You are invited to release your fears and past mistakes to Jesus, trusting that your sin is no longer counted against you. As you worship, consider where you need to put Him at the center of your finances and relationships today. Let this moment of forgiveness be the foundation for your new life in Him.
So I guess because it's Father's Day, I'll continue with the way that I started last week. Which days are the strongest? Of course, they're Saturday and Sunday because the rest the rest are weekdays. You know, it's a good dad joke if half the congregation goes. At what time of the day was Adam created?
Little before Eve.
Did Eve ever have a date with
Adam? No. Just an apple. Okay, I'm done. No worries.
My wife doesn't like my "dad jokes". I'm done. My name is David John Phillips. Phillips. I have the joy and the honor of getting to be the pastor here.
There's no place I'd rather be. Nothing that I would rather be doing, than getting to lead this church and preach the word, and then, empower others to preach the word that God's specifically called to do that. And it's just it's a lot of fun. It really is. And before we dive into continuing our hearing God series, we're in part 3 today.
Has this been beneficial for you guys? Yes. Praise the Lord. Our prayer is that you walk away from each message understanding how to hear God a little bit better, how to know Him a little bit more. And it's vital because we can't please God without faith.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And faith comes by hearing. Therefore, faith in order to have faith, you have to have relationship. Right? Relationship in such a way that you know God's voice, that you hear Him, you walk with Him.
It's it's kind of a big deal. Also, the Bible says that anything that's not done in faith is sin. Therefore, in order to to walk in righteousness, we have to understand and know what it looks like to walk with God day in and day out. Amen? So I know it sounds like I'm diving in, but I'm not quite yet.
I wanna give you a little bit of an update with Pakistan. You'll continue to hear these updates from time to time. For those of you that don't know, I believe the notes are still up from when we did the last Pakistan message, so you can go to realchurch.us, click on livestreams, and click on notes, and like the the story of of how we got started pioneering, really being a part of pioneering a work in an unreached area of Pakistan with the gospel is all there. And so, I'd encourage you to take a look and then maybe go back and watch the video where Jerry and I talked about our recent trip that we took there. But in a nutshell, we have been blessed to be able to pioneer or help pioneer work in an unreached area of Pakistan.
In a year and a half, there's about 2,700 *new* believers in 27 villages, which is awesome, but you can but you're gonna have to clap louder in a minute. So then, you know, we've in the year and a half, we've trained up many leaders who are multiplying, and it's awesome. God's done some really cool stuff. Well, Jerry and I got to go and see all of that, put our hands on the on the ground. We've we've put in 29 new water wells now, which is awesome.
But we got to go and see that. We and we preached to 20 right around 22,000 people, 9095% of which had never heard the gospel before. Most were Hindus, some were Muslims, and almost 9,850, almost 10,000, 9,850 were born again, gave their life to Jesus, which is praise the Lord. See, louder clap. You gotta yeah.
So but that's all old information. Right? We we shared that, and you wanna know the details, the ins and outs of that, please go online and watch that. It's it's a joy to get to be a part of the global body of Christ. But the add on that I wanted to share with you today was those 9,850 believers, new believers, were in a 131 villages that we weren't in yet.
So brand new little baby believers in a 131 villages, where we have the other 2,700 in the 27 villages. So we gotta figure out, hey, how do we effectively *disciple these new believers to grow in Christ*? You know, to understand, like, they have to renew their mind to the reality of who Christ is who they are in him, and put away their old ways of thinking so their life is completely transformed. Amen? You know, and and having someone to walk you through that's important.
So in prayer with our buddy over there, Daniel, we figured out, you know what? We probably need to start with 10 leaders. And by leaders, these are year and a half old believers who have been obedient and walking it out, faithful, available, and teachable. Right? Fat, we call them.
We look for fat people. Faithful, available, and teachable. Anyway, so we probably need 10 who we can pay full time to go to the 131 villages to *disciple them, you know, until we have established groups and and small little baby churches and stuff in this unreached area of the world that is now being reached. Praise the Lord*. And we figured out it cost about $200 per per liter to supplement their family income monthly, plus a $100 for gas monthly in order to go to the different villages.
It's a long trek. So, it costs about $3,000 to do this per month. And so, we had 2 guys go with us from a nonprofit who were who were starting to partner with us in what we're doing in Pakistan. Nonprofit's called 30 third Company. Amazing 2 guys, Chris and Aaron.
Well, I meet with them every couple weeks. So I met with them last Tuesday or Tuesday before last. I said, hey, look. This is what we're praying about, and they were asking about what they think, what we think is next, what's most important, looking at possibly building, buying land, and building a training center, which we believe is on the horizon. But also, what's the most important?
And we just knew this is most important. We need to disciple those new lead new new baby believers. We know we know it. Well, they contacted me a couple days ago. They're not gonna sponsor 1 or 2.
