Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast, where we're all about providing sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Costi Hinn, and on today's episode, I want to talk to you about hearing from God. A question that is very important that you and I need to be able to answer and think through with biblical clarity is does the Holy Spirit speak to us today? Does God speak to us today? Again, like last episode, my heart is just exploding with joy and excitement as I have been studying and immersed in Scripture regarding the Spirit's work. And I answer the question in my book. I'm not going to make you wait. There is a lot more in the chapter, but I wanted to answer this question for you because of how many people wonder about God speaking. People want to hear from God. We were created for fellowship with God. So it's natural to want to talk to him, to want to hear from him, to hear what he wants you to do. I believe most every Christian who loves God and has faith in him wants to hear from God because we know his direction would always be perfect. Why wouldn't you want to hear from God? Do you want to miss his will? I don't. Do you want to make the wrong decision? I don't. Do you want to wander in confusion when life's biggest challenges are at your doorstep? No way. I want God's wisdom, and I know his wisdom is the best wisdom. So do you. So people want to hear from God. There's a favorite war story of mine. I love those World War II movies and different documentaries on Netflix. I'll watch them with my wife quite frequently, actually. We're history buffs. And my favorite story, or one of the favorite stories I have from World War II, is about the Enigma machine and the cracking of the Enigma machine by Alan Turing and this team of brilliant minds. Well, the Germans were dominating the war. And the Enigma machine was an encryption device and it would send messages through complex codes. Now the messages contained war strategies, orders, and more. The codes were so complex that they contained billions of possibilities for decoding the message within. So first, it was thought to be impossible to decipher the code. Second, if anyone ever did, they would never be able to decipher the codes in time to have stopped the German plot. They would have had some code that's maybe a six-month-old code, finally got it figured out. And so they tried and tried, but the Germans were dominating. It looked like an impossible task, inevitable victory coming. And then Alan Turing and these amazing researchers drop a bomb, so to speak, on the world, and they figure out a machine that can decode the enigma. Next thing you know, they're thwarting German messages. Really interesting historical fact. They actually had to allow some messages to go through because otherwise the Nazis would know that they were stopping everything and they had cracked the code. So they allowed certain Nazi strategies to go through. They allowed certain missions to happen all the while, uh, saving countless, countless lives. And the Allied forces turn the tide. People have said that it is very likely that the cracking of the Enigma machine was the key to World War II victory for the Allied forces. Honestly, when it comes to hearing from the Holy Spirit, I believe countless Christians feel like the people who first encountered the enigma between talk of thoughts and feelings and impressions and sensings and then teachings. And then also there's these grand claims. I mean, people will say God showed up in my room or God told me, or people say, I feel like God is telling me. Even guarantees from well-known Christian influencers that if you come to their conference or you come to their church or their services, they're going to teach you how to hear God's voice just like they do. I think that well-meaning Christians, especially the ones who really just want to be taught and hear from God, they're left with a billion different possibilities to sift through. And then you've got all these questions. Which thought was from God? Was that feeling you, Holy Spirit? If you get goosebumps listening to a certain song, I hear that all the time. People say, Oh, I get goosebumps listening to that particular song. It's like, Spirit, was that you? If I suddenly have a strong impression or a conviction to go deal with something, or is it, you know, spirit, are you telling me that I'm going to need to get in my car right now and drive over there to deal with this? I mean, it's two in the morning. Important questions have to be answered if we're going to accurately and consistently heed the voice of God. If you're baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ, which if you're a believer, you are. If you're filled with the Spirit, which go to the last episode on that and you'll understand, you're walking by the Spirit, Galatians 5.16, well, then you're going to be bearing the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5.22 to 23. Well, the question then is, okay, how do how do you hear the Spirit? Shouldn't you be, if you're yielded to Him, aren't you going to be hearing directly from Him? I want to start now by unpacking some of what I believe to be misguided but well-intentioned ideas here. This is something that maybe not all of you will agree with, and that's okay. There's room for disagreeing in an agreeable way with an irenic spirit and being kind and gracious to people. I'm not saying if you disagree with me on this, you're not a Christian. I think there are some helpful phrases, and I think there are some misguided ones. Here are four strategies or approaches or phrases that people use when it comes to this