You are invited to stop relying on a list of rules and start seeking a genuine relationship with Jesus. Join a small group today to root your faith deep in community so you can withstand the trials that come. Remember that you are washed clean, so walk forward in love rather than shame to hear Him more clearly.
Good morning. I'm glad you're here. You guys look great. Well, thank you. I wasn't "fishing for a compliment", but I receive it in Jesus' name.
Hey. My name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. There's no place I'd rather be. There's nothing I'd rather be doing, and I'm so thankful that you chose to spend thank you, brother.
To spend your Sunday morning here with us. And our prayer is that you walk away today having experienced and encountered the love of Jesus in such a way that it leaves you never the same. And it leaves you desiring to know him more. Wanting to come back here, that's great. Yes.
That too. But wanting also to to seek after him in your personal life. To know him more than just a list of rules and a list of laws, but to know him in a relationship where you actually know and hear his voice. So today we're starting a new series titled, Hearing God. You guys excited about the series a little bit?
Yeah? So I'm going to kind of lay a foundation today about, what it looks like to hear the voice of God. My prayer, my hope is that you walk away today understanding how to hear the Lord more clearly in every area of your life and understanding why maybe you haven't heard God in certain areas of your life. Hopefully we walk away with that understanding very clearly today. Amen?
Would that be good? And then every other, message of the Hearing God series, I think we're gonna go through June and probably through July with Hearing God. I will get up and probably share about a 10 minute, 10 to 15 minute principle of what it looks like to hear the Lord in your daily life. And then we'll bring somebody up from the congregation, have a couch here, and we'll just have a dialogue and discussion of what it looks like. What how they've grown in hearing the lord and and what it looks like in their daily life.
Maybe when they first heard the lord, that kind of thing. Amen? Amen. So, I'm going to start just sharing a little bit of my testimony with you. I, man, I was blessed and I'm I'm so thankful that I got to grow up in a Christian home.
I know maybe many of you haven't or maybe even most of you didn't. That's okay. He man, he can "start fresh" whether you're 72 years old, 75 years old, 80 years old, or whether you're you're 11 years old. Man, he can start fresh with you right where you are and and use you to accomplish his purposes throughout the world. But not only that, know you and and you can know him because you were created to.
Amen? I came to know Jesus. I was, **born again** when I was 4 years old. And it was real. Like, it really was.
And if I'm honest, you know, I don't actually remember that time, but I just remember knowing Jesus as long as I can remember. So I believe it was real. And and I talking with people on the street or at Publix or wherever, you know, that's 1 of the first questions I ask people when I when I talk with them about Jesus. I'll ask people all the time if I can pray for you or if you know, and I'll I'll pray for them specifically wherever we are. And then I'll ask them, do you know Jesus?
And a common a common response that I get is, oh, I go to church. I've been going to church for a long time. Well, that's that's amazing, but that's not what I asked. Going to church is important and going to church, like, it's the body of Christ. You know, the the church is the body of Christ.
So to disconnect from church is to disconnect from the body of Christ, which means you're disconnecting from Christ. Right? That's how important it is. Actually, let me just just go there for a second. We'll take a small detour.
In Matthew-13, the parable of the sower. There's 1 part that that applies to that. The the parable of the sower, you know, that the sower went out into the field to sow seed and some fell on the path, but then some fell on rocky ground. And that's the part I wanna talk to you about for a second in connecting with a church body. The seed that fell on the rocky ground, it didn't get to go deep into the soil.
It only went a shallow bit into the soil. And it said, like when Jesus was explaining what the parable meant later in chapter 13, he said he said, those are
the people that receive the word with joy. And, and it, like the plant sprouts up fast. So like they're all super pumped in today's world. They're all super pumped about Jesus, and excited, and wonderful. But it says, because they didn't have deep root,
when the sun came, the trials of life came and tested like life gets tough for everybody. *Christians* and non Christians alike. It says, they it dried up and withered away. They never bore fruit. Well, this past week I was kind of processing this a little bit.
I felt like the Lord led me. We're talking about hearing God. I specifically felt the Lord led me to Matthew-13. Well, here's why. I was processing this statement and I called a friend of mine who's more, into farming and that kind of stuff than than I was, knows more about seed.
And I said, hey, when a when a seed is planted shallow, too shallow in the soil, because that's what it's talking about, rocky soil, it gets too shallow. It can't go deep. When it's planted too shallow in the soil, what happens? And he says, well, it, it doesn't get the moisture of the deep soil, so it dries up too quick. And the plant that it comes up pretty fast but the plant that it's it's damaged and doesn't bear any fruit.
I said, and you you're getting that from farming not from the Bible. Right? And he says, yes. Guys, the soil is the culture in which you're planted. The community in which you're planted.
We see people that come to church all the time and they get super excited about Jesus. I mean, within the first week or 2, you know, they want to serve on every team and they want to do everything. But then after a month or 2 months, they're gone. And the reason is, when God sent them to this local body, they didn't really deeply connect in the community and in the culture that he sent them to. They just they just came and did what felt right for a moment, but didn't really build the strong relationships in order to root and anchor deep.