They're gonna sponsor all of them. So full time for the kingdom, 10 staff in Pakistan who are going to be full time evangelists, pastor, leaders, setting up new ministry in these a 131 new villages, and the work's just gonna continue to expand. And church, because of your radical generosity, because of your prayers, you're playing a part in every little piece of fruit, and big piece of fruit that is being birthed for the kingdom over there, the "kingdom of heaven". So praise the Lord, it's a big deal. And Lord God, we just thank you that even though we're a little baby church plant, Lord, we get to be a part of what you're doing in Pinellas County and what you're doing around the world.
And it's awesome. It's awesome. And so thank you, Lord, we take it seriously. And Lord, we dive in, we anchor here, Lord, in this church, Lord, in this body. So Lord, you can use the unity to to multiply effectiveness for your kingdom in Pinellas County, in Florida, in The United States, and around the world.
And we're just thankful that we get to be a part. In Jesus' name. Amen. 1 1 more just kinda thing. I gotta share not just what God's doing in Pakistan, what God's doing here.
Man, God just set Jerry Hunter. Would you stand up, my brother, again? God set this man on fire for his calling. He's an evangelist. You know, an evangelist equips the body for the work of ministry.
Well, if he's an evangelist, then he's probably gonna equip our body for the works of evangelism. So you'll see more and more people not only giving their life to Jesus in Pinellas County, but, you know, you'll see more and more opportunities for you to go and be equipped and to evangelize out in your daily life. Because is it really discipleship if we're not stepping out of our comfort zone and leading others to Jesus? It's part of the "Great Commission". It's part of what we all do.
We go, we're missionaries at our jobs, we're missionaries, there's no secular work. It's all mission work everywhere you go, if you're a believer. Everywhere you go is to just sow seeds of the gospel. And I believe as you, this year, continue to grow in Jesus, you're gonna see more people in your daily life come to know him and Jerry's gonna help equip you. Amen?
Watch this. I got a call just 2 nights ago from Jackie. Jackie, would you stand up? You give honor where honor is due. Now I'm honoring Christ in Jackie and Christ in Jerry.
Okay? That because they're just being obedient to what God's leading them to do, it's beautiful. I get a call from Jackie. She it was at like 10. We were in the middle of of meeting with another couple in our church, which is awesome, and and talking about Jesus, and I just knew I need to answer this phone.
So I answered it, and Jackie's like, hey, pastor David, would you talk to these 2? They're my neighbors. They're sitting in my in my living room. They just gave their life to Jesus. Jackie gave her life to Jesus 3 years ago.
She's just following him in his in her daily life, and it's awesome. And it's not when you follow Jesus in your daily life, and you obey him as he leads you, your life will bear much fruit. People will come to know him because of the way that you live. People will come to know him better. I'm not saying you have to lead people to Jesus every day or every week, but I'm just saying, your life will challenge those around you to know Him more.
I don't wanna be somebody that just comes to church on a Sunday and is never giving out what I've been given. Because if that's the case, I'm just gonna become prideful, full of knowledge. Right? But my life will not know what I know. I wanna be someone that's living out everything that God's putting in so that the world around me can experience the goodness of his goodness.
Amen.
Because that's what we're called
to do. We're created to shine in every way, not just in Pakistan, not just in random countries when we go on a mission trip. Every single day is a mission trip. Everywhere you put your foot is a mission trip. And if you'll hear him and obey, you'll live that way everywhere that you go.
It's called to Christian life. Yeah. It's just that good. And so I want to dive into hearing God, part 3. And I'll just do a brief recap.
And if what I'm telling you is like, you don't catch it, that's okay. We have it on YouTube when we have it on podcast. So you can go to our website and go catch it. Go listen to the whole message from 2 weeks ago for the the foundation. Go listen to the whole message from last week, you know, and and and dive in and and learn it in such a way that it becomes a part of you so that you can walk it out in your daily life.
Amen? Because if we're serious about this thing, we don't just wanna hear Him and feel good and then walk out and No. No.
No. We want to be transformed into his *likeness* every time we get together and hear his word, either from the person speaking or every time we sit and open this book. Every moment of every day is an opportunity to transformed into His likeness so we better represent His likeness in our daily life. How
else are we going to live out, 1 John-4:17, that says, in this world we are like Jesus? We won't. So I read that by faith knowing I'm not there yet, but like practically speaking, but if he says that that's
the case, then I'm gonna stand on it
until I see it happen.
Amen? Amen.
So, *1 Corinthians-13:13* says this, and this is just kind of the quick recap. *1 Corinthians-13:13* says, and now these 3 remain faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these in love. So really, we we for the foundational message about hearing God, we talked about faith, hope, and love. We know faith comes by hearing. We already talked about that.
It's the basis. You can't have faith without hearing, which means you have relationship. You know God's voice. Jesus said, My sheep know His voice. That's what all of this is about.
And then, in Hebrews eleven:one, we know, I'm gonna move fast, because this is a recap. It says, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Meaning that hope is the foundation of faith.
So if faith comes by hearing, And hope is that foundation. That means in any area where we have hope in the character and nature of God, any area of our life where we have hope in God, that's an area where we can hear His voice and have faith. And any area where we don't have hope, we're disheartened and discontent, that's an area where we have trouble hearing God.
