Latest / Reach Church Podcast / At The Movies Pt 2 - He Offers His Presence | Dave Snyder
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome to the Reach Church Podcast. This is
- 0:09Speaker 1: Dave Snyder, pastor here at Reach Church. Each week we
- 0:13Speaker 1: share messages from our Sunday gatherings to help you discover
- 0:16Speaker 1: the love of God, be empowered for purpose, and impact
- 0:20Speaker 1: your world. We pray this message encourages you and helps
- 0:24Speaker 1: you grow in your walk with Jesus. Let's get into
- 0:27Speaker 1: today's message. The question for us today is, whose voice...
- 0:33Speaker 1: are you listening to, right? Because how many of you
- 0:35Speaker 1: know there's a lot of voices in your head? Well,
- 0:37Speaker 1: hopefully not too many voices in your head. Maybe that's
- 0:39Speaker 1: another issue, but sometimes we get these voices in our
- 0:43Speaker 1: head and I'm talking about a voice. Maybe it's a
- 0:45Speaker 1: voice in your head from 30 years ago that you
- 0:51Speaker 1: can still remember when somebody said something that broke you.
- 0:56Speaker 1: Somebody said something that crushed you and it stuck with
- 1:00Speaker 1: you and you still hear that voice stuck in your head.
- 1:04Speaker 1: You know, the voices come in different forms. It can
- 1:08Speaker 1: be your own thoughts. It can be just your insecurities
- 1:11Speaker 1: talking to you, saying you're not good enough. And you
- 1:14Speaker 1: can listen to that voice if you want to. It
- 1:17Speaker 1: could be that voice from your past. You can listen
- 1:19Speaker 1: to that voice if you want to. It could be
- 1:21Speaker 1: the voice of the enemy speaking in your life. And
- 1:25Speaker 1: you can listen to that voice if you want to,
- 1:28Speaker 1: because the enemy will speak to you. Anybody know what
- 1:32Speaker 1: I'm talking about? He'll try to keep you from moving forward.
- 1:37Speaker 1: He'll try to keep you from doing what you feel
- 1:40Speaker 1: God has called you to do. He'll tell you you
- 1:42Speaker 1: can't when God says, I've called you. I've got a
- 1:45Speaker 1: plan for you. I've got a purpose for your life,
- 1:47Speaker 1: but he'll speak to you. But here's what I want
- 1:49Speaker 1: you to consider this morning. There's another voice. Anybody know
- 1:53Speaker 1: there's another voice that wants to talk to you. There's
- 1:57Speaker 1: another voice that wants to speak to your spirit. There's
- 2:00Speaker 1: another voice and it's the voice of God. God wants
- 2:04Speaker 1: to speak to you today. And he wants to speak
- 2:08Speaker 1: up every time the enemy tries to come against you.
- 2:12Speaker 1: The word of God says when the enemy comes in
- 2:14Speaker 1: like a flood. the spirit of the Lord will raise
- 2:17Speaker 1: up a standard. I just picture the enemy coming in.
- 2:19Speaker 1: Sometimes he doesn't come in like a literal flood. Sometimes
- 2:22Speaker 1: he comes in like a flood of voices. He comes
- 2:25Speaker 1: in like a flood of thoughts into your mind and
- 2:28Speaker 1: things that come to your spirit. And it comes in
- 2:30Speaker 1: like a flood, but the spirit of God is going
- 2:32Speaker 1: to raise up a standard. But you've got to start
- 2:34Speaker 1: learning how to listen to the voice of God in
- 2:37Speaker 1: your life because God wants to speak to you today.
- 2:41Speaker 1: Here's what I want to look at If you take
- 2:43Speaker 1: your Bibles, I want you to go to John chapter 10.
- 2:47Speaker 1: And I want to talk to you about there's another voice.
- 2:52Speaker 1: In John chapter 10, we're going to start in verse 1.
- 2:58Speaker 1: And this is Jesus speaking. Maybe in your Bible you've
- 3:01Speaker 1: got the red letters there. That means that's the words
- 3:03Speaker 1: of Jesus. And he says, I assure you, anyone who
- 3:06Speaker 1: doesn't enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs
- 3:10Speaker 1: in some other way as a thief and a robber.
- 3:14Speaker 1: The one who enters by the door is the shepherd
- 3:16Speaker 1: of the sheep. Now listen to verse 3. The doorkeeper
- 3:19Speaker 1: opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice.
- 3:25Speaker 1: He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
- 3:30Speaker 1: When he has brought out all his own outside, he
- 3:34Speaker 1: goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they
- 3:37Speaker 1: recognize his voice. voice. They will never follow a stranger. Instead,
- 3:44Speaker 1: they'll run away from him because they don't recognize the
- 3:46Speaker 1: voice of strangers. And it says this little footnote that
- 3:51Speaker 1: Jesus gave them this illustration. He gave them this story
- 3:56Speaker 1: to teach them something, but look what it says. They
- 3:59Speaker 1: didn't understand what he was telling. Maybe you're with those
- 4:03Speaker 1: people today. You say, I don't get what, I don't
- 4:05Speaker 1: know where you're going here, pastor, but we'll figure it
- 4:08Speaker 1: out together. Okay. And I want to focus on what
- 4:10Speaker 1: Jesus said in verse 3 for a few minutes because
- 4:15Speaker 1: he said, put that up again, verse 3, Jesus said, yep,
- 4:20Speaker 1: the sheep hear his voice. And I want you to
- 4:24Speaker 1: know something today. God is still speaking in your life.