topic. And here they are. Number one, sit in silence until God speaks. This was a strategy that I used to use. And so, number one thing you should know is any of these, I'm not using to pick on anyone. I was doing these back in the day. I used this strategy. I learned it from mystics. Honestly, a brother of mine at that time, uh, which I believed was a guy who loved the Lord and was hearing from the Lord. Uh, he was a family member, used to tell me you need to go into your prayer closet or a private room, you need to put two chairs out, and you need to invite the Holy Spirit or Jesus into that other chair, and you need to wait until he arrives. And he would tell me stories. One time he told me I was sitting there for three hours and then I heard sandals. I heard his sandals outside, and he approached, and then he sat down in the chair, and I'm going, wow, like this guy is totally experiencing real visitations from Jesus. Maybe he could hear his sandals. And now maybe some of you are laughing. You think, Costi, that's crazy. How did you fall for that? Well, like so many people, I wanted that amazing, life-altering, burning bush experience. And the idea behind sitting in silence until God speaks or until God shows up is pulled from Genesis 32, 22 through 32. Now, you might think these people are just crazy. Let me tell you, a lot of people use scripture, they get an idea from scripture, and then they come up with a concept. So let's let's know and understand before we start pointing the finger and attacking people, right or wrong, let's understand where they're coming from. This idea comes from Genesis 32, when Jacob wrestled with God. They would say that sitting in silence is good for slowing down, putting out all other thoughts and distractions, and meditating on scripture and allowing your mind to sort of just focus in on the Lord, and all that might be good. I think most of us need to slow down and sit and meditate on God's word. But where it goes off the rails is the idea that you're going to sit in silence as a form of wrestling with God until he speaks or shows up. When Jacob wrestles with God in the context of Genesis 32, it wasn't about winning a battle of the wills to make God do what he wanted. It was about Jacob's stubbornness, actually. It was about God testing him. It was about Jacob's need to submit to the Lord. If anything, wrestling with God caused him to walk with a limp and finally bow his will to the will of God. So should we think that sitting silently until God speaks to us audibly is going to bow his will to ours? No. We are then, perhaps, in the best position actually to learn the same lesson as Jacob, and God is going to teach us who's the boss and who submits to who. The sitting in silence until God speaks or until he visibly shows up might be well intentioned from immature or ignorant folks who we love who have never been taught. But you are not going to wrestle with God until he speaks or shows up. He does not bow to your will or mine. And Genesis 32, verses 22 through 32, Jacob's story is not a good proof text for that. The second one, and this one was going to press in on some American culture for sure, but let's go for it. Why not? The still small voice. The still small voice was always a go-to for me in my Baptist circles, because it is really popular in those circles. Now, my Baptist friends thought I was a little nuts when I was in the charismatic movement because that was way, way out there. But the still small voice was like a rite of passage. With that, it wasn't like, hey, God is showing up in my room or I heard Jesus' sandals walking towards my driveway. Here he comes to this empty chair. That's a little too weird for my friends in the SBC, but the still small voice back then, I could use that one, and I wasn't accused of being crazy. The still small voice is described as anything from an inner feeling, a subtle perception, maybe a thought that pops into your head. But the expression is meant to convey this idea that God is just sort of whispering in your direction into your ear, and you've got to really focus to hear it. It's like the volume is turned almost completely down on your phone, and you're saying, you know, God, Spirit, is that you I hear? You know, recently I was I was talking to Justin Peters, a friend of mine, about this, and he he kind of lamented evangelicals have created an entire theology of hearing God's still small voice from one verse that's been completely taken out of context and misinterpreted. The still small voice has a reference in scripture. And though the interpretation that I employed was 100% wrong, the prophet Elijah is hated by Queen Jezebel and King Ahab. They want him dead. And after the very famous story of him calling down fire from heaven, he consumes the sacrifice on the altar, he defeats the prophets of Baal in the little supernatural competition they had there in 1 Kings 18. He then preys down rain upon the land in chapter 18, verses 41 to 46. Now, pretty soon Jezebel finds out what he did to all her prophets. She wants to kill him, he flees for his life, and that's when we come to the passage that the King James Version, not even the New King James, the King James translation translates it a still small voice, and most modern translations translate this as a gentle whisper. Here's what happens. God tells Elijah to come out of the cave that he was hiding in and hear from him. He says, And behold the Lord passed by. This is first Kings 19, 11 through 15, and a great and strong wind came, and it it broke into pieces the rocks before the Lord. I'm going to get a little King James on you here, so just stick with me. But