Hearing God's Voice | Pastor Kelly | The Calling Church

Hi, calling family.

This is Pastor Michael, and welcome to our church podcast.

I'm so grateful for you tuning in today, and I believe today's message is gonna strengthen your faith in Jesus.

Today we're gonna kind of pick up what I spoke on last week.

So here's the way I started last week's service if you weren't here.

Would you like to be successful in life?

Okay.

Come on, somebody.

Yes, we all deep down inside desire success.

You know what success looks like when uh in a financial situation where you've got more than enough coming in, where you're being promoted at work, you've got a good job, and God is really providing for you and your family.

Relational success, where things are going well in all of the different relationships in your life with your spouse, with your kids, with your parents, your siblings, uh, friends, etc.

Um, by the way, last night I went to just down the road here in Monrovia, my 50th high school reunion.

Isn't that kind of cool?

So, anyways, yes, I know I'm that old.

Dinosaurs were walking around, and anyways, a Royal High School class of 1976.

But it was amazing to me last night just to rekindle some of those friendships that I had 50 years ago and see some of the people that uh yeah, uh impacted my life that you know we've grown apart and haven't stayed in touch and now we reconnected.

So successful relationships.

But with all of these things in life, we have to realize that God never promises that our life is gonna be pain-free or problem-free.

Right?

Did you know that?

That life in this manner wasn't the way God created it.

God created it beautiful and peaceful and loving in relationship in the Garden of Eden.

And then mankind through Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed, and because of that, now our world is broken and we are living in this kind of in-between time, if you will.

Like the middle of a story.

Like if you pick up uh, yeah, uh any kind of heroic story.

Recently, my wife and I, we just watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

We have it on DVD.

Remember those movies?

Anyways, if you watch the second one by itself, it's like, okay, well, they win that battle, but now what?

Because it's the end of the story that you see the final victory in the third movie.

My point is this is that we have some, a significant amount, in fact, of the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the full victory is yet to come.

And so that is why life is hard.

That is why life is painful.

And as I spoke on last week, just by way of review, there's really three things that cause pain in life.

It's our own choices, because we make mistakes and make poor decisions, but it's also the choices of others that impact us and create a lot of emotional or even physical pain.

And then we live in a broken world.

But in the midst of this, what does God promise?

Success.

And that success comes, especially in painful things, painful times, with his comfort and then his promise, just as we sang earlier today, that he's gonna work all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

And he's gonna use those trials and the challenges in life to help you grow stronger and closer to Jesus.

Can I hear an amen on this?

All right.

And then last week, what I also did is I mentioned that there were three powerful gifts that God has given us to then equip us, or how do I want to say it, empower us, maybe is a better word, to be successful.

Anybody remember what they were?

This is review.

Anybody remember one of the three?

Come on, make the pastor feel good.

Yes, sir.

His word, amen.

Give that brother a hand.

That's right.

Okay, anybody remember the second one?

His spirit and the third one, I know.

Come on.

Every pastor knows that a half an hour after the sermon's over, you all forget what we say, anyways, right?

We all know that.

It's okay.

By the way, I would encourage you to uh take a look at last week's um video.

Actually, it didn't come out on video audio, but you can find it on the YouTube channel or the uh calling podcast.

So I think it was really a powerful word that the Lord gave me for all of us.

But it's his word, his spirit, and the third gift is his people.

Okay?

And these three things then work together to give us the tools and the um strength and the support and the wisdom that we need to make to be overcomers in life.

So today, as we looked at his word last week, I want to pick up on this and we're gonna talk about his spirit.

Okay?

So, did you know that God has a gift for you called the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is the is the third person of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Um, he is co-equal with God, but he is God in a different form.

And when Jesus was here, this is what he taught us about the Spirit.

So this is found in John chapter 16.

John 16 · chapter mention

He says, Now I am going to him who sent me.

This is Jesus speaking.

He says, He's gonna go be with the Father.

None of you ask me, where are you going?

Rather, you're filled with grief, because I have said these things.

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.

Unless I go away, the advocate, which is what he's the word he's using for the Holy Spirit, will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you.

When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.

Some translations, by the way, of that verse says that he will convict the world regarding sin and righteousness and judgment.