And probably because our hope is in something else, or it's in us.
We're in control of that area of our life, so we've rejected maybe, or maybe even we've got offended, or or or stuff has happened to us, and we lost hope in that area.
So what do you do? Well, says faith, hope, and love. Guess what? The foundation of hope is. And I'm not talking about like, hope in someone, or hope in something,
or that something changes. No. We're hoping in *God* that character, His nature, who He is, He's our deliverer, He's our foundation, He's our hope, He's our help in time of need, He's our Redeemer, He's the 1 who blesses, we are heirs of His kingdom, our hope is in Him. And so in every situation, when we go back to that hope, then we can hear his specific voice in an area, and then obey and see the supernatural results of obedience out of relationship. I know it's a lot.
Go back and listen to the last 2 messages. So faith, hope, and then love. Love is the foundation of hope. In 1 Corinthians-13, a little earlier, it says, love always hopes. Therefore, in any area where you're lacking hope, it's probably 1 of 2 things.
You're either loving yourself more than you're loving God in that area, so you're listening to what you say and what you think instead of what he says and what he thinks in that area. You know? I know that's cutting, but if the shoe fits, just kick it off and follow Jesus.
Or,
you're ignorant to God's love in that area. Ignorance just means not knowing, meaning you just don't know His love in that area. See, my Bible says we love because He first loved us. So, when we see for God so loved me, the world, I was a part of the world, that He sent His 1 and only Son, Jesus, really so that I could know Him, I receive His love, and His love is placed in my heart, and I have the capacity to love like Him now. But then in every area of my life where I haven't received His love yet, I still love myself more in that area.
So I need to receive His love to know Him and see what He says about that area so I can have hope in His character nature, so that I can hear Him in that area of my life, my finances, my relationships, my job, whatever it may be, then I can obey, which obedience is the response of love in relationship, and experience the supernatural results of that. I know that's like a lot. Once again, go back and listen to the last 2 messages. It unpacks it, shares all of the analogies and all of that, know. So, today then, our Yeah, that was message 1.
Message 2, and in just a couple sentences, we talked about Nazareth. Another reason people don't hear his voice is is when Jesus went back to his hometown in Nazareth, they were offended at him and he could not do many miracles for their lack of faith. Faith is hearing, so because of their offense, they wouldn't hear him. Faith comes by hearing. Because of their offense, they wouldn't hear Him.
Okay, why were they offended? Because they grew up with Him. So, they were familiar with what they've always heard and saw about Jesus, what they were familiar with. And so, he came back in to reveal who he really is to them and it was unfamiliar, they took offense and rejected and wouldn't hear. And we just said, hey, I don't wanna be those guys that with whatever you grew up believing, growing up in church, not growing up in church, and hearing about Jesus, you get so familiar with what you've heard and always been taught that when Jesus wants to reveal himself to you in a new way and it's unfamiliar, as long as it's in line with the Word, I say, yes, Lord.
I wanna step out of my comfort zone into what you're saying, even if it's uncomfortable, so that I can grow and walk by faith instead of walking by a fence at what's unfamiliar. Yeah? That was part 2. Hear the whole message, go back and listen to it last week. All right, the third principle today is talking about that.
Hearing God through His word. Like, why is this thing important? 66 books written by 40 different authors over 1500 years in perfect synchronicity and unity without error. It's divinely inspired. We take other history books as fact.
Things about Alexander the Great and other people that have gone on hundreds and if not thousands of years before us. And those books, the manuscripts or those those stories, the manuscripts were written 3 to 400 years afterwards in many cases, and there's only like 3 or 4 manuscripts at the most, sometimes 5. For this, the New Testament, it was written 20 to 50 years after it happened, which is like, as far as historical documentation, like instant. And there's thousands and thousands of manuscripts that show that these books are not a forgery. And by 40 different authors over 1500 years in perfect synchronicity, there's something special about it.
The most amazing book, divinely inspired. That being said, you can still read it as dead words on a page. Like, this is not God. It's not. It's words on a page.
But I can know Him through it. If I read it in relationship with Him, it becomes the living word. The Holy *Spirit* is the 1 who makes this come alive in my life. Let me show you, and I said this, I mentioned this briefly last week, and I've mentioned it a couple times, but I just wanna show you because it's important for you to know. There's many people who know this better than you do and better than I do, but don't know God.
In Mark-3. First, real quick, let's go to 2 Timothy-3. Sorry. *2 Timothy-3*, verses 16 and 17. Just to prove.
I'll just read it from up there. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in *righteousness* so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Okay. Righteousness, *Christ* is our righteousness. It's it's training and teaching us in Christ.
The whole world word reveals Christ. In first John I mean, in John-1:1, it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He, verse 2 says, he was with God in the beginning. So, *Jesus*, and then in John-1:14, it says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Meaning, Jesus is the Word incarnate.
