Transcription
So, my name is Pastor Anthony. Uh, if you're new here, I would like to welcome you. I also want to remind you if this is your first time, we have a a gift for you outside in the lobby. It's in between those two middle doors. There's a a stand with some yellow bags. Uh, there should be somebody out there that can tend to you. H, you want to go ahead and grab that. Uh, what that bag has in it is a gift for you. It also has some information about us and it also helps us get some information about y'all so we can get connected. Amen. Amen.
So, we in our week nine series, uh, kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Uh, but before I get into anything else, I just want to take a moment to honor my beautiful wife, my beautiful family.
You know, kind of God threw a curveball on me yesterday and had me switch up my whole sermon and the kids were waiting for us to ride bikes, so they had to wait all afternoon. But, thank y'all. We got the word ready. Amen. I also want to honor Pastor Ray, Pastor Sarah. They'll be back next week. We just want to honor them. We thank God for them. They have been seeking out God, his presence, a provision for the future. And so, I'm excited to see what the Lord spoke. Amen. Also want to take time to honor Pastor Juan and Ruthie Martinez. Can we give it up for them coming alongside Pastor Ray and Pastor Sarah and with us and moving the vision forward uh here in Abalene, soon to be in Austin and all through the world. Amen. Also too, I have one more announcement, then we'll get going. Uh, Growth Path is launching today. It's going to be a uh during second service. So, if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. There's a little table out there with a QR code. You can get with anybody here uh one of the volunteers, somebody on the staff, and we can get you to where it needs uh where we're going to be having it. Amen. You don't want to miss it. What you're going to do, what's the first step of growth path? It's the first move. And what this is is going to show you what the next step is for you in your walk with Christ. Amen. You're going to get to see where the church came from, where it all started, and you're going to get to see where we're headed. Amen.
So, if you haven't if you haven't signed up, I want to encourage you to do so. So, let me start like this. Let me start with the question. How many in here have ever driven to Dallas from Abalene? Pretty much everybody, right? All right. So, check it out. You're on, you're headed east on 20, right? You got the radio on hopefully to 90.5. You're worshiping, you're singing, you're having a good time, you're at peace, and then all of a sudden you hit that stretch right after Cisco before Ranger. And then you hear, right? You hear what the song didn't end, right? The broadcast didn't break. You just drove into a place that you couldn't receive the signal anymore.
So what do you do? Do you get mad at the radio?
No. Do you get mad at the broadcast station? Do you say, "Well, I guess it just stopped." And you just turn it off and don't listen.
No. What do you do? You reach for the dial and you tune in,
right? You tune in. Why? Because you already know that the broadcast never stopped. The only thing that happened is now you are no longer in position to receive it clearly. And I believe a lot of us are like that with Jesus. I really, really do. I believe that's how we all experience God sometimes. It's not that we doubt that he's real. It's not that we think that he abandoned us. It's not even that we think that he he doesn't love us anymore. It's just somewhere along the way, the voice feels distant and the clarity seems quiet.
And then you're left wondering what what used to feel so clear now feels so silent. You ever been there?
Sometimes we pray and we feel unsure. We ask for direction, but we don't know what to do. We want guidance, but all we get is silence. And here's the fear that all of us think, but none of us really want to say out loud. Does God even talk to me?
You ever hear that?
You ever thought that?
Well, we're going to go to scripture today and we're going to see what the word has to say about that.
But Jesus says this. He said, "My sheep hear my voice. Amen.
Not my pastors, not my prophets, not my people that go to church. He said, "My sheep,"
which means hearing God was never meant to be difficult.
It's actually a normal thing. But so here's the issue. The issue is not if God is speaking.
I believe the issue is, are we tuned in?
The title of my message this morning is hearing God. tuned in or tuned out. Let's pray. Man, just real quick though, I might be drinking a lot of water. I was worshiping too hard. Hopefully, we can get through this. Father, I pray right now that you help me get through this. Um, Lord, and thank you. Thank you for your right now word. I thank you for what you're I know that you have preparing the preparing the hearts and the mind for every individual in this place, every one of your sons and daughters, God. And so we are desperate to hear from you. So we ask that you just breathe on this because this isn't lofty words. This isn't tickling of the ears, God. This is your truth. And God, we know that in your truth brings freedom. So God, thank you for the freedom that is taking place inside the souls and the minds of every one of your sons and daughters. We ask that you just breathe on it. Make it come alive, God. And we just say speak for your servants are listening in Jesus name. Amen.
