You can grow in faith by spending intentional time in God's presence, just as a child learns to recognize a father's voice. When circumstances shift, remember that His love is the foundation of your hope, so choose to listen for His direction rather than reacting in offense. Trust that He is always working, and let that truth guide you into your next season of obedience.
So my name is David John Phillips and I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. There's "nothing I'd rather do". There's no place I'd rather be than right in the center of God's will. Amen. Amen.
Amen? Amen. There's nothing like it. And I'm so thankful that his will is for me to be right here with you guys. Because you're awesome.
We we we've gotten to start a series. I think this is part 5 of a series titled Hearing God. We're gonna be in it, I think, the rest of July, which is gonna be a lot of fun, and I'm I'm for it. And I just I kinda wanted to start part 5 in the same way I started part 1. Do you like dad jokes?
Just just to lighten lighten it up a little bit. Bring it. I don't I don't really, I realized, I don't really like stairs. They're always up to something. Hey.
You know, they should never put an out of order sign on an escalator, temporary out of order. It should just be temporary stairs. Sorry for the convenience. Oh, come on. That's better than that.
Maybe it's my delivery. It's, you know, typical typical dad thing. Okay. So in hearing God, today I'll just I'm just gonna go ahead and give you the title, and then we'll work back. I'll we'll we'll review in such a way that I will lead into this message, and then I'll give you the principle for the message, and then we'll call up the the person that we're gonna have today.
For those of you that are new to the series, the first message of this series, we gave a foundation. If you haven't listened to that, that's okay. I'm gonna give you a quick review, but I would encourage you to go back to the podcast, search Real Church Clearwater on your Apple podcast or any podcast you can find it, or go to YouTube, search Real Church Clearwater, and listen to at least hearing God part 1. If not just that, then the future ones as also as well, and we'll go from there. Is there anything else I need to do?
Are we good to go? Alright. Worst case scenario, I'll grab the handheld, but we'll we'll be good. Okay. So, we are in part 5, and part 5 is titled, well, let's read the scripture first.
*John-5* and verse 17. Some Jewish leaders came against Jesus and Jesus responded. It says, verse 17, it says, in his defense, Jesus said to them, my father is always at work to this very day, and I too am working. So from this verse, we know that **God is always working**. He's the same yesterday, he's the same today, and he's the same forever.
So not only was he always working 2000 years ago when Jesus said this, but we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's always working now in every circumstance. So the title of today's message is hearing *God* through circumstance because 1 of the ways he speaks is through circumstances. But in order to understand that, we have to go back and review a little bit. Part 1, we learned that *faith* comes by hearing. You heard me say it earlier.
In order to grow in your relationship with God, you have to have faith. As a matter of fact, the Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please God. And faith is just not trying to believe something enough and then saying I have faith. Faith is an aspect of our relationship with Him. faith comes by hearing.
Period. So as a believer, to grow in our faith, we have to grow in our ability to understand who God is and understand how to hear His voice. *Jesus* said it, my sheep hear my voice. Don't worry if you just started this Christian life, and you have you have trouble Hearing God. It's okay.
An infant, when they're born, doesn't understand how to make out what their father is saying. They learn it over time by spending time with their father, spending time in his presence. If it does it 1 more time, I'm gonna get the other microphone and we'll be okay. *Lord*, Lord. Alright.
Give me just a second. Let me take this off too. Thank you guys for being gracious. Alright. Here we go.
You turn it down just a little bit. It'll be great. Alright. Where was I? *Faith*.
Oh, a little baby. Little baby has trouble I mean, doesn't understand their father until they spend time with him. Right? So if you're just if you're just born again or maybe you're just coming back, hey, it might take a little bit of spending time in God's presence, learning how to hear God's voice before you hear him and understand how to hear him clearly. That's okay.
That's what church is for. That's what getting the word is for. It's a it's a big deal. It's important. Now faith comes by hearing and faith is completed by obedience because faith without works is dead.
So just because you heard God doesn't mean that it's complete faith. You have to actually walk it out. Now what we've learned is *Hebrews-11:1* says, faith is the substance of things hoped for. So then the foundation of faith, the foundation of your ability to hear God is hope. And it's not just hope in anything.
It's not like a worldly hope. As I said in the first message, Chevy did an amazing job defining hope. It's hope in God. It's hope in who he is, in his character, and in his nature. Period.
So in any area where you distrust God or you're blaming him for the circumstance that's happening, any area where you're discouraged and discontent, or you're doubting God's love for you, that's probably an area of your life where you're having trouble hearing God because you're lacking hope, And faith is the substance of things hoped for. So how do you grow in hope in that area? *1 Corinthians-13:13*. We found that it says faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these things is love.