And then verse 13, but when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.

So this is what we need to open our minds around.

Okay?

The fact that God has given us his word, but he's given us his spirit to do two things: to guide us and then correct us.

All right?

How many of you know that you don't know what to do with your life, do you?

Would you agree with me?

I certainly don't.

I need help, and I need it from a source of wisdom that is way beyond me.

Now we can go to God's word and God will speak to us.

The Holy Spirit will take God's word and speak to us through it.

So I don't want to discount that.

But what about those situations where we, even though there's a principle in the Bible, you have a specific question.

Like, God, should I take this job?

Well, where's that in the Bible?

How are you gonna know what to do if it's just the Bible?

You see what I'm saying?

Or how about this one?

God, should I date this person?

Ooh, now we're getting real, aren't we?

Any singles in the house here today?

No, don't answer that.

All right.

Or how about this one?

God, should I marry this person?

You see, it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that God wants to give you specific, clear guidance that will guide you through each and every challenge you face in life.

And then when you make bad choices, come on, somebody, you ever make a bad choice?

Yeah, we all do.

What does he do?

He says, uh-uh, Kelly, slapping me upside the head a little bit, convicts me, makes me realize that what I just did was wrong.

I feel guilty.

By the way, did you know that guilt is not a bad thing?

A lot of psychology out there says that will, we need to get rid of guilt.

I disagree.

Shame and condemnation is bad, but guilt is not, and I'll tell you why.

So a little tangent here that I think will really help you.

See, when we feel bad because we've done something wrong, something hurtful maybe to another person, okay?

So we feel guilty for it.

So guilt says, I did something wrong.

Shame says, or I did something bad.

Shame and condemnation, which is what the devil wants to bring, is where you say, I am bad.

You are not bad, but you did something that was bad.

You see the difference?

Because with shame and condemnation, what do you do with that?

You ask God to heal your heart, deliver you from it, because it's of the devil.

Romans 8:1.

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

But guilt?

What do we do with guilt?

We bring it to the cross.

We say, Jesus, I have sinned.

I failed.

Please forgive me.

And what does it say in 1 John 1 9?

That is we if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

So, you see the difference?

So, when we mess up, when we get off track, when we make a poor choice, when we do something selfish, something hurtful, even though we don't mean it.

Okay, come on, somebody, let's be real.

In my marriage coaching, I mean, these couples that come to me for help, they love each other, but yet they do dumb stuff to hurt each other.

So it's like, okay, we got we gotta talk about all of this.

And what do you need to do?

You need to confess it, you need to confront it, you need to apologize, you need to repent of it.

And as they begin that process, God brings reconciliation back into their relationship.

You see how this all works?

So the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and feeling guilty is part of that process.

But then out of that, what do we do?

See, conviction drives us to Jesus, condemnation drives us away from him.

That's what I'm trying to say.

So we come, we confess, we're forgiven, and then maybe we need to go and apologize and ask the person we hurt to forgive us, and then we're reconciled.

See how it all works together.

This is the role of the Holy Spirit to lead us and to correct us.

But remember this that it's all because we have a relationship with God.

Did you know that being a follower of Jesus is not a religion?

Even Christianity, in its track in its truest sense, is not a religion.

Now I know it is technically, and I don't mind people using that word religion, but we are not in a religion.

We are in a relationship.

A relationship.

Think about that.

That the God who spoke and created everything that we see in our world today loves you and knows you better than you know yourself and wants to get into the intimate details of your life and show you how to be successful.

Why?

Because he cares for you.

And he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross so that we could have eternal life and have forgiveness of our sin and a relationship with our loving Heavenly Father.

Now give the Lord a hand.

All right.

Now, in any relationship, you want to know what the common denominator, the absolute minimum essential thing you gotta have in order to have a relationship.

Anybody want to guess?

Starts with the word C.

Communication, exactly.

When couples call me up, I'm like, hey, tell me what's going on.

Almost always they said, Well, we need help with our communication.

Almost always.

Okay, why did they say that?

Because when communication breaks down, everything else breaks down.

And then you start doing dumb stuff and hurting each other and anger, and anyways, on and on it goes.

So we are in a relationship with a loving Heavenly Father.

That relationship demands, if you want to have a good relationship, communication.

