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Developing A Conversational Relationship With God. · Mental Health and the Mission of the Church

0:00
SPEAKER_00: I just to kind of get us rolling, we're gonna I'm gonna kind of review a little bit from Sunday morning, kind of obviously a little bit quickly, but tonight, the real goal tonight is for it to be more of a workshop, meaning, or another word for it would be like a practicum, meaning that ideally you're gonna practice a little bit.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say a phrase and hopefully you'll see how it fits in what we're gonna do.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: What I'm what one of my favorite quotes from a book I read a few years ago is this quote: all revolutions are built around a core set of ideas.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: I personally believe it's revolutionary to believe that the God who created everything that is, number one, loves you, and number two, wants to talk to you.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: And not just like at the big hinge turning points of life.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: He wants to talk to you every single day.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Just like someone you love, you like to talk to them a lot.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: Well, God wants to talk to you.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: I assume you're here because you believe that, yes or no?
1:08
SPEAKER_00: So what we, some of us here have learned, we've been exposed to a gentleman from up in Buffalo, New York, a guy named Mark Verkler.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: And there's other people that teach this kind of stuff.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: There really are.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: But Mark Verkler's been to our church, I don't know, half a dozen times over the 25 years.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: And um I just brought these to kind of show you.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: These are, this is from 2000 to today.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: This these are my journals.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm really, really, really committed to the process of journaling.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I could open any one of these, and sometimes I go back through and highlight things that have really touched me or spoken to me, but I could go back through any one of these and reconnect to a moment that God and I had together.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Don't you like that with someone you love?
1:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, like a picture, and it captures a moment that you had with one another.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: So that's just from 2000 to 2009, actually.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: My one for this year is at home.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I could I could walk through there and pull things out.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, we've got the two Sundays and the two Wednesdays.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: So, what we want to try to do is expose you to the process, encourage you to practice, and we're going to try to do a little bit of that here tonight.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: And then what we'll do a little bit Sunday morning, since we didn't meet before the meeting tonight, by the way, those of you that have been to the Verklish stuff, if we could, let's meet for just a minute afterwards, okay?
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Just real quick, because we'll get our heads together for what's to come.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: But we got two Sundays and two Wednesdays.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we can't cover all the ground, but here's the thing about this: it doesn't have to be complicated.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk more about that in just a little bit, of why I love the process, because there's a lot of safety built into it.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk more about that in just a minute.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: But let me say one more kind of quote or thought to you.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: How many of you agree with this thought?
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Intimacy requires or demands vulnerability.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: You agree with that?
3:13
SPEAKER_00: To be intimate with someone, you have to risk being vulnerable.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
3:21
SPEAKER_00: It's the same way with God.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: And one of the biggest things you're gonna have to risk tonight, if you want to learn to hear God, you're gonna have to dare to believe that he would talk to you.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: And then you're gonna have to dare to believe that what you're hearing in your own head might be God.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: So intimacy demands vulnerability.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, I promise you, God wants to talk to you more than you want to hear him.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, he does.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: And the biggest thing that holds us back in a word, what is it?
4:01
SPEAKER_00: What's the biggest thing that holds us back?
4:04
SPEAKER_00: It's fear.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Right?
4:09
SPEAKER_00: So, square off with that.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: Before we go any further, square off with that.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: In a few minutes, we'll do an we'll we'll we'll have an opportunity for you to try this.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, the first wall you're gonna hit is fear.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna just kind of tighten up.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: I just encourage you, do your best to just do whatever comes out, and we'll sort it out.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
4:40
SPEAKER_00: It will, I think, as we go forward.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna run through a little bit from Sunday just to kind of get your thoughts stirred, and then we're gonna do a couple things.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I recommend when we do the actual exercises.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: I recommend you spread out so that it's just you and God.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: You're not worried about anybody looking over your shoulder, you're not worried about anything.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: But I'd encourage you shortly to just spread out around the room, and uh.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just gonna say this while I'm thinking about it.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has different affinities for things, and uh, what do you call it, natural abilities?
5:22
SPEAKER_00: Some people just fall into this.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Like, duh, boy, that was easy.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Some people don't.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: But I promise you, if you'll face the fear, hang in there, I promise you God wants to talk to you.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Those of you that have been to the Verkwehr stuff, how many of you have seen God speak to you through a journaling moment?