Like, Jesus is the Word made a man. So as we read this book,
by the in relationship with the Holy Spirit, and He makes it come alive. He is revealing *Christ* to us. All throughout the Old Testament, we can see Christ by revelation of the Holy Spirit as He we read it in relationship with Him. All throughout the New Testament, we can see Christ, and it's important for that. And I'll tell you or that's very important.
I'll tell you why in just a second.
But here is the the danger when we read this. Watch this. *Mark-3:22*. It says, and the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, he, being Jesus, is possessed by Beelzebub. By the prince of demons, He is driving out demons.
This is interesting because the teachers of the law were the lawyers of the day. The lawyers of today, they study the American law. They know it in and out. They have to in order to carry out their job. The teachers of the law, that day, they studied the Old Testament.
They studied Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They studied the the law and the prophets, and then they studied the Psalms too. They knew the law in and out. They knew the the book. And guess what the book does?
It reveals Christ.
So that means they didn't read it by faith. They didn't read it in relationship with the Holy Spirit. They read it to know it. Here. They read it to accomplish their job.
They read it to do what they thought would make them more holy, to work for God instead of working with Him in relationship. And so, when the very word that they knew better than anyone else was standing in front of them, they said it was a demon.
I almost might step on some of your toes, or those watching. There's many preachers and churches out there that know this book, but when the Holy Spirit is moving, and there's fruit for the kingdom happening, they're saying it's a demon.
Are they not being the teachers of the law? Man, I don't wanna be those guys that that know this word here, but reject it with my life, and reject everyone that does something that's different from what I'm comfortable with just because I don't understand it. Because that's what they were doing. They called Jesus, the incarnation of the
word, a demon. It's dangerous. So how do we not do that? Because you can hear the word through scripture. You can you can have faith.
You as you're reading this, the Holy Spirit can speak to you so clearly. What does that look like? When I sit down to read this thing, I say, and I and I tell people to do this all the time. Like, when I'm ministering in my daily life, I pray as like I'm like, hey, I pray for them, and then I I tell them about Jesus, and then as I'm walking away, this is what I'll say a lot of times. I'll say, hey, man.
I got a challenge for you. I said, want you to open up the Bible app on your phone or go get that Bible dusted off and open it to the book of John. And I challenge you to read it, but when you read it, say this. Say, *God*, if you love me like that crazy red bearded dude said you did, I literally say that, would you open this up and show me who you are? It's called reading in relationship.
And then I tell them, read it as if he's speaking to you. Man, when I open up this book, I never just wanna read it to read a history lesson. It's good. It's good history. Like, the
more archaeology finds things, the more they're proving the Bible. Look it up, it's awesome. It's a great history book, but it's a better book that shows us the character and nature of God. Because as we read this in relationship, the Holy Spirit opens up and He shows us, watch this, He shows us how He loved people 4000 years ago in the Old Testament. But if, since He's "no respecter of persons", meaning He doesn't value you any less than He valued them, And since He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, then in the ways that He loved them, He can love you.
So as you read this in relationship and you see how He loved them, you can say, Oh God, I thank you that you love me in the exact same way, and I wanna see your love in that way in my life. Would you reveal yourself to me in those same ways? Now, I'm praying like that
as I'm reading scripture. It gets even better. Watch this. James-5:17. Elijah was a human being even as we are.
He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for 3 and a half years. Verse 18. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced crops. So wait a second. Elijah was a human being, a person just like us, and *God* moved in Elijah's life and and answered his prayer such that the rain stopped, and 3 and a half years later, it started.
And that was him loving his people. So wait a second. Here's how here's how I do it. *God*, as I read that, *Lord*, if you wanna love people like that today
or in my life today, *Lord*, would you reveal yourself in that way through me? Because if you did it then and you're no respecter of persons, you can do
it through me. Because I got the same Holy *Spirit* that was on him in me. Because of Jesus. *Lord*,
if if you wanna stop the rain for someone today, would you put it on my heart to pray it? Because I'll pray it. If you wanna start the rain for someone today, would you put it on my
heart to pray it? Because I'll pray it. Lord God, I wanna see you manifest yourself in my life today like you did then, because if you did it then, you'll do it today. If you love them that way, you'll love me that way today, and you'll love the people around me through me that way today, and that's the way I live my life, guys. I don't read the stories and say, oh, that's cool for them.
I read it and say, wow, I can know you in that way today. Now watch this.
As I read the Old Testament and the
*New* Testament, it's Christ. It's showing me who he is. Right? So then when I go in my daily life, because I know his character and nature there, then in my daily life, I can see more clearly because I know this, more clearly Him wanting to manifest Himself in my life. So when I when I see an activity, maybe somebody walks by with a broke leg, and I remember, wait a second, in Acts, Peter prayed for the dude and and his leg was healed.
And I think, well, well God, if you did it then, you can do it today. And I just have enough faith because I know his word, I and know His character, and I know His nature, I know it's what He wants to do. So man, I'll just follow what they did, and I wanna see you manifested today. And sometimes it happens, sometimes they're healed right there. And sometimes it's not.
