10 7 18 Hearing God

Can I actually hear God's voice in my daily life?

You can start hearing God today by surrendering your life to Him and obeying the small promptings you feel. Whether it's opening your Bible or showing kindness to a stranger, these little acts of obedience open the door to His voice. Trust that He wants to speak to you and guide you through the Holy Spirit.

Can mankind have a conversational relationship with God on a daily basis?

Welcome to The Real Church Podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now, join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.

So now we start hearing God part 1. The big question for today, the big question that we're gonna dive into is, can I hear God? In American culture today, 70% is measured, 77 76 or 77% of people actually say that they pray at least once a month. Most people pray, and as a matter of fact, when crap goes down in life, when you drive to the maybe you're driving and somebody cuts you off, you know, God help them. Right?

Or maybe when something goes on and you're about to get in a car car wreck or car crash, you're like, God save me, help me. Maybe when you're sick and something's about to, maybe you're about to lose I mean, tragedy happens, you're about to lose a limb or or or you're just on your deathbed, it's God, save me, whatever it takes, you begin to bargain with God so that you could continue to live your life. Because when stuff happens in your life, you begin to reach out and everybody becomes a believer, everybody begins to talk to God. Or maybe even the person that says that they don't believe in God, something goes on, a tragedy happens in their life and they begin to rail at the rail out and be angry and curse the very God that they say that they don't believe in, just proving that they do believe in him to some extent. A lot of people will say that they pray to God, but as soon as you say, you don't just pray to God, but you hear from him, as soon as that happens, well, in culture today, you're looked at as crazy, maybe a lunatic.

Hearing those voices again, is that really possible? Is that really I mean, come on. But that's not us. We're sitting in church, so you guys are sitting in church. You came today because at least to some extent, you're hoping to hear from God.

You're hoping to hear his voice, hoping that this loving true God would speak to you in a way that would impact your life because you're reaching out. Maybe some of you are going through something and reaching out for something, need to hear something, need a radical change in your life, or maybe you are already in a daily relationship with God, and you just want to grow in that. We're in church together, so that's what that shows me that you are in some way seeking to hear from God, whether you realize it or not. I want to tell you that I can tell you, and I'm a 100% sure of it, that not only is there a God, he's a loving God, he is the true God, and he's a living God, and he desires a daily, close, personal, conversational relationship with each and every 1 of you. Well pastor, how can you be so sure?

Let me prove it. Let's go to the Bible. I always go to the Bible to prove stuff. It's just a lot of fun. *Genesis-1* verse starting verse 27.

So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Man, male, and female, he created them. God blessed them, verse 28, and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and everything living creature that moves on the ground.

Then God said, Right? So God is giving *commands* to Adam and Eve in order to do something. So what we can pull away from this is we know that at least for the very first man and woman, Adam and Eve, God commanded them. So God said something to them. They understood it, so at least they could hear from God.

But let's go a little bit deeper in chapter 3 verses 8 through 11. It says, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the "cool of the day", and they hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. Now, it's interesting in this verse, it doesn't say, then Adam and Eve or the man and the woman heard this a sound and they went to check out to see what it was. Now, that would be completely different. No.

It says, they heard the sound of the Lord *God*. Interesting. It says, Lord God there, meaning to Adam and Eve, they had they had a relationship with him, you know, they were living and they were following his voice. They had kinda surrendered to him. They called him Lord God.

Okay? But not only that, it says, they heard him walking in the cool of the day. Okay? So that implies that they knew what him walking in the cool of the day sounded like. So therefore, we can assume that it's likely that they walked with God in the cool of the day, had relationship with him on a some kind of basis.

What does it mean that Elijah was a "man just like us"?

You follow me so far? Now what's interesting is then, but Lord but the Lord God called the man, where are you? Man answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. God answered. God and he said, God said, who told you you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? Verse 12, then man said, the woman he blamed woman. The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it. Then the Lord said to the woman so God said, man said, God said, woman said, God said, There's a day there's a conversational *relationship going on which would imply that God spoke to man, man understood, spoke back to God, and God spoke to woman, woman understood and spoke back to God, proving that mankind can have a conversational relationship with God* on a daily basis. Now, you might sit there and think, okay, wait, hold on.

1 second pastor. That doesn't prove anything for me. The question is, can I hear God? And you just showed me that mankind can hear God, and Adam and Eve, they are the first man and woman ever. God hand formed them and breathed into them.