- 4:29Speaker 1: God still wants to speak. The question is, are we listening?
- 4:33Speaker 1: Are we listening? Are we listening? I want you to
- 4:37Speaker 1: look at one more verse. Look at what it says
- 4:39Speaker 1: in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul talks about the difference between
- 4:45Speaker 1: idols and the living God. One difference anyway. He says,
- 4:50Speaker 1: you know that when you used to be pagans. Anybody
- 4:52Speaker 1: used to be pagans in the room? Come on. Don't
- 4:54Speaker 1: be shy. All right. I've got a few of you,
- 4:56Speaker 1: but I see those hands. You used to be pagans
- 4:59Speaker 1: and you were enticed and led astray by mute idols.
- 5:05Speaker 1: Mute just means they can't speak. right? They're idols and
- 5:09Speaker 1: they can't speak. And it's interesting. This is the one thing,
- 5:11Speaker 1: because he could have said a lot of things. He
- 5:13Speaker 1: could have said that you're led astray by idols that
- 5:16Speaker 1: couldn't walk. Well, we serve a God who could walk.
- 5:18Speaker 1: He could have said, you served idols that didn't have hands,
- 5:23Speaker 1: that they couldn't use their hands. Well, God, we have
- 5:24Speaker 1: a servant God whose arms are not short and his
- 5:27Speaker 1: right hand is mighty. We could have talked about his
- 5:29Speaker 1: right hand. But he says, you were led away by
- 5:33Speaker 1: mute idols, meaning That you serve a God who can speak.
- 5:40Speaker 1: You serve a God who still speaks in this world.
- 5:43Speaker 1: You serve a God who still speaks to his people.
- 5:46Speaker 1: And Jesus said, my sheep know my voice. My sheep
- 5:51Speaker 1: know my voice. See, God wants you to understand something today.
- 5:55Speaker 1: You serve the living God. You don't serve a mute idol.
- 5:58Speaker 1: You serve a God who can speak. But are you
- 6:01Speaker 1: listening to his voice? Church, there's so many voices in
- 6:06Speaker 1: this world, isn't there? There's so many things that will
- 6:09Speaker 1: try to speak to you. But we serve a God
- 6:11Speaker 1: who can speak. We just got to take time to listen.
- 6:15Speaker 1: And I want you to notice this because it says, again,
- 6:19Speaker 1: in verse 3, his sheep hear his voice. He calls
- 6:23Speaker 1: them by name and he leads them. And it's interesting
- 6:28Speaker 1: he doesn't start with the leadings. You know, sometimes we
- 6:32Speaker 1: like to focus on how God wants to lead us.
- 6:34Speaker 1: And thank God he leads us. He says right here,
- 6:36Speaker 1: he leads us. But we get focused on these big
- 6:39Speaker 1: decisions in life. God, where am I supposed to, what
- 6:44Speaker 1: kind of job am I supposed to have? Maybe you're
- 6:47Speaker 1: going into college this year or you're in college and
- 6:50Speaker 1: you're wondering as you're getting ready to graduate, what kind
- 6:54Speaker 1: of job am I supposed to have? And it's good
- 6:56Speaker 1: to have the leading of God, but he doesn't start
- 6:58Speaker 1: with the leadings. You know, we got other big decisions
- 7:01Speaker 1: in life. Maybe young people, you're wondering, who am I
- 7:04Speaker 1: supposed to marry? That's a big decision. You better make
- 7:06Speaker 1: sure it's the right person. You better pray and fast.
- 7:08Speaker 1: God will lead you. But he doesn't start with just leading, right?
- 7:12Speaker 1: He doesn't start with just those big things. Maybe, listen,
- 7:16Speaker 1: maybe God wants to lead you in the small things
- 7:17Speaker 1: every day. You know, sometimes we seek God for the
- 7:21Speaker 1: answers for big things. But what about some of the
- 7:24Speaker 1: small things, like how are you supposed to treat your
- 7:26Speaker 1: spouse today? How am I supposed to treat my kids today, right?
- 7:30Speaker 1: How am I supposed to treat my coworker? How am
- 7:33Speaker 1: I supposed to treat that person that hurt me? What
- 7:36Speaker 1: am I supposed to? And God wants to lead you
- 7:38Speaker 1: even in the small things. But listen, he doesn't start
- 7:40Speaker 1: with leading because here's the thing. God is not your GPS.
- 7:47Speaker 1: You might disagree with me. No, he leads me. Here's
- 7:49Speaker 1: the difference between God and a GPS. A GPS, I
- 7:52Speaker 1: tell the GPS where I want to go and it
- 7:55Speaker 1: gives me directions. I don't get to tell God where
- 7:57Speaker 1: I want to go. I get to listen to his voice.
- 8:01Speaker 1: I get to go where he, and sometimes he'll lead
- 8:03Speaker 1: you where you don't want to go. People don't like
- 8:06Speaker 1: to hear that. He said, no, no, he gives me
- 8:08Speaker 1: the desires of my heart. Jesus told Peter, when you're old,
- 8:11Speaker 1: they're going to take you by the hand and lead
- 8:13Speaker 1: you somewhere you don't want to go, meaning leading to
- 8:16Speaker 1: his death. He didn't want to go there, but that's
- 8:19Speaker 1: where God was leading him. And sometimes in life, what
- 8:21Speaker 1: I have to learn how to do is submit to
- 8:23Speaker 1: the voice of God. Because he wants to lead me.