And you know what I do? I say, Lord God, help my unbelief. I wanna know you more, and
I wanna see you manifested in my life in every way so that other people can experience your love and your mercy through me today. That's how I read scripture. And then the more that I read this thing, the more I know his character nature, and the more that I can, as Romans-12:2 says, "test and approve" what God's will is, what his good pleasing and perfect will is.
If I don't know this, I
don't know how to test it and see if it's from me, it's from God, or it's from the enemy. So the more that I know this, the more I can tell the difference, which means the more I can be obedient and what by faith when He speaks. So read this
thing daily, get in it. I'd start the New Testament so you
can because the New Testament is Christ revealed. And then once you have a good revelation of Christ, go to the Old Testament because it's Christ concealed, and it's so cool to dig up little nuggets about Christ. It's awesome. Amen? Does that help?
Hearing God, you can hear Him in the Word, and the Word helps you to hear Him in your daily life, because you see Him more clearly, because you know His character and nature. Pretty succinct. Okay. Miss Angie, would you come up? So also in this series, we interview people about how they hear God in their daily life.
I'm just gonna put this over here. Yeah. And I think there we go. Thank you guys for your patience. That's for you.
Wouldn't be a gentleman if I got mine first. And this is for me. Do you need a water Angie? You're good to go? Okay, miss Angie.
This is Angela Gabbard. She's amazing and wonderful. If you don't know her, you should know her. You should make a point to get to know her. I first met them 4 and a half years ago at a coffee shop that they randomly came to because they saw our advertisement after watching cat videos about us planting a church, and they decided they were gonna go because of the free coffee, and they've never left.
And so, praise the Lord, we're thankful for Mike and Angie, servants hearts, love Jesus, and men are growing in Christ. And their faith, and prayer life challenges me to *pray* more consistently, and it encourages me, and it's awesome. So would you guys just honor Christ in her? Would you give her a big old hand? Would Angie, would you just say something, I don't know, to to help them know you better?
Maybe something goofy about yourself or something maybe not many people would know.
I'm a black belt in karate.
She is.
And funny little story, used to teach Mike before we got married. And he would just look at me wrong and I wasn't saved at this point. So, I would make him do push ups just for looking at me wrong. He
was in her dojo, so she could do that. Okay. So, in line with the series, tell me some time in your life where just kind of explain some time in your life where you've heard God.
I'm gonna give you 1 of my, what I consider embarrassing stories. So I love to swim. I usually swim a few times during the week. And sometimes I do a public swim, sometimes I'm swimming with a team. This particular time, I was doing a public swim and there was a lady sitting on the side of the pool obviously having some kind of issue, like something medically wasn't wrong.
I was swimming. The lifeguards were, like, keeping an eye on her. Well, after my swim, I go take a shower. And this was in the winter, so it's cold. So 1 of the things I do is dry off under their their hand dryers but they're up high.
So I'll stand off in my swimsuit and dry off there just to get warm and in the meantime this lady comes in and sits down and I hear the Holy Spirit tell me go pray for her. I'm like, I'm in my swimsuit. You can't possibly mean that I need to go pray for her like this. No.
Now now when you say you heard the Holy Spirit like what what was that like? You heard him audibly, you what was it? What it look like?
No. It's a thought that comes into my head and it's a thought that lines up with the word of God but it's not something that I've come up with. Like there's no way I would be thinking, hey, I need to go pray for her while I'm in my swimsuit. It's it's not comfortable.
Yeah, and and it's perfect, and the Holy *Spirit* is in unity with your spirit. Your spirit's been made new. Right? So he speaks to your spirit, but then everything that you experience is filtered through your mind. Everything that you're seeing and hearing right now is being filtered through your brain.
Well, it's the same way. It's filtered through that, so in her case this time, it was a thought. Keep going.
So unfortunately, I'd love to say I went right away and prayed for her, but I didn't. I just kind of pushed to decide that that that can't be the right thought and so I continue drying off and then the thought comes to my head a second time and at that time I'm like, okay. It's time for me to "step out of my comfort zone" and and the biggest fear was I didn't know how she was gonna react to this lady in this swimsuit coming up and saying, I pray for you? So I go over and I said, you know, I I I see that something's going on, can I pray for you? And she said, I would love that.
So I said, can I put my hand on you? And she said, yes. So I put my hand on her shoulder and I prayed for her. And then after that, you know, I said you need a ride home. She's like, no, if you have a phone, can I use it?
Call my husband. And I said, absolutely. So I give her my phone. But the next day, she texts me and just thanked me and said, it meant so much to me that you prayed for me yesterday. So thank you.
Powerful. So, like, every time that you obey God in the little things in your daily life, like, it doesn't have to be earth shattering, earth quaking, like, supernatural getting out off of a mat, you know, lame person, or it can it can just be a little seed sown in someone's life and a normal thing of of of your daily life because this is who you are as a Christian. And, that's what I hear in this. And, that little seed, we don't know how much fruit it will happen will will happen because of it in the future. But we're we're called to be seed sowers and waterers, and let God be the 1 that causes the the increase, the growth.
Amen? I love it. That's powerful. Anything else on that story? Is that on that 1?