So then the foundation of hope is love. Earlier in 1 Corinthians-13, it says love always hopes. So how do we grow in love? Well, we know the Bible says we love because he first loved us. So in any area where you're having trouble hearing from God or you're having trouble hoping, that's an area where you're trusting yourself more than God's love for you.
See, God loves you completely and he doesn't have to do anything to prove it again. The father sent his son, the ultimate proof of his love for you, in order to die and take your place, period. That's how much he loves you. But he doesn't stop there. If that's what he did, then how much more will he freely give us all things as Romans-8 says?
And as we read in Romans-5 verse, what was that? 17? That God is always working, Always. So he wants to show you, because he is love, his love in every single circumstance. And not only does he want to show you his love in every circumstance, he wants you to receive his love in the midst of every single circumstance.
And so when you receive it you can have hope in that area, so you can hear him in that area, and then you can respond in relationship by loving him back. You know how you do that? Those who love me obey my commands by obeying what he said. And so this this relational thing where God is constantly trying to invite you into deeper relationship by showing those who are willing to see, those who are willing to seek him where he's moving and how he's working, and then we receive his love in that way, hope for hope have greater hope in him. We hear his voice and we respond in love by obeying him, and the relationship grows in that area.
And any area where your relationship with God is struggling, whether it's your relationships, your your finances, whether it's your job, whether whatever it is, it's probably because you're more focused on you instead of focused on how much he loves you. Amen? And I'm not, like, trying to be mean there. I'm just trying to tell you truth because "truth sets you free". So you can get offended at me saying that, oh he's saying I'm selfish in that area.
Well guess what? Part 2 was when you get offended at God or at others you probably can't hear God in that area because offense is not from God. Guess what I do? I refuse to be offended because I want to continue walking in relationship. There's actually a parable that says, when you choose offense, because it's a choice.
When you choose offense, you're turned over to the prison guards. You're giving the enemy the right to attack your life by choosing to be offended. Because here's the deal, *God* forgave you. And if God forgave you, I don't care what they did. What right do you have to not forgive them?
What you're saying is, oh, your forgiveness is good for me, but not for them. Oh, you love me more than you love them. That's called pride. So unforgiveness is pride. Somebody said, ouch.
Yeah. Once again, I'm not trying to be mean. I just want to tell you truth so that you can be set free. There's many of you that maybe you're in prison right now in your heart because of offense. Time to let it go and forgive because God forgave you so that you can walk in freedom.
And those offenses happen many ways. We talked about part 2, the offenses happen because maybe we grew up learning about Jesus 1 way and Jesus is trying to reveal himself in a way that's biblical but not necessarily how you always grew up hearing about it. Right? And so because it's different and uncomfortable, you get offended and don't hear him. That's what they did in Nazareth.
They didn't have Jesus couldn't do miracles there because of their lack of faith. Faith comes by hearing. Their lack of being able to hear him because they were offended at how he revealed himself to them. Yeah? K.
Part 2. Part 3. We talked about, was it prayer next? Hearing God in prayer? It's either prayer or the word.
We'll we'll go with prayer first. Let's go with prayer first. Hearing god through prayer. You'll see why. Prayer as opposed to what most people think that don't understand prayer is not just talking to god.
Prayer is communicating with God. And communication takes speaking and? Listening. It's not full communication unless you're listening. And we have how many ears?
2. And how many mouths? 1. So we should probably listen a whole lot more than we speak. But too often Christians are taught or grow up just thinking that they need to get on their knees and shout out a bunch of I need this or shout out a bunch of please do this and then walk away and they left God in their prayer closet.
That's not relationship. The Bible says "pray continually", meaning I'm constantly listening and watching to see him move. And then when I see or hear him move, it's an invitation, which you'll see in a second, to partner with him in what he's doing, first through prayer and then through action. So constantly watching, constantly listening. For relationship, to hear him, to see him, and learning like a little baby how to grow in that relationship of being able to hear my heavenly father because of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Amen? So oh, and and and some of you may be lacking joy in your life. 1, I hurt for you and I wanna help you to have joy in your life. You know how you have joy? The Bible says, ask and it will be given to you so that your joy may be complete.
So there's this, your joy is complete when you're listening, hearing his will, praying what he says, and seeing the answers to your prayers come to pass. When you see the answers to your prayers, your joy is complete. So joy is the fruit of *relationship* with God. So if you're lacking joy in your life, hey man, learn to listen to him all throughout the day, and learn to pray what you see him doing and what you hear him saying and learn to watch and be thankful for what he's doing because then joy will come back. Because now your life's not all about you anymore.