And so we're going to be in the book of John this morning, chapter 10 27. John 10 27. And the word of the Lord reads, "My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me."
So we're going to get right into it this morning. I want you to know this. Hearing God starts with identity. Now, there's a big thing about identity right now. I feel like all through the churches around the world, God is speaking identity. You're going to see it. You'll see it on your YouTube feed. You'll hear it in and from pulpit around the world right now. The our world is confused with identity.
And we talked a little bit about that before. You know, people are just from saying they're this and saying they're that and associating with this and associating with that. And it's giving them a false identity. They they're attaching themselves to something that God never gave them.
And so we got to understand I wish that I could preach about identity today, but I'm on assignment and it's about hearing God. So we're going to stay stick to the topic because then I'm going to keep us here till 12:00 and I know we're hungry.
But hearing God starts with identity because hearing God doesn't start with effort. It starts with identity. So where do we get our identity from? From Jesus, right? It's from the word. So let's go to the word and see what the word says about our identity.
First Peter 2:9 and the word of Lord reads, "But you are not like that. You are a chosen people. You are a chosen people." Everyone say, "I'm chosen."
I'm chosen.
"You're a royal priest." Everyone say, "I'm a royal priest."
A royal priest.
"A holy nation."
A holy nation.
"They are getting it. God's very own possession." Say, "I belong to God."
I belong to God.
"And as a result, you can show others the goodness of God. For he called you out of the darkness and brought you into the marvelous light."
That's good.
Ephesians 1:4 and5 and the word Lord reads, "Amen. Even before he made the world, ever before he formed this world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his family, his own family by bringing us into himself through Jesus Christ. This is what this is what he wanted to do. And it gives him great pleasure."
Another passage in Jeremiah 1:5 and the word of Lord reads, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb."
God knew you before you were ever formed. So if you ever thought you were an accident, that's a lie from the devil. Maybe you weren't planned by your parents,
but you're no accident.
"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations."
You know what a prophet means? Someone who speaks for God.
You're a prophet. Now are you now the gift of prophecy is a different thing but we are all prophets. We speak on behalf of God. If Jesus lives inside of you, you speak on behalf of God.
John 1:12 and the word of Lord reads, "but to all who believed in him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God." I got any children of God in this place? Come on.
So through this text, we understand that it starts with identity. We understand that God knew us. He formed us. He called us. He chose us. There is a plan. There is a purpose. And because we believe on the name of Jesus, he has brought us out of the darkness and brought us into the marvelous light. We are now citizens of heaven.
Like Pastor Juan likes to say, heans.
You ain't Mexican. You ain't Puerto Rican. Like Haley said, Caucasian,
you're hein.
You're citizens of heaven.
All right, now, let's get back to the text. So in John chapter 10, so in John chapter 10, Jesus said this. He said, "My sheep hear my voice." He didn't say, "My servants hear my voice." He didn't say, "My workers hear my voice." He said, "My sheep hear my voice." So notice the order here. John 10:27, "My sheep listen to my voice.
I know them
and they follow me." So it all starts with identity. First, my sheep, knowing that you belong to God.
I think we already understand that now. Now, next comes relationship. I know them. So God knows us.
So now our mission here on this earth is to get to know him.
That takes time.
That takes effort.
That takes intentionality.
Here's the one that we don't like.
It takes sacrifice.
I know, man. Life is busy.
We're tired. We're weary. But it's for him.
The home is hard,
but it's for him.
Yes, sir.
Y'all with me?
Yes, sir.
The third part of that, my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.
So identity comes first, relationship comes next. And then obedience flows from that. See, a lot of us try to be obedient thinking that we can know more of God or a lot of us try to do the works so we can be identified by God. But that's that's in reverse. First, it starts with identity. Then it starts in relationship and through those two flows your surrender and your obedience to God.
It's not in you. You come to understand that he loves you so much.
And the more you spend time with him, the more you want to be with him.
Yes.
But also the truth is in reverse. If you don't make time for him,
you're not going to want to be with him.
I can't tell my wife I love you and never want to spend time with her.
I know it don't work. I try to go fishing all the time before we got married. I had to shut that down. I got rebuked so many times. Don't learn. Learn from me. I was a hardhead. I thought you could just be single and carry it on into marriage and everything works the same.