Of course, they could hear from God, but what does that mean for me? I'm going through stuff that I'd like to hear God's voice on in my life right now, and if he really is a loving God, I'd love to hear that because it probably impact my situation. Can I hear from God? Elijah. First Kings, we're gonna detour for a second.

Elijah. 1 Kings-19. Now Elijah was this, maybe you've heard of him, maybe you haven't. He's this great prophet from old in the Old Testament. Like, he's he's done some really cool things.

He went up against the evil king and his wife and defeated them. He raised a little boy from the dead, which is kinda cool. He called down fire from heaven, which is awesome. And then, he ran for miles and miles and miles beating a horse and its chariots empowered by God, which is amazing. And in 1 Kings-19, this great prophet goes back and forth with God in a what seems to be a conversational relationship.

Elijah is speaking and then God is speaking. Elijah speaking and God's replying and God's speaking and Elijah's replying and you say, okay, I see what you're doing there. Yes. That is a prophet from old and you know, he he was some super spiritual dude, but what does that mean for me? Can I hear from God?

The crazy part is all throughout scripture, see in these Bible stories, these Bible characters are hearing from God and speak to him in a conversational type relationship, which looks really cool. But what does that mean for me? I'm glad you asked. Let's go to James-5. This is so cool.

I I love this. *James-5* verse 17. Elijah Bible says, Elijah was a human being even as we are. ESV says, Elijah was a man just like us. Before we read on, I want you to catch that.

Elijah was a man just like us. Now that flips the script. That changes what a lot of people think because a lot of people would say, these are bible characters that I can read about that did some supernatural, absolutely wonderful and amazing things, but I can learn from what they did, but it really doesn't apply to my life. No. Actually, Elijah was a man just like us.

Those words mean that everything that these bible characters did, they weren't just bible characters. They were actually real people that lived real lives and had real struggles, but yet they heard from God, talked to God, and did supernatural amazing things to impact the world around them, and they were just people that pulled their pants up in the morning like we do. Which means that everything they've experienced and the way that they had a relationship with God, we can have that same type of relationship and walk in those same types of experiences in our daily life because Elijah was a man just like us. Wow. So when you read the Bible, don't read it as Bible characters from a time long ago.

No. These are people just like us, and put yourself in there because you can experience that. You can learn from their experiences and do the same and hear the same things. Let me prove it to you. *Amos-3:7*.

How does the Holy Spirit guide you into "all the truth"?

It's 1 of my favorite verses because it starts 1 of my favorite discussions. *Amos-3:7* says, surely the sovereign Lord does nothing Just for emphasis, say nothing. Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plans to his servants, the prophets. *God* does nothing in the world without revealing his plan to someone. In this verse, it says his servants, the prophets.

Now pastor, how does that help me? Let's go a little bit deeper. Go to John-15. *John-15* verse 13. It says, greater *love John-15:13, greater love has no 1 than this, to "lay down one's life"* for one's friends.

Now that's kind of like a what Jesus did for us. He wants he wants you to be a friend of God. A friend of God has a relationship with him, communicates with him daily on a daily basis. And but when we were not yet friends of God, Jesus, God in the flesh, laid his life down for us so that we could become and enter into friendship with God. Becoming *love*, defining love to the greatest extent.

Greater love has no no man than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. Verse 14, you are my friends if you do what I command. It's Jesus speaking. Verse 15, check this out. I no longer call you servants.

Now remember, Amos-3:7, surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plans to his servants, the prophets. But Jesus is saying, I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. Why? It's key.

For everything that I learned from my father, I have made known to you. Everything that I have learned from my father. So in the Old Testament, God revealed his plans to his servants, the prophets. But now, through Jesus, we can become friends of God and know everything through Jesus, and everything that is the Father's is Jesus', God wants to reveal his plans before he moves to you, all of them. I'll prove it.

You don't believe me yet? It's okay. It's okay. We'll get there. John-16.

Check this out. John-16 verse 13. But when he, the "spirit of truth" comes, he will guide you into all the truth. Everybody say all the truth. All the truth.

Not not he's not gonna guide you into some of the truth. He's not gonna guide you into a little bit of the truth. No. It says all the truth. Now, that's amazing.

He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth will guide you into all truth and tell you what is yet to come. He wants to reveal his *plans* to you as friends in conversational relationship with you. Let's keep going. Chapter 15, so that's 16 verses 13 and 14.