- 8:27Speaker 1: He wants to guide me. He wants to be the
- 8:29Speaker 1: direction in my life. I don't get to set the
- 8:32Speaker 1: direction he does. Amen. See, but Jesus doesn't start with leading.
- 8:42Speaker 1: He starts with, they know my voice. They know my voice.
- 8:47Speaker 1: Because what that's talking about is relationship. Right? He's not
- 8:51Speaker 1: talking about, if all you're looking for is leading, you're
- 8:54Speaker 1: missing the relationship. And see, sometimes in church, we come
- 8:58Speaker 1: down to altars. We say, I need direction. I need this.
- 9:00Speaker 1: I need that. But we're missing the relationship. Have you
- 9:03Speaker 1: heard the voice of God? And I don't mean you
- 9:05Speaker 1: have to. I don't mean you have to go sit
- 9:07Speaker 1: in a mountain until you hear some kind of audible voice.
- 9:09Speaker 1: Have you been in this word? Because this word right
- 9:11Speaker 1: here is his voice too. And sometimes you get in
- 9:14Speaker 1: this word and this word will speak to you and
- 9:16Speaker 1: it will lead you and it will tell you things
- 9:18Speaker 1: that maybe you don't want to hear, but maybe we
- 9:20Speaker 1: need correction sometimes. Because we're doing something wrong. We're doing
- 9:24Speaker 1: something this word says is wrong. So I've got to
- 9:26Speaker 1: learn how to let the Holy Spirit lead me, maybe
- 9:29Speaker 1: even through this word or different ways that God might
- 9:31Speaker 1: speak to me. But the goal that I believe Jesus
- 9:36Speaker 1: is saying, hearing the voice of God, the goal is
- 9:39Speaker 1: relationship with God. Some people treat the Christian life this way.
- 9:46Speaker 1: How closely can I walk with the world and still
- 9:49Speaker 1: be called a Christian? But that's not the goal. The
- 9:53Speaker 1: goal is how close can I walk with my shepherd?
- 9:56Speaker 1: How close can I walk with God? Because he's made
- 9:59Speaker 1: a way for me. to come and be with him
- 10:01Speaker 1: he's made a way for me to be able to
- 10:02Speaker 1: hear his voice in my life so here's the point
- 10:06Speaker 1: God offers more than direction he offers his presence you
- 10:12Speaker 1: know think about it this way you have people in
- 10:15Speaker 1: your life that you love And if the only time
- 10:20Speaker 1: they ever come to you is when they need money,
- 10:24Speaker 1: what happens to the relationship? I don't want to see
- 10:27Speaker 1: you because I know what you're going to ask, right?
- 10:31Speaker 1: Sometimes that's the relationship with our kids. They just want
- 10:34Speaker 1: to give me some money because I want to go
- 10:36Speaker 1: out to the movies tonight. But listen, if the only
- 10:38Speaker 1: time you see somebody is when they want something, it
- 10:41Speaker 1: starts to fracture the relationship. See, God's not just looking
- 10:45Speaker 1: to give. He's looking for relationships. He's looking to walk
- 10:50Speaker 1: with you every day, not just to be there in
- 10:52Speaker 1: your crisis. Thank God he's with us in our crisis.
- 10:55Speaker 1: But if the only time we ever come is when
- 10:56Speaker 1: we're in a crisis, we're missing the point of relationship. Amen.
- 11:02Speaker 1: So God wants to walk with you. And maybe you're
- 11:06Speaker 1: here and you're wondering, God, where are you? God, where
- 11:10Speaker 1: are you? You've been waiting for God. Lord, I'm waiting
- 11:13Speaker 1: for you to shout from heaven. Amen. I'm waiting for direction.
- 11:17Speaker 1: I'm waiting for some kind of sign that you're with me.
- 11:20Speaker 1: But listen, his word says he's with you. He's been
- 11:23Speaker 1: walking with you the whole time. We just have to
- 11:26Speaker 1: learn how to slow down and recognize his voice. But
- 11:32Speaker 1: look at, can you put verse three up again? You
- 11:35Speaker 1: still with me? Are you thinking about Top Gun? You're
- 11:38Speaker 1: going to go home and watch Top Gun. The sheep
- 11:41Speaker 1: hear his voice and look what it says next. He
- 11:44Speaker 1: calls out. His own sheep by name. I want you
- 11:49Speaker 1: to catch that. He calls you. He doesn't call you
- 11:53Speaker 1: thing one and thing two. He doesn't call you by
- 11:58Speaker 1: your social security number. You're just a number to the government,
- 12:01Speaker 1: but you're not a number to God. He calls you
- 12:05Speaker 1: by name. He calls you by name. When God's talking
- 12:11Speaker 1: to you, he's talking personally. to you personally. I love
- 12:17Speaker 1: this story in 1 Kings chapter 19. It's about Elijah.
- 12:22Speaker 1: And Elijah has just had his moment. If you remember
- 12:24Speaker 1: this story, he's up on top of Mount Carmel and
- 12:26Speaker 1: the prophets of Baal are there and they have this
- 12:30Speaker 1: showdown and Elijah says that God who answers by fire
- 12:33Speaker 1: is the one true God. And of course, our God
- 12:36Speaker 1: answers by fire and all these dramatic things happen and
- 12:39Speaker 1: then the queen, Jezebel, says, I'm going to kill you.