Perfect. Could you tell me another time where you've heard from the Lord?
I used to struggle a lot believing that I wasn't hearing God when I was reading my bible. Like it's something that the enemy has just come up come at me with telling me that I'm not good enough, that other people hear. And I'd love to say that you know it's a long past thing but it's something I still struggle with and it's just my mind. The first time I heard from God reading the bible, I was reading in Matthew and this 1 verse just "jumped out at me" and like I knew it was God speaking to me because it was exactly what my struggle was. And that verse is Matthew-17:20, which is if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move from here till there and it will move, nothing is impossible.
And like I just knew that that was God speaking to me because that's been a struggle. And so, you know, I I spent some time this morning asking God what he wanted me to talk about, and he brought this up. And then on the drive here this morning, we're listening to music, and I picked the song Even If by Mercy Me. And in the middle of that song, it it talks about, you know, even if you only have a a faith like the size of a mustard seed. And I was just like, wow.
So So
so God confirmed you?
*God* absolutely confirms it. And I don't just hear from God reading the bible, I would say more often than not I hear from God listening to music. I'll be listening to a song and there's times where like there's a song by Cutlass that I've listened to over and over and over again. And I I remember the last time I listened to it, I'm like, there's no way God can give me anything else from this song. And it it was almost like God was like "challenge accepted" and just made this line kind of like jump out from the song and I've like never paid attention to it before.
I love it. Well, the other way that he confirmed it is she, you know, we we didn't plan out what she was talking about or anything, and she didn't know what principle I was teaching on. She didn't know I was teaching on how to hear God from the Word. And so when she told me that, I just confirmed. I said, hey, look, what heard this morning was from God because that's actually the principle that I'm teaching on, how to hear God from the Word.
So, you know, a lot of times when God speaks, after the obedience, because she had already said in her heart that she's gonna do it. Well, Hebrews-11:3, by faith we understand. Well, complete faith is hearing and obeying. So a lot of times, after the obedience that we understand why He told us to do it, or He confirms and and and, you know, shows us that He was He was showing us for a reason, which is just beautiful. I love it.
Thank you, Angie, and I'm excited to continue to learn from you. This woman's prayers, like, 1 day, we'll probably do another series on prayer, and I'll have her share testimonies of her prayers answered, but she is a prayer warrior, and a lot of the fruit of this church is a result of her prayers. Once again, would you guys give Jesus a hand, because of Him and her, and her obedience to Him. Thank you, Angie. You mind if I?
She hates hugs, so anyway, but I love Angie, and she's like family to us. Mike and Angie come and hang out all the time. Miss Emily, would you come on up? Y'all know Emily because she was leading worship up here. This little lady's full of Jesus, and that's the mute, so yeah.
How long have you been helping out at the church?
For, I think, almost 3 years or 2 and a half maybe? 2 and half years. Going on 3.
Very thankful because we didn't know, you know, how to do anything, like, creatively, like, with Adobe, or Photoshop, or, you know, we're just Courtney and I are old school when it comes to making stuff on the Internet and Instagram. And, you know, because she was a teenager, she lived that for 8 years, or however long she was a teenager. And so we just thought, hey, she could probably learn that, and how to make it good for the church. And so, we asked her to help out, and she said yes, and so our Instagram and Facebook, the stuff that you guys like and share, is because of her. So, would you
guys just honor what God has done in her?
And we're thankful. And she designs a lot of the other stuff. She designed all of the signage out there and everything, so super thankful. Would you tell
us something goofy about yourself?
I did warn her about this 1. Told her I was gonna ask that.
This is a little strange. But I have 2 different thumbs. Yeah. So like, one's just like regular, and then 1 is like my dad's thumb. So I got my mom's thumb, and then my dad's thumb.
So
Alright.
It's pretty good.
Yeah. She'll think you're weird if you just walk up to her randomly and say, can I see your thumbs?
But Yeah. Well, I was side note. I was making someone coffee, and I was taking their order. And they're like, oh my gosh. I "love your thumbs".
And I was like, no 1 has ever said that to me before. But thank you? I mean, yeah.
So on that side note, if you do ask to see your thumbs, make sure you tell her you love them. Yep. Okay. Could you tell us a time in your life where you've heard from God? Let's let's discuss it.
So this was probably about a year ago, and I was in a season with the Lord where he was just, like, ravishing my heart. And he just put the word *obedience* on my heart for, like, that whole entire year. I mean, it's still constant obedience to the Lord, but that was like the main focus. And so I was going to get coffee with a friend and I had to stop and get gas. And all of a sudden, I pull up to 7 11 and I'm just pumping gas and I look over and there's a lady just standing out front of the the like storefront, and she was a worker there.
And I look at her and the Lord says, go pray for her. And this is like very out of my comfort zone because the Lord has definitely worked on my boldness a lot. And so I was like, nope. Not gonna go do that. No.
I don't think so. And so I just like finished pumping my gas, and I get in my car, and I don't see her. She like walks back into the store and I'm like, okay. I'm just gonna drive away. It's probably nothing.