So when life got tough, they dried up and went away. And whether he's called you to anchor deep in this church or in another 1, man, it's important to follow where he's called you to be and then root deep so that when life gets tough, the moisture of the culture around you, meaning other believers that you have deep connection with because you're in that community he's put you there, man, it keeps you moist in the Holy Spirit. Moist in, it keeps you understanding the goodness of the gospel so that the sun or the, the trials of life doesn't dry you up too. So you can bear fruit in every season. Man, that's how important it is to stay and be connected in a local body of believers where when it gets tough and you can't hear the lord in a certain area because you got, you just get focused on circumstance or whatever it is.
Man, you have believers you can lean on and they can remind you of who Christ is and and wash your feet in his righteousness.
So, you can
lean on them and then grow in him. Amen? Amen. Well, we have the opportunity now. Small groups sign ups started this past Sunday.
Small group sign ups are now. If you've never been a part of a small group, that is the way to really get plugged in and connected in deep relationships with other people. Having fun, you know. Fellowship is an important part of it. But they'll help you to follow Christ.
And they'll teach you what it looks like to fish for others. Right? We're all supposed to follow Jesus, fish for people to follow Jesus with us, and then fellowship with believers. "Follow fish and fellowship". Follow fish and fellowship.
That's that's what it looks like being a disciple of Christ. Small groups help that to happen. So, got, I think we got volleyball small group which is like, you know, lots of fellowship but there'll be Jesus and stuff in it too and prayer. We got a family group. That's gonna be awesome.
Chevy and Rachel, are are leading that family group, which will be amazing. Which if you have kids, you're worried about childcare, they got kids too. It'll be awesome. I mean, we have men's groups. We have women's groups.
Go to realchurch.us if this is your local church and get connected to a small group. And don't just make the excuse, oh, you know, I'm too busy. Well, sure. There's seasons where that happens. But if that is your habit, then it's just a habit.
And break the habit and anchor deep in relationship. Amen? So realchurch.us, the little 3 hamburgers or the little 3 lines look like a hamburger. Wife laughs at me for it. Click on it.
Click groups. And look and say, God, do you want me to plug in deep in this local body? And if so, take the step. Make the time. It's worth it.
Amen? Alright. There's my my detour. So hearing God. What does it look like to hear the Lord?
And why is it important? In Hebrews-11:1. And I I learned this verse in the King James version. So I had them put it in the King James version up there and I'll just quote it to you. It says, now now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.
Okay? And in Romans-10:17, like, what is faith? And you guys have heard this. I say it all the time. Like, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
Okay? So in order to have faith, we must be able to hear God. That's how important hearing God is. In order to have faith, we must understand what it looks like to hear God and walk with him.
And how important is faith? Well, by it's by grace through faith that we're saved. Without faith, it's impossible to please god and if faith comes by hearing, that means that without hearing him, it's impossible to please him. So, hearing god is vital to every aspect of our relationship with God. Every day we are supposed to be those that walk by faith, which means every day we should have a relationship in where we know, in which we know the voice of the Lord, and we're able to not just hear him but obey.
Because you've heard multiple times over the past couple months. Faith comes by hearing and faith is completed by obedience. Like **faith comes by hearing** him speaking is the initiation of relationship in that area of your life, whichever area he's speaking, but then our response is the response of love, obeying what he said. Amen?
There's a lot of people that are like, well, I I don't I don't know if I've ever heard the voice of the Lord. What does it look like to hear the voice
of the Lord? I know that I was born again, and I know that
I got baptized, but I'm not sure if I've ever heard the voice
of Lord. And I would say,
if you've been born again, you heard him.
You did. That's why you responded. You couldn't have come to the Lord without him drawing to you, and you responded to him drawing to you, and that's why you're a **brand new**
little baby Christian. That's awesome. Like, he already spoke through Christ by what I
was praying early earlier. He sent his son in the world in order to demonstrate his love to us. And as I'm preaching the gospel to you that Jesus died and rose again, you are hearing the word of the Lord. And some people, when that's spoken, their heart starts, you know, that they just feel a burning sensation in their heart, or or they they they feel this tug just knowing they need to respond. That's God speaking to you wanting to initiate a relationship
with you. It's a big deal. But after you respond that doesn't mean that you clearly know how to hear how he speaks in every area of your life.
Like in the old
testament Samuel, 1 of the greatest or 1 of the great prophets, you know, that that heard the Lord clearly, when he first started he didn't know how to hear the word of the Lord. Like his mentor, Eli, was sleeping and God called Samuel by name. Samuel. I've never heard God's audible voice. I mean, that would be awesome if I had.
But I hear him all the time. But I've never heard his audible voice. He called Samuel. Samuel wakes up and thinks it's Eli. Eli, what's up?