And what is the key?

What?

What's the word I'm looking for?

What is the key ingredient that makes communication work?

And I'll give you a hint.

It's not talking, it's listening, exactly.

So, husband, wife, parent, child, whatever, even boss and employee, if you want to have a good relationship, the best thing to do is learn how to be a good listener.

Because out of that listening, then comes clear communication, and because they're listening to you, you have the opportunity to speak.

You're not just gonna be silent.

But here's what God wants to invite us into in a relationship with Him is a place of listening.

That day by day, moment by moment, in big questions, like God, what do I do?

Do I take this job?

Do I go to this school?

Do I marry this person?

Yes, the big issues, but how about this?

He wants to speak to you spontaneously throughout your day to guide you and bless you.

Amen?

So we need to learn how to tune in and hear God's voice.

And a lot of people that I meet, and you know, when you talk about um prayer, they're okay with that.

Okay, prayer, yeah, talking to God.

But then when I talk about, well, how are you doing on listening to God?

And they're looking at me like I'm crazy.

You know, in fact, people in the world, I mentioned this last week, right?

You say, Well, I'm gonna go pray.

I'm gonna go talk to God.

They're okay with that.

But then when you tell people, and God is gonna talk to me, whoa, they look at you like you're nuts because they don't understand that.

But this, my friends, is normal Christianity, normal relationship with God, where we are speaking to him and he is speaking to us.

In fact, it says in um, I think it's 1 Thessalonians.

I need to look this one up.

I don't I don't have the reference for you off the top of my head.

But the apostle Paul says, pray continually.

Well, what is that?

Am I supposed to go throughout my day nonstop talking to God?

No.

I'm supposed to be in an attitude of listening and letting God speak to me.

That's how we pray continually.

Does this make sense?

Are you guys with me so far?

So I want to break it down about how can we listen to God more effectively?

How can we hear God's voice?

So, whether or not this is part of your Christian uh experience, your relationship with the Lord, or maybe this is something uh that you do a lot, I want you to just kind of open your heart to consider.

I want to give you some tips on how you can get better at this.

Okay?

So, here do we here we go.

Um, by the way, a couple of verses before I jump into the house.

John 10, 27, Jesus said, My sheep listen to my voice.

He says, He's the good shepherd that leads his sheep, and we listen to his voice.

Romans 8.14 says, For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Now, we do need to realize, especially if this is kind of new to you, that God doesn't speak to us through our natural ears.

He speaks to us through or into, you might say, our spirit.

Okay, now let me explain.

Recognize that God created us with three parts.

We are a spirit being who has a soul, that's your mind, your will, your emotions, your personality, and you live in a body.

In fact, when I do funerals, I got one coming up this Friday.

What I talk about is the fact that the only thing that's died is the body that this person lived in.

Why?

Because the real you, the real me, we're gonna leave this earthly body.

God is gonna give us a heavenly body and we're gonna go to heaven.

But you're still gonna be more, and I think you're gonna be more alive in heaven than you are here.

So your spirit doesn't die and your soul doesn't die, it's just the body you live in.

Are you with me?

Okay, so God speaks because he's a spirit being, he speaks to our spirit.

But what does it feel like?

What does it look like?

How do we experience it?

Well, the way I would describe it to you is this it's a thought, it's an impression.

Or how about this word?

It's a prompt.

Now, how many of you guys are into AI?

Well, don't worry, if you are.

But if you use any of those AI tools that are out there, what do they tell you to do?

You've got to put in a prompt.

In other words, you've got to tell the thing what you want it to do or answer or whatever your question is, that kind of thing.

Well, the Holy Spirit then prompts us.

But what does it look like?

It feels like it's a thought or an impression.

Or maybe you might even use the word feeling.

But I don't like really using that word because then it's like, well, I kind of feel like this, kind of feel like don't.

No, no, no.

It's a bit stronger than your natural mind or your natural feelings.

Okay?

And the more you experience or invite God to speak to you, the better at hearing his voice and responding obediently is going to um, you're gonna get better at doing this.

It's kind of something that God invites us to learn and get better at as we follow him and serve him.

All right, are you guys with me so far?

Okay, so let me give you four little tips, if you will.