the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire, a still small voice. He ends up being asked by the voice, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And on they have the conversation. One thing to immediately take note of is that the still small voice or the gentle whisper in modern translations was an actual voice. It was not a feeling, it was not an impression, as some will express today. It was not someone saying, you know, I feel like God was telling me in that still small voice, you just gotta be quiet, you gotta listen really closely to it. Another thing to take note of is this is a genuine conversation that took place between Elijah and the Lord in real time. It's back and forth dialogue. There was no doubt that he spoke to Elijah. And then finally, I think it's really important for faithful students of the text to see the lesson even here that God is teaching Elijah. God was consistently moving in powerful ways through his ministry. It had primarily been through sensational events. And in this passage, notice the writer, we always want to pay attention to what a biblical author is conveying. What they write matters. God was not in the wind. He was not in the fire. He was not in the earthquake. What does that teach us? He was in the still small voice. God illustrating to Elijah that he was still working in the midst of not doing signs and wonders. He was there was no shock and awe there as Elijah hides in caves from Jezebel, who's trying to kill him, he's there. Not through every sensational moment of fire falling from heaven, but there with him in the still small voice, a real voice speaking to him. Perhaps the healthiest reminder, or one of the great lessons to pull or applications from Elijah's story and our experiences today, is that the greatest lesson God works through at times is the simple, the subtle, and the not always sensational lesson, the everyday moment where his word guides us. Ironically enough, the people touting the still small voice are not catching the fact that it was a lesson in God moving in the simple ways, too. Next, read the tea leaves. The concept of reading the tea leaves, I mean, this is straight out of Harry Potter, but it's an English idiom that comes from an ancient practice of fortune telling by using the patterns in tea leaves at the bottom of your teacup. Now, if that sounds like weird or sketchy superstition to you, it's because it is. And you go, I never did that, Costi. You know, who does that? What are you, a fortune teller? Let me tell you, we all do this in various ways. I did it in lots of ways, from you know, seeing a little event as a sign from God, like, oh, that must be you. Or I did this one, you ever do this? I was sitting at a red light at times, and I said would say, God, if you want me to do, you know, this, just fill in the blank, then you will turn the red light green right now. And I'd say now, and if it went green, I'm like, okay, God wants me to do that. More times than not, the light stayed red, and thank God for that in hindsight, because if it would have turned green, I would have made a lot more foolish decisions than I even did already. Reading the tea leaves is really just superstitious guesswork, and it can lead to disastrous decisions. As believers, we have a prophetic word made more sure. That's 2 Peter 1.19. You don't need to be insecure trying to read the tea leaves. We don't need to engage in hit or miss mysticism. God doesn't make it his goal to work through fortune cookies, hidden messages, or ethereal signs. He doesn't have a heavenly enigma machine trying to make you miss. God is a god of the bullseye when he speaks. He wants you to hear, to know, and to do with clarity. Don't read the tea leaves. The last one, maybe you'll make fun of me on this one, but I bet you did it, even if you don't want to admit it. I call it the Bible thumb game. I don't know what else to call it. I used to take my Bible and I would hold it, you know, you hold it like you're going to open up its pages, you put your thumbs together, you close your eyes, and you just open it anywhere. You put your thumb somewhere, you just boom, and you open it, and it flops open, and you look at the first passage that catches your eye, and that's what God wants to say to you. If that sounds crazy, look, you maybe you grew up going to Iwana and you were a perfect little reformed kid. Good for you. The rest of us, we were trying to figure out life with the Bible thumb game. And you might be shocked how many people I talked to did the exact same thing, trying to hear the voice of the spirit or be talked to or told what to do by God. And man, when you landed on a passage that was about riches or blessing or land or some awesome wife you're gonna get, you were pumped. You held on to that word. You're like, yeah, that's a promise for me. Conversely, when you opened up different passages and you accidentally hit, you know, Jeremiah, which is not far from the center of the Bible, when you're talking Isaiah and Jeremiah, you know, you hit a passage on judgment or destruction or God and his calamity, that he has had enough of the wicked. You're like, Yeah, let's try that again. Maybe that was the devil, that wasn't God. The thumb game, reading the tea leaves, you know, the trying to find the still small voice, sitting in silence, wrestling with God, quote, wrestling with God, until he speaks or show up, shows up. All of these, look, it might be the most well-intentioned person wanting to hear from God, but these are not the ways to hear him, my friend. Thank God though, that clarity is never far away, and he's really good about opening