Oh, verse 13. Go to up a little bit in chapter 15 verse 26. We're gonna flesh this out a little bit. When the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the father Now the advocate, the word there, it's it's another name that the Holy Spirit has. The advocate, he's the comforter.

He's the yeah. He's he's the advocate. He's the comforter. So anyway, that's another name for him. The when the advocate comes, whom I will send to you, the spirit of truth who goes out from the father, another word for him, the spirit of truth, he will testify about me.

About who? Jesus is speaking. So the Holy Spirit, the advocate, the comforter, the spirit of truth will testify about Jesus. Now the question is, what are the plans he wants to show you? What are the plans that he wants to tell you?

How do you reproduce what you see when focusing on Jesus?

Let me explain. He's testifying about Jesus. Now the spirit of truth, who is truth? Jesus said, am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.

So Jesus is truth. So the spirit of truth is the spirit of Jesus and he's testifying about Jesus and he's leading you into all of the truth, into all of Jesus. You follow me? He's helping you to understand who he's created you to be because he's created you to represent and to show the love of Jesus to the world. Why?

Remember in John-15:13, greater love Oh, no. Verse 12. *John-15:12*, my command is this. Jesus saying, hey, what I'm saying to you and what I'm gonna be saying to you is this. My command is this, love each other as I have loved you.

Just like we've learned in the in the no love series, we reproduce what we see. So when we focus on Jesus, we reproduce him in and through our life. When we focus on his love, love for him grows and it enables us to be able to love those around us better. Even greater than that, we're filled with the Holy Spirit, God in us, and he's teaching us how to see Jesus, leading us into Jesus, and reminding us of what Jesus is saying, which is to love those around us just like Jesus loves us. Not only that, which is really cool.

Verse 13, greater love has no 1 than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. *Jesus* did whatever it took for us, and as we get to know him and we understand his love for us, then we follow him in doing whatever it takes for those around us to get to know his love. That's the the very vision of real church, whatever it takes for you to know the love of Jesus and live your God given purpose. Why? Because we see him laying his life down for us, so we wanna follow him in laying our life downs for others so that they can know him.

Why? As empowered by his spirit, showing us who he is in a day in our daily lives. Now you're like, okay. You're you're you're you're talking about hearing *God* and you show me that I can hear God, and you show me that that God speaks, he speaks to me and and shows me and leads me into all truth, and he's leading me in my daily life to look more like Jesus. What does that look like?

Now, we're gonna continue throughout the series over the next 3 Sundays to get extremely practical on what that looks like in your daily life, but now, I just wanna show you an example from my daily life, if that's okay. You guys like stories? It's a true story. It happened a couple months ago. So this is how Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth speaks to me about *Jesus* in order to help those around me to see Jesus and to grow in in their ability to know love, joy, and peace, which is amazing.

So a couple of months ago, I'm sitting in my van. I'm right outside of the Starbucks, which is on the corner of Belcher and Gulf Of Bay. I'm looking in front of me about 50 yards is the Wawa. You guys know where I'm at right now? And back to my left is PDQ and I think Boston's or something like that.

Alright. So I'm sitting there and I'm catching up on some email. I'm about to go into a meeting because we're trying to launch a church. We're trying to start a church, and so I'm constantly meeting with people and building team of people who wanna help us launch this thing. Right?

So I'm I'm going through some emails and stuff in order to to catch up on that. I'm about 10 or 15 minutes early from my meeting, And I look up and in front of me, sitting at the table at the Wawa, I see a guy with long dreads, he's got tattoos all over him, and he's got a girl beside him, probably his girlfriend, is what I think. And I think to myself, hey, that's a "real cool cat". You should probably go and pray for him. Now, that's not me.

Because me, I'm busy, I got a meeting coming up, and I gotta catch up on this stuff. I wouldn't think that in that moment. Okay? That's probably someone challenging me to love someone as he would love them if he were there in that moment. Does that make sense?

How did the pastor respond to the couple at the Wawa and what was the initial outcome?

So here I am trying to catch up on emails, and so like any good pastor would do when he hears that, I look back down and keep catching up on emails. I ignore it. Sorry to say. What happens next? 5 minutes later, I look up and there they are walking beside my van without thinking, I put my phone down, I open the door and "jump out to talk" to them.

By his grace, thank God. So imagine if you were them. You're walking by this van and this random guy hops out of the car and says, hey, hey, hey. It's kinda weird. I I said, excuse me.