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you have.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I every time Mark ever came, the first time he ever came, I it was just, it astounded me how God worked through this whole process.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: So we're trusting the Lord to do that for you.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: So this whole idea is built around this developing a conversational relationship with God.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: My goal for you is that you just kind of learn to hang out with God.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Sure you have prayer time or word time or whatever else, but my goal for you is that you just kind of hang out with God through the whole day.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: I believe that was his hope.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: Again, just to reiterate, you can hear God's voice.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Why can you hear God's voice?
6:26
SPEAKER_00: Because he created you to be able to.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: Not because you're smart or you work hard or you do everything just right.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: You can hear God's voice because he made you to be able to hear his voice.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: And again, just a scripture from Sunday.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: His sheep hear his voice, he calls them by name.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, the cool thing is, I want you to learn to hear God call your name.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: And he will.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: And his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: And then we talked a little bit Sunday about why is it difficult.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, I start off by saying every revolution is built around a core set of ideas.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: I believe, why did God create you slash us?
7:07
SPEAKER_00: I believe there's some bad ideas floating around.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: God didn't create you to mow his lawn, do the dishes.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: You follow me.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: God didn't create you because he needed some work done.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: He did not create you to work.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: He created you so that he could love you.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 4.19 says, we love him because he first loved us.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: So what is your first duty?
7:38
SPEAKER_00: To be loved.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: We love him because he first loved us.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: Now you got it.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean about every revolution is built around a core set of ideas.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: That's a new idea for most of us.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: The first thing God wants you to learn to do is not love him.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to learn to let him love you.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: That's why he created you.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: He created you so that when your eyes open in the morning, he could be excited to spend the day with you.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: I believe God's excited when you wake up.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: If you can say that.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: I believe he is.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: He wants to spend time with you.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: And he wants you to quit trying to impress him.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: How many of you realize you can't?
8:23
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus impressed him for us, and now we can relate to God as if we have impressed him.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: And then we can relax and do what we were created for, which is to let him love us.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: What's at the heart of this whole process, and what'll make it easy, because perfect love does what to fear?
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Drives it out.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: So what'll make this work is when you realize, wait a minute, God, this isn't about me getting it right, so you'll be happy and proud of me.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: This is about me learning how to get stuff out of the way.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: So all the kind, loving, encouraging, uplifting things you want to say to me will get through to me.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: How many of you think God's probably a pretty good counselor?
9:11
SPEAKER_00: You think he probably would know how to sort out your stuff?
9:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
9:16
SPEAKER_00: You could have an appointment with God every day.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: God, my head's a little out of shape.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Take a little time, hunker down, and God can begin to sort your head out.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: That's really what those journals are full of.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: Is God sorting my head out.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: About what?
9:37
SPEAKER_00: About how I see him, how I see myself, and how I see others.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: And it's taken years of interacting with God.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: I got another stack that big.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: It's taken years of therapy with God.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: But isn't it cool to be able to hang out with God like that?
9:59
SPEAKER_00: Alright, why does God hide?
10:01
SPEAKER_00: We talked about this Sunday, and this is an important thing to get your head around.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: Why does God, how many of you agree that it seems like he's hiding?
10:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's a pretty big dude.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Why is he so hard to find?
10:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, remember, he had a dilemma.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: I want to create creatures that love me.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: To love me, they have to decide slash choose to move toward me.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: So I believe in his infinite wisdom.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: His plan was, I'm going to hide so that it requires faith and vulnerability for them to seek me.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you know if you ask, I think it's coming up here in a second.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: Ask and it will be given.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, seek and you will find.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: Knock and it'll be open.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: But remember the whole light switch thing.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: You've got to do the asking.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: It's all you've got to do.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: You've got to do the seeking.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: So in this process, part of what you bring to the table is just the willingness to face your fear and the willingness to say, God, I believe you're on the other side of that light switch.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: If I flip the switch, I believe the lights are going to come on.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: If I really apply myself to this process, I'm going to learn how to commune with you in ways.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Another thing we talked about Sunday, I love that phrase, practice makes possible.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: I threw the word perfect out the window.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: But the deal is this: anything you don't know how to do, I read a book one time and he said this.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: In fact, do this real quick.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: Take your right hand and touch your forehead.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: How many of you realize there was a time you couldn't do that?
11:41
SPEAKER_00: You realize that?
