, everybody say Samuel, heard the Lord, but he thought it was Eli.

Let me say it again because you missed it.

I said, in a time when the word of the Lord was rare, Samuel heard the word of the Lord, he heard the voice of God, but he thought that it was Eli.

He heard God, but he ran to a man.

Why?

Because Eli was so familiar to Samuel that Eli's voice was the only familiar voice in his life.

So when Samuel heard something that he didn't recognize, he ran to someone that he recognized.

Oh church, I'm just gonna go ahead and work this thing real quick.

When Samuel heard something unfamiliar, he ran to somebody familiar.

What am I trying to say to you, church?

Be careful with all the familiar voices in your life.

Many of us have a familiar voice in our life.

This is the person that we call.

We have so many voices that speak into our lives, but can I help you today?

There's a lot of voices that are in your life, and all they are are opinionated counsel instead of godly wisdom.

Somebody, somebody says something on a podcast, somebody says something, oh my god, on a video on a TikTok, and we believe that that word is for us, and don't let them be playing an organ in the video.

Makes it sound all kinds of anointed and spiritual.

Let me help you.

Not everybody who holds a microphone has a message from God.

And just because somebody has a YouTube platform doesn't mean they have biblical authority.

Everything that sounds spiritual ain't scriptural.

But the more familiar we become with the word of God, church, are you listening to me right now?

The more familiar we get with the word of God, the better equipped we are to recognize when something is getting twisted in the Bible.

Because you cannot build spiritual discernment and on somebody else's relationship with the Lord.

You've got to know the Lord for yourself.

As the next gen pastor of City Center Church, I need you to hear me this morning because I don't want to raise up another generation that just knows how to do church.

You can keep this for all you want.

You can take your little fog machine and your LED wall.

I don't need it.

I need to raise up and I want to raise up a generation that knows the God of the church.

Can you imagine a generation of young people who would seek the Lord first before they made a big decision?

Can you imagine a world where young men who do not let a culture define their character, but they would jump into the word of God and allow the scriptures to bring them conviction?

Can you imagine a world where young women wouldn't allow social media to determine their worth because they know what God has already said about their life?

Can you imagine a world where students were not just opening up their Bibles on Wednesday, but they're opening up their Bibles Monday morning too?

Because we don't need another generation that just knows what the preacher's voice sounds like.

We need a generation that knows what God's voice sounds like.

City Center Church, we've got to know the word of God for ourselves.

If you believe it, shout Amen.

1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 8 through 9.

1 Samuel 3:8–9

I can't move past this, so I just gotta stay in it.

Watch this.

1 Samuel chapter 3, 8 through 9.

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

Eli tells Samuel to go back and lie down.

I want you to write that in your notes.

Go back and lie down.

Eli says, go back and lie down.

In other words, go back, I'm about to say a cuss word and wait.

As Christians, we don't want to hear that word.

Don't leave me all up here by myself, City Center Church.

Some of y'all can't even wait for an Uber to show up.

But he says to go back and wait.

But what I want, what I love here is that I'm not just preaching that to you, I'm preaching that to me.

Because nobody knows.

Well, let me correct myself.

I know just like a lot of you that this year, this one right here, has been a year.

How many of y'all, if you could do 2026 over again, you wouldn't do it?

Come on, wave at me.

Just skip that one in my book that you read right about me.

It's so interesting because we're in October and we still have two whole months to go.

And if somebody walked up to me and asked me, hey, would you do this year over again?

I'm telling you right now, it is a resounding absolutely not.

Now, don't get me wrong, church.

I'm grateful.

I'm grateful.

I'm grateful what the Lord has taught me.

I'm grateful that He has still been working on my side.

I'm thankful that He has been faithful.

But if I'm real with y'all, I would trade this year in.

I wasn't here last Sunday, I missed y'all so much.

I wasn't here because I ended up getting sick again, found myself in urgent care, and they had the audacity to tell me I have pneumonia again.

Good God, all the mighty.

When she said it, I'll I rebuked her so many times.

I said, no, call it call it the flu or something.

It can't be pneumonia.

My poor left lung, y'all, y'all pray for it.

But I but I've been to Advent Health so many times this year.

It's almost like I walked in a few days ago and they didn't even ask me my name.

They just said, There's your room.

Go ahead and go back on in.

I I've dealt with things not only physically, but I've been dealing with the pressures of my own personal life.