And uh, I've taught this uh little outline before, so this might sound familiar to a few of you guys.

Um, but I'm gonna use A, B, C, and D.

Okay?

A, B, C's, and D's on how to hear God's voice.

Are you ready?

All right, A stands for ask.

If you want to hear God's voice, you need to ask Him to speak to you.

Now, like I said earlier, there's kind of two types of ways you do that.

One is with a specific question.

God, tell me what to do.

James 1, 5 says it this way: it says, if any of you lack wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Now, wisdom is knowing what to do.

Knowledge is just information.

Wisdom, though, is now, okay, here's what I need to do.

And how many of you guys have been in situations where it's like, I don't know what to do?

That's why we come to the Lord and we say, God, show me.

And there have been critical times in my life where I've cried out to the Lord with just that prayer.

In fact, I remember one, I was just in tears earlier thinking about how powerful this was.

Because as I look back on these moments, I can see that they were one of those um what, turning point kind of thing.

You know, where you come to a fork in the road and I chose one path instead of another.

And if I'd have chosen the other path, my life today would look completely different than it actually does.

One of those times was when my marriage was in significant trouble.

It was about 10 years ago.

And I'll never forget, my wife and I, you know, you talk about we're not on the same page.

We were so divided, we weren't even reading from the same book.

Okay?

I mean, and it was bad, it was ugly.

There was a lot of anger, there was a lot of separate uh distance, there was a lot, it was just, I didn't think we're gonna make it, honestly.

And I'm crying out to the Lord and I'm saying, God, heal my marriage.

And then I started saying, God, show me what to do.

And here's what God told me.

And it didn't happen all at once, and this was over a period of time, but I felt convicted a whole remember the Holy Spirit corrects us when we get off track.

Here's what God spoke to me.

He said, Stop trying to change your wife.

Because here's what I was doing I was praying, saying, God, would you please change my wife?

Right?

And God goes, No, wrong prayer.

Poo, boo, poo, slap you upside the head, Kelly.

That's not, and I laugh now at the arrogance of that, but that's where I was at.

Why?

Because we all kind of get caught up in our own stuff and we can't figure out what's really true, and that's why we need God.

And here's what God showed me to do He said, Stop praying for me to change.

Your wife and start asking me to change you.

Change me, God.

Show me how to be a better husband.

And as I began to pray that, what the Lord convicted me of is that I had failed to listen and understand my wife's point of view.

So it was a complete turnaround.

And let me tell you, folks, it changed our relationship.

Now, 10 years later, well, actually, September 26th.

So what is that?

Three weeks ago?

We celebrated 39 years of being married.

But in that moment, 10, 12, whatever it was, years ago, once again, fork in the road.

What are you gonna go?

What are you gonna do?

I chose to cry out to God and invite him and ask him to come and guide me.

And when I did, and then started following the leading of the Holy Spirit, it changed everything.

And that, my friends, is how we can be successful in life.

It's by listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

All right, so the first step is to ask.

So that's A.

And by the way, um, the other thing to ask for is to ask God, not just what to do in this situation kind of thing, where you're you're in a troubled or challenging situation.

I would encourage you to start asking God to speak to you throughout the day.

Just surprise me.

God lead me, show me.

I remember one time I was looking all over the place for a certain pair of shoes.

I got any shoe people in here?

Anyone love shoes?

Some people do.

I mean, they get a, you know, they got like a thousand pairs of shoes in their closet.

Anyways, I was looking for this one pair of shoes, and I was never forget.

I was driving down the 10th freeway, and God spoke to me.

He said, pull off the freeway and go look at Big Five.

There it was on Azusa Avenue, right there.

So I went into Big Five, and guess what?

Not only did they have that kind of shoe that I was looking for, they had it in my size, which is a miracle in and of itself.

No, and not that I have weird feet, but, anyways, sometimes big, well, and never mind, I don't want to make a comment on big five in their inventory, but still, they had it in my size.

And then get this.

It was on sale.

So, what is that all about?

Is God saying, Kelly, I care about you?

You want some shoes?

Hey, let me show you how to get a great deal on it.

Come on, somebody, this is the kind of God we serve.

He loves you, he cares about you, he wants to lead you and guide you.