It's about him, and that's how you're created to live. Yeah? And then we talk about through the word. Hearing God through the word. This is a great book.
And it's a great history book. But it's not just a history book. If you just read it as words on a page, it'll just be dead words on a page and you'll have a bunch of knowledge in your head, but no life knowledge of what it looks like. And so a lot of people go to seminary or do a lot of studying of this thing, but they don't allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them while they're reading it, so it doesn't become alive. And they get a bunch of head knowledge called pride, and then their life falls over and they wonder what happened.
*Faith* comes by hearing. This thing teaches us what it who God's character and nature is. It teaches us how he moves and we judge everything that we think we hear by the character nature of God in the bible. When in prayer, if you think you hear God and it's not in line with who he is and how he speaks, you're probably wrong according to his word. So we got to know this thing.
It's important. And in this thing it reveals the whole, every Old Testament, New Testament reveals Jesus. It reveals Christ. So when we read this and we see how God moved and how Christ was revealed in the old and the new, then if we recognize that now in our daily life when we go throughout circumstances, which is hearing God through circumstances, we are more likely to see and recognize how Christ is moving in the circumstance because we remember that passage. Oh Jesus did that in the bible so he's doing it now.
Now I can respond in the same way by faith. Make sense? So we all caught up? Cool. So back to John-5:17.
We'll give a quick principle. And just so you know, I'm repeating myself a lot this series. You know why? I want you to get so annoyed at hearing the same thing over and over and over that you can regurgitate it to your friends and that you actually do. So that it becomes a part of your DNA, it becomes a part of your thinking because our lives are transformed by the "renewing of our mind".
That's why I give the big reviews every Sunday in this series, because hearing God is so vital to your Christian life to be able to grow into maturity. Amen? If some of you were thinking, oh man, we just said this like 3 times. Yes. On purpose.
Praise the Lord. All right. *John-5:17*. My father is always at work to this very day and I too am working. So we see that god is at work always.
Okay. So, he's he's at work in every circumstance. Verse 19, Jesus and we're going to skip 18 You can read it if you like, it's great. And verse 19 says Jesus gave them this answer, very truly I tell you the son can do nothing by himself. Everybody say nothing.
He can only do what he sees his father doing because whatever the father does the son also does. So Jesus, when he walked this earth, he didn't initiate anything. The father initiated it and when the son, Jesus, saw the father working, it was an invitation from the father to join in in what he was doing. Does that make sense?
Yes.
Amen. So when we see the father at work, he's very intentional. It's his invitation to us to "join in with him" in what he's doing. Amen? Amen.
Now, that joining in might be learning for a little while. It might be through prayer for a little bit. He will empower you to do what he's called you to do as you hear, see, and obey. K? Now, there's some very important theology that you have to understand in order to get this.
See, when you see the father at work, it's your invitation to join him in what he's doing. But some people think that everything that happens in this world is the father at work. You're wrong. Everything that happens is not god's will. Otherwise, if you saw something happen, you'd be like, oh, it's my invitation to join in and do that same thing.
And it could be bad. Make sense? Like it's not God's will that anyone would perish, But people perish all the time. Meaning, just because god wants it to happen doesn't mean it does. God gives people free choice and they can choose to follow his will or not.
Very important. So, in the beginning, which you guys have heard, *God* gave Adam and Eve a choice. And they chose not God, they chose selfishness and sin. So the power of God had delegated his authority to Adam and Eve in order to take care of the world. And Adam and Eve obeyed sin.
So sin, the **power of sin** began to ravish God's beautiful creation. It tainted it. That's why creation is groaning. The bible says waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. The power of sin messed it up.
There's hurricanes that wipe out cities. Why? The power of sin is at work and creation. God has not completely redeemed creation so it's completely beautiful and no death and and everything yet. He's waiting for his plan and his process to happen.
Don't blame God for every natural disaster. The power of sin is at work in the world. Okay? Don't just assume God's judging someone. You know what Jesus did when the disciples decided they wanted to call on fire from heaven?
He said, hey you don't know what spirit you're of. Some people think that they're of God's spirit and proclaiming that this disaster was God's judgment or proclaiming that hey they're gonna be judged and they're gonna be judged and they're doing the same thing the sons of thunder did. Wanting to call down fire from heaven and Jesus rebuked them and said, don't know what spirit you're of. So be careful. Okay?
Amen? Or oh me. Okay. So we have to then be able to discern what circumstance did God initiate, did God cause, and what circumstance was a result of our disobedience, or a result of somebody else's disobedience, or was just the enemy trying to steal, kill, and destroy? Or was just the power of sin in the world affecting things?