up our eyes and putting our feet on solid ground. So here's how you take the guesswork out of hearing the Spirit speak to you. First and foremost, Colossians 3 16, you let the word of Christ dwell within you richly, the Bible says. Why? Because if you fill your life up with the scriptures, the Holy Spirit will use the scriptures to lead and guide you. When the Bible is coming out of your pores, or as Paul Washer says, when they cut you, do you bleed the Bible? You know, I love when Paul says that. You know what's going to happen? You are going to explode with all wisdom teaching. You're going to admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. You're going to be thankful. And in your hearts, there will be this explosion of truth and love and adoration unto God. If you are richly filled with the word of Christ, you're not going to need to seek out the still small voice or try to tap into the whisper of God. You can rest assured that the word of God will guide you. And that's such a helpful thing because now you don't have to be insecure and you don't have to wonder. Spirit, is that you when it comes to making big decisions, you can go to the word. Psalm 119, 15 to 16, such a beautiful uh psalm. I meditate on your precepts and I consider your ways. I delight in your decrees. I will not neglect your word. Brother, sister, if you give yourself to the scriptures, the Spirit is going to speak to you through them. I'm not trying to be cheeky when I say it. If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. If you want to hear Him speak out loud, read your Bible out loud. That is the most sure way to hear from God. You say, Costi, what about impressions? Or, you know, maybe some other scenarios. What about that time that I thought about calling that person to check in on them and it was the perfect timing? Or how do you explain the time that I felt an impression about not going to the store? And then there was this big bad accident on the street. I saw it on the news later, that could have been me. Or what about when I felt like God spoke to my heart about confronting someone? And then they I did that and they repented. How do you deny that I that I heard from the Lord in that moment? Or, you know, one time I just knew in my heart that a friend of mine was dating the wrong person. So I told him, and he ended up breaking up with her. And, you know, turns out she's now divorced. Obviously, the Spirit spoke to me. He gave me an impression, and I saved my friend's life from future pain. Look, I believe the answer to all of these is so simple. Are believers the temple of the Holy Spirit and the holy dwelling place of God? Yes or no? Yes. According to 1 Corinthians 3 16, 2 Corinthians 6 16. 16, Ephesians 2, 19 through 22, we're being built up as a holy temple unto God. First Peter 2, 4 through 5. So many places in the New Testament say we are the holy dwelling place of God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. So keep that one on deck because we're going to a few more questions for you. Are believers those who possess the mind of Christ and have been given spiritual eyes to see what the spiritually blind cannot see? Yes or no? Yes, according to 1 Corinthians 2.16, all believers have been given the ability to discern spiritual things. We're indwelt by the Spirit, we're controlled by the Spirit, we are filled with the Spirit. And as a result, Romans 8.14, we are those who are led by the Spirit. Therefore, instead of thinking, God was speaking to me, how about just realize that God is inside of you and the decisions you make when they are in line with Scripture? You can call them whatever you want. I'd prefer you just call them a conviction to do, I have a conviction to do this right now. And I believe based on what the scriptures teach that that's what I need to do. Just say that. Maybe you you were like me. I used to do this to try to be taken more seriously or to try to show some spiritual elitist uh tapping into God kind of mechanism. I would say, you know, the Lord told me clearly. Or I am, I'm sure, you know, the Lord said, and by the way, these things preach really well. When you're at big conferences or when you're in those kind of environments where everyone's staring at you like you're somebody, and I don't want to trash a bunch of people right now. I'm not trying to do this episode to name a bunch of names and go after everyone. But you know, these famous people, they're believers, but they go, you know, and I I God was telling me and and he spoke to my heart, and everyone's ooing and awing. Wow. They look at the connection that she has or he has. Brothers and sisters, here's what I propose. You're filled with the spirit. You have the mind of Christ. You are led by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, you have supernatural power inside of you. What do you think happened when you got saved? A miracle happened. Make decisions in line with the word of God. When you have a deep feeling to do something, that's just the conviction of the Spirit of God working through the Word of God that is dwelling within you richly. What do you think is going to come out of you when you are filled with the Word? So we don't need to be mystical about it, even though it can be supernatural that the Spirit of God would dwell inside of mere men. Yes. But it's 100% reliable to say, God's word is what I fill up on, and God's spirit is who leads me. Will that involve feelings? Of course it will. You have a right now, I had a feeling to do this podcast. I'm I want to talk about this now. What was that? Was God telling? No, it's a conviction. Why? Because I'm filled up with the