What do you need? Eli's like, boy, go to bed. I didn't like, you woke me up. 3 different times, *God* speaks Samuel's name. Samuel.
And finally, Eli, Samuel's mentor says, hey, that's God speaking to you. Next time you hear it, respond, "here I am Lord". So he did. And there initiation of Samuel's relationship with the Lord where he could hear his voice and understand that it was God. How did that happen?
His mentor taught him how to hear the voice of the Lord. Sometimes you might be explaining away God's voice as something else. And we need to humble ourselves and learn from those around us what it looks like to hear the voice of the Lord. My my bet is if you're a Christian God's probably probably been speaking to you every day in many different areas of your life. And if you're complaining that you don't know his voice or scared that you don't know his voice, maybe you just don't know how to hear him in those areas yet.
Or there's some other things that could be blocking you from hearing him in those areas, which we're going to discuss in detail today. Amen? You guys good with that? I want to point out something else before we we dive in there. In John and I I think I gave yeah.
I gave you this verse. In John-12:28, *Jesus* says, *Father*, "glorify your name". And it says, then a voice came from heaven and it says, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. The crowd that was there so, like, Jesus prays, father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven that says, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.
Right? Now what the crowd do? Verse 29. The crowd that was there heard it. They were there and they heard it, and they said it had thundered.
Others said it was an angel that had spoken to him. Verse 30, and Jesus said this voice was for your benefit not mine. Well, there you have the responses that we have when God speaks to us. God spoke. The father clearly spoke audibly.
And the first group of people explained it away as just this natural phenomenon. They heard the same thing and this, where they were in their life they just said, no, that wasn't God. That was thunder. How many times does God speak in our life and we explain it away as just a coincidence, as some natural phenomenon, or just some thought that came in our mind that didn't matter. Just some feeling that we had that we just don't understand what it looks like to identify when God's speaking.
And because of unbelief or ignorance not knowing, we explain away what God was saying. I'm sure I've done it. I'm not pointing my finger at you guys. I'm showing you in areas that I've learned and still need to learn because I wanna grow to hear his voice clearly in every area of my life. The second group of people, they said an angel spoke to him.
Well, that's the group of people that come to church and they hear these people with a microphone speak about what God said or hear the voice of the Lord saying and all this kind of stuff. And they're like, oh man, that must he's they're special. God speaks to them in that way. He could never really speak to me like that. I've never heard him so he must not want to I'm not that speck I'm not that anointed.
That's not the case, guys. If you're born again, if you've confessed Jesus as your lord, well, then you have the capacity to hear his voice in the same way. And he wants to speak to you just like I am a loving, good father to my kids, and I want my 10 old to understand every word that comes out of my mouth. And I want my 7, 8, and, 10 old. I want my 7, 8, and 10 year old to not only understand every word that comes out of my mouth, but understand every intention behind every word.
And I can't wait to explain to them the deeper things of of of who I am and who they are so they can grow into everything that God's called them to be. And I can't love as completely as he does. Everything He speaks to us, every situation that He walks us through, whether or not He caused it, because He doesn't cause every situation. Sometimes the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy from you. But every situation, he wants to work it out for your good.
So therefore, no matter what we're going through, we can have hope in him which is an important part. And then the third 1, Jesus said, this voice was for your benefit, not mine. Jesus understood where the people were and that God was meeting them where they were so that they could understand. Jesus said, hey, I already hear him this way. This is a normal thing for me.
But he spoke this way to show you that, hey, this is for your benefit. God is speaking to you. He didn't say, no. Yeah, you're right. This was thunder.
No. He said, this voice. So he confronted them in their unbelief and said it was for them so that they could start to believe. The ones with the angel. No.
No.
No. This wasn't just for me. This was for you too.
So, everything that I'm saying today, everything in this hearing god series, it's not I'm I'm not just telling you how I hear the *lord* but it's for you so you can "walk this out" and put it into practice in your daily life and understand the areas where you've had issues hearing god which we'll talk about and why you've had issues hearing god in those areas and then you can *repent* which means change your thinking in those areas so you can begin to hear God in those areas again. Amen? So, thinking back, the first time that I remember hearing the voice of the Lord, and it wasn't audible. I'll tell you how it was. I was 11 years old.
And I was in sixth grade, and I wanted to be popular. You know? I just I was so insecure. I was so focused on, you know, the fact that I I just wanted to be liked by people. You know?
And so we were at recess, and I'll never forget it because it marked me. And that's something too. When when you know that you hear the voice of the Lord and you respond, it marks you. It just does. And as you grow in that, it continues to mark you because he's he's changing you in order to be like him, in order to represent your father in this world.
Amen? So it's a recess and there was this group of eighth graders, couple cute girls and and what now in sixth grade get going to the candy machine and they're standing in a group cussing and doing all, you know, talking about whatever, which is normal for them. So I stand in the group and I try to fit in. So I start to say some of the same stuff that they're saying. Right?