- 12:44Speaker 1: for what you did. And Elijah gets scared and he
- 12:47Speaker 1: runs and he's off. In fact, he goes a 40-day journey,
- 12:51Speaker 1: gets as far from Israel as he can, and he's
- 12:55Speaker 1: on the run. And in this moment, in fact, there's
- 12:59Speaker 1: really an interesting side note to this story. He's up
- 13:02Speaker 1: on top of a mountain. It's the same mountain where
- 13:06Speaker 1: Moses met with God in the wilderness. the same mountain
- 13:12Speaker 1: where Moses received the Ten Commandments. And God passed by. Remember,
- 13:16Speaker 1: God passed by a cleft in the rock. He said,
- 13:18Speaker 1: I'll show you my glory. You can't see my face,
- 13:20Speaker 1: but you can see my glory. And he passed by,
- 13:23Speaker 1: and it's the same mountain that Elijah journeys to. And
- 13:27Speaker 1: look what happens here. It says in verse 11 that
- 13:32Speaker 1: the Lord told him, go out and stand on the
- 13:34Speaker 1: mountain in the Lord's presence. And at that moment, the
- 13:37Speaker 1: Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing
- 13:41Speaker 1: at the mountain and shattering the cliffs before the Lord,
- 13:44Speaker 1: but the Lord wasn't in the wind. After the wind,
- 13:47Speaker 1: there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in
- 13:49Speaker 1: the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire,
- 13:52Speaker 1: but the Lord was not in the fire. And after
- 13:56Speaker 1: the fire, there was a voice, a soft whisper. When
- 14:01Speaker 1: Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle.
- 14:04Speaker 1: He went out and stood at the entrance of the cave,
- 14:06Speaker 1: and suddenly the voice came to him and said, What
- 14:08Speaker 1: are you doing here, Elijah? And we could talk about
- 14:12Speaker 1: the implications of all that, but here's what I want
- 14:14Speaker 1: you to catch from that story. Elijah felt forgotten. Elijah
- 14:20Speaker 1: felt like in one of his complaints, he's got him
- 14:22Speaker 1: the only one who's doing right. I'm the only one left.
- 14:27Speaker 1: And he felt alone. He felt isolated. And he felt forgotten.
- 14:32Speaker 1: I think that's exactly what the enemy wants to do
- 14:34Speaker 1: to every person. He wants to make you feel alone.
- 14:37Speaker 1: He wants to make you feel isolated. He wants to
- 14:40Speaker 1: make you feel like God has forgotten you. But in
- 14:45Speaker 1: that moment of his depression, God speaks his name. He
- 14:51Speaker 1: doesn't say, what are you doing here, random prophet? I
- 14:55Speaker 1: forget who are, what are you doing here, guy? I
- 14:57Speaker 1: thought you were supposed to, what are you doing here, Elijah?
- 15:01Speaker 1: And I want you to know something today. God hasn't
- 15:04Speaker 1: forgotten you. He knows your name. He calls your name.
- 15:09Speaker 1: The enemies tried to keep you trapped and isolated, but
- 15:12Speaker 1: I want you to know there's another voice. God wants
- 15:15Speaker 1: to speak to you right where you are. But I
- 15:20Speaker 1: want you to notice something too about that story because
- 15:22Speaker 1: there's these different events. It says there's the wind, right?
- 15:26Speaker 1: There's an earthquake, there's fire, there's all these things that
- 15:28Speaker 1: happen on this same mountain where God spoke to Moses
- 15:32Speaker 1: and it was dramatic when God spoke to Moses, right?
- 15:35Speaker 1: In fact, you You remember the story, it says about
- 15:38Speaker 1: God's voice thundered and it was loud and it scared
- 15:41Speaker 1: the people when they heard it and there was the
- 15:42Speaker 1: fire and there was the earthquake and all this stuff
- 15:45Speaker 1: happened when God met with Moses. All those events happened
- 15:50Speaker 1: this time, but God wasn't in those things. And I
- 15:53Speaker 1: find that so interesting because here's the thing. Sometimes we're
- 15:59Speaker 1: looking for manifestations that God's with us, but we're not
- 16:03Speaker 1: listening for his voice. We're looking for the big dramatic stuff.
- 16:07Speaker 1: We're looking for something big to happen, something exciting to happen.
- 16:10Speaker 1: I want to see, I want to see fire fall
- 16:12Speaker 1: from heaven. I want to see this exciting thing so
- 16:15Speaker 1: I know, but we're not listening for the voice of God.
- 16:21Speaker 1: God wants to speak to your life. And how many
- 16:24Speaker 1: times has God tried to speak to us, but we've
- 16:28Speaker 1: missed it because we're looking for something bigger. But here's
- 16:33Speaker 1: the point. God's looking and inviting us into a relationship.
- 16:40Speaker 1: Sometimes other voices are speaking. The voice of the enemy
- 16:44Speaker 1: can sound so convincing, can't it? Because it's loud. The
- 16:48Speaker 1: voice of the enemy in your head can be loud,
- 16:51Speaker 1: and the voice of God can be so small. The
- 16:55Speaker 1: voice of God speaking to your spirit can feel so small,
- 16:58Speaker 1: but it's the getting to know the voice of God.
- 17:03Speaker 1: It's like Jesus said, my sheep know my voice. You've
- 17:07Speaker 1: got to get to a place where you know his voice.
- 17:10Speaker 1: I want you to imagine a time. For some of you,
- 17:15Speaker 1: this will sound like it was 200 years ago. But
- 17:18Speaker 1: there was a time where you didn't have caller ID
- 17:25Speaker 1: on your phone, in your pocket. And in fact, your
- 17:29Speaker 1: phone used to hang on a wall. And there was
- 17:33Speaker 1: a little cord that would tether you to that thing
- 17:35Speaker 1: so you couldn't walk very far. And when the phone
- 17:39Speaker 1: would ring, it was always a little bit of a mystery.