11:42
SPEAKER_00: There was a time you couldn't do that.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: How'd you learn to do that?
11:46
SPEAKER_00: You just, you know, found it, and once it you kind of practiced, and you know what?
11:54
SPEAKER_00: I can touch my forehead about any time I want now.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Same way with hearing the voice of God.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Right now you may feel clumsy, you may feel awkward, you may feel like I'm the only one in the room that doesn't get it.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: But just like that little baby, if you'll just stay engaged with the natural process of God, one day will come.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: You can hear God virtually anytime you want to.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: I love this statement.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: Practice is the mysterious process by which what is at first difficult becomes progressively easier and more pleasurable.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: The more you engage God in this way, the easier it gets.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: And again, I only say this to encourage you, I hope, but it's very easy for me to engage God.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: It's just easy.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: It's ridiculously easy.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: It's embarrassing, it's so easy.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: But it's because I've just I just believe what he said first.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: Now I don't mean like all of a sudden, I'm talking over 20 years, and those things are full of all my struggles.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: But you can get to the place where it's easy.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: All right, we talked about that this whole process is going to be built around four steps.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Stop, look, listen, and then write it down.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: And then we explain those, and we're gonna slow down and talk about each of them for a little bit.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: And remember the verse that we used was Habakkuk, or how do you say that?
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know Habakkuk or Habakkuk?
13:23
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 2, verse 1 and 2 says, I'll stand my watch, set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what he'll say to me.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: And that's probably for some of you a new twist to actually, you know, like literally close your eyes and look on the screen of your mind for what God might be projecting there.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: First time Mark Verkle ever did that, I thought, dude, you're out of your mind.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: And he started talking through this scenario, and I was like, wow, I really see this scene.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, that's kind of cool.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: And it had a life of its own.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hmm, pretty impressive.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: And God's used it.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: That's not my main way.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: Mine, I'm more words than pictures, but I do see pictures every once in a while.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: So watch to see what he'll say to me.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: All right, I think what's up here next, it is.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to do: spread around a little bit.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: I want you to.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: All this one's about really is to get you writing a little bit.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you to spread out.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to, but I think you'll be more free and comfortable if you do.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you need paper, we've got paper and pens.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: We've got paper and pens.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: Bless you, sir.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Elliot, you can put that tune on if you want to.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, you don't have to.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: What I would encourage you to do with any of the things that we do tonight or next week is just stretch yourself a little bit beyond where you've been before.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: Now, this first one's going to be a little bit more direct, you might say, in the sense that it's guiding you a little stronger than the last one will be.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And quite honestly, this first one, I'm just, I just want you to prime the pump a little bit.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Alright, here's what I want you to do.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: And this has got like three steps to it.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: This one and two more.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: List three things you like, and please notice I said the word like about God.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: So just take a moment, list three things you like about God, and then three things you like about yourself.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: So on this one, just list them.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Three things you like about God, three things you like about yourself.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go to the next one.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Now, what I want you to do is write a note to God telling him what you like about him, I would assume from your list, and why.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: But act like you're writing a noteslash short little letter.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I don't want to take too long, but write a note to God about what you like about him and why.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Now, this one is where you have to listen a little bit.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: On this one, ask God what he likes about you.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Now, this isn't what you like about you, but you're asking God now.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Close your eyes, whatever you want to do.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Notice at the bottom it says, write what comes to you as if God were speaking to you, and you can judge it later.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: The beauty of journaling is write what you feel to write, and later if you think it's silly, you can throw it out.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: But it's a way to sneak around your judging filter.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: So just ask God what he likes about you.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: In just another moment, and then we'll if you're not finished yet, you can go ahead and continue for a moment.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: But what we would typically do is pair up with someone, and if you want to, share with them any part of that that you want to.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: And there's several reasons for that.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: But but one, quite honestly, is to just make sure someone else is just helping keep you accountable, if you will.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's just a good, sweet way to stay connected.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to, pair up with someone and just share with them anything from what you just did that you'd like to share.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to, but if you want to.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Not supposed to laugh at each other.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: All right.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: I know you're sharing, and I'm glad I like it.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Typically, what Mark would then do is ask if anyone wanted to share anything with the group.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: Something that the Lord spoke to you, or some observation about the process itself.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Just anything you might want to share that would be encouraging or whatever.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to share anything?