If you're praying for a job, God is gonna speak to you and show you what to do and how to get that job.

I mean, you might be just listening to him and and or just kind of going throughout your day, and all of a sudden you get this thought hey, call your friend John.

You're like, why?

I don't need to call John.

What do I call John for?

And yet, this thing in your heart just says, call John, call John, call John.

It's persistent.

Anybody with me ever experienced this?

Yeah.

And what happens?

You call up John, and he's like, Oh, dude, man, I'm so glad you called.

Are you still looking for a job?

Yeah.

Well, guess what?

We're hiring today.

Get over here, put in the app, come talk to this guy, go online, whatever the deal is to get that application.

But that, my friends, is how God is gonna meet your needs.

He's gonna lead you practically to bless you.

Okay, now that was pretty good stuff.

I like that story.

Did you guys like that story?

That's what God wants to do.

Okay, so we need to A, we need to ask God to lead us and to guide us and then to interrupt us during the day.

Oh, how about this one?

So, we we kind of changed this because now we do it a little differently.

But every year, the biggest challenge that I faced was Christmas.

Anyone want to guess what it was?

What to buy for my wife?

Right?

Anyone relate to that?

No?

Okay.

Husbands, all the husbands here are like, oh man, I never know.

Because, like, it's the only job we have, right?

Because my wife, she buys for all the kids, she buys for everybody else.

What is my job?

Buy something for her.

I'm like, ah, what do I do?

So I would take it to the Lord.

God, show me what to buy my wife for Christmas.

And why wait on the Lord?

And God would show up and give me direction.

He'd give me ideas.

I'm just telling you, guys, this is practical.

This works.

We're talking about how to be successful.

Allow God to lead you, but you have to first put yourself in a position of inviting him in.

That's why we need to ask.

God help me.

Stop, let go of this.

I can figure it out on my own.

Let go on this if I got this, I got this covered.

You don't.

Right?

Be honest.

And admit that you need some help.

And then ask God to lead you and guide you by his Holy Spirit.

Alright, so A stands for ask.

B is believe.

All right, now here's the challenge.

Here's what it says in James 1.

So I read to you verse 5.

Let me hear uh read the next verse.

James 1, 6.

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind.

That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Okay, so you're gonna ask.

Second step, A B, B stands for belief.

Alright?

So here's the thing.

How do I, this is the question that we all struggle with if we're being honest.

Well, how do I know that the thought that I had is from God and not just because I had pizza last night for dinner?

Right?

Okay?

Anyone relate to this?

Okay.

So what do what we do, and there's some tests that I'm gonna give you when we get to the letter D.

So don't worry about that.

But I want to encourage you to expect God to speak.

That's where belief comes in.

So another word for belief is the word faith.

And another word for faith, or how do we show faith, is we expect God to answer our prayer.

So if you've come to me and you say, Pastor Kelly, pray for me, I need a job.

I'm gonna pray, and then what do you expect to happen after I pray?

If you expect God to give you a job, that's called faith.

See, this isn't hard, this is not rocket science.

All right?

So, in the same way, when you come and say, God, speak to me.

I need some help, I need to know what to do, or guide me throughout my day.

I want to encourage you to start expecting God to speak.

And then when he does, don't play the game of is this God or is this me?

Because if you do, you're probably gonna talk yourself out of what the Lord is trying to tell you.

So here's a great thing to do.

I'll do this quite frequently, actually.

I journal, all right?

And here's how it works: the first part of the journal entry, and I I do it on my laptop now, or my iPad, or sometimes even my phone, but you can do it on a piece of paper or a book or whatever you want to do, okay?

Whatever you like.

But you talk about, you tell God, here's what's going on.

Now, He already knows, right?

But it's really good for us to go through that process of expressing our need.

Here's what's happening, here's my fears, here's my worries, I don't know what to do.

God, I need your help, you know, here's the whole situation.

You lay that out.

And then the next thing you write is this show me what to do.

Or a better way to put that would be tell me what you have to say about this situation.

And then just start writing out every single thing that comes to your mind.

Now it might be, okay, God, what do you say about the situation?

God may say, I love you.

I'm with you, I'm gonna show you what to do.

Don't worry, don't be afraid.