- 17:43Speaker 1: I wonder who's calling. And there was this little bit
- 17:47Speaker 1: of excitement. It could be somebody I really want to
- 17:50Speaker 1: talk to. There's also this little bit of fear. It
- 17:53Speaker 1: could be somebody I really don't want to talk to.
- 17:56Speaker 1: It could be a telemarketer. I don't know because there's
- 17:59Speaker 1: no caller available. id and then when you pick up
- 18:02Speaker 1: the phone there's a voice on the other end and
- 18:05Speaker 1: they don't even say hi it's whatever their name they
- 18:09Speaker 1: don't introduce themselves they just start talking and right away
- 18:13Speaker 1: you know that voice it's the voice of a friend
- 18:16Speaker 1: it's the voice of a family member and you recognize
- 18:19Speaker 1: the voice and so you skip all the introductions and
- 18:22Speaker 1: you go right to talking but how do you know
- 18:25Speaker 1: the voice because you've talked to them enough So much
- 18:32Speaker 1: that you recognize the voice immediately. That's the place that
- 18:38Speaker 1: God wants you to get to where he doesn't have
- 18:41Speaker 1: to introduce himself. Hi, it's God. I'm speaking to you today.
- 18:45Speaker 1: I'm calling because I've got something serious going on. You're
- 18:48Speaker 1: just in a place where you recognize this is the
- 18:52Speaker 1: voice of God speaking to me. And we could talk
- 18:55Speaker 1: about ways that God speaks and all this different stuff.
- 18:57Speaker 1: But listen, the point is that God wants to reveal
- 19:00Speaker 1: himself to you. He wants to speak to you. And
- 19:02Speaker 1: I think the primary way, I believe the primary way
- 19:05Speaker 1: God speaks is through this word. He will never, ever
- 19:07Speaker 1: contradict this word. And some people have said, well, God
- 19:10Speaker 1: told me this and that. And I can look at
- 19:11Speaker 1: this word and say, God didn't speak to you because
- 19:14Speaker 1: that's against this word. You have to make sure the
- 19:18Speaker 1: word lines up with what he says. What he says
- 19:22Speaker 1: lines up with the word. But here's the point. You
- 19:24Speaker 1: recognize the voice you listen to consistently. You recognize the voice.
- 19:30Speaker 1: The voice you hear the most becomes the voice you recognize.
- 19:34Speaker 1: But how is that developed? How do I get to
- 19:37Speaker 1: know the voice of God? It happens in the quiet places, church.
- 19:41Speaker 1: And I want to tell you, this world, there's not
- 19:43Speaker 1: too many quiet places anymore. There's not too many places
- 19:47Speaker 1: you can go that are quiet where you can hear anything.
- 19:49Speaker 1: You know, I love praying with worship music on. That's wonderful.
- 19:52Speaker 1: But sometimes I got to turn it off because all
- 19:55Speaker 1: I hear is the voice of the worship singer and nothing.
- 19:59Speaker 1: I love it. Nothing against worship. I love worship, but
- 20:02Speaker 1: I want to hear the voice of God. Sometimes when
- 20:04Speaker 1: I'm praying and how can I hear that? When all I,
- 20:06Speaker 1: all I hear is shout to the Lord, all the earth,
- 20:09Speaker 1: let us sing power and majesty. And I'm, and I
- 20:12Speaker 1: catch myself getting into worship. I've never heard God. You
- 20:15Speaker 1: got to learn how to get to a quiet place.
- 20:18Speaker 1: I don't know why shout to the Lord is in
- 20:20Speaker 1: my head, but it lives there somewhere. There's a room
- 20:23Speaker 1: for it. I've heard it so much. But see, I
- 20:26Speaker 1: want to leave room for him to talk to me.
- 20:30Speaker 1: And there's so much noise. I mean, I get in
- 20:33Speaker 1: my car. I like to listen to the radio or
- 20:36Speaker 1: the podcast or something like that. I get on the
- 20:38Speaker 1: treadmill and I'll get my podcast on or all that.
- 20:41Speaker 1: And those things are great. But where's the room for
- 20:45Speaker 1: God to speak to my life? If all I hear,
- 20:49Speaker 1: if all I do is fill the void with stuff, right?
- 20:53Speaker 1: When I come home, there's things on the TV. There's
- 20:56Speaker 1: Netflix wants to speak to me. I don't even have
- 20:59Speaker 1: Netflix and there it is. It's advertising. It wants to
- 21:02Speaker 1: speak to me. It wants, it's got a voice, right?
- 21:06Speaker 1: It wants to talk to me. Instagram wants to talk
- 21:09Speaker 1: to you. It's got a voice and it wants to
- 21:11Speaker 1: say something over your life. Tick tock. It's got a voice.
- 21:19Speaker 1: I've never looked at it, but I know it's got
- 21:21Speaker 1: a voice. The news has a voice. Nothing against those things.
- 21:27Speaker 1: Those can have a place in a life, but here's
- 21:32Speaker 1: the point. There's another voice. And have you made room
- 21:38Speaker 1: for his voice in your life today? Maybe what you
- 21:42Speaker 1: need this week is before you turn on anything, before
- 21:46Speaker 1: you start scrolling, before you do this, fill the next void,
- 21:50Speaker 1: take some time and just get quiet And say, Lord,
- 21:54Speaker 1: speak to me. I'm just going to get in this word.