Don't work that way.
Relationship takes time. Relationship takes effort. Amen.
So, look, this morning I got a video for y'all. It's going to be a 59 second video. It's very short, but it's going to illustrate this uh passage of John chapter 10. And what we're going to see here is we're going to see uh four different voices. We're going to see three people crying out to sheep. And on the last one, you're going to see the shepherd, the shepherd's voice. And what happens when the shepherd calls out to the sheep? Go ahead and play the video. Bear with us. Let's just take a moment to praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, we love you, Lord. They got that figured out. Let's just take a praise break. Amen.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Well, we got the audio. We gonna figure out what's what's up with the visual.
Well, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
Well, while they get that going, let me just tell you what you were about to see. Here we go. Look at the sheep. Look at the sheep. Got my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. So those sheep, they weren't responding to the volume or to the voices of others. They were responding to the relationship they had with the shepherd.
See, in Israel, they used to have communial pins. And what this was was there was a flocks and herds of sheep everywhere. And at the end of the day, how they used to help each other out, they would get everybody's flock, put them in the pin, and then you would ask yourself, man, how are they going to know whose sheep is who, right? You like, you know, if if that anybody's traumatized like me, like, man, I ain't got to put my sheep in there. I'm going know I'm going to get them back, you know. But they would put the sheep in the pin. The shepherds would come. They would cry out to the sheep. And every sheep that belonged to the shepherd would go with the shepherd
because the the sheep knew the shepherd's voice. That's powerful.
And why? Because they belong to him
just like we belong to him.
So when they heard the voice, they came. That is John 10 in motion. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. He didn't have to chase him down. He didn't have to hit him with a stick. Even though some of us need to get hit with a stick. I know I did. Hey, he just spoke and because they belong, they responded. Hearing God starts with identity. So, here's the tension that we're going to have. Identity positions us to hear God. But you know what happens? The environment around us, it actually determines if we do. Because God is always speaking. Just just by the way, the Bible says, scripture says the invisible God is visible in all creation. The sun coming up is God proclaiming his glory. The sun going down is God proclaiming his glory. The trees, the birds of the air, the leaves is proclaiming God's glory. Guess what? You are proclaiming God's glory. Because even if sheep who belong to the shepherd can miss the voice, sometimes so can we. My next point this morning is stillness is where you're going to hear heaven. I said it like this. Stillness is where heaven is heard. God isn't competing with noise. He's speaking. He speaks. And a lot a lot of the times you got to understand that it's it's a lot of the time it's in stillness. We are so busy. We got so much on our plate. It's difficult sometimes to sit still if you're anything like me. Some of us are the opposite. We like to sit still and do nothing.
That's a whole other sermon.
All right, I'm just messing around. So, we got to understand we belong to him. Now, we got to slow down enough so we can hear truly listen. So, we're going to be coming out of First Kings 19. I want to set the stage for you. And Lord, please help me not preach this message as far as I want to preach Elijah so bad to y'all. We're going to be talking about the life of Elijah. There's so much good stuff. So, here's my encouragement to y'all. Today or tomorrow or sometime this week, go to First Kings chapter 17, chapter 18, chapter 19, and please read the scripture. Powerful. There is so much biblical truth through these chapters. I really want you to just to grab hold of it and let the spirit of God speak to you. Remember, everything is done by faith. So, you take the faith to go down, sit down, open up your word, and read it. I promise you this, God will speak to you. Amen.
All right, let me give you the highlights because I can't spend too much time on it. So, here's the thing. This is if you go to chapter 18, it's going to it's going to be called the throw down on Mount Carmel.
Um, so Elijah hops into the scene out of nowhere in in First Kings 17 in Kings, you're going to go through the history of Israel and Judah's uh rule. And so right now, King Ahab and and Queen I was going to say King Jezebel, which is that's the way it is. But Queen Jezebel, because really Jezebel was running the kingdom, which was out of order, but King Ahab, King Jezebel, they were wicked kings and queens. They were serving foreign gods. They they believed in they worshiped Baal. They worshiped Ashra. And what this meant was they were leading God's people to worship these false gods. So God was furious with him. And so he sends Elijah to go let Ahab know like, "Hey, there's about to be a drought on the land. It's three and a half years. It ain't going to rain." Because remember they were serving Baal. And Baal was to believe the fertility god. He was associated with rain, agriculture, and seasonal prosperity. So when God said, "Go the man of God and tell him it ain't going to rain." What he's saying is, "I'm challenging your God.