It might start out like that, but as you just listen to the Holy Spirit, just write down these things and then trust and expect God to get more specific about what you need to do.

And as you do, it's gonna guide you and show you the path that God has for you to get out of that um mess that you're in.

And by the way, if you don't hear anything specific, continue to thank God for speaking to you and then repeat this over and over again, maybe over a course of several days, as you continue waiting on the Lord and asking him to speak to you, he will.

But trust and expect that God is speaking.

Now, if God tells you, if you're having financial problems and he tells you go rob a bank, no.

Okay, that's not from the Lord.

Okay, so use some common sense, but allow the Holy Spirit to speak.

But what I want you to just encourage you to do is expect God to speak to you.

All right, A, B, C, confess.

All right, now what do we need to confess?

We need to confess our sin, because that can mess up our communication with God too.

So if there's undealt with sin in your life, you did something, you disobeyed, and you're resisting God and the Holy Spirit, and you're just kind of walking in disobedience.

Well, you know what?

Go to the Lord and say, you know, I surrender.

I'm gonna do what you tell me to do.

Please forgive me of my sins.

So deal with that sin.

But the second thing to we can confess is our faith.

We can confess our faith.

And the way you do this is to thank God for speaking to you, even before he does.

Mark 11, 24, Jesus taught this.

He said, Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Well, the way we express that belief is by thanking God for it before we see it.

Okay?

So I want to encourage you.

You're praying, you're saying, God, what should I do?

I'm asking God to lead me, guide me, and you're writing stuff down, you're expecting him to speak.

What do you do?

You say, Thank you, Lord, for speaking.

And let that be your confession of faith.

And that's going to open up your heart to receive.

Now, the last one is D, which is do.

Do what God tells you to do.

Now, let me give you some guidelines so you don't make stupid mistakes in trying to hear from God.

But the first guideline is this don't, I don't want to say this.

It's okay if you get it wrong.

How about that?

Right?

So, I remember one time, oh well, two two two quick stories.

So, talking about how God just kind of interrupts our day.

Oftentimes He'll do this in my life, and I think he wants to do it in your life too, so that you can be a blessing to somebody.

So I remember one time going into Target and I saw this lady sitting on the bench by the front door, just outside in the parking lot.

And I'm walking in, I see this lady, and I go inside and get whatever I need.

And, you know, something just kind of registered my mind.

There's a lady on that bench.

Oh, okay, whatever.

And then I buy my stuff, I'm coming back out, and the lady's still at the bench, and something registers in my heart again.

So now I walk out to my car and I put my stuff in the car, and the Lord says, uh-uh, excuse me, knock, knock.

Hey Kelly, there's a lady on that bench.

Okay, God, so what?

Well, the reason I'm showing her to you is because I want you to go talk with her and pray for her.

So I put my stuff in the car and I go over and I'm thinking, okay, how am I gonna start this conversation?

So I'm like, well, you know, I don't want to be weird, but I'm just gonna go for it.

So I sit down, respectful distance, you know, and and and I just said, hey, how you doing?

My name's Kelly, I'm a pastor, and um, I'm wondering if I can pray for you today.

And her eyes just like shot open like huge, her mouth drops open, and she's like, I can't believe it.

This is amazing.

I'm like, what is?

Well, I'm a Christian, and I'm really going through a hard time right now, and I've been sitting here on this bench praying and saying, God, I need help.

God, I need to talk to a pastor.

God, I need a pastor to pray for me.

And five minutes later, there I was.

How cool is that, right?

Can you imagine the impact that that made on her life and on mine?

So I prayed, and you know, I'm sure God met her need.

Okay, so my point in telling you that story is that there was another time I went to the dry cleaners and I felt the same thing.

And when I asked this lady that was working at the dry cleaners, I said, Hey, can I pray for you?

She said, No.

Like, I'm good, no.

And I went, uh-oh.

Well, I guess I didn't hear from God that time.

My point is that it's not, we are imperfect beings.

All right?

Our ability to hear from God is still being developed.

So if you get it wrong, don't worry about it.

Just, hey, the more I'm gonna step out in faith and do what God tells me to do, the better at this I'm gonna get.

Does this make any sense to anybody?

See what I'm saying?

We gotta be afraid.