I start cussing too. 1 of the girls looks at me, 1 of the cute ones, and she says, aren't you a Christian? And I say, no. And I just literally not literally, but figuratively, felt like the Holy Spirit punched me in the gut. Oh, did I just oh.
And I walked away, got my candy, and I knew like it had, as the verse in the bible says, grieved the Holy Spirit. I knew that *God* was with me, And I just what I just said was not true. Because I am, and he knows me, and I know him. And that God didn't audibly speak to me, but I knew. Like, I just knew.
I felt it deep down. So my New Year's resolution was to quit custom that year, and I did. I responded with obedience. And and I've been walking and learning to hear him more clearly ever since. Don't think that your kids are too young to hear the lord.
My daughter, 6 years old, she just turned 7 yesterday actually, but she was 6 at this when this happened. It was about a week ago. We went to the dentist office. And at this dentist office, I couldn't go back with her. You know?
But it was open, so I was okay with it. You know? There's multiple chairs beside each other. She wasn't just alone in a room. And so she went back and she came back out whenever she was done and and she's in her little precious princess way.
She had her chin down and she looked up at me and she says, daddy? I said, yes, baby doll. That lady doesn't know Jesus. I said, how do you know? She said, because I asked her.
I said, what did you say? I said, do you know Jesus? And she said she said I said, well, how did she respond? She said, well, she said, who? And I said, you know, the 1 who made the the earth and the stars and you and me?
And she said, no. And I said, well, baby, do you wanna pray for her right now with me? And she said, mhmm. And so she prayed that that lady would come to know Jesus. I believe she did that because the Holy *Spirit* prompted her to do that.
As a 6 year old, she heard and responded to the voice of the Lord. Do I think he audibly told her to do that? No. Do I think he put a thought in her mind that challenged her in her area of comfort and she had to obey it regard instead of not wanting to talk to people because she's normally quiet around people she doesn't know? Yes.
And what did she have to do? Step out of her area of familiarity in the way that he was leading in order to experience what he wanted to experience and show her through that. So she had to trust him. That make sense? It's pretty amazing.
So I don't I don't care how old you are, how old your kids are, or how old you are in the Lord, whether you gave your life to *Jesus* today in worship or 50 years ago. *God* wants to speak to you and lead you in the daily areas of your life. So let's get into the nitty gritty. Let's get into maybe why some of you have been walking with the Lord for a long time but don't know how to hear his voice. Or or how you hear his voice in certain areas of your life but don't hear him in others.
So this is gonna be a little teaching moment. And if the shoe fits when I'm talking, just kick it off. Don't feel condemned and, you know, sin conscious. Just be like, woah. That's me.
I *repent* and I "turn to you" in that area so that I can experience the "supernatural result"s that he's talking about. Amen? You guys ready? All right. Now, you're gonna have to follow me a little bit.
Wanna put your thinking caps on because this is an because of a, b and because a and b, c. Because a, b and c, d. It's just how my brain works sometimes. You know, Mathematics major. Just deal with it.
Okay. *Hebrews-11:1*. Faith is the substance of things that we hope for. Now we know that faith comes by hearing. We've already talked about it.
So in order to to have faith, you must be born in order to grow in faith, you must be born again. You must, have the capacity to hear God. No 1 can see the kingdom of God unless they've been born again. So I'm not talking about being sprinkled. I'm talking about your confess you've confessed him as your Lord and Savior.
And you but when that happens, when you believe he died for you and rose again, you confess him
as your Lord, God himself comes to "live inside of you" and gives you the capacity to see the kingdom of God, to see him move in every area of your life as much as you're willing to.
By faith, our faith is the the substance of things hoped for. So, that hearing, where does faith come from? The foundation of faith is hope. Faith is a substance of things hoped for. If you don't have hope in an area of
your life, you are not gonna have faith.
Now, I'm not talking about just any kind of hope. Chevy did such an amazing job at the May preaching and explaining what hope is. If you haven't heard it, go back to YouTube or to our podcast and listen to Chevy's message. May, something like that. Hope is our anchor and our hope is not in certain things because that's a "shaky foundation".
Our hope is in God.
Period. As a Christian. It's in the character and nature of who he is which is a "deep anchor" through any storm.
Did I get it right Chevy? Praise the Lord. Awesome. He unpacks it much more than that but there it is. That's what hope is.
Our hope is in his character and in his nature.
And in any area of our life where we trust his character and his nature, we will have hope in that area of our life. Does that make sense? Not hope in the thing, but hope in what he's gonna do in that area. Amen. Now, if we know his character and in nature, we know that he's a restorer.
He restores. We know that he heals. We know that he delivers. We know that he blesses. We know he does miracles.
He does, all kinds of amazing and wonderful things, and that's who our God is. So if we know that's who he is, then and we believe that he can do that in this area of our life, then we have hope for healing and restoration and deliverance and all kinds of whatever is needed in this area that somehow, someway, God's gonna work in this area of our life and it's gonna be amazing.
Sound like hope? That's *Christian* hope.