You think that your God's in control? I'm about to shut that thing down for three and a half years."
And guess what God does? He does it. He does it. That's a man of his word.
So he shuts it down. The three and a half years are up. Here comes Elijah again to meet with Ahab and tells him, "Hey, summon all of the kingdom, every Israelite, all 450 of your prophets, all 400 prophets of Ashra, which was Jezebel's prophets. Sum some summon them all to Mount Carmel. We're about to throw down. We're about to see who the one true living God is.
So he gets them all on the mountain. They build two altars. The agreement is this. We're going to build an altar. We're all going to take a bull. We're going to cut it up. We're going to put it on the altar. And the God that reigns fire from heaven is the one true God. He says, "Y'all can go first." So the prophets of Baal, 450, everybody's there. Everybody's watching. They begin to worship. They begin to do their thing. Dance around the fire, dance around their sacrifice, dance around their altar. But yet nothing happens. Elijah begins to flex on him like hey where's your God? Is he relieving himself? Like is your God in the restroom? Where's he at?
He said, "Hey, it's my turn. It's my turn." So Elijah gets in there. He commands the servant of God. He says, "Hey, go grab some water. I want you to drench this altar." And then they come and drench the altar. He digs a ditch around it and fills it up with water. Then he tells the servant of God, "Hey, go get some more water. Wet it again."
Then he goes and tells me, "Hey, do it one more time.
Do it one more time they throw the water on it. Elijah begins to pray and guess what happens?
Fire comes down from heaven, consumes the altar, sucks up the water. They take all 450 prophets, they kick him down to the valley, and they execute him.
Word gets back to Jezebel. Word gets back to Ahab. But remember, I say Jezebel because she was the one in control. She says, "What?" sitting word on this day I if I don't not lose my life I will kill that man
Elijah gets word guess what he does
he runs he runs and how that's how fickle we can be at times we can see a miracle from God and then the next day just be so fearful but that's not my message I'm not going to preach it so fire came the altar was consumed assumed. Um, everyone knew in Israel who the one true God was. So, you got to think about Elijah's life. So, he runs, he's in fear, but think about the fame that he had, you know, because people are people and people want to gravitate to people. They were the Israelites, they were in this position because they wanted to appointed, they wanted an appointed king. And this is how they even got in this predicament all the way from Saul and all the way down. David was the true God after a man after God's heart that led the kingdom God's way. And even even David had his mistakes at time. But you're going to see in the book of Kings, you're going to see how the ca the kingdom was passed down when they even when they got split into the northern and the the northern and the southern kingdom, the north side and the south side. So at this point, we see Elijah, he's exhausted. The same prophet who just called fire down from heaven. He's he just come against hundreds, 450 to be exact, the prophets of Baal. He they used God publicly and powerfully. God used him publicly and powerfully for all the kingdom to see. But even after that victory, he was crushed. Fear riddled his mind when Jezebel made the threat. The fearless prophet just became fearful. He runs, he hides, and he collapses under burnout. So now we find Elijah. He's alone in the wilderness. He's so discouraged. He even prays, "God, take my life." You ever been there? But this is what God does. God goes to him. He feeds him. He tells him to rest. And after he feeds him and tells him to rest, he tells him to go. And so we're going to see that Elijah was sent to Mount uh Mount Si, which is Mount Morb, Horeb. This is the mountain of God. You're going to have see it in two different names, but the this is the mountain of God. This is where uh God showed himself mightily to Moses. And so God sends him to this mountain. So now we're going to find we're going to pick up and we're going to find Elijah in a cave afraid and discouraged. First Kings chapter 9 11 and 13. And the word of Lord reads,
"Amen.