Does that make sense? In order to be able to discern what's God's moving, we have to be able to know the difference. Guess what? We're going to talk about how to know the difference today. That's next week.
But I will tell you this. When you're confused on whether or not, man, did did God cause this? Did this happen? If you're if you're confused, you can know this. **"God is good"** and you don't have to know whether he caused that or not.
What you do have to know is that he's good, that he loves you, that he's already demonstrated that in sending his son Jesus. So don't question his intentions. Some people and I I I'm telling you this because "I love you". You need to repent of questioning God's intentions. Because of that, you have lost hope in certain areas of your life.
And you can't hear him in those areas because you're offended because you think God did it. Make sense? Like, listen to this. In the beginning, and Eve, Satan caused Adam and Eve to question God's intentions. Did God really say?
Oh, no. He just doesn't want you to be like him. That's why he did what he did. Many circumstances you think God caused and he's doing it for this, that, and the other. You're questioning God's intentions so you're offended so you can't follow him Because you don't think he loves you.
So what we do in that case is we go back to God is good, God loves me, and I don't understand. But I don't have to understand right now because by faith, understand. And I know I can trust his goodness, and I know he can trust his love. And I know eventually, he will show me if and when I'm ready. So I'm gonna stand in that.
Does that make sense? Yes. By faith, we understand it. 1 more verse. It says, Romans-8:28, all things work together for good, for those that love god, and are called according to his purchase or who have been called according to his purpose.
Now, let's put this in the context of what we've been talking about. How many things work together for good? All. It doesn't say god causes all things and they're all good but it says all things work together for good. Right?
For who? Those who love him. Let's let's skip that part for a second. Who have been called according to his purpose. Guess what?
You're all called according to his purpose. God god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He's not willing for any of you to perish. K? He has called you and many have responded to that call of love by receiving him and being saying, Jesus, you're my Lord.
I wanna follow you. So you begin to walk in that relationship. That's the first part of loving him back. *Obedience*. Now watch this.
All things work together for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. We love first because he first loved us, and then we respond in love by what? *Obedience*. Obedience. So in every circumstance, in every situation of your life, you have to have the right perspective on the circumstance.
And if your perspective is God did this or God's punishing me or God's this or that and the other you're probably not gonna respond in love but you're gonna protect yourself from God. Instead of understanding that he's good and that he's God. And he wants to work this out for good even if the enemies did this. Even if it was your disobedience that caused the problem God said all things, even your disobedience can work out for good. But what does it take?
Receiving his love in that thing, in that circumstance that you don't understand. God, I know you love me. When we receive his love, we're able to hope in his character and nature in that circumstance, which means we're able to hear him. But that's not loving him. Now we have to obey what he said.
That's loving him. And as we obey him in that circumstance, we respond in obedience. We see the supernatural goodness of God begin to be on display through us and around us. Make sense? Isn't that awesome?
So some people think, well, all things are just gonna work out for good. But then they continue to disobey and wonder why things aren't working out for good. *God* can restore even your disobedience and he wants to, but it happens in the context of relationship. Which is I receive your love and I respond by love. I receive your love and I respond by love.
I'm not obeying in order to get you to love me. You already love me and now I wanna respond in love because I trust you. And as I do, all things worked out for together for good. But if you continue to disobey, that's sin. And in that area of your life, the consequences of sin is destruction and death.
And God being a good *father* will not enable you in the area of your disobedience, but he will allow the consequences to the extent necessary for you to learn that what he says is better than what you think. And then as soon as you understand that, guess what he does? He works it out for good. Praise the Lord. You learn we're growing.
We're we're being made into his image, more and more reflecting his goodness because we're learning what it looks like to walk in obedience. Because we understand his love more more clearly than ever. Does that make sense? So God speaks in circumstances, through circumstances, and we'll talk about how to hear him specifically in circumstances next week. But this week, you have to have the right perspective on all the circumstances.
And even if you don't understand what's going on, you can trust him so that you know that he's gonna work out even the things he didn't cause for good. And the things that he did cause, man, praise the lord. That's awesome because he's leading you. Wonderful. Dolores, would you come on up here?
So in the hearing god series, we have a principle and then we hear from someone on how they heard god in their life. It's gonna be interesting because we have 1 microphone. But it's okay. We're gonna figure it out. I think they're EQ'd for singing.
So we'll go from there. So this is miss Dolores. And we're just gonna pass the mic back and forth. Okay. Alright.
So I kinda know a top the topic of what you're gonna say, but I don't really know what you're gonna say. So we're gonna have to converse a little bit. But the question I ask everybody every week is, tell us a story in your life when you heard from God. And we'll just kinda pull some principles out from it together. So Dolores, tell us a story of when you heard from God.