20:12
SPEAKER_00: Read something?
20:14
SPEAKER_00: Anything?
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's very encouraging to someone else to hear how God's talking to us.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
20:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else want to share anything?
21:39
SPEAKER_00: Not like a raising of the hands, but a grunt or something.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: How many of you felt like you you you had a communication moment with God?
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: We're going to walk through the process real quickly, but I wanted to do that on the front end so that you can see.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Now we didn't particularly do the vision part of it, but all we did was kind of get a little bit quieter, and then we journal a little bit.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: So my point is you can do this at home.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, we'll talk as we go through the this week and next week, that you know, it's good to keep people involved in it with you, but I just wanted you to get a feel for I just wanted you, I call it breaking the sound barrier, you know, just just getting your pen and your paper together and saying, hmm, I think I could do this.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: So all right.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the process itself now.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else want to share?
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to cut anybody off if they wanted to?
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: What's that?
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Is it wrong to question him?
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Is it wrong to question him?
22:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Was he trying to be nicer than you thought you deserved?
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Now think about that for a moment.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: I mean the question is, is it wrong to, you know, banter with God?
23:23
SPEAKER_00: And I took a leap of faith that the bantering was because God was probably trying to say nicer things than you were ready to hear.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Is that true?
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the deal God's wanting to say nicer things than most of us are ready to hear.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: But what if you worked at letting him say them?
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine what it would feel like?
23:51
SPEAKER_00: Faith comes by hearing.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: What if you let him say nice things to you?
23:57
SPEAKER_00: And then down the road, what if you actually got comfortable saying them yourself?
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a pretty powerful thing when you learn to say nice things to yourself about yourself.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: How many in the room think you're perfect?
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Now, how many in the room think you're wonderful?
24:23
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful means full of wonder.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: I've never met anybody yet who wasn't wonderful.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: But I figured out a long time ago you don't have to be perfect to be wonderful.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: But wouldn't it be cool to believe you're wonderful?
24:44
SPEAKER_00: And you are, by the way.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's talk about the process, just to kind of stoke your thinking.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: We talked about it like in these steps.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you don't have to, but initially when you're learning something, it's probably good to know there's kind of a flow to it.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: This first one, quiet yourself inside and out.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: Which is easier, outside or inside, to quiet?
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Outside, you can just, you know, shut the door, whatever.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: The inside a little trickier.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: And that's some of what we may have some different people share, some of what different ones have learned about how to quiet their insides.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: And that's a big deal.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes that's one of the hardest problems you'll have, is just quieting the inside so you can even hope to hear something.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: This verse that we're all so familiar with, be still and know that I'm God.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: I just, you know, I like to look up words.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: The word still, be still means to slacken, like pressure on a rope.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: It means to slacken the pressure.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: To be still means to be idle.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're whatever, and it means to stop.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: It means to weaken your grip on something.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: I just thought that was cool.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Be still just means to, you might have things that are going to be waiting for you when you come out from your time with God.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: But try during your time with God to weaken your grip on them.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: And just let your heart be still.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: And then it says, and know that I'm God, and that word know means to find out by seeing.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: I thought that was pretty cool in the context of what we're doing here.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: It was to find out by seeing, to observe and recognize.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: So as we allow ourselves to still on the inside, be still on the inside, it puts us in a place to find God.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: And again, it did say by seeing in the strong concordance and all that.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: So we're talking about the whole quiet.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: What are some of the obstacles and aids?