This is God speaking." "Go out and stand before me on the mountain," the Lord told him. And look what Elijah did. He stood there. You ever tell your kids, "Hey, I told you go clean the room. Why you just standing there? Kind of think makes me think like that. Elijah stood there. So then what happened? The Lord passed by. A mighty windstorm hit the mountain and such a terribly terrible blast that the rocks were loosened. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was a sound of a gentle whisper just like this. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his faith facing the cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And the voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
So, I would love to preach the story of Elijah. I'm fighting, but we're talking about hearing God. And so, sometimes we got to understand hearing God is not always in the spectacular. It's often in the stillness. I'm even going to go to tell you it's a lot of the man it's almost every time in the stillness. I'm a I'm a mover. I'm a doer. And so man, I get my bre greatest revelations when I just get still in the presence of God. And so a lot of the times pressures in life, disruptions in life and urgency of life comes and it drowns out the voice of God. And so we see that the wind is pressure. Wind represents pressure. We also see that the disruption was the earthquake. You know those things that just shake you out of nowhere. And then the urgency is the fire. And these are the things that take our time. They take our effort. Time that we could be giving to God and sitting still in his presence. But slowly without realizing it, we understand that the noise gets louder and the whisper gets softer. And we see what happened here in Elijah. Elijah was used to seeing God performing the miraculous. Think about this. He just saw fire from heaven. Before that, he commanded it not to rain for three and a half years and it didn't. And then he prayed that it rained and it did. He was fed in Zerapath by a widow that they had a jar of flour and oil. Remember, you got to go do your homework. And then it would last and it never ran out through the whole drought. That's how God provided for them. A little bit. And that'll preach in itself. When you put the little bit into the hands of God, it never runs out.
But our human mind can't comprehend spiritual things. So then we move in fear and we don't want to try because we think that we're in control and we know better. That's why it takes faith to step out and do these things.
Even with that, even not only that, but in the widow, her son got sick and died in the process and she got fearful. was like, "Did God send you to heal my son?" So Elijah prayed over the boy and resurrection happened. The life came back to her son.
And so you think God was always showing himself to Elijah in the miraculous, but his biggest breakthrough, his biggest revelation came in stillness because God is always speaking. A lot of the times we're just too distracted to hear it. There's a scripture in James 4:18 or 4:8 and it says this, "If you draw close to God, he will draw close to you." If you really want to hear heaven, you have to learn to quiet the noise. My next point this morning, I'm going to teach you how to turn up the volume. It's called obedience. Obedience is the volume knob.
Revelations 2 chapter 7 or I'm sorry, chapter 2, verse 7. And the word of the Lord reads,
"Amen. Anyone who has ears must listen to what the spirit is is saying and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious, I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. This is John. Well, this is actually Jesus writing through John writing to the church in Ephesus. In chapter two and chapter three, you're going to see letters to the churches. Seven churches that were established uh after Christ, you know, after the burial, the the crucifixion, the resurrection, all of that. These are churches that were established and they start tripping. Some of them some of them, two churches get a praise report. The other five were tripping. In this, in this case, the church of Ephesus, they were trying to work hard to build the church and they get rebuked. He's like, "Hey, you got it wrong. It's not it's not in working. It's in being just being still being being with God. And so they get rebuked for that. But we're going to use this because it he says the same thing to every one of the churches. The five that were tripping and the two that were doing good. He says anyone with ears must listen to what the spirit is saying. Listening is intentional, church. It takes intentionality to listen. Understanding is responsive. So once you listen then you know it's like in relationship married couples you're going to understand this your wife your husband ask you to do something and then they hear you but then they don't do it so did they really hear you know but when they when you ask them to do something and then they do it you're like ah they love me they did it y'all know what I'm talking about
because it's action pastor Juan says priorities are proven in real terms not just words. Priorities are proven in real terms, not just words. That means you what your actions are showing what you really feel and what you really think. Your actions are showing your real heart, not this. Listening is intentional. Understanding is responsive. Then he connects it all to victory. He says this to the one who is victorious. Victory comes through obedience. Let me give you some scripture. Philippians 2:8 says this. And being found in the appearance of man, God humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death. I want to show you the power of obedience. Jesus humbled himself and was obedient unto death on the cross. Some of us just don't even want to go to life room.
Some of us don't even want to go to membership. Ah, I just come to church. It's all good. That means you just want to stay the same. You don't want to grow.
And I'm not throwing stones. I've been there. Learn from me. I made that mistake. I promise. Speak it in love. I get it. I've been there. I've done it. I've said that. That's why I'm speaking it. Hebrews 5:8 says this. Even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the things that he suffered. from the things that he suffered taught him obedience. But you know what our human nature does? We want to we want to stay away from suffering. We want complacency. We want comfortability. And if it causes a little bit of discomfort to suffer, ain't God. Scripture says it's in the suffering that you're going to be made known. It's in the suffering that you're going to develop obedience. Just so y'all know, this walk is about suffering. But here, let me give you let me give you the good news. Peace comes in the suffering.