word of God and I want to talk to you about these things. Very important to categorize things biblically. Maybe you're a person who has studied some church history and you know that Charles Spurgeon a few times spoke of impressions. And maybe you want to be the kind of person who says, I'm rolling with the impressions approach. Here's what even Spurgeon said. He warned to live by impressions is oftentimes to live the life of a fool and even to fall into downright rebellion against the revealed word of God. Not your impressions, but that which is in this Bible must always guide you to the law and to the testimony. If it is not according to this word, the impression comes not from God. It may proceed from Satan or from your own distempered brain. Our prayer must be, order my steps in your word. Now that ru now that rule of life, the written word of God, we ought to study and obey. In another sermon, Spurgeon, it was telling his congregation not to live by impressions. And so even though he was known a few times for saying he had impressions in the pulpit, that's his way of expressing it. He said, Others too judge of their duty by impressions. If I feel it impressed upon my mind, says one, I'll do it. Does God command you to do it? He says, This is the proper question. In other words, he's saying, Never mind your impression. Does God command you to do it? Impression or not, obey. If he does, you should make haste, whether it's impressed upon your mind or not. But if there be no command to that effect, or rather if it diverges from the line of God's statutes and needs apology or explanation, hold your hand, for though you have ten thousand impressions, yet must you never dare to go by them. It's a dangerous thing for us to make the whims of our brain instead of the clear precepts of God the guide of our moral actions. To the law and testimony, this is the lamp that shows the Christian true light. Be this your chart, be this your compass, but as to impressions and whims and fancies, I know not what beside which some have taken, these are more records lights that I will entice you on the rocks. Hold fast to the word of God and nothing else. Whoever he shall be shall guide you otherwise, close your ears to him. So Spurgeon, even though he was sympathetic at times to expressing impressions, he always said, Do not live by them and go back to the Word of God. You might say, Well, Well Costi, I'm I've got the Word dwelling within me richly, but I've got to make good decisions. And, you know, what should I pray? How should I approach the Spirit of God? I would say Ephesians 5.18 is clear, be filled. It's a command. We've just studied that last episode. If you haven't heard it yet, go back and listen. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and then yield to Him in obedience. If you've ever interacted with a believer who seems to make consistently good decisions, they're growing in truth, they're experiencing the blessings of God that money can't buy and this world can't steal, and you go, What is it about them? They may have a strong prayer life. In fact, likely they have a strong prayer life. It's likely they ask the Spirit of God to fill them. They ask the Spirit of God to bear fruit in them. They yield to Him through the Word of God in obedience. They stay accountable, they're thankful, they're joyful. Why? Well, because they are connected, if you will, to the Spirit of God through prayer. And speaking of prayer, it's not just us going to Him in prayer. What about His prayer ministry? Romans 8 26 says, and in the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, for we don't know how to pray as we should. The Spirit Himself intercedes for us. Isn't that powerful? Paul goes on to explain, and this is Romans 8.26 all the way through 28. He says, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, and then he works out that will in us, and we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. This passage opens up a whole new perspective for us that when we're weak, it's the perfect place to be. Not strong and pompously, arrogantly claiming, you know, I was talking with Jesus last night in my backyard, or, you know, God told me this and God told me that and God told me this, and I feel that it no, no, no. Weak, frail, finite, desperate, dependent, those are all good words to use when we're talking about us in relation to the spirit. When you're weak, the spirit's strong. When you're at your breaking point, the spirit has barely just begun. Most people they get sucked into the supposed words from God thing because they're desperate. And somebody takes advantage of them in their vulnerable moment. You don't ever need to suffer that kind of spiritual abuse. He is working on your behalf. He is praying for you. Be very careful with two kinds of false pride or false strength. Number one, those who who say, you know, I hear from God more than you. And they they put on a really elaborate display of strength. And look, I'm not just picking on you know prosperity teachers and all that kind of stuff. I'm I'm talking evangelical conference speakers will say, you know, you know, I was driving the other day and God told me, God spoke to me, God, God said to my heart, and you're like, man, you must really have this connection. And they appear so strong. Brothers and sisters, when you are feeling weak in the way that you quote unquote hear from God, what a great reminder that you have his word. And when you still aren't sure, or maybe you're a newer believer, you go, look, I know I can go to his word, but I don't know everything. I don't know what's the will of God in this, what's the will of God