And when I tell you there was a thought in my mind, I heard the Lord, You better turn this car around. Like, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? I was like, oh, okay. So I'm like, but Lord, she's gonna think that I'm, like, crazy.
And, like, she's gonna what like, don't even know her. This random girl is like stalking me, whatever. So I go and park my car and I go in the store and I am just like stalling. Mhmm. I am looking for gummy worms, like trying to buy something, like, just to not seem like weird.
Believe it or not, I've done it many times.
Yep. Mhmm.
Mhmm. And
so, finally, I'm like, maybe she'll be at the cash register. So I go find some gummy worms and I buy them, and she's not there. I'm like, okay. Dang it. So I go and I'm walking out of the store, and she's there, like, stalking things.
And I'm like, oh my. Okay. Here we go. Alright. And so the Lord just he wanted me to go pray for her, And I asked I like said to her, I said, hi.
This might be really weird, but I really feel like the Lord wants me to pray for you. Is there anything that you want me to pray for? Like, is there anything going on? And she's like, oh my gosh. Like, I'm having such bad family issues right now.
Like, this is literally from the Lord. I can't believe this. And so we just I just started praying for her. I took her hands. And as soon as I was done praying, like, look up and she's just weeping, like, uncontrollably.
And I was like, the Lord loves you so much. Like, she's like, you have no idea, like, how much this means to me. This was you were sent from the Lord. Thank you so much. And so, I then I invited her to church, but I don't think I saw her after that.
But still, it that was something that marked me.
So I wanna I wanna dive into that a little bit. You said in the beginning, you were in a season where the Lord was ravishing your heart. Could you unpack that a little? What was going on? What was how was what did that look like?
You know?
For a little while, I felt stagnant in my relationship with the Lord. Yeah. And then I he just would, like, start slowly, like, putting songs in my heart. And, like, when I would hear these songs talking about grace and his love for me, it would just, like, I could not stop crying. I was like, what is going on?
And I'd be in my room.
Where were yeah. So I gonna ask, where were you when this was happening?
I would be in my room just like sitting on my bed. And that was that would happen for like 2 months, I think, just, like, constantly.
So sitting on your bed, were you being intentional in time with the Lord in that time, or were were you doing something else?
I was being intentional. I was, like, trying to just okay, Lord.
So we didn't plan that. Yeah. But I knew it. There's a lot of people that wanna go minister, but don't have a relationship with the Lord or not constantly in a relationship with the Lord. So you're ministering from an "empty well".
We are called to minister, but you have to minister out of relationship. She's alone in her room on a bed intentionally spending time in prayer, intentionally in her word, intentionally worshiping, getting in his presence because of her personal relationship with God. Keep going.
Yeah. So I was just like trying to seek the Lord.
Mhmm.
And he just I would he'd just be like, put on this song. I'm like, okay. So I do. And then I just started crying lot, and now I cry a lot. And I'm like, I don't know why I'm crying, but the Lord is so good.
So yeah.
So are they sad tears?
No. They're tears of joy Yeah. And just, like, unbelief of, like, just can't fathom how much he loves for me. You know? Like, how much he loves me and how, like, deep and vast his wide is.
There's a there's a lot here. Okay? She's spending time in the Lord intentionally. She feels her relationship stagnant, and not only does God show her how much he loves her, but then the fruit of that time alone is her hearing him in her daily life to give out of what he's put in. That make sense?
So there's there's some verses that I quote all the time. Ephesians-4:11, 12, and 13. 11, the the mentors of the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are to equip the body for the works of ministry. That's 12. Verse 13, so that you may be mature and complete, unified, not lacking anything.
Okay? So to the extent that you're there's disunity in your heart, in your relationships, or in the church, or there's immaturity in your life, in your relationship with the Lord, that's the extent that you're not giving out what God's put in. But if you try to give out outside of personal relationship, you're gonna be burned out. So this relationship, spending time seeking him the bible says seek and you will find. A lot of people aren't finding because they're just not seeking.
Right?
Or they go and sit in
a room for 10 minutes and say, well, I tried that. Throw the bible down and leave. I'm talking about faithfulness. Spending start with 5 minutes a day. Grow to 10, 20, 30, whatever, in his word, in prayer, consistently.
And over time, you will have hope and more in his character and nature, and you will learn who he is. And then as he's pouring in, he will challenge you to pour out. And that's where you know if you're a disciple. Because disciples obey. They receive and give.
Amen? Let's stop there. I think that was powerful. Let's do this. I wanna ask you guys, first, if you give Jesus a hand for what he's done in the morning.
I I'll ask you guys to stand. And, what we're we just talked about those 2 interviews and really the message to that last song we sang encapsulates it. *Jesus* at the center of it all. Right? Jesus at the center of it all.
Now, there's a difference in Jesus Incorporated and Jesus at the center. Jesus at the center is Jesus is your Lord. I'm not just talking about vague universe or God. No, Jesus is "God in the flesh". Jesus is the exact representation of the Father.