It's truth. Romans 5:19 says this, "Because one person disobeyed God, thank you Adam, many became sinners. But because one person obeyed God, thank you Jesus,
many were made righteous." So imagine a stereo. It's playing music. You know, say the stereo is in the back corner over there in the sanctuary. It's playing music. Well, from here, I'm going to know that it's on. But as I draw close to that stereo, the stereo is begin going to begin to be amplified. And so if God's calling me to himself, as I draw near to him, he draws nears to me. And the voice becomes louder in my mind and in my soul. God is always speaking. church. Just a lot of the times we are ignoring what he's saying because you know what? We're not doing what he's called us to do. God already told you to do something and you're not doing it. So if the the truth is in reverse, if you're disobeying God, guess what? It seems like the voice is gone. It's not that he stopped because if I dis if God says come to me, the radio representing that, right? And he says draw near to me. But I said, nah, I'm good. and I just start walking away. The farther I get, the harder it is going is going to be to hear. So instead of taking steps of faith, I'm taking steps in disobedience and I'm drowning out the voice. You know what God's asking of you. You heard his voice. He was very clear. But we reason the voice. Nah, but that's not me. Nah, but I like that. Nah, but that wasn't him. Be obedient to the voice. Revelations 2 and three. Jesus repeated the same line over and over to the church. Anyone who has ears, let him listen to the spirit and understand what the church is saying. That's chapter 2. That's chapter three. Why? Because revelation increases response. Obedience sharpens clarity. Disobedience dulls sensitivity. Elijah was in the cave. God told him to come out. He didn't want to move. So then a wind came, the earthquake came, the fire came and then the whisper came and when he whispered, he moved. Man, the it could have the story could have ended right there. Elijah could have just stayed in the cave, lost his life cuz that's what he felt like. But he chose not to. He chose to step out in faith to obey the voice of God. And then God began to fill him up, strengthen him, and went on to use him to raise up the next prophet, Elisha,
that went on to do double the miracles. So, let me take you back to the highway, East 20 headed to Dallas. We're driving, right? The static hits the radio, the signal fades, and in that moment, we don't get frustrated and keep on driving. Ah, I can't stand this radio station, man. This get on my nerves. I don't even know why they play like this. all this static over here and we ain't doing that. No, we don't do that. You can. That's your choice. Most of us would choose to reach for the dial and get tuned in. So, let me ask you the same today. You going to do that with God? Nah, I can't do this damn made me want to go to church, make me want to tie, make me want to go to life groups or get tuned in. All of that that I mentioned is not our benefit. It's yours. It's your obedience. It's your faith. It's your growth. It's your development. So you will you choose to be tuned in or tuned out. Some of you in this room already know you belong to God. But life is loud, right? We can all testify to that. I I battle the same things. Family, marriage, job, ministry, it's all takes time and it all takes effort and it's difficult at times, you know, but there there's a paradigm shift that happens in my mind when you're kingdom minded. There's a scripture in second Corinthians that says, "Outwardly we're wasting away. Inwardly we're being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving us an eternal glory that far outweighs it all. So we fix our eyes on what we see on what what is unseen cuz what we see is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. That's what it means to be kingdom minded. Fix your eyes on him. Because if you fix your eyes on your time, you're going to be frustrated. If you fix your eyes on your finances, you're going to be frustrated. If you fix your eyes on your children, they're going to frustrate you. If you fix your eyes on your marriage, they're going to frustrate you. If you fix your eyes on, oh, I got to go out here fundraising. Oh, I got to go out here doing this and go helping the church. Oh, I got to go help clean. You're going to be frustrated. But if you fix your mind to the kingdom, what is unseen, and say, "Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Thank you that you have given me a new life. Thank you that you have given me a new hope. Thank you that you have put the promise, the hope of glory inside of me. Thank you, God. AND IN RETURN, HERE I AM. Use me, Lord.
I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU SAY. COME, can you come? And then he would say, "Hey, can you help me clean the church?" Hold on. I don't think that was the Lord.
That's not God.
That's how fickle we can be. Just like Elijah saw fire rain down from heaven and now he's hiding in the cave. there. So, hearing God starts with identity. We belong to him. We're chosen. We're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, sanctified and set apart. We are the righteousness of Christ. You know, the dilemma that we have with that though is like, man, I don't feel righteous though. You never will.