Now, faith is a substance of things hoped for. So that hope is big and wide and we don't know what's gonna God's gonna do. We don't know how he's gonna do it But because we know who he is, we can hope for some amazing and wonderful things there.
That's not faith. That's hope. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith comes by hearing. So because I hope in his character, in nature, in that area of my life, now I'm more likely to hear him when he speaks specifically about what to do next.
Amen? And when I hear him, that's the beginning of faith. You follow me? If I don't have hope in God's character and nature in this area of my life, then I'm gonna be so discouraged and disheartened that I won't even consider him in this area. So I won't hear him.
Let me give you an example. No. Let's go a little deep a little deeper, and then I'll give you the example. First Corinthians, where does hope come from? 1 Corinthians-13:13.
Says, and now these these these 3 remain, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. Well, we know hope is the subs I mean, faith is the substance of things hoped for, meaning hope is is a foundation of faith. And in any area where we hope, we can hear his voice. But where does hope come from? Well, before it in 1 Corinthians-13, it says, love always hopes.
Always. Which means in any area you don't have hope, you don't have love. Which and and I'm talking about the hope in God, in his character, in his nature. So in any area where you don't have hope in his character, in his nature, in who he is, you don't love God in that area. You love yourself more in that area.
You trust yourself more in that area, which means you're gonna hear what you think about it more when he's trying to share what he thinks about it. Yes? So where does our capacity to love come from? Well, we know *1 John-4* verse 19, I think it is. I think I gave you the verse.
There we go. We love because **he first loved us**. So our capacity to love is a reflection of our understanding of his love. K? So let's put it all together.
In this area of my life, I have no hope, and I'm discouraged, and all kinds of stuff. And it's because my focus is not on who he is or I don't even believe who he is because of circumstance or this happened or that happened or whatever it is. And so I've got disheartened and discouraged because I'm focused on me and what I'm not getting or what is happening to me or whatever it is. So my I'm not even considering him in this area because I have no hope and no trust, which means
I love myself more in
this area because I haven't received his love in this area of my life.
But when I receive I invite, the him into this area because I know he loves me even in whatever area this is. I begin to receive his love here even if it's an area of my life that's sinful. Because he loves me, he died to forgive me of that. So I invite him into this area and I see his love for me here. I love because he first loved me.
So now I have the capacity to respond in love in this area. I because I see his love for me, I have the capacity to hope in his character and his nature in this area. Oh, he can deliver me. He can forgive me. He can bless me.
He can do everything because that's who he is and that's what he wants to do and I'm an heir of his because I'm his son or his daughter in this area of my life. So I'm inviting you God to show me your love in this area. I wanna see what you say about it. And when I see it, I'm gonna believe it so I can hope in your character and your nature in this area. And now, when you speak to me, specifically, see, now I hope for huge deliverance and huge blessing and testimony where in this area of my life, 1 day I'm gonna be preaching to others and helping others to overcome the same thing.
But now when you speak specifically, I wanna hear it because faith comes by hearing. And guess what?
When he speaks, he's probably not gonna tell you how all of what you're hoping for is gonna happen. Because you ain't ready for all that yet. He's gonna tell you the next step. He's gonna say, hey, do this. And you're gonna have to but God, I
want all of this to happen. He's like, nope.
If this if this area is your marriage and your marriage is on the rocks and all this stuff's happening
and and you you hope for restoration
and men God just says, do the dishes. But God, do the dishes. "1 step at a time". Hey, pray for your wife tonight where she can hear you. Grab her hands before she leaves in the morning.
Look her in the eyes and tell her how much you love her. But God, you don't know what she did. You don't know what she's not doing. You don't understand. You don't know how she's but
but but but you're showing by not doing it that you trust yourself more than you trust haven't received his love in that area, which means you can't love him yet in that area, which means you have no hope for him in that area, which means you're not willing to hear what he says.
Watch this. Hopefully, this is where it'll all come together. *John-14:21*. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the 1 who loves me. And the 1 who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.
Another version says, and **manifest myself to them** and make myself known to them. And it's present tense or it's future tense. I will do this. Right? But it's like this continual thing.
As we *love him and obey* him, he will continue to manifest himself to us and to reveal his love to us. Now Judas asked, and that's a question that a lot of people get when they read this verse, and I asked the same question. Verse 22. But Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? He didn't get it.
Like I said multiple times, *Jesus* is the father's love to the world. The father's love to the world was standing before them, was about to show and demonstrate his love for the world. He's already initiated. He's already done everything necessary for the world to see his love. Now we just need to tell him.
And this is talking about in relationship go back to 2021. Let me explain for you *Christians* what this looks like. *God* initiated. We responded. And then this starts.
Let me give you hopefully, this analogy will hit home or we'll explain it and then we'll bring it back around. Let's imagine that I have a 16 year old young man living beside me. And let's imagine that he grew up in a terrible home life. No father, mother, real busy, you know, kinda has to take care of himself. So imagine that there's all kinds of abuse, all kinds of reasons that he shouldn't live a successful life because of everything that happened to this young man.