Excuse me, sir, ma'am. Sorry to to bother you. Look, I just I saw you sitting at the wawa, and I thought to myself, hey, that's that's a real cool cat. I really said that. And I said, I just want you to know that God loves you a whole lot and I just ask you if I could pray for you for anything.

If if there's anything in the world that I could pray for you for, what would it be? They looked at me kinda caught off guard, right, because this guy just jumped out of van looking at them and talk talking to them. And then once they got their bearings, they said, you know what? Actually, we're going through a really tough time. It would be really nice if you could if you could just pray for us, man.

Just pray for anything. So right there in the parking lot, I grabbed their hands and I said, you know, God, I Lord, I I pray that they This this amazing couple, Lord God, they grow in their understanding of how much you love them because you do. That you're not mad at them, Lord, and you I pray that from this moment forward, Lord, they understand your love for them deeper and deeper and deeper, and it changes everything around them. In Jesus' name, amen. As I stopped the prayer, they said thank you, and they went to go away.

I had another thought, so I grabbed my business card, was I had my cell phone on it and talked about real church, I handed it to them. I said, look, if you guys need anything, just give me a call. Get in my van, I drive away to PDQ, which is 50 yards away. I go to my meeting, had a great meeting, gained another person on the launch team. I get done with that meeting, and I'm sitting in my van going over my emails trying to catch up on that and I get a call from a random number.

I answer the call and it's the guy. And he says, hey, look, we're really going through a tough time. I just need somebody to talk to and couldn't think of anybody else, but your card was sitting in my hand. So could you Do you have any time? Could you come and talk to us?

I said, yeah. Actually, I I can. Where are you guys at? He said, we're back at the Wawa. I said, I'll be right there.

So I shut my van door and I drove over to the Wawa. Now, here's the thing. If I would have not jumped out of the van, if I would have disobeyed, if you will, that leading of God, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do what happened next. If I would have disobeyed the the leading of God in the van in front of PDQ to go over and talk to them because I was busy, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do what happens, what I'm about to tell you about. See, a lot of times, God will challenge you in your life to put down what you wanna do in order to love someone else because love is self sacrificial.

It's not about you. Right? So a lot of times that's what he'll do. And in order to do that, the Bible says we daily, we carry our cross and follow him. What does that mean?

Daily, we're putting down what we wanna do when he challenges us to love people in order to be obedient to the things that he commands like the verse said, so that those around us can see his love in and through us and it changed their life just like he's changing our life. Does that make sense? So I drive over to the Wawa, I get out and I sit down and I ask them what's going on. And for the next 30 minutes, they share with me an amazing story about their life and they've been through everything that you can imagine, everything that you can imagine, and they've done everything that you can imagine, and they're sharing all of this open with me. Why?

Because I'm listening and not judging them, but I'm listening with the heart of Christ, listening with compassion. You know, you ever you ever have that, you know, somebody tells you something you're like, don't do that. Just love them. Just love people. Because man, it's God's love.

It's the kindness of God that leads a man to repentance. Period. So I'm sitting there, and and also, part of that is part of communicating with people is not not only do you talk, but you have 2 ears, you listen. It's a big deal. So by his grace, I was listening there, and I get to the end of about 30 minutes of of them talking, and man, they've been through a lot, and I'm really hurting for them.

And I say, you know what, guys, I I've talked to a lot of people and that have been through a lot of stuff and similar stuff like this. I said, can I would you mind if I give you some advice? Like, would you mind if I just take a moment to And it's gonna seem like it's not real practical for what you're going through, but I promise it's the most practical advice that you could ever have. And both kinda look at me and say, well well well, sure. I mean, I don't mind.

What's that? So I said, I just I shared the gospel with him. I told him about Jesus. I told him about how much he loves him. I told him, you know, all of the stuff that they've done, everything that you can imagine.

What specific actions did the pastor take to share the gospel and lead them to baptism?

So, you know, God paid the price for that. He took your junk so that you can experience his life and know the 1 who is love, so you can experience his love in your life. Know and and and from that love comes joy and peace, so you can know that every aspect of your life. And I just I told them the gospel about Jesus dying and rising for them, and the girl is just weeping. Why?

Because when someone hears about the love of *God* and the kindness of God, it's the kindness of God that leads them to repentance. Man, she is weeping and she is ready right then to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior, which is amazing. But once again, I had the thought, not yet, to focus on him. So I began to talk to him. I said, look, hey, man.