The responsibilities of being a husband and a father, things that I need to carry.

I want to provide for my family.

And I don't say all that to give pity.

I'm not looking for anybody to look for sympathy.

I'm just telling you that this has been a year.

And I know I'm not the only one.

Because some of y'all walked into this room this morning, and it's been a year for you too.

Some of you have been dealing with sickness.

Some of you have been dealing with loss.

Some of you have been dealing with situations in your marriage or your family situations.

You've had financial pressure.

Everything's expensive.

And some of you, you've been trying to hold on.

You've been, man, you've been trying to hold on.

And and and and and nobody even knows how tired you really are.

And through it all, you've been praying.

You've been praying things like, Lord, I just I need you to speak right now.

I need to hear a word from the Lord.

When Pastor Kirk came up here and said that, I was like, Oh, that's my confirmation.

I see what you're trying to do here, Lord.

Because I can't tell you how many times I've been on my face, not asking God for any money.

I'm just asking God, I just need you to speak.

I need you to say something to me.

I need a direction in church.

That's where this passage has been challenging me all week because Eli doesn't just tell Samuel to go do a new thing.

He says, go back and lie down.

Go back and wait.

Go back to the place where you heard the call.

I've wrestled with this word all week.

You can ask my wife.

She's been asking, she asked me all the time.

Anytime I'm preparing how this word, usually I'm very excited about it.

And this time going around, I just uh I wrestled with it, I'm not gonna lie.

I pulled up this morning in the parking lot and I sat there and I just I just I just have you ever just sat in your car?

No, don't don't play with me.

I'm talking about you guys.

If somebody walked up and they saw you just staring into the abyss.

Don't look at the cameras over my door number five, because all you're gonna see is me, I'm barely in the parking lot.

But I carry so much uncertainty walking into this message here today because the reality is this when you've gone through testing trials, oftentimes you're hearing a voice speak to you.

But you run back to a familiar voice.

I can't tell you how many times I was on YouTube just scrolling, looking watching videos, listening to people preach, listening to podcasts, I've been guilty of it.

And the reality is this I need you and I, me and you, we need to be able to discern the difference between everybody's trying to talk into your life and what he's already spoken over your life.

I was reminded this morning as a walk-up just a call.

And the reality is this, many of you have a call as well.

When you hold this microphone up here, you still call your name.

And here I am preaching about Samuel.

Samuel boy, who the Bible says had not yet had a heard from the Lord yet.

This is his first time.

And so when he heard it, he did what he was always used to.

He went to the voice he knew.

He went to what was familiar.

And today I've just made it up in my mind.

Maybe I'm sp maybe this word was just for me.

I'm preaching all by myself here today.

I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm done looking for a familiar voice, and I'm seeking the voice that's already been spoken over me.

The word that is constant, the word that continues to speak.

The church, church, the question is today, he's speaking.

Are you listening?

Are you are you tuned in?

I tell my students all the time, I say, when you get into your car and you turn the radio on, and you're listening to the radio, and you turn your car off, stay with me.

Does the radio station stop talking?

No, you're just not tuned into the station.

JD, how do I get tuned in?

You need to open up your word.

We need to open up our Bibles, City Center Church.

We need to hear from the Lord.

Let me, let me, let me, let me.

Samuel has been Samuel has been running back and forth all night.

I wonder how many of y'all are tired of running back and forth.

He's been running back and forth.

And I wonder if there's anybody in here today that you're trying to figure out what's next.

You you love the Lord, you serve, you come to church, you're faithful, you're doing everything you know to do, but you're tired.

You're tired of running back and forth and you're and you're asking the Lord, where are you?

What am I supposed to do?

Church, I want to bring this home today because I can't get away from the fact that Eli told Samuel to go back and lie down.

And then he said something that I I want us to not miss.

He said, If he calls again, we throw verse 9 up there, verse 9, verse 8, 9 is fine.

If he calls again, Mercy Jesus, watch this.

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy.

Watch this.

So Eli told Samuel, go lie down, watch this, watch this.

And if he calls, somebody say, if, and if he calls you, this is what I want you to say.

Not when he speaks to you, if he speaks to you.

And I wonder what that moment must have felt like for Samuel.

Because I believe many of us are waiting for the Lord to speak again, and we feel just like Samuel did after the third time of being told to go back and lie down.

Because if we're real, if we're honest, many of us, like myself, are overthinking this thing.

Well, what if he doesn't speak again?