I really didn't wanna tell this story. So, but the Lord was like, you gotta tell it. So there's 1 instance already. So I wanna share or I don't wanna share but when I was around 12, I guess you could kinda somewhat call this my salvation story in a sense. When I was 12, it was pretty tough at this point in my life where, I mean when you're 12, you know, when you're 12, you have all those thoughts, you just want friends and you're in school and all the things.
So at that point, I was having not so good thoughts. I was having suicidal thoughts and the circumstances were pretty much I just didn't wanna be here anymore at that point just because I wasn't the best student. So I wasn't doing good in school. Had some stuff going on with friends and you know, I think my home life wasn't at at its best because of me not doing good in school. You know, there was some tussle and stuff like that with my mom and dad but praise the lord.
My, you know, my relationship with my parents are redeemed. They're here. They're amazing. I love them so much. And the Lord is working in their lives, which is another great testament.
Just being able to see the Lord work in their life is amazing. So yeah, just 1 day I was in my room and I was like Lord or well I wasn't like Lord, but I said, I said, listen, if you're up there, I need something. I need something to happen because at this point, I just don't want to anymore. You know in my mind as a 12 year old I was like okay, I can't, know when you're a kid you think a certain way. So you're like I can't do good in school so because I'm not doing good in school I can't make my parents happy, nobody wants to be my friend, just like nothing is working out.
So I'm just like, what's the point? What's the point? So I said, you know what, I need to know that you are real whoever you are because at that point, I I didn't, I mean I did grow up in a Christian household but not really. My mom at that time was practicing Roman Catholicism and then my dad, he was a non denominational Christian and whenever mom was home, I'd go with her to church. Whenever dad was home, I'd go with him to church.
So that's there there was that. So I didn't really know at that point in time. So anyway, so I'm sitting there in my bed. Who remembers dial up internet? Okay.
So at that time, we had dial ups. You know the little, yeah, all that. So I I In the next room over is the office and I look up, suicide hotline because I just wanted to talk somebody, know. When you're having those thoughts, you wanna talk to somebody and I encourage talking to somebody. So I called and then my dad comes on because I was super smart and I left it big as can be on the computer, suicide hotline.
So he's like banging on the door, Dolores in, what's going on? And I'm like, so I'm on the phone with this lady and she's like, are you okay? Like, like, what's going on? And then, so after that all happened, spoke with my dad and we were good. You know, my mom was at work.
And I just had a moment of silence and just talking again to whoever. Please, if you are real, I need you to show me something. And I just heard, I love you. I didn't know who it was. I couldn't explain who it was at that time.
I had no grasp of who Holy Spirit was at that time. But, like when you're 12, you're just like, you think it's yourself but at that moment, I would never tell myself that I love me. I was thinking about taking my own life. So, it had to have comes from somewhere else And I tell you at that moment, I just felt the shower, not shower, more like a redemption if you will. Just I felt this sense of freedom.
And I because I heard I love you, I'm like, okay. So, so life went on. You know, I, I I wanted to know more so I would dig deep. Whenever I went to church with mom. I'd be like I would be like really be honing in like trying to listen.
Really trying to hear what the father was saying like well they called him father. I don't call him father. But you know Catholicism. So I was really trying to hear what he was saying and then when I go with with church or go to church with dad I try to hear what he was saying and you know, just I whatever I felt peace with, I I grabbed onto and I held onto it and then I won't.
The the the father thing, that was the priest?
Yes. Yes. So in Roman Catholicism, yes, there's the priest, the father. He's called the father but yeah. No.
I don't believe in that. So, yeah. So then life went on. You know, I had my curiosities and then maybe around 10 years ago, 10 or 11 years ago, I was 18. I started going for myself because I could drive at the time.
I was going to church and I was like, okay. And I remember going into church. I'm like, why are these people raising their hands? What are they raising the roof? Like, what's going on?
So, yeah, I was like, what is like, what's happening? So I kept going and I kept going and I kept going and at this time, you know, well the the Lord is always in pursuit of our hearts. So he was in hard pursuit after me and he continues regardless of where you are where you are in your relationship with Jesus, he's always gonna be in pursuit of your heart. That is his goal is to be with you and for you to be with him. So anyway, so yeah, I I go to church and I and I kinda figure things out and then 1 1 day like I remember worshiping and I heard someone go, raise your hand.
I'm like, oh, is it happening? Like, is this what this is? Is it is it happening? I'm like, no, lord. I I were like, I was like, I don't wanna do it because I feel uncomfortable and I don't know but at that point, was being led to raise my hand because it was I don't wanna say.