26:49
SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk more about these noise, hurry, and crowds.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: There's no two ways about it.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: To practice this, you're going to have to figure out a way.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be hours and hours, but you're going to have to figure out a way to get 15, 30, whatever, minutes where you can really practice stilling yourself.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: And again, practice means you might not start good at it, but you'll get better at it the more you do it.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: It might take practice.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: The next one, you might need therapy.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: I meant that a little bit humorously, but what I mean is you might need to work through some things in your head.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, for instance, I'm not looking at anybody, but if you have father issues that you haven't fully worked through, who has fully worked through them, it might be tricky to go sit with Father God and feel safe.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: So there, when you go to move toward God to be intimate with them, it kind of stirs up your stuff.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: So I'm serious.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: You may need to talk to somebody and get some help.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways you can quiet yourself is to just gently read Scripture, not study it, but just read Scripture because it just kind of starts, it's like tuning a radio station.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: And so you just, you're not even reading to get anything out of it.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: You're just reading to kind of get your spirit sensitized to God.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: You might pray gently.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I like to pray in the spirit.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: And I'll, now if I'm going to journal, I'm not shouting at the top of my lungs.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to get quiet.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: And then soaking music is kind of like what we had on.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: I recommend if you're going to try to journal, that you use music that has no words and is calming, gentle music.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: And I don't listen to that kind of music all the time.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm a rock and roll freak.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: But when I want to get with God like this, I listen to the kind of music you heard a minute ago.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: And again, we'll talk more about this.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: I think Sunday we're going to talk about benefits and barriers to our connecting to the voice of God.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: All right, step two, this whole idea of look at Jesus, and it's really based on Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 and 2.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is the tricky part for some people.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: The Bible, we wouldn't have a Bible if there weren't people that believed in what you might call sanctified imagination.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: The book of Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, the whole book is full of people having visionary encounters with God.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, this verse says, fix our eyes on Jesus.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus physically in the room with us right now?
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Physically, no.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: But I believe in the way God created us that we can fix our eyes on him.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to we'll talk more about that.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways is, obviously, through Scripture.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: One of the best ways to do it is just take a gospel story and prayerfully put yourself into that story, and you'll be amazed at how God will bring it alive as you encounter and engage it.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: Ask the Holy Spirit to make the scripture come alive to you by inspiring your imagination as you read it.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Now we're afraid of the word imagination.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't mean you come up with weird stuff.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean you take the screen.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: How many of you can picture stuff in your mind?
30:58
SPEAKER_00: So you take that part of your mind, call it whatever you want, that movie screen in your head, and you, and you, by faith, you make it available to the Holy Spirit.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: And again, I just put this in the bottom to say the same thing.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: Your image factory, which I believe is your imagination, the movie screen of your mind, can be the place where two worlds meet.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: God can talk to you, show you things, have breakthroughs for you by meeting you on the screen of your mind.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: And I have to be honest, when Mark taught us all this years ago, you know, prophetically ministering to somebody, I might have seen something.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: But as far as deliberately looking to see things during my time with God, that was the first time I'd ever encountered that.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: And it was amazing to me how God would get involved in that.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: I'll just tell you a quick story.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: No, I won't, never mind.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, one of my first times, let me tell it quick, one of my first times, Mark Mark talked us into this little moment, and Jesus was, I think he was feeding the multitudes or whatever.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: And he and he, you know, had us close our eyes and had the sweet, soft music on.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And so you're just kind of like, okay, you know, like I was honestly sort of half not expecting anything.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: And then I did kind of see this big old crowd, and and he, you know, he's just kind of gently talking, and we're supposed to be writing.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: And the next thing I see the crowd, and I see Jesus, but I'm standing behind him, looking over his shoulder into the crowd.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: Now, I didn't put myself there.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: You follow what I'm saying.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: I didn't create this image.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have thought to do that.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: I would have put myself out in the crowd.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: But I was behind Jesus, looking over his shoulder at the crowd.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: And then this little voice said, What do you see?
33:00
SPEAKER_00: And then I looked in my mind's eye, I looked at the crowd, and what I saw was a sea of people that just wanted something from Jesus.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm writing this down.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: And then I felt like he asked me again, What do you see?
33:19
SPEAKER_00: And then I noticed, I don't know how many, but about every tenth person had a different look in their eye.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: And they were looking at Jesus differently.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: And I just, I mean, this is all happening in my head.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden I went, oh my goodness, they're not here to get something from Jesus.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: They get what he's doing and they want to help.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And God just showed me that's what I was to look for.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: That there's people, and there's nothing wrong with coming because you have a need.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: But to watch for that look in someone's eye when they start to understand what this thing's about and they want to get involved in it.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: And I saw that in my head and wrote it out.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Now, did I script, create, direct that movie?
34:16
SPEAKER_00: No.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: All I did was make my mind available for the Holy Spirit to project that, if you will.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 4.4.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: The God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: All I'm trying to do is draw your attention to different.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, we could have used bunches of verses, but I'm not trying to convert you.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming you're converted or you wouldn't be here to this possibility.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: But just to let you know, the Bible talks a lot about seeing.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: And I love this one.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at things that are seen, but at things that are not seen.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: So you mean I can learn to look at what you can't see.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
35:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm not saying this to be cute.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: When I really want to connect with God, and when I really want to see God, I close my eyes.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: Because I see what God's trying to tell me better with my eyes closed.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: Because He engages me in my heartslash mind.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: And you can learn, is learn an event or a process?