- 21:57Speaker 1: I'm just going to pray. I just want to hear
- 21:59Speaker 1: your voice today. Before another voice speaks, let God speak
- 22:04Speaker 1: to you first. There's another voice I thought of, AI.
- 22:12Speaker 1: That thing's got a voice, doesn't it? It literally got
- 22:14Speaker 1: a voice, and it'll tell you some crazy stuff. You
- 22:17Speaker 1: better learn to hear the voice of God in this
- 22:19Speaker 1: age we live in. I heard this is, I'm just
- 22:21Speaker 1: going off subject now. It's going off. Is that okay?
- 22:24Speaker 1: I heard... I'll go on this side. I heard Elon
- 22:29Speaker 1: Musk say there's only a 20% chance that this thing
- 22:31Speaker 1: could go terribly wrong and destroy us all. And he
- 22:34Speaker 1: was pretty happy with that. That's 80% chance it'll go
- 22:36Speaker 1: really well, he said. There's a 20% chance this thing
- 22:39Speaker 1: could go terribly wrong. So don't worry. You better learn
- 22:43Speaker 1: how to hear the voice of God. That's my point.
- 22:46Speaker 1: John 10, verse 3. Let me look at the last
- 22:48Speaker 1: part of that. He says, the sheep hear his voice...
- 22:52Speaker 1: He calls his own sheep by name and he leads
- 22:56Speaker 1: them out. He's telling you he wants to be the
- 22:59Speaker 1: one that leads and guides your life. And again, we're
- 23:03Speaker 1: talking about voices and there's so many voices. But really
- 23:07Speaker 1: what it comes down to is there's two people trying
- 23:11Speaker 1: to lead your life. Two people trying to lead you.
- 23:14Speaker 1: Look what it says in John 10, verse 10. Jesus
- 23:17Speaker 1: says the thief comes only to steal. and kill and destroy.
- 23:25Speaker 1: So there's a thief who wants to come into your
- 23:28Speaker 1: life and he wants to lead your life. And where
- 23:31Speaker 1: is he going to lead my life? He's going to
- 23:34Speaker 1: steal and kill and destroy. But Jesus said, Jesus, the
- 23:39Speaker 1: good shepherd, the other voice has said, I've come so
- 23:42Speaker 1: that you can have life and have it in abundance.
- 23:45Speaker 1: But you've got to learn how to get to a
- 23:46Speaker 1: place in your life where you hear the right voice.
- 23:49Speaker 1: Because if you're listening to the wrong voice, he's going
- 23:51Speaker 1: to take you the wrong way. You've got to learn
- 23:53Speaker 1: how to hear his voice. Church, that means we've got
- 23:55Speaker 1: to get to a place where we can hear God
- 23:57Speaker 1: in our lives. Start turning off the noise. Start turning
- 24:00Speaker 1: off the music. Start just getting alone with God. This
- 24:03Speaker 1: is the most important thing I could tell you. Clap
- 24:05Speaker 1: if you want to, but here's what I want you
- 24:07Speaker 1: to hear today. You've got to learn how to get
- 24:09Speaker 1: alone with God. You're not going to make it by
- 24:11Speaker 1: listening to AI. You're not going to make it by
- 24:13Speaker 1: listening to me. You've got to learn how to hear
- 24:14Speaker 1: the voice of God in your life. So there's a
- 24:21Speaker 1: thief and there's the shepherd. The enemy wants to lead
- 24:23Speaker 1: you into death. The voice of the shepherd will lead
- 24:25Speaker 1: you into abundant life. But here's the, here's put this up.
- 24:28Speaker 1: Every voice has a destination. Every voice that's speaking to
- 24:34Speaker 1: you will take you somewhere. So you've got to look
- 24:36Speaker 1: at this and say, where's this thing taking me? Where's
- 24:39Speaker 1: this voice trying to lead me? Because it's leading me somewhere.
- 24:44Speaker 1: Fear will lead you somewhere. Where is fear? You can
- 24:48Speaker 1: look at it and say, where is this thing taking me?
- 24:50Speaker 1: Fear will lead you somewhere. Depression, anxiety, shame will lead
- 24:54Speaker 1: you somewhere. Your past, again, going back to the movie,
- 24:58Speaker 1: he was stuck in his head in the past, the
- 25:00Speaker 1: voices of the past telling him he couldn't. It was
- 25:03Speaker 1: leading him somewhere. Your shame will lead you somewhere if
- 25:07Speaker 1: you hold on to that thing, but you've got to
- 25:09Speaker 1: learn how to listen to another voice because Jesus wants
- 25:14Speaker 1: to lead you. He says later in the book of John,
- 25:18Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you into
- 25:23Speaker 1: all truth all truth what does that mean it means
- 25:27Speaker 1: there's a truth that God has in your life that
- 25:32Speaker 1: the enemy knows nothing about the enemy can't lead you
- 25:34Speaker 1: into truth only God knows the truth only God knows
- 25:37Speaker 1: the truth for you those things that you remind yourself
- 25:42Speaker 1: of of your past that's not the truth Okay, let
- 25:46Speaker 1: me try it over here. The voice of your past
- 25:49Speaker 1: that's trying to lie to you and tell you you can't,
- 25:51Speaker 1: that's not your truth. Thank you. There's another truth. There's
- 25:57Speaker 1: only one truth, and it's his truth. He wants to
- 26:00Speaker 1: lead you into truth. I'm going to just keep preaching
- 26:02Speaker 1: over here from now on. Those insecurities, right? Insecurity wants
- 26:11Speaker 1: to talk to you. It wants to tell you, It
- 26:15Speaker 1: wants to tell you that you can't. But there's a
- 26:19Speaker 1: different voice that wants to speak to you, and he
- 26:22Speaker 1: wants to tell you the truth. The Holy Spirit will
- 26:24Speaker 1: lead you and guide you in all truth. I better
- 26:26Speaker 1: correct this. I'm going to get emails afterward. There's another voice.