What if I missed my opportunity?

What if that was my moment?

What if I should have recognized him the first time, but I didn't?

Because let's be honest, this should have happened on call number one.

But here we are after the third call.

And some of us, we know what it's like to look back over our lives and say, Lord, I should have gotten it right the first time.

I should have obeyed the first time, I should have walked away from that relationship the first time, I should have forgiven that person the first time, I should have trusted your word the first time, but instead, I did it my way.

I followed my own feelings, I leaned on my own understanding, I listened to every other voice but yours in my life, and now I'm standing here wondering, Lord, did I miss my chance?

But can I show you something in scripture?

Throw up verse 10 for me first, Samuel chapter 3, verse 10.

What I love about this text it says the Lord, watch this, golly, came and stood.

The Lord came and stood there, the Spirit just revealed to me.

Samuel was laying there waiting on him, and now the Lord is standing waiting on Samuel.

Oh my God, the Lord came and stood there calling as the other times.

Watch this.

Let me let me not jump ahead.

And Samuel, after Samuel misunderstood the three times that he called, after Eli recognized, oh wait, that's the Lord's voice.

After Samuel went back and laid down, the Bible says that the Lord came and stood.

Watch this.

The God who called him the first time is the same God that still calls him the fourth time.

What are you trying to say, JD?

The first three calls didn't cancel out the fourth one.

And I wonder if there's somebody here this morning who's been going through the same thing, facing the same battle, praying about the same situation, waiting on the same answer.

And maybe you've been asking, Lord, why am I even still here?

But maybe today isn't about figuring out how to change everything around you.

Maybe today is about surrendering something within you.

Because you may not be able to change the situation.

You may not be able to uh uh uh change everything that is around you, but you can change how you respond to the Lord while you're there, and it all started with Samuel going back.

I want to be I want to be I want to be clear here.

I didn't say look back, I'm not talking about Lot's wife, I'm not talking about how Paul says I press on toward what's ahead.

That's not the type of back I'm looking back.

I'm talking about prodigal son back, I'm talking about leaving what you know, going to the unknown, and having a realization and coming to yourself and going back.

What kind of back am I talking about here today?

We need to go back to prayer, we need to go back to the word of God, we need to go back to obedience, we need to go back to the one who first loved us, back to the place where God last spoke to you.

So this morning, will you stand to your feet?

Help me, Lord.

Ah, what do you want me to do?

What do you want me to do?

This morning, I want to open up this altar.

And listen, this call might not be for you.

Please don't leave.

Please stay here with me for just a moment because I gotta close this out.

I want to open up these altars because you don't have to walk down an aisle to get God's attention.

He can see you right where you are, but sometimes you need to step out.

It's that step that represents the decision that we're making in our hearts, and for somebody in this room, that means coming forward.

Because while your feet are moving forward, watch this your heart is returning to the Father.

I'm asking church, if there's anyone here today that wants to respond to this invitation, listen to this.

If you're so busy that you've neglected your relationship with God, won't you come?

If you've been so distracted that you haven't made time for his word, won't you come?

If you've been so discouraged that you've stopped even praying to God, won't you come?

If you've been holding on to sin that you know, that you know you need to surrender, won't you come?

If you've been saying, Lord, I don't know what to do next, I don't know what step I'm supposed to take.

And today you're you're finally ready to say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening, won't you come?

We'll wait for you coming from the back, we'll wait for you, young person, we'll wait for you.

Because in a generation like Eli's, where he might not have heard what Samuel was saying, but he had had so much experience with God that he knew it was God speaking the whole time.

To a generation of Samuels that in this place you've not yet had an experience or an encounter with the Lord, you've not yet heard his voice.

So when you hear something from the Lord, it's confusing and you go back to a familiar place.

I believe that there's multiple generations in this room, but those two generations, I want to speak to you today.

Because you're both important.

We need young Samuels who are seeking the heart of the Father, but we also need Elias who have been there, done that.

In fact, they wrote a book about it with God, and they know, hey, young person, that's God speaking, that sounds like God.

Because in this moment, listen to me, I'm gonna pray for you in just a moment.

But I need to give you the end of this story.

Many of us are wanting God to speak.

I want him to speak.

But I also need you to be prepared for what he might say.

Because Samuel's first revelation of the Lord was God telling him about what he was about to do to Eli's family.

Eli's family messed up, and he's gonna take out the whole family.