And the Bible says you can't get to God except by Jesus. Now, he could have been and can be drawing you and showing and revealing, but He's drawing you to Jesus to place Him as your Lord and Savior. And so maybe some of you in here need to surrender your whole life to Him, meaning become a Christian saying, I'm not gonna live for me anymore. I'm gonna live for you as my Lord. And then, you know what?
There's some that's true for her. If that's you and you're bold enough, would you just raise your hand and say that's me? I need Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I've never asked him as my Lord and Savior, but I'm unashamed I'm gonna do that. Anybody that would say that?
I want Jesus as my Lord. I see it. Raise your hand on your own volition if that's you. If you wanna do it yourself, raise it high. I see it.
Praise the Lord. Brother, would you mind coming forward? Would you come forward? Now there's others in you in here. And And I do that for a reason.
And you can you can just stand right there. That's fine. Perfect. Because the bible says if you deny me before men, I'll deny you before my father in heaven. Like, this is not a private religion.
It's a public relationship. Okay? Now, there's others of you in here where there's areas of your life remember, Jesus at the center of it all. There's areas of your life where you haven't heard God in a long time. You've lacked hope.
And it's because you need to receive his love in that area and put him at the center. Now, I'm saying that, if there's people in here, and I know there is, probably many of you or most of you, if there's areas of your life where you know you need to put Jesus at the center, would you raise your hand? Just raise your hand. Raise it high. Cool.
I want all of you to come forward. All of you that raised your hand. Come on. Take a step. There's a reason, because a physical step of *obedience* always follows a spiritual acknowledgment of what he's doing.
Can I get a guitar and maybe a little Jesus at the center of it all? That would be great. So here's what I wanna do. Jerry, I'm I'm I'm gonna pray a prayer for all of these people with you. We're gonna sing Jesus at the center of all.
And this *prayer* for you is applicable, and it's applicable for you too, Roman. So I want you I want you guys, if everybody that that needs to put Jesus at the center of something or Jesus at the center of everything, if you'll raise your hands just as a sign of *surrender* to Jesus, right? He's your king, and just say this, Jesus, I place you at the center of my life. Are my Lord. And in every area of my life, I stop living for me, And I start living for you.
And I I ask you to forgive me of my sin. And make me completely new. In every area. Thank you that you love me. Thank that you're mine, and I am yours.
We *worship* you. Now, the Bible says Romans-4:8, and the forgiveness of sin part is good for all of you. Repentance. Right? changing my mindset.
But here's the key. Here's the thing. Romans-4:8 says, blessed is the man whose sin is never counted against them. Are you putting your faith in Jesus? Hey.
Promise. You putting your faith in Jesus, it means that your sin is never counted against you. You're living for self, all of you. This is
applicable for you. It's been counted against Jesus. So he has made you completely new in him right now.
But all of you, where in that area of your life where Christ wasn't the center, it's a reminder that you're forgiven, that you're loved, and that you're new in that area too, so you don't have to fear anymore. There's "no fear in love". You're perfectly loved by God. Guess what? Anxiety is a cousin of fear, so you don't have to be anxious anymore.
Jesus said, "my peace I've given to you", not as the world gives. Do not let your trouble your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Right? You don't have to
hold on so tight anymore. You can release it to him and follow him in every way because he's a good the heavenly father is a good, good father and wants to work out every area that's gone to pardon my French, but gone to crap in your life. He wants to work all of it out for good. And he's a lot of times, he's just waiting on you to release it, control to him because he's not a controlling Lord. He won't take it from you.
He won't make you give it to him. He'll take it when you give it to him. So we just release every area of our heart to you, and we receive your love in every area. And we say, Jesus, we we thank you that for what you did 2000 years ago is applicable, and it matters, and teach us what it means to hear you and follow you in every area. Amen?
So we're gonna sing Jesus at the center.
And as we do, we have opportunities to *worship* through giving tithes and offerings, which is putting at the center of our finances, which is awesome and important. You can do it online or you can do it here. And then we have opportunities to worship through communion. That's a beautiful thing because when you take communion today I want you to think about that area and commune with the Lord in that area.
You're inviting His love in that specific area, receiving His love in that specific area, that you're 1 with Him in that area and He will reveal and show you how He's gonna transform it and make it new. Then as you take the bread, you're declaring that his body was broken so you could be healed emotionally, spiritually, and physically in that area. Thank you, Jesus. Think about it. Oh, I'm healed in that area and I'm taking this to remind myself that what you did 2000 years ago matters for that today.
And as you take the the juice, you're you're reminding yourself that wait a second, everything that I did stupidly or for myself or sin in that area, man, it has been washed clean. So I'm in right standing with God because of what you did. Thank you Jesus. I'm forgiven and I'm new and I'm inviting your presence into this area again, no longer shunning from you. Come on.
It's good. The beautiful thing is this mighty man of God now, he's gonna take his first communion, communing with Jesus. That's a big deal. And Jerry, would you lead him in that too? Let's sing and worship Jesus at the center of it all as we take steps and acts of worship by doing what we talked about.
Let's worship together.
Hey 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 is yet to come".