It was just I just heard this voice saying, raise your hand and and and it was like a sign of surrender to him like, you know, and I and I remember that moment and it's like, okay, I give my life to you. I'm here and then that's when like it just the the world to really having a relationship with *Jesus* opened up from then on. And then I moved to Florida in 2014. And then I was baptized in 2017. And I wanna say around that time was when I really rededicated or like dedicated my life to Jesus.
And then I'm kinda Yeah.
Yeah. So would you say it was in that room when you were kind of recognizing that it was Jesus and that you were surrendering your life to him, to Jesus as your lord? What kind of winded because it it sounds like god was drawing you into relationship with him. When would you say, man, I was Jesus was my lord. I was I was born again.
So I would say that that I would say that that truly happened for me when I moved to Florida in 2014. Yeah, I I had gone to this church in Tampa. Actually, I went through a couple years of depression because, you know, I'm thinking, okay, new state. Like, you just pick up and leave and and you know, it's time for a new life but it was really a tough time. I was depressed for 2 years and then, I was like, at that point, I had believed in the lord which is so crazy because if it takes you away from him, but it's not of him.
Come on. And at that point, I was idolizing friendship over anything else.
Come on.
And in that time, I would just be in my room. My parents know like I was always up in my room by myself, but I was talking to the Lord. And I was like, Lord, 2 years into it, was like, Lord, just 1 person. Just 1 person. Okay, I'm gonna walk into this church today.
I was like church hopping. I was like, really trying to find community. And if you have community, do not take that for granted. Like really press him because it's part of your relationship with Jesus. Being in community with the people that he's put in your life.
So yeah, I was really trying to find community and it's so funny. I went to all these different churches and finally, I went into 1 church and the Lord, he has a sense of humor. He's like, you just want 1. I'm gonna give you so many. You can't even like, yeah.
Anyway, so I go in. I meet this 1 girl and then we go to this other place and then this other small group thing and then she invites me out to dinner and then from then on, I still have kingdom friendships from that moment until now and it's grown so much. But yeah yeah but our but another thing is when I came to real church, oh that's my other story, can I tell it? Can I like just go into it?
You guys think I should let her tell her? Yeah. Oh, okay.
Okay. So, this one's crazy. So, I remember going, I was at another church at the time in Saint Pete and the Lord was like, your season's up here. I'm like, okay. He's like, I know this sounds crazy.
He's like, I want you, like, for the Holy Spirit to tell you to Google something. Anyway, so I heard you need to Google a church and when you see it, I'm a tell you. I'm like, okay. So, I Google non denominational church blah blah blah and I see real church and like I'm scrolling, I'm scrolling and he's like, that 1. That 1.
I'm like, are you sure? And he's like, yeah. So, I go and at that point, Chadwick, Chadwick, he he was preaching that day but regard because even though you weren't preaching, the lord was like, this is it. This is where I want you and I was like, okay. So, then, the next day, Courtney calls me.
I'm in Target and she's like, hey, you know, just saying hi and connecting. And then like the next Sunday, I really in that moment, in that season, I served. I served in kids and I really didn't go to service. It was a weird thing, but, that's where the Lord wanted me. So he put me there and yeah, my life has transformed so much because of this church.
Just because it is truly real. You know, what he preaches on is the gospel all the time and pushes for relationship with Jesus and that's real. It's not about, you know, it's not about all the things that everybody thinks it's about. It's about true relationship with him and having that conversation. And I never I don't wanna say I never really experienced it, but I am I am because of the things that I've learned here at Real Church.
I am experiencing an amazing *relationship with Jesus*. And I encourage you that everything that you're learning here really, really apply it like, you know, have have that time with him. I know sometimes it may feel out of your comfort zone but hey, if you're in your comfort zone, there's no room for growth. They don't coexist. So, the *lord just loves* us so much and he loves you.
Okay, I'm going to, if you guys don't know, if it, if you've been kind of wanting to learn about first or like, it's like, hey, I I really want this word in my heart. You're probably going to learn 1 today. Okay, who has seen Monsters Inc? Monsters Incorporated. It's a Disney movie.
The 1 with the big blue guy and the little Okay. So so there's this 1 part in it where they call it a 23 19 and it's where like so in Monsters Inc, they have a like a if you get something that's a kit because they go into the rooms or whatever and they have to scare them for their energy source. So but if you get like a sock or if you get something that's of a cot a a kid on you, it's like this whole code and it's called 2319. We got a 200319. Is anybody familiar with that part?
Okay. Alright. Numbers-2,319. You're gonna remember this. If you've seen Monsters Inc, you're gonna remember this verse.
So, I'm gonna I'm gonna open it up so I can say the entire thing. Turn there if you'd like. Alright, 23 19. Numbers-23:19. God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? Amen. Amen.