I'm sorry, we've gotta let go of our fear of getting it wrong in order to grow, and you'll start seeing that your ability to hear from God and get it right is gonna get stronger.

Can I hear an amen on that?

All right.

Now, obviously, some guidelines, some guardrails.

Let me put it there.

Is it biblical?

What you sense God telling you to do.

Is it in the Bible?

Is it hurtful in any way?

Then it's not from God.

Is it sinful?

Then it's definitely not from God, right?

So those are some guidelines.

Now, here's another guideline as well.

More in the situation of kind of like a big decision.

Ask God to give you confirmation.

Okay?

Ask God to give you confirmation.

What is that?

It is then his um, how would I describe it?

He says, He's gonna show you that the path that you're on is really from him.

So let me give you an example of how confirmation works.

Uh, years ago, before I went on staff as a pastor, um, I led a mission team from our church, and we were in Europe uh traveling around doing some different things in some different countries, and we were in Amsterdam, and while I was there in Amsterdam, the Lord spoke to me to quit my job and to come back to that missions organization, an organization called Youth of the Mission, and to join their staff.

Okay, so I was gonna, you know, move away and buy a one-way ticket.

I'm moving to Europe, I'm gonna serve the Lord as a missionary, work with this organization in the city of Amsterdam.

So, I'm like, all right, God, is this really from you?

Right?

Kind of a big decision, would you agree?

I wasn't married yet, so it was just me and you know, hearing from the Lord what what God had for me.

And I said, Okay, well, God, if this is really from you, I got a couple of questions to ask.

I got some favors I want to ask.

This is how I speak to God.

And maybe you ought to try it sometime.

I said, you know, I owe about a thousand dollars on my student loan.

Would you please pay that off?

Right?

If this is really from you, would you pay off my student loan?

Secondly, God, I'm gonna have to raise my monthly support.

And, you know, they gave me a number of here's how much you gotta raise, and so talk to your church and talk to a bunch of friends and get people to raise your monthly support so that you can come and be on staff.

That's how the missionary thing worked.

So, Lord, I need to raise the funds to do this.

Oh, yeah.

Can I have a new guitar?

That's what I asked.

Okay, I kid you not.

We fly from Amsterdam to LAX.

I get off the plane, and there's a bunch of people, there was a team of us, and there's a bunch of people from the church greeting us, families, stuff like that.

And a friend walks up to me and hands me a check and says, Kelly, the Lord spoke to me and told me to give this to you.

And I open the check and it was for a thousand dollars.

True story.

Now, raise the support.

What happened next?

Two months, or no, a month later, fully funded, had all the money coming in and promised, and everything was there.

Took me about, actually, it was less than that, it was about two weeks, and all of the support came in.

And then another guy called me up and said, Hey Kelly, the Lord just spoke to me to buy you a new guitar.

I am not kidding, you guys.

That's what God does to confirm.

But we've got to be bold enough to ask him, right?

So, if you have a big decision, yeah, ask the Lord to confirm it, to show you that it's right.

Now, here's another thing you can do for confirmation.

Here's a great this is one of the things I teach singles who want to get married, who are praying about to should I marry this person or not.

Ask your friends and family, is this person gonna be a good person, you know, somebody for me to marry?

Is this gonna be a good wife for me or a good husband for me?

So, friends and family, spiritual leaders, get their input on the decision.

Before I proposed to my wife, I actually fasted and prayed for a week because I wanted to make sure that God was really in this thing.

And like I said earlier, it turned out pretty good, 39 years so far.

So, my point is that you ask the Lord to confirm.

And then you can throw out things like, hey, would you do this or do that?

And there's a biblical story, the book of Judges, there's a guy named Gideon.

Maybe you heard this story.

When God told him to raise an army and go fight the enemies of Israel, he said, Okay, God, if you're really in this, remember this story?

He said, I'm gonna put this lamb skin, this fleece, on the ground overnight.

Tomorrow morning when I come out, make the lamb skin wet and the ground dry.

Or maybe it's the other way around.

Anyways, so that's what happened.

And then he reversed it and he said, Okay, tomorrow, make the ground, wait.

Which what did I say?

Make the lambskin dry and the ground wet, and then make the ground dry and the lambskin wet.