35:51
SPEAKER_00: It's a process.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: You can learn to do that.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: When you remember your past, do you remember it in sentences or pictures?
36:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to say it again just to emphasize.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: When you remember your past, is it in pictures?
36:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean sentences or pictures?
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess how God wants to create your future?
36:16
SPEAKER_00: In pictures.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: Why?
36:19
SPEAKER_00: A picture's worth a thousand words.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know you can have you can a picture has sight, sound, smell, emotion.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: You can have a picture moment with God that'll take you a month to write out all that you got out of it.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: There's a vision God gave me, in fact, I found it going through my journals today.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: There's a vision God gave me somewhere back there, I don't know, I can't remember which one, five, six, seven years ago.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: I can still see it right this second in my head.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: It was so clear and powerful.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: And I've lived out of that vision all these years.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: I've had people in Toronto prophesy that vision over me.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: I see, blah, blah, blah, blah.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: And they describe the exact vision that I've had in my head for years.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: And it's just, if nothing else happens tonight, but you just start to say, God, I want to, I want to figure this seeing thing out.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, then tune to the spontaneous flow.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, I don't mean to use weird words, but here's the thing about it.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: How do you tell when it's God?
37:35
SPEAKER_00: What I said about that picture a minute ago.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Mark Verkler's talking, and I I submit to the process, you know, got Holy Spirit, you know, put some picture in my head.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: And I see the crowd.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, what I had to recognize was spontaneous means it wasn't self-directed or self-initiated.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: It's an important thought.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't self-directed or self-initiated.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: That's really important.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: It was a spontaneous flow.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: It didn't come, I'm doing this like it came from out here.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: It didn't come from out here.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: It was in here, but it didn't come from me.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
38:16
SPEAKER_00: So you've got to practice, like you're writing in your journal.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: Like I would hope some of you tonight, God, what do you like about me?
38:25
SPEAKER_00: I would hope some of you wrote things that you would go, hmm, I wouldn't have thought that.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: Or I wouldn't have worded it that way.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
38:37
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it was maybe a thought like you, yeah, I kind of knew I had that character, quality, or whatever, but I wouldn't have worded it that way.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: And that's starting to recognize that spontaneous flow of thoughts that's part of how you learn to discern God's voice from your voice and other voices.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite phrases in all of Scripture, the word of the Lord came to me saying, again, this is under this whole spontaneous flow.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: This is just a computer printout.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: I just took my little program and typed in the phrase, the word of the Lord came to me saying, fifty times.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Fifty times it's in the Bible.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: Mostly Ezekiel and Jeremiah, where they said, the word of the Lord came to me saying.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: Now the beauty of what we're going to be looking at, working on, is recognizing as the word of the Lord comes to you.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: You don't work it up, it comes to you.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: What you're going to work at learning to do is how to create stillness and the faith to take out your pen and paper and believe that God wants to talk to me.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: And the word of the Lord's going to come.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know one word from God can change your life?
39:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean, one word.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: And God knows words that can just split your heart wide open that nobody else would know.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 1.23 says, Come and listen to my counsel.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: I'll share my heart with you and make you wise.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: Come and listen.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: We've got to practice listening to the voice of God.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: Remember in 1 Kings 19, you know, all the big powerful stuff happened, and this is the end of that stretch.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: It says, after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: And after the fire, one translation says a gentle breeze.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: One says a still small voice.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: God's voice comes to us as spontaneous, meaning they're not self-directed or self-initiated.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: Spontaneous means they didn't come from you and you're not steering them.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, can that really happen?