- 26:32Speaker 1: If you listen to him, he'll lead you. Look what
- 26:33Speaker 1: it says in Proverbs 3. Trust in the Lord with
- 26:41Speaker 1: all of your heart. Don't lean... I got to read
- 26:46Speaker 1: that one. Don't rely on your own understanding. In all
- 26:50Speaker 1: your ways, know him. Acknowledge him and he'll make your
- 26:54Speaker 1: path straight. Don't you hate when they get the Bible
- 26:57Speaker 1: translation wrong and that's not how I have it memorized.
- 27:01Speaker 1: In all your ways, acknowledge him. It doesn't say in
- 27:05Speaker 1: some of your ways, right? It doesn't say in some
- 27:08Speaker 1: of the big questions in life, acknowledge him. He says,
- 27:12Speaker 1: acknowledge him in all your ways, but listen to what
- 27:14Speaker 1: he says. It's really about trusting in the Lord. Trust
- 27:19Speaker 1: in the Lord with all of your heart. This is
- 27:23Speaker 1: what sheep do. I know nobody wants to hear you're
- 27:27Speaker 1: a sheep, but Jesus called you sheep. Because the point
- 27:30Speaker 1: is a sheep needs to be led. A sheep doesn't
- 27:35Speaker 1: know where to go without the shepherd. The sheep doesn't
- 27:39Speaker 1: know the way. Jesus said, I'm the way. I'm the truth.
- 27:42Speaker 1: I'm the life. Nobody comes to the Father except by me.
- 27:44Speaker 1: I want him to lead me. And so we have
- 27:48Speaker 1: to learn how to trust like a sheep would trust
- 27:51Speaker 1: a shepherd. You've got to learn how to trust. And see,
- 27:55Speaker 1: sometimes we're looking for God to show the whole plan.
- 27:58Speaker 1: And wouldn't that be great? I would love it. Lord,
- 28:00Speaker 1: just show me where this is going. But he doesn't
- 28:04Speaker 1: do that. He just leads me a little bit at
- 28:07Speaker 1: a time. He tells me, acknowledge him and he'll direct me.
- 28:12Speaker 1: And in the movie, I think we saw it in
- 28:14Speaker 1: that clip. I can't remember if it was in that
- 28:15Speaker 1: clip or not, but there's a scene in the movie
- 28:17Speaker 1: where he tells, Maverick tells the younger pilot, he says,
- 28:20Speaker 1: don't think, just do. And the point isn't stop thinking,
- 28:25Speaker 1: you know, just don't use your brain and just whatever,
- 28:27Speaker 1: just no. The point is stop freezing because he would
- 28:32Speaker 1: get up there and he'd overthink and he'd overcorrect and
- 28:34Speaker 1: he'd start going through. No, no, just trust what the
- 28:38Speaker 1: training has taught you. Trust your training. Trust in the
- 28:43Speaker 1: Lord with all of your heart. But he wanted him
- 28:45Speaker 1: to stop freezing and And here's the thing. Sometimes we've prayed, right?
- 28:50Speaker 1: We've read the word. We know the right thing to do,
- 28:53Speaker 1: but we freeze. Have you done that? You read the word. Yeah,
- 28:59Speaker 1: I'm supposed to do this. I feel like God's telling
- 29:01Speaker 1: me to do this. Is that really God? Let me
- 29:04Speaker 1: think about that for a few days. I'm not sure.
- 29:07Speaker 1: I'm just not sure I'm supposed to. Stop freezing and
- 29:12Speaker 1: start doing what God has told you to do. What
- 29:16Speaker 1: we call that In Christian life, that's obedience. Start walking
- 29:21Speaker 1: in obedience instead of trying to guess, was that really God?
- 29:25Speaker 1: Should I really do that? Maybe that was just me.
- 29:27Speaker 1: Maybe that wasn't really what God wants for my life. No,
- 29:31Speaker 1: start obeying the word in your life. God wants to
- 29:34Speaker 1: get us to a place where when he speaks to
- 29:36Speaker 1: our hearts, we just do what he says. It's called
- 29:39Speaker 1: being a doer of the word, right? Let me just
- 29:43Speaker 1: give you a pet peeve for a minute. I think
- 29:46Speaker 1: God hates when we just sit and hear this word
- 29:50Speaker 1: and hear the word and hear the word and never
- 29:53Speaker 1: do it. You know, we can say faith comes by hearing.
- 29:56Speaker 1: It's absolutely true. That's in the word of God. Faith
- 29:59Speaker 1: comes by hearing. But if you never do anything with it,
- 30:01Speaker 1: what good is your faith? If you never act on
- 30:05Speaker 1: what God has said, what good is it? See, God
- 30:07Speaker 1: wants to get us to a place where we start
- 30:09Speaker 1: living what he said. Start doing what he said. Start obeying.