No reason for him to trust anyone because every time he tried to trust somebody, it was proven that he shouldn't. And let's imagine that I *love* this young man and go to adopt him. I wanna adopt him. And so I do all the paperwork, pay all the money, which is expensive these days, do everything necessary to adopt this young man, and then I present it to him. Young man, first scenario, I see what you did for me.
No. Because he's so hurt that even though that demonstration of love, he just rejects it outright to go about his own way. Well, that represents what Jesus did. And we share the good news of the gospel with people, and maybe initially they just reject it because of whatever, you know, and they they see it and they reject it. Well, that that's what that is.
But for the sake of the analogy and where we are here, let's just say, I present it to him and he sees our life. He sees my kids and and everything. I've already befriended him and everything. So he says, yes. And he comes to be my son and to live in my home with me as his father.
Man, that's pretty awesome. You realize that's what happened to you when you gave your life to Jesus. Paul uses the word adoption, and it's a Roman type of adoption, which means your history is wiped out as if it never happened before. And you start now as an heir just like every other son of God. This is now your history credited to your account.
That's what it means to be born again. That's pretty dang good. Okay. So now this young man comes to live in my home. And I, as a loving father who's fully accepted him as my son, I want to do whatever I can so that this young man becomes the man of God that he is created to be in every area of my life of his life.
And so I have gifts and talents and abilities, and there's aspects of who I am that I want to show him and impart into his life through relationship so that he can be equipped and actually do the same things I do and even greater. Remember what Jesus said? You'll do the same things I do and even greater. So in order for that to happen, I have to teach him discipline. I have to teach him all kind I I have to teach him to drive a car.
Nobody ever taught him how to drive a car. So let's just start with the car analogy. So I want to teach him to drive a car. In order to do that, I invite him to ride in the car with me. But this young man has been so hurt and in so many wrecks and all kinds of stuff that when
I invite him to ride in the car with me, he's so fearful that he won't even respond and just ignores me and goes into his room. I lovingly want to show him and teach him what it looks like to drive a car so he has to at least ride with me a little bit. But because of where he's at, his discouragement, because of his past, he can't even hear me when I'm inviting him to do what is the next step of his life to learn in order to
be who God's who he's supposed to be. That's many of you in your life. Because of your past, because of circumstances, because of where you are and what happened, you got areas of your heart that are completely closed off to where God's inviting you into. He wants to teach you.
He wants to walk with you in those areas. But because you're so discouraged, you won't even consider him when he's speaking. And when he's speaking in those areas, maybe you do hear him, but you ignore him because you don't believe that he can do what he's saying he can do.
Is that hitting home? Now, let's say over time he hears me and I say, "get in the car". And he not only hears me, but he obeys because he's seen me teaching my 10 year old because we live in the country. We're imagining we live in the country now, so I can teach my 10 year old in the turn rows. It's not here.
It's where I grew up.
Anyway, so he's seen that. Now he's believing that I can actually do what I'm saying I can do. So he has some hope that this can actually happen in his life. So next time I ask him to get in the car, guess what he does? He hears and obeys.
And because of that hearing and obeying and stepping in the car, now he's gonna see an aspect of me that he's never seen before. I'm revealing more of who I am and what I want to impart into his life just on the fact that he obeyed. In the same way, in your life, when you hear God's voice and he tells you to do something, you can know that he has good things planned for you and what he's doing even if you don't want to do that thing or it doesn't look like your dream and your hope. Are you going to walk by faith and trust him in what he's saying? Because as you obey, you will supernaturally learn more of his character and nature in walking with him in that area.
He is manifesting and revealing himself to you through your obedience to what he said, and that is how faith works.
So guess what happens? The boy rides with me and he sees me driving and I'm talking to him as we're driving and teaching, hey, this is a key and you turn the key here and this is you gotta punch the brake before this and I look out the window and
I look And I don't tell him too much,
but I tell him just enough that he'll remember and maybe a little bit more to stretch him. And he gets it and he sees a little bit more of my nature and who I am. And it rubs off on him a little bit. So guess what happens? Now he's back and the next day and I come to him and I say, hey, hey, son.
Let's go for a ride. Let's go a little further this time. And you know what he does? Because the last time I manifested myself more to him, he saw more of my character and nature in that area. Because of that, he knows my love for him more in the area of driving.
And because of that, he has greater hope that he can actually do this thing and that I can actually teach him what I'm saying. So now he more quickly responds to my voice in the area of driving. And he more quickly obeys. And when he obeys again, guess what? I get to spend more time
with him. And guess what? He sees character and more of my nature so the supernatural result of obedience is rubbing off on his life and he knows my love even deeper. And now, in this area of your life, it's like this circular thing of faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope, and love.