So, yeah, remember that 1.
Maybe you're here and you don't have a relationship with God like we're talking about. Maybe you're here and God's been drawing you and you've been seeking after him, but you've never been born again. You know, I I talk to a lot of people all the time on the street, all the time, different places I go, and I say, hey, do you know Jesus? And they say, yeah. I say, really?
That's awesome. I say, you know, they say, oh, I go to church or my grandmother this, my my whoever that. And I say, okay. Have you been born again? And they say, no.
And I say, well, Jesus said that you can't see the kingdom of heaven unless you've been born again. It's that important. Believe like, even demons believe in Jesus. Even demons go to church. You know?
But it's a difference in going and believing and following, knowing him, starting a relationship. So the born again part is is what you need to enter into relationship, to hear his voice, and to walk with him. It's the surrender. What it takes what it means by being born again, like, everybody's born of water. Your mom was water broke.
You know? But born of *spirit* means you have to be born of spirit. That's what Jesus said. It means that, hey, you were disconnected from God who is life and your spirit. But when you confess Jesus as Lord, God comes to live.
He washes you clean. He makes you holy. And he comes to live. His holiness comes to live inside of you. Connected in communion with your spirit.
So that you're now alive because you're connected with his life. And then everything begins to shift in your mind, your will and emotions, and your life on the outside starting with that 1 thing. And the rest of your life is a journey of getting to know who he is and who he says that you are. And that starts that relationship. I I just wanna ask you all just just for for this moment, would you bow your head and close your eyes?
As I as Dolores was talking about the things she's gone through, as I was talking about the relationship with Jesus, I just believe that there's people in here that you're ready right now to receive Jesus as your Lord. You're you're ready to say, I'm tired of living for me. This is what it takes to be born again. I believe I've been living for me selfishly. Or living for myself, trying to fix everything.
Which means living for it's sin. And I'm ready now to live for you. I believe you died to pay the price for my sin, Jesus, on a cross. And I believe you rose again so I could have your life. Right now, I'm choosing.
Right now, not only do I believe that, but I'm choosing to live for you instead of for myself. That's what it takes. Who in here would say, I'm ready to do that. I wanna be born again. Would you raise your hand high?
I see you. And let me say this, if done before, it was real and it was right, and that's enough. And we can move forward. But it's not it's not just walking an aisle, it's repentance and turning. So raise your hand high and keep it up.
Let me see it again. I see you. Let me see. I see you in the back. I see you.
Beautiful. I love it. Alright. Let's put your hands down. And I want you to pray this.
And it's not the prayer that saves you. It's the faith, the receiving his love, the position of the heart. Okay. So so let's everybody just say this out loud with them. You guys say out loud.
Say Jesus. Jesus. I believe you died for me.
I believe you died for me.
And I believe you you died to forgive me of my sin. I've been a sinner. I've been a sinner. I ask you to forgive me. I ask you to
forgive me.
And I believe you're alive right now. And
I believe you're alive right now.
I ask you to come into my life. And make me new. Right now, from this day forward, you are my Lord. I choose to follow you. Thank you, Jesus That Thank I'm forgiven.
That I'm loved. That I'm loved. You're with me. That I'm with you. Teach me what it means.
Teach me it "walk with you". To walk with you. Amen. Wonderful. Yeah.
So here's the deal. There were people in here that gave their life to Jesus. And it's awesome. Now this time, I'm not gonna ask you to sometimes I I ask you to come forward and all that kind of stuff. Rarely, I've done it recently.
This time, here's what I'll ask you to do. The Bible says those who walk in the light as he is in the light, they will have fellowship 1 with another. So I ask you to stop being isolated and begin having fellowship. And praise the lord, you're invited to be a part of this church. You're invited to learn and grow as we grow in Christ.
But not only that, we're having baptism today. And someone's being baptized and baptism, you don't have to qualify to be baptized other than being born again. And it's not an option. *Jesus* said do it. It's not like when I feel like it.
If Jesus is your Lord, then it's time to be baptized. And here's what I'll do just to be kind. We're gonna do baptism again next week. If you know that it's time for you to be baptized, I ask you to come and tell me and we'll baptize you next week. Except for the person that we're already baptizing today.
Baptism is saying, I know I'm new on the inside. I'm a new creation. So when I go into the water, I'm declaring the old David died with Christ. It's like being buried with Christ. He crucified and was died.
We're saying, the old David is buried with Christ and gone. When we come up out of the water, we're saying, I have been "resurrected to new life" in Christ. I'm no longer who I always thought I was. I'm no longer what everybody always said about me. I'm no longer even defined by my own past actions.