That was Samuel's first revelation from the Lord was a word about Eli.

Watch this.

But it was up to Samuel to be obedient with that word.

Eli comes to Samuel after that next day and goes, Tell me everything the Lord has said.

Samuel could have been like many of us.

Oh no, he didn't say nothing.

No, he wasn't talking about you.

I want to be like the Samuel in this story.

Because the word of God, it's meant to be used to correct you, to rebuke you, to strengthen you.

And oftentimes you don't like what the Lord's word is saying to you because it's correcting you, it's it's shaping you, it's molding you.

And as I look into this altar before I pray for you, I want you to know this.

Hear me, church.

God's word has a way.

It can either cut you or prune you.

Can I talk about it?

Sometimes it's gonna cut you and it's gonna hurt.

But sometimes it's gonna shape and prune and mold you.

Guess what?

That's also gonna hurt too.

I need to get into my word.

We need to get into our word.

If you want to hear from the Lord, I don't have a magic equation for you, church.

If you go home and spin around seven times and stand on one leg, yeah, I all I have is this as I close.

This is it.

I said, I said everything for the last 40 minutes to say this one thing.

You ready?

If you want to hear from the Lord, Eli said, Go back.

Lie down and wait.

Every head bowed, every eye closed in this place here today.

I believe that many of you are waiting for the Lord to speak.

You're wondering, did I miss my encounter?

Did I miss what the Lord was saying to me?

I believe there's even people in here you know the Lord was speaking to you, but you didn't like what you heard, so you ignored it.

I believe there's people in here today who have been hearing things that they are not, they're just unsure.

Is that the Lord or is it the world?

Let me help you.

If it aligns with Scripture, it is the Word of God.

And if it contradicts what He said, it is of the world.

So I just want to pray for everybody that's standing here.

I want to pray for those that had a desire to come but simply didn't come down.

I want to pray for those that are watching online right now.

Father, we just come before you now.

Will you lift your hands towards heaven?

Thanking you for your blessings, thanking you for your word, thank you for your love, thank you for your grace and mercy.

Thank you for bringing us here today.

Thank you for this word found in 1 Samuel chapter 3.

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

I thank you for these beautiful men and women who you've brought here today.

I thank you for everybody that's here under the sound of my voice or watching online.

I thank you, Father, that you are still speaking, that your word is still alive and active.

I thank you that that that if we're in the right place with the right heart posture, God, that you'll speak to us.

So, Father, I pray that you'll encourage every single person under the sound of my voice here today to go back to the last place that you spoke to them.

Go back to the place that they heard from God, to go back, not to go back into an old way of life, not to go back to the place where they shouldn't be.

No, go back to the to the time where you last spoke to them and that they'll open up their mouths and say, Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.

That we'll have the spiritual guidance and wisdom to not only listen to what the Lord is saying, but to be obedient to what he has said.

Father, I pray that you'll bless every step we take and every move we make.

I'm told that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

I'm told that you're a good shepherd, that you're leading me beside still waters, that you are restoring my natural soul.

I'm praying for those who have been slick, uh sick, and afflicted here, there, and everywhere.

I'm reminded that by your stripes, Jesus, we are healed.

I speak to every single infection, every single infirmity, every single disease, and I speak to it now.

I command it to get in alignment with the will of God, with the word of God, I speak to your body right now.

I speak to pneumonia, I speak to the flu, I speak to COVID, I speak to cancer, I speak to herniated disc, I speak to upcoming surgery, I speak to it.

If God be for me, and he is, who or what could be against me?

Church, I'm encouraging you really lift your hands one more time.

I encourage you to look to the hills from which cometh your help, your help.

It only comes from one place.

So, in a world that's been loud, Father, I pray for these people, Lord, that the word of God will diminish in silence the sounds that are happening around them so that way you can speak loudly and boldly in them.

I pray for anybody who has seen themselves as less than, not more than enough.

I'm praying for those that have been battling with anxiety and depression, thoughts of suicide or loneliness.

We take those thoughts captive right now, Father, and we make them obedient to the word of God.

We make them obedient to Christ.

We take that thought and we tell it to go sit down.

Because we've been put here for such a time as this.

So we give you all the glory for what you're doing and more.

In the mighty Majesty's name of Jesus, we pray.

Come on, if you believe it, we say amen.

Come on, can we celebrate the Lord?

Can you make some noise for Jesus?

In this place.

Thank you for joining us today.

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