He receives my love. He he he grows in hope, and then he he hears my voice more clearly because he has hope in this area. And then he responds with obedience, and then he sees more of my which is loving me back, and then he sees more of my love, and it's just a constant growing in this area of
his life. Is that clear? Which means when that happens, he may have some more *hope* when I want to talk to him about the tough stuff, not just driving. When I go to discipline him because a loving father disciplines his kids. If he doesn't, he hates him.
That's what Proverbs says. When I go to discipline him and he responds with yelling and running and all kinds of crazy stuff because of the way that the past he was abused. And I go to talk to him about why. He may have hope now because he responded to this 1 area of your life. But more likely, he's so hurt in this area that he can't hear me yet until he spends more time with me.
And that's his choice. And I want to. I can't control him. I can't make it happen. I want him I want to teach him in every area of his life.
I want him to be completely free in every area of his life. And I want him to to take everything. I wanna lead him into all truth that I know. Remember, Holy Spirit leads you in all truth, but I can't do it before he can bear it. I have to take him 1 step at a time.
You realize that that is what God's doing with you In any area of your life where you can't hear the voice of God, it's probably because you're so discouraged because maybe he didn't come through in the way that you had hoped, but he wanted to do something else or he wanted to come through in the way that you'd hoped but it started here and not where you thought. And so because he didn't say what you wanted him to say, now you can't hear him at all. Or an area where you were so hurt by others that there's so many walls around your heart. You have no hope in that area because you don't know his character and his nature because all you know is whatever other people have done to you. You know, god loves you in that area too and he wants he's constantly wanting you to receive his love in that area so you can be healed and walk in complete freedom and have hope.
Receive his love, have hope, and then hear his voice as he walks you through it. Amen? I think God wants to restore and heal and deliver a lot of you today. I think as I'm talking and have been talking, God's been highlighting areas of your lives where he has been speaking and you just haven't been listening because of a lack of trust, because you've trusted yourself more to be in control in that area than trusting his love. Don't shut me off when I when I do that, when I when I turn around and point it back at you.
Don't do that. Don't shut me off. That's what it takes, a recognizing where I'm wrong and confessing it to the Lord and repenting. Because if it's pride and you're like, I feel good about this message, except when you say that, What you're saying is I'm not willing to recognize where I'm wrong, which means you're not willing to grow. Amen?
So in the areas where the Holy Spirit is saying, hey. I want to open you up here, and I want to open you. Maybe it's your marriage. Maybe it's your finances. Maybe it's your job.
Maybe it's you guys know better than me at your life. Where he points that out, the way to move forward is repentance. It's recognizing I'm wrong, recognizing that you've already "paid the price" to forgive me. So instead of just recognizing I'm wrong and sitting in it, I can recognize I'm wrong, turn to you, and "fall into your arms" because I'm forgiven and loved. And then stand up in that area with him and say, God, heavenly father, what's next?
So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take communion. And as we take communion, I want you to hear where the Holy Spirit is saying in that area of your life and commune with the father. Commune with the son, with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit in that area of your life with him, inviting him in there. You guys good with that?
K. Let's do this first. Would you guys close your eyes, bow your heads for a second? Just because I want us all to be able to take communion with faith. As I'm speaking, is there anybody in here that you'd say your heart is drawing you into relationship with God.
Maybe you've been to church a whole lot. Maybe you haven't. But you realize that you don't know him. You've never confessed that he's your Lord. Or just put it another way, you've never been born again.
If you've never been born again and you want to start initiate a relationship with Jesus, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand on the count of 3. Everybody else's head's gonna be down. I just wanna identify you and pray with you while you're still in your seat. So if you don't know Jesus and you want to initiate, start a relationship with Jesus right now today, Be born again. On the count of 3, raise your hand.
1, 2, 3. Raise your hand high so I can see it. Praise the Lord. Those of you that are watching online, to be born again means you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe that he died for you and rose again. And if that's the case, all you have to do is say this.
Mean it with your heart. *God, I've been living for me*. Say it out loud. Those of you online, I've been living for me and I don't want to anymore. Forgive me of my sin.
Come into my life and make me new. You're my Lord. I'm gonna follow you. I ask you to teach me how. If you did that online, *God loves you and he cares for you* and he forgave you.
And everything that happened to *Jesus* was for you. And he's credited Jesus' goodness to your account. Now get connected to local bodies so can learn what that means. The rest of you guys, look up at me. What I would assume is every 1 of you in here are believers.
That's awesome. I wanna take communion together with you. So I'm gonna ask you right now if you guys would get up and go get a communion cup. Let's take communion. If for some reason you're like, The music in the background is good.
I do. Please, thank you. So we're gonna take communion together. Here's what I want you to do. There's some of you that have had trouble hearing *God*'s voice in the area of your emotions, emotional health and physical health.
And I want you to know he cares for you and "he sees you" in those areas. And maybe it's because it's unfamiliar to you. We'll talk about a little bit next week. That familiarity a lot of times causes us to be uncomfortable when God wants to push us out of the familiarity in order to hear his voice. So it causes a lack of being willing to hear him.