Those have been forgiven. I am now who you say that I am. You say that I'm forgiven. You say that I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and you've created me for purpose on purpose. So I'm a walk in relationship with you and to learn what that is and praise the Lord, I'm excited about it.
That's baptism. If you've been if you've chosen to follow Jesus since you were a baby, to the level of your understanding, guess what? Praise the Lord. I was 4 or 5 years old when I when I got saved and baptized and it was real. So what happened there, ma'am?
It was real. I'd love to baptize you. But then others in here, if you've given your life to Jesus, it's time to be baptized. All of you. Please go to realchurch.us.
Click connect. And use 1 of those forms. Or come and tell me or tell my wife. Email us, courtney@realchurch.us. Somehow, someway, so that we can baptize you next week.
Amen? Amen. Alright. We got just a little bit left. John, would you come up?
How many of guys know John Krueger? Would you guys give him a John is a mighty man of God. He loves Jesus. You can say that, Dolores. He loves Jesus.
And man, he's been following Jesus for as long as I've known him. He started coming to church here about, I don't know, maybe 3 and a half years ago. And got plugged in. And he started serving in worship and production. He started serving on the drums faithfully.
And not only did he do that, but then when we had a need, he stepped up to fill the need. He started assisting Josh Cortez who was leading our worship at the time. And then when Josh left, we we look for fat people. faithful, available, and teachable. And John was faithful, available, and teachable.
And so the Lord put it on all our hearts, and so we asked him to step up into our worship and production. And he started he's been leading that for the last 3 years, I guess. A little over 3 years now. And man, it's been amazing. As a matter of fact, his fingerprints on most of the things you see at this church.
And man, I'm super thankful because he's gifted in excellence and he's gifted in all this tech stuff and gifted in worship and he's the professional at it. And he's done well at training a team to do that. And so we're super thankful. And about a year ago, we started talking and just realizing that that more and more it it seemed that God was calling us in separate directions. Sometimes that happens.
And so we started talking. 6 months ago, it became more clear. Then even at the beginning of the summer, we decided we're gonna meet every Friday just to kinda see because God's given us a very clear direction at our church. If you wanna know what it's gonna look like, read the book Wiki Church. You'll hear more about it.
Wiki Church by pastor Steve Morell. It details our mission statement. I'll explain it in our next series, but just look it up, Wiki Church. But it just *God* is just calling us different directions in this season. And so we sat down about a week and a half ago and decided, man, you know what?
It's time for a transition. And if it's best for the kingdom, then it's best for our church and it's best for you and your family. And so, I wanna let him talk about it a little bit, and then we'll go from there. Hey. It's, it's it's weird
to be up here with a mic. So over the last, you know, maybe maybe month or 2, I I had really felt the prompting of the Lord to sit with him and see what he was speaking. And there had been a lot of stuff on my heart, and I was kinda faced with that direction just to echo Dolores. It's like, what's this next season? And, you know, is it is it doing x y z here, here, here?
And, you know, part of the thing with hearing God, right, is what I believe is that, you know, in order to hear, you gotta listen. You know, how many times do your parents or your wives or your husbands say something and you're just like, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. You didn't you never heard what they said. Right? You weren't listening. And and so to me, it's it was essential to sit down and listen to what he was saying.
And so for for a little while now, me and my wife had have been waiting on the *Lord* and and listening and and seeking some counsel and have really just felt the Lord leading us into a new season. Just, again, what what you kinda said is that new season, and I don't have all the answers. I know God does, and I'm excited about his plan. And so that's that's kinda where we're at right now is is in the midst of that transition of the Lord bringing me and my wife into a new season. And, and I'm so excited about, what's next, for the church and for my family.
But, I wanna do this if it's okay with you. I just wanted to the thing that was more important to me than anything, was to "bless the church" and to bless the servants, specifically the servants of the church. And you guys know who you are, the ones that are here faithfully every week pouring your soul into this place and being obedient and humble to the lord. And I just wanted to bless you guys and and pray over them. Is that is that okay?
And so I believe that there is I believe the holy spirit wants to fill you guys afresh. You know, being a portable church is hard, but I believe that that Holy Spirit wants to impart you guys with, "signs, miracles, and wonders", and wisdom to walk forward. And so I just wanted to bless you guys. So I'm just gonna pray over you if that's alright. So, Lord, I just I pray over real church.
*God*, I thank you so much for what you have done in my life through this body, through these amazing people, through David and his beautiful family. God, I thank you so much for just the the people that show up relentlessly to honor you and their service and their worship of giving their time and their effort, their energy. God, leaving work early, you know, taking time away from their family to honor you and how
they