That's the way it went.

Okay, and God did it.

So we can come and we can say, we can give God some, hey, if you're really in this, you know, would you do these things to show me that this is the confirmation?

But the bottom line, though, is that at some point you need to step out in faith and do what God tells you to do.

And when you do, you're gonna see that he's gonna be there to bless you and guide you.

See how this all works, guys.

He wants you to be successful, he wants to fill you with the power of the Holy Spirit, he wants to have an ongoing conversation with you throughout the day to lead you to the blessings that he has for you.

You can do this at work.

I mean, if you're facing a work challenge and you don't know what to do, pray.

Ask God to show you, give me the solution, show me how to get this problem solved with the sales or the marketing or whatever your job entails.

See what I'm saying?

In your relationships, absolutely pray and ask God to guide you.

If you're married, show me how to be a better husband, show me how to be a better wife.

Parenting, yeah.

How about you need some wisdom in that area, right?

Yeah, show me how to help this, my son or help my daughter through the situation that they have in school.

And as we invite God to come into our lives to guide us, guess what, my friends?

He is gonna show up.

And you know why?

It's because he loves you.

Absolutely.

And I want you to see that the guidance of the Holy Spirit is just as much a demonstration of his love as when Jesus died on the cross for you.

Oh, come on, somebody.

Let's give the Lord some praise for that.

All right, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the guidance of your Holy Spirit and the fact that you want to speak to us and to lead us into all truth.

You want to bless us and use us to be a blessing, that we might have those experiences where we step out in faith and talk to somebody because your spirit tells us to, and that person's life has changed right there in front of us, where we would lay hands on the sick and you guide us as to how to pray, and that person gets healed.

Or whatever.

You want to bless us and provide for us, maybe with good deals on shoes or whatever it might be, a new car or a house, or you Lord, you want us to marry the right person.

You do not leave us, your word tells us, as orphans, but you treat us as your kids because you're our loving Heavenly Father.

And Lord, we thank you.

And I just pray that every person here would now have a new understanding of how to hear from you, and then the boldness and confidence to start asking those questions, just inviting you in to the day-to-day challenges of their life.

And while we're in an attitude of prayer, I want to ask if there's anybody here that needs to give their life to Jesus.

Once again, it's a relationship, it's not a religion.

But the way we establish that relationship is that we need to come to the Lord and invite him into our lives and ask for his forgiveness of our sin.

Because it's our sin that separates us from God, it's our sin that gives that that uh ultimately creates death and the punishment that comes from death.

But God doesn't want that for your life, He wants the He loves you and cares for you.

So Jesus died to forgive you of your sin, to give you the gift of eternal life and a relationship with God.

But we need to receive that.

We need to acknowledge that, we need to invite him in.

So if that's you today, I want to pray for you.

I want to lead you in a simple prayer about how to ask Jesus to come into your heart.

And just to know, uh, so that I know who to pray for.

If you say, Yeah, Pastor, I need that.

And maybe it's for the first time, or maybe, you know, the hundred and first time, because you've gotten off track somehow.

Either way, God is inviting you to give your life to Him today.

And if that's you, just raise your hand and look at me while everybody else is, yeah, yes, yes.

Anyone else?

Yes.

Thank you, Jesus.

Yes, yes, yes.

Hallelujah.

You can put your hands down now.

Thank you, Lord.

Yes, ma'am.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

All right, let's do this.

Would you all pray this prayer after me?

So no one's feeling singled out here.

Let's just all say this together.

It's not gonna hurt you if you need to.

Yeah, then we're gonna do it in unity.

Let's pray.

Just repeat this.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me.

I ask you to forgive me of all my sins, and I give my life to you.

I'm gonna follow you and serve you and live for you.

Thank you, Lord, that you love me and that I am now forgiven because of what you did for me.

I ask you to lead me and guide me and bless me.

I love you, Jesus.

Thank you for loving me.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's message.

Our mission as a church is choosing Jesus, chasing freedom, discovering our gifts, and serving Jesus.

I have a question for you.

What is your next step with Christ?

Take your next step today by visiting thecallingla.com.

If today's message touched you, we'd love to partner with you in sharing the hope and the message of Christ.

So visit thecallingla.comslash give.