**God wants to heal** you today. He's your healer. Emotionally, he wants to heal you. He wants to take away your depression, schizophrenia, emotional issues, all of that. He can do that.
In him is peace and joy. Physically, he can heal you. Not only can he, he wants to. So as we take this, his body was broken for our wholeness. His body took on the curse of sin and the result of it so that we can experience freedom physically, emotionally, spiritually in every area of our life.
So, Lord God, we, right now, we take this in remembrance of what you did, that your body was broken for our healing. And in every area of our life where we've had a lack of hope because we weren't willing to hear what you said in the emotional and physical areas, and we repent, and we remember that you broke yourself so we could be whole. So we take this declaring what you said and what you did as something that matters and has impact on our life right now and today. We believe. Let's take it together.
Because of this, not this juice in my hand, but what this represents, *Jesus*' blood. Whatever area you haven't been hearing the whole day, really, it's because of your sin. Discouragement and and not having hope in him, not hearing his character or just ignoring him, not not obeying him what he says. It's it's called sin. But, man, this reminds us that he's already paid the price to forgive us and has already washed us clean in those areas.
So we don't have to walk in guilt and shame anymore. Those emotions are not from God. That's taught to us by religion and by the enemy. Blessed is the man whose sin has never committed against them. Romans-4:8.
Or the woman, that's you. This is to remind us that we never have to walk in guilt and shame, but in the areas where we fall, we can fall forward into our heavenly father's arms as those who have been **washed clean** So we can always, even in the midst of our junk where we're not hearing him, when he speaks, hear him, stand up, repent, turn to him, and never do it again. Amen. So Lord God, we thank you that you paid the price so that we could be forgiven, we could be cleansed, we could be righteous. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Jesus.
And we're in you, so your righteousness has been credited to our account because of your blood.
[Speaker 2] [01:02:42] So we can know you're standing right next
[Speaker 1] [01:02:44] to us even in the areas where we've been the most discouraged and not able
**[Speaker 2]* [01:02:48]*
to hear you. You're still standing there. So Lord, we take this remembering what you did, that we're washed clean. Lord God, so that in that area, we can face it and hear you from now on and respond knowing your love in that area more than ever before. Thank you for forgiving us, Lord God, and we do this to remember that we're forgiven, commanding all guilt and shame to leave now in Jesus name because this reminds us that that has no place in our heart or in our mind so that we can "walk freely" in you reflecting your goodness.
*Lord, thank you that we are forgiven*. Thank you that we are loved. Thank you that we are whole. Lord God, and we take this remembering that what you did matters so that we can walk that way for the rest of our lives today and here on out in Jesus' name. Let's take it together.
[Speaker 1] [01:03:54] Praise the Lord. We're gonna end solemnly today. Would you turn that music up a little bit? I feel like there's people that still need to do business with God. So when I dismiss, there's I got a couple of instructions.
If you need to do business with God, stay seated in that chair and do business with God until you're done. If you need prayer in an area of your life where maybe you just have a stronghold and you're having trouble hearing his voice in that area, Man, come find me. Jerry, Heidi, or you know other strong Christians into the in in the service today. Go tap him on the shoulder and say, hey. I need you to pray with me.
For some reason, Mariah is just hot. Mariah, would you raise your hand? There's a good 1 for you. There's many here. Just sit and do business with the *Lord* if you need to.
Don't just get up and go. If God's speaking, if God's challenging you, if God's encouraging you, sit and do what you need to do. I didn't do the offering earlier today. That's an act of worship and maybe an act where a part of your life where you haven't had *hope* because you don't just trust him in your finances, and he's been speaking and telling you what to do, and you just won't hear it and so you won't obey it. God wants you to walk in freedom in your finances.
He just does. And tithing is a part of that. Just this. I encourage you in every area of your life to walk in faith. If you would like to give today, you can do there there or in the back.
You can get up online as an act of worship to the lord. If you're new here or this is not your home church, don't feel compelled. This is your home church. Don't feel compelled or compulsed. Just do it in an active relationship with the lord, whatever he's leading you to do.
Do business with God today in whatever way he's leading you. If you could turn that up quite a bit, I'm gonna pray. And if y'all if you just need to go, praise the Lord. Go. It's awesome.
*Lord God, I thank you for your goodness, and I thank you for your love*. We love you. And Holy Spirit, I pray you bring to mind right now in everyone. Lord, where they need to hope in you again. Lord, I pray you begin to show them your love for them in those areas.
**Demonic strongholds** of lies that they've been holding onto begin to fade because of your your truth, not theirs, yours. *Lord God, I pray that they hear you and obey*. You're dismissed. Leave when you need to.
[Speaker 3] [01:07:19] Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged and with a deeper understanding of how much God *loves* you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect. And then also, if you would like to give to what God is doing in and through our ministry, you can do so at www.realchurch.usgiving, or you can text any amount to 840-0321, and then just search in the link that comes up, search for Real Church Clearwater.
*God* bless you and the best.