Looks like your your girlfriend, man, she wants to accept Christ. What about you? Where are you at in all of this? He looks at me and he says he says, really man, I don't know. He said, I've I've studied Hinduism and Buddhism, and I even got into some like Levantian Satanism and it's really not that bad.

I'm I'm like, okay. He says, so I just don't know. So then, part of his story was he was a rapper. And what he didn't know was I'm not really a rapper, but 2 years before, I had written a rap song. And once again, I had the thought, hey, and I and I told him, I said, look.

I said, I I wrote a rap song 2 years ago, and I believe that I wrote it for you. So I'm gonna rap this song for you right now. Like craziness. Like insane. Right?

He looks at me. He look he looks kinda confused like like, really? Yeah. So I present I'm not gonna do that for you now because we probably don't have time. Cause I I don't want to either.

But So I wrapped the song for him right there and it was written for him. After I got done with the song, he was crying and he said, you don't understand how much that touched my life. And I asked him, was he ready to give his life to Jesus? And right there, right then, he gave his life to Jesus. It's amazing.

Yeah. You can that's not hand clapping me. That's hand clapping Jesus. And then, I asked him, I said, you know, because you have a relationship with God. I said, which is amazing.

Why don't you lead your girlfriend into a relationship with Jesus? And then he led his girlfriend, and she accepted Christ right there, right right then, which is amazing. And then, I told him about baptism and they said, well and I told him what it means and everything and they said, absolutely. We want we wanna be baptized. When can we be baptized?

I said, well, right now. So then we drove to the beach and we they got baptized right then. Was wearing jeans. It was awesome. Lives changed.

And then, *God* moved on his heart because when you enter in relationship with God, he teaches you to look like him. God moved on his heart and he knew that he needed to marry the girl that he was with. And so in obedience to what God was speaking to him in relationship with him, he came to me after being baptized. He said, I need to do something. I said, what?

He said, I need to I need to ask the girl ask Nikki to to marry me. Would you do my wedding? I said, absolutely. I'd love to. And he turned around on the beach, right where he got baptized, got on his knee, and asked her to marry him.

It's amazing. See, if I wouldn't have been obedient in the moment in the first moment, which I kind of missed it at first, but so by his grace, he allowed and gave me a second chance. But if I would have been obedient there, I wouldn't have got to pray with them, which was awesome. But that's not what all all that God wanted to do in their lives. He wanted to continue to use me in the moment to look like Jesus for them, so that they could see Jesus in and through me, and be led to Jesus, not to me.

And so, as I continued to take steps of obedience, God continued to speak and continued to show me more, so that their lives could be changed in and through my life in partnership with the God of the universe working to change the world around me. How amazing is that? But see, I'm not special. I'm just a guy who understands who Jesus is and how much he loves him, which makes you guys special too. Because if you understand who Jesus is and how much he loves you, he can use you in the same ways, which is amazing.

Let's continue. In John-16, how will the Holy Spirit speak? The spirit of truth who tells us about Jesus. Like Elijah was just a guy. I'm just a guy.

How does the Holy Spirit convict the world according to John-16 and what is the invitation?

Here's the same thing, you're just you're just guys and girls. You're just his sons and daughters, if you've given your life to Jesus, who can impact the world around you with his love. So how does the Holy Spirit speak? *John-16*, what's he gonna say? Verse 8.

We'll start in verse 7. But truly, very truly, I say to you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the advocate, right, the comforter, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, 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.

The ESV there says, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment. You ask a lot of Christians, hey, what does the Holy Spirit do? Well, convicts me of my sin. Well, let's keep reading, guys. Verse 9, about sin because people do not believe in me.

So who does the Holy Spirit convict about sin? People who do not believe in Jesus. Interesting. How does he do that? Does he do that by saying, oh, you're such a terrible person.

No. It's the kindness of God that leads a man to repentance. So what will usually happen is exactly what happened in John-15. There we go. In John-15, where he says, I've told you this so that my command is this, love each other as I have loved you.

Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. Usually, will happen is God will use people in order to show other people the radical love of Jesus, or he'll speak it straight to them. They'll see how much God loves them, and then the Holy Spirit will convict them because they'll know that they don't have a relationship with the 1 who is love, and they'll have a desire in their heart to know him, and so they know that they're separated from him by that sin and they'll say, God, help me. I need to know you. Hey, let's let's just take a moment.

Spy our head and close our eyes just for a second. As I'm saying that, is there anybody in here right now? You say, you know what? What you just said, that's me. I know that God loves me, and I know that I don't know that love.