You never will. It's just putting effort every day to live righteous because the truth is you are righteous already because the blood of Jesus speaks a better word.
The blood of Jesus speaks new things. Any person being in Christ, they're a new creation. ALL THINGS HAVE OLD AND PASSED. ALL THINGS BECOME NEW.
SEE, but that's a salvation scripture. That means we're made new. Our name's in the book. We have an eternity with God. And if that's anything, that's all the things that God ever did FOR US. WELL, PRAISE GOD, THAT'S ENOUGH.
We're not going to burn for eternity. We're going to be in heaven. No more pain, NO MORE SORROW, NO MORE HEARTACHE, NO MORE TEARS,
JOY, EVERLASTING JOY. But we make it about this and not about this.
And that's why we're so frustrated all the time. That's why we're so tired all the time because we're wrestling with God and his will and his purpose. Hearing God starts with identity. It's often in the stillness. That's where you're going to hear heaven. All this stuff that comes from me, it's not me, it's him. I just get still with him. And that's a battle for me cuz I get a little bit of coffee and that coffee kicks in and now I'm wrestling. I don't know if it's the spirit. I don't know if it's the coffee. I just know I got to sit there and be still so God can speak to me. And I'm wrestling with it. All of a sudden, I got to go to the restroom four times. It's It's crying now. THAT FLESH IT RAISES UP. It wants to pull me. It wants to keep me from my revelation. And it wants to keep me from my breakthrough. It wants to keep me. It wants to stay in control and keep me from making it become crucified.
It all starts with identity. Then in stillness, that's where you're going to hear heaven. And when you get there and you know who you are, you learn to get still before God. You got that means getting to know him, building relationship. I know my sheep. Uh the voice, the sheep know my voice. They listen and I know them. That's that stillness part. And then that last part, obedience. Now I Now I become Now I'm the hands and feet of Jesus. Now I'm doing the things that God has called me to do. I'm serving the way God called me to serve. I'm at the store. God said, "Go pray for that person." I'm at the grocery store. God said, "Pray for those groceries." I'm over here and God says, "Speak a word of encouragement." Now, now I'm just being used. I'm the hands. I'm the feet. I'm doing what God called me to do. I'm finding joy in my soul and in my spirit. I'm getting strength from doing what God has called me to do. And now the voice becomes louder. It becomes amplified in me. Now I know it's God. That's why I can't get away with nothing. He's like, you know, it's me. Do it. Like, dang it. That's a that's a whole other season for y'all. But I believe that y'all going to get there. So, it all starts with identity and in the stillness and knowing being known by him and in developing your relationship with him. You're going to hear heaven speak. And then you can turn up the volume through your obedience. God will thank that. He will yell that thing inside your soul. He will let you know when danger's coming. There's always a way of escape. In those moments, you're not going to know it until it's that moment. You're going to hear it. Hey, don't go there. Hey, don't do that. Now you have a choice. What will you do? Will you do what he's called you to do? Will you do it the way you want to? I say surrender it. Lay it at his feet. It all starts with identity. Hearing God starts with identity. In the stillness, you'll hear his voice. Your obedience to what he tells you. And that stillness is going to amplify it throughout the day. Everyone to your feet. We're going to pray. Thank you, Jesus. I want you to take a moment, practice being still. Nobody moving. Just close your eyes. Don't don't talk to God. Don't start speaking and praying in your head. Just quiet your mind. Amen. This is what stillness looks like. This is what stillness sounds like. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your word, Lord. We thank you for for what you shared with us this morning. We thank you for the life change that's taking place. We thank you for the growth and development in each and every one of our lives. God, we just honor you. None of this is possible without you. We could never do any of these things without the presence of your spirit inside of us. The hope of glory. just evidence that we could hear your voice as evidence that we have an eternity with you and we praise you for that. God, bless your children. Keep them, guide them, protect them. God, I pray I pray for every seed that was swn this morning. We come against the birds of the air. We come against the shallows ground. We come against the robber and the thief that wants to come and steal that seed. We come against it right now. We decree and declare a hundfold of every seed that was planted in the fertile ground today in each and every one of your children, the ones here and the ones online. Father, we thank you for it. Holy Spirit, we say have your way in Jesus name. Amen.
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