- 30:15Speaker 1: And listen, God might not be asking you to make
- 30:17Speaker 1: a big decision today. He might not be leading you
- 30:19Speaker 1: to the young people, the person you're going to spend
- 30:22Speaker 1: the rest of your life with. Maybe today he's asking
- 30:25Speaker 1: you to forgive someone. Maybe today... He's asking you to
- 30:30Speaker 1: take a small step of obedience and apologize to someone
- 30:36Speaker 1: that you hurt. Maybe today he's asking you to take
- 30:40Speaker 1: a small step and just start serving somewhere. Maybe he's
- 30:44Speaker 1: asking you to just do something small, but sometimes we're
- 30:47Speaker 1: looking for the big thing. God, where's the big thing?
- 30:50Speaker 1: Where's the fire? Where's the earthquake? I want something big.
- 30:53Speaker 1: I want you to do something big. And God's saying,
- 30:55Speaker 1: I haven't been able to trust you with something small yet.
- 30:59Speaker 1: but will you start listening to my voice? Listen, let
- 31:01Speaker 1: me lead you. I mean, maybe he's asking you to
- 31:04Speaker 1: be generous. Maybe he's asking you to just do what
- 31:07Speaker 1: the word of God says, but will you trust him
- 31:09Speaker 1: enough to follow him? And what I want you to
- 31:13Speaker 1: know today is that God wants to speak to your life.
- 31:18Speaker 1: He's not hiding from you. He wants to speak direction.
- 31:22Speaker 1: If you've been struggling with your past, feeling like you're
- 31:26Speaker 1: not enough, you've been hearing the voices of listening to
- 31:28Speaker 1: the wrong voices. God wants to speak his love to
- 31:32Speaker 1: you today. He wants to speak his love and his
- 31:37Speaker 1: joy and his peace over your life. He wants to
- 31:42Speaker 1: lead and guide you. I want to close with this.
- 31:46Speaker 1: I want to come back to the question that we
- 31:48Speaker 1: started with. Whose voice are you listening to? Whose voice
- 31:54Speaker 1: are you listening to in your life? Because every voice
- 31:57Speaker 1: is trying to lead you somewhere. Every voice has a destination.
- 32:00Speaker 1: They're all trying to lead you somewhere, right? Fear wants
- 32:03Speaker 1: to lead you, but there's another voice. Shame wants to
- 32:08Speaker 1: lead you, but there's another voice. Your past wants to
- 32:11Speaker 1: lead you, but come on, somebody, there's another voice that
- 32:15Speaker 1: wants to speak in your life. And the enemy wants
- 32:17Speaker 1: to lead you to destruction, but Jesus said, I want
- 32:21Speaker 1: to lead you to life. and life more abundant. See,
- 32:24Speaker 1: there's another voice. We've got to learn how to follow
- 32:27Speaker 1: his voice in our lives. I want you to do this.
- 32:29Speaker 1: Would you stand up with me? And I want you
- 32:33Speaker 1: to bow your heads for a moment. I want to
- 32:36Speaker 1: pray for you. I want to encourage you this morning
- 32:41Speaker 1: in this word and encourage you to do something with
- 32:44Speaker 1: it because it's wonderful to hear that God wants to
- 32:47Speaker 1: speak to me. It's wonderful to hear that he knows
- 32:49Speaker 1: my name. He calls me by name. He knows everything
- 32:53Speaker 1: about me down to the hairs on my head. Well,
- 32:58Speaker 1: for me, for you. He knows everything about me. And
- 33:03Speaker 1: it's wonderful to hear he wants to lead me. But listen,
- 33:05Speaker 1: what do I do with it? Because God wants us
- 33:07Speaker 1: to learn how to be doers of this word, not
- 33:11Speaker 1: just hearers. And so this morning, I want to encourage you,
- 33:16Speaker 1: before you do anything else in your day, learn how
- 33:19Speaker 1: to listen to the voice of God. Before you turn
- 33:22Speaker 1: on another thing in the car, another thing, another screen,
- 33:25Speaker 1: another whatever, just stop. And for a few moments, I'm
- 33:30Speaker 1: not telling you you've got to take an hour every day.
- 33:32Speaker 1: I'm saying for a few moments every day, will you
- 33:35Speaker 1: just stop and listen to the voice of God in
- 33:38Speaker 1: your life? Because Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice.
- 33:43Speaker 1: They follow me. See, the goal is that you would
- 33:47Speaker 1: walk with the good shepherd. And maybe you've been asking
- 33:51Speaker 1: God for direction. I know there's people in here you're
- 33:53Speaker 1: facing situations and you say, I need God's leading. I
- 33:55Speaker 1: need his direction in my life. And I'm not making
- 34:00Speaker 1: little of that. What I'm saying first and foremost is
- 34:03Speaker 1: it starts with relationship with him. His leading flows out
- 34:07Speaker 1: of relationship. You know, you've been asking for direction, but
- 34:12Speaker 1: what God wants is your attention. He wants you to
- 34:16Speaker 1: stop long enough to be with him. Maybe for some
- 34:21Speaker 1: of you, the first thing the shepherd is saying to
- 34:27Speaker 1: you is I want you to come. Thanks so much
- 34:30Speaker 1: for listening to today's message from Reach Church. If this
- 34:34Speaker 1: encouraged you, we'd love for you to share this podcast
- 34:37Speaker 1: and leave a review. It helps more people hear the
- 34:40Speaker 1: good news. For more information about Reach Church, our ministries,
- 34:44Speaker 1: or how to get involved, visit us at reachchurch.world. We
- 34:49Speaker 1: love you, we're praying for you, and we'll see you
- 34:51Speaker 1: next time right here on the Reach Church Podcast.