41:02
SPEAKER_00: Been doing it for 20 years.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I could read you stuff and I'm like, I couldn't have written that.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: Not because I don't know English, but it's just, I'm not, I don't write that well for one thing.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: God, and I don't mean all of them are that way, some of them are not, but God's voice comes as spontaneous thoughts, visions, feelings, or impressions.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: We've just made it too complicated.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: God's trying to talk to us all the time.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: All we want to do is give you a process, a way you can slow it down, be deliberate and intentional about it, and practice.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
41:45
SPEAKER_00: You're going to write some stuff down, and the next day you read it and say, Man, that wasn't gone.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
41:52
SPEAKER_00: God's not going to be mad at you.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: He's going to appreciate that you're trying.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: Say yes if that makes sense.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be thrilled that you're trying to learn to discern his voice.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: He's not going to be upset when you miss it.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: He's excited you're trying.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: Alright, then the last thought of this, the last step is write it down.
42:15
SPEAKER_00: Mark Verkler says this.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: He calls journaling the writing, this is his like definition.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: It's the writing out of your prayers and God's answers.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: So literally in my journal, you'll have times, not always, but there'll be times where I just kind of ramble a minute.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, Father, I love you.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm proud to be yours, blah, blah, blah.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: And I talk for about a paragraph, and then I say, What do you want to say to your people in the morning?
42:43
SPEAKER_00: And I ask him a question.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: And then I write what I feel like he's saying to me.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: Just a lot of cool stuff.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: Look at this verse.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: I thought I'd throw this in here.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: You parents, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?
43:09
SPEAKER_00: If they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake?
43:13
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask?
43:26
SPEAKER_00: Point being, you're going to humbly put yourself before God asking Him to speak to you.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: Do you think you need to be worried about, oh, this might be a demon talking to me?
43:41
SPEAKER_00: Now, could a demon talk to you?
43:43
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: In that environment.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: And remember the safeguard.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: Our recommendation around here is that you share your journal with someone else periodically.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: Why?
43:56
SPEAKER_00: Just to safeguard.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: But the point is, if you're saying, Father, please speak to me, he wants to speak to you.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: He's not going to allow you to be deceived and let off course.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
44:13
SPEAKER_00: Rest in God's goodness and the confidence that you can test what you write later.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: If you doubt it while you're writing it, it blocks the flow.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: So your question, is it okay to fuss with them?
44:29
SPEAKER_00: What I'd recommend in journaling is write it out and fuss with them later.
44:35
SPEAKER_00: So write what you feel is coming.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: And you know, 99 times out of 100, the problem you're going to have is he's being nicer to you than you would be.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: So write it out the way you're hearing it, and then when you're done, you can go back and say, nah, that can't be God, or, wow, I think that was God.
44:57
SPEAKER_00: But you don't have to judge it while you're writing.
45:01
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
45:03
SPEAKER_00: It gives you the freedom to just go with the flow of it and figure out whether it was God or not later.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: And what that does is it just kind of eases the pressure so you can relax and listen to God better.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: Make sense?
45:23
SPEAKER_00: I think we're done.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, having not been here much on Wednesday night, I'm under the impression that we typically end at 8.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: Is that correct?
45:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: Pardon me?
45:36
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: So, we probably will not do another exercise.
45:41
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: Here's what you could do to get ready for next week, because I'm going to talk to the folks in this direction.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 15.
45:51
SPEAKER_00: Just write that down somewhere.
45:54
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 15.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 15 is where we find the parable of the prodigal son, we call it.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: It's also the lost coin and the lost sheep.
46:05
SPEAKER_00: But it also starts with a really cool verse at the front.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: It's a great chapter to practice this.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: The first verse says tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to him to hear what he had to say.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: So what you could do, for instance, is just imagine, close your eyes and imagine a room.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: It could be in this time, contemporary.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: A room full of people, broken, hurting, lives a mess away from God.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: And they're coming close.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: And all the religious people that think they have it together are off at a distance.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: And you can just picture that and see what God does with that.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: And then you go on into the chapter, and Jesus, in that context, in that mix of people, talks about how many coins?
47:06
SPEAKER_00: 15 was it?
47:07
SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: He lost one coin, he leaves the ones and goes finds that one.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: In this room with this weird dynamic in it.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: A hundred sheep loses one, leaves the 99, and goes and looks for the one.
47:21
SPEAKER_00: So you just have this delightful way to feel.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: And then after those two, he tells a story about the prodigal son.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: And there's just lots of room there to really.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: You could put yourself in the place of the prodigal son, the elder brother.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: You can do all kinds of cool things with it and just see what God does with it.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: And he'll show you some really cool things about yourself.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
47:52
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: Sunday morning we'll hit it again.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: Next Wednesday night we'll hit it again.