for that? What does the Bible say about this? I don't want to Google everything. I get a bunch of weird results, and I'm not sure who's right. That's a great place to be because you can just go to the Spirit in prayer and you can thank him for interceding for you according to the will of God. He's going to work it out in your life. Walk in righteousness, be submitted to him, be prayerful, continue to consume God's word, let it dwell within you richly, and watch as he orders your steps. There's another extreme, though, you need to be careful of, and it's those who reject the supernatural work of the spirit. And there are those who kind of relegate him to some awkward back room. They don't want to talk about him, they don't want to mention anything about him. They can't handle the idea of anything being mysterious or supernatural, and they sort of, you know, get really nervous with that kind of stuff. Be careful with that too. And and I'm not picking on reformed guys here. Some of the most reformed types or most conservative types are the biggest inspiration in this topic for me in that regard. You think I think of Paul Washer at G3 last year, he's preaching and he says, you know, I'm as reformed as they come, and you will not take the supernatural away from me. And he says, I'm not talking about little boys and their little gifts. He says, I'm talking about deep, intimate relationship with God. So, you know, don't hear what I'm not saying. And there's men like John MacArthur who get picked on all the time. People say he doesn't believe in the Holy Spirit, and he does this with, you know, and all you listen to these men talk, you hear them preach, you hear the stories from the people that are there when they go preach different places. You you have maybe no idea if you're one of those people that just thinks, you know, some of these guys that are careful with the work of the spirit, or they speak out against the claims of charismatic extremism that, you know, they're quenching the spirit. These men love the Holy Spirit. They relish in his work. They pray to the Holy Spirit, they speak about the Holy Spirit. There is a story, I think I told it on the last episode. I'm going to tell it again. You remember the story about John MacArthur goes and preaches somewhere and he mentions in his the beginning of his sermon that all three songs that they sung, or whatever, I think it was three, they not one was about the Holy Spirit. We need to sing about the Holy Spirit, we need to pray to the Holy Spirit, we need to acknowledge the Holy Spirit. What a great reminder. So be careful of the two extremes. This super strength of I hear from God better than you do, and then the super strength of, you know, I'm I know my Bible. I have lots of doctrine. I got lots of letters behind my name. I wear a bow tie or a nice suit, or I'm an academic and I know enough. No, you might you might be the greatest academic on this side of heaven, and there's a man who doesn't have a single degree to his name, but he is a warrior on his knees, and the Holy Spirit meets him every day in prayer, and he walks in this confidence, even as a weak man, and the Spirit of God is moving through that man. You get to heaven, and with all your degrees and all your letters and all your fancy bow ties, Jesus don't care. The Holy Spirit was never there, it was just all puffed up knowledge and arrogance. So we need to be real careful of those two extremes. I want to find myself right in the middle. I want to find myself rejecting false confidence in you know some mystical claim to hear from God better than others. I also want to reject this false confidence in I don't even know what that is. It's just an outright rejection of anything supernatural. We serve a supernatural God. Let's honor the Spirit's work, let's love Him, let's ask Him to fill us, and let's make the Word the foundation of everything. I'll close with these words. A dear brother of mine, uh Grant Castleberry, we're talking about this recently, and he said to me, There is this experiential element, if you will, to the Spirit's work. It's subjective, meaning it's felt. You're gonna feel something inside of you, a passion, a conviction, a drive to do what the word says, and that's from the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. The Bible says the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, but the Holy Spirit's work is always confirmed by the Word of God. It drives the believer to the Word of God. It's not new revelation, it's not a word from God, but it's this experiential pressing and driving into the word of God, and it's felt by the believer. That's why sometimes you fill up with this hunger. You go, I'm just full of hunger for the word. Where does that come from? It's the Spirit of God working in you. So don't just throw feelings out the window. Don't live by them, though. Don't be uncomfortable by passion and drive and excitement for God's word. Be inspired by that. It's so important to stay balanced and biblical when it comes to the work of the spirit. I pray this episode has helped you and given you some things to consider, whether you agree or not, that we really need to relish in the work of the Spirit. And when it comes to Him speaking, everything goes back to Scripture. For more free resources, go to forthegospel.org. Make sure you're following us on social media. We are on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We have our YouTube channel if you want to subscribe and get videos direct to your inbox as well. And I will be back with another episode next Monday. For now, keep on living for the gospel, you can't get a lot of people.