I don't have a relationship with the 1 who is love like you're saying, but I want to begin a relationship with him right now. I want to learn to hear him speak, and I want to give my life, surrender my life to Jesus. I know that is me right now. If that's you, would you raise your hand? I see you.

I see you. 4. Anybody else? 5. Wow.

That's amazing. You know what it takes? It says, confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. That means you're not the Lord of your life anymore, you're surrendering your life to him, and believe in your heart that he "died and rose from the grave". Do you believe he died and rose for you?

If you do, if you raise your hand and you'd believe that, just shake your head yes. You believe that. Good. Are you ready to surrender your to stop living for yourself and begin living for him? Just shake your head yes if that's yes?

Okay. Well, then let's pray this prayer together. It's not a prayer that saves you, it's surrendering your life that does. But you pray this and meet it with every all of your heart, and you're doing that. And God will teach you how to live for him by his grace and mercy and power, and it's amazing.

So let's pray together. Everybody, if you guys would pray with me just to support what they're doing, this decision that they're making. Everybody, *God*, I need you. Just pray it out loud. God, I need you.

I realize that I'm separated from you. And you paid the price for me not to be separated from you. I give you my life. Surrender my life to you. Help me to know you.

Thank you for forgiving me. By faith I am now your son or I'm your daughter. Thank you for loving me. Amen. 5 people just gave their life to Jesus.

It's awesome. Let's continue. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin or convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment about sin because people do not believe in me. Which that's not you guys anymore, those 5, or the rest of you because I believe, hey, maybe you already have a relationship with him. So what about righteousness?

About righteousness because I'm going to the father where you can see me no longer. Who is you? It's the disciple in this in this verse. It's the disciples. It's those who are following Jesus.

So the Holy Spirit *convicts those who are his sons and daughters, those who are following Jesus* of righteousness. He convicts you of **right standing** with God. What does that look like in your daily life as a son and a daughter? As you screw up in life, because it will happen, as you mess up, the Holy Spirit is not condemning you. That's the enemy condemning you, trying to make you run from God.

How does the Holy Spirit convict believers of sin, righteousness, and judgment while guiding them through daily obedience?

But the Holy Spirit is convicting you of, hey. He's he's saying, hey, that's "not who you are". What you just did, that's not who you are. You're in right standing with God. Come on.

Let's go stand before the father and "run back to him". That's for all of you. You just gave your life to Christ. All of your junk, completely separated from him. God loves you.

It's a big deal. And then about judgment, because the prince of peace I mean, not the prince of peace. Sorry. The prince of the world now stands condemned. Satan now stands condemned, he convicts him of judgment.

Craziness, So hearing God. Can I hear God? Absolutely. Does he wanna speak to you? Yes.

What does he speak to you about? Well, if you don't know him, he shows you his love and convicts you of sin so that you can know him, so that you can trust in the payment for your sin. What if you know him, he convicts you of righteousness and then teaches you about truth, who is Jesus, so that you can walk like Jesus and become love to the world around you, so that other people can know him. And he can do everything that you heard today and more in your daily life, and the way that it happens is little baby steps of obedience. As you're driving home and you have the thought to pray for someone, just pray for them in your head, or a whisper, or pray just talk to God.

It doesn't have to sound super natural, super holy or anything, you know? Just be you. As you're wake up in the morning, you have the thought to open up the Bible app, or to open up your Bible and read. Open your bible and read, and ask God to speak to you. And just just do it.

Just be obedient in that moment. The little things. As you're at work and you have the thought to be extra nice, or to be radically generous, to tip your waiter even when they "don't deserve it". God gave you stuff when you don't deserve it. He died for you when you didn't deserve it, so be radically generous just like he is when other people don't deserve it.

It's showing them love. It touches people's hearts. Be radically obedient in the little things, and as you do, he will begin to show you more and begin to not only do you know more of his love for you, but you're able to experience and exemplify his love for others more and more in your daily life. That's awesome. That's who he is.

That's how much he loves you, and that's how he can use you because of your knowing him to change the world around you and help others in your life.

Thanks for listening to the Real Church podcast. If you have questions, comments, or would like to get to know us, be sure to check us out on social media by searching Real Church Clearwater, or visit us online at www.realchurch.us. If you'd like to play a part in what we're doing, you can do so right where you are. Your prayers are powerful and effective. You can also be a part through giving.

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