Tyler Lynde: So we're in the middle of a sermon series called Encounter, and today we're going to be talking about hearing the voice of God for yourself.
Tyler Lynde: This Encounter series is all about understanding the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: God desires for each one of us to have real encounters, real encounters with the Holy Spirit that lead to godly transformation in our lives first, and then in the lives of others around us.
Tyler Lynde: Last week, john did a great job reminding us about the fruit of the Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: Let's see Will Welcome, and we're so thankful for what he brought to us.
Tyler Lynde: The fruit of the Spirit should be evident in an ever-increasing way in the life of Christ followers.
Tyler Lynde: You agree with that.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you were tempted in one of those nine ways this last week?
Tyler Lynde: Right, patience, anybody.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, that's one that you know.
Tyler Lynde: They always say don't pray for patience, because God will definitely send it to you in one way or another, but it is important.
Tyler Lynde: The fruit of the Spirit should be actively increasing in our lives.
Tyler Lynde: Like I said, today we're going to be looking at the fact that the Holy Spirit speaks to us.
Tyler Lynde: He speaks to us.
Tyler Lynde: We, as believers in Jesus, have the God-given ability to hear and discern the voice of God and I want your faith to increase this morning.
Tyler Lynde: I want you to believe, coming out of here, that you, as an individual follower of Jesus, have the ability to hear and discern the voice of God in your life.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know, we're living in a day and a time when that is essential.
Tyler Lynde: That's not something that's just an add-on that we can have or not have.
Tyler Lynde: We must hear the voice of God, we must be led by him, and so my hope and my faith in our prayer that we've been praying together as an elder team, and also all of the prayer people this morning that prayed We've been praying that God would develop in all of us a greater faith in the area of being able to hear the voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: Let's look at John, chapter 10, verses 1 through 5.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus says truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
Tyler Lynde: But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Tyler Lynde: To him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep listen, hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Tyler Lynde: When he has brought out all his own.
Tyler Lynde: He goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Tyler Lynde: You notice, they hear his voice and they discern, or they know his voice.
Tyler Lynde: A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.
Tyler Lynde: Let's pray together, Father.
Tyler Lynde: We ask, in Jesus name, that you would cause your words of life to infiltrate our minds and our hearts and our spirits.
Tyler Lynde: Today, lord God, we ask that the Holy Spirit would bear witness within our spirits that we are children of God.
Tyler Lynde: And if we're children of God, then we have been given the great gift of being in relationship with you.
Tyler Lynde: And so, father, I pray that you would help us, help our faith to increase, help us to understand more clearly how you speak and how to listen and discern your voice.
Tyler Lynde: In Jesus' name, amen.
Tyler Lynde: I don't want to shock you too bad this morning, but I do want you to know that the Bible is really not about you and me primarily.
Tyler Lynde: I know that maybe you've been told, or maybe, as you read the scriptures, you think about it in terms of yourself, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that.
Tyler Lynde: It is about us.
Tyler Lynde: Right, it should be ministering to us as individuals.
Tyler Lynde: But there's a bigger picture involved.
Tyler Lynde: It's his story, his story, it's the story of a father and a son and the spirit who desires to cause their will, their purpose, their plans to come to pass.
Tyler Lynde: So, god, the father looked at his son and said within himself I want to create a bride that is worthy of my son.
Tyler Lynde: And the son looked at his father and within himself, he said I want to create children, other children, for my father to be able to enjoy and to be in relationship with.
Tyler Lynde: And so the Holy Spirit, having discerned the voice and the thoughts of the father and the words of Jesus Christ, came to this planet and we all, we have all of the.
Tyler Lynde: And God said boom.
Tyler Lynde: And finally, god created human beings.
Tyler Lynde: Why did he create us?
Tyler Lynde: Just so that we would be like pets to him?
Tyler Lynde: Or so that we could?
Tyler Lynde: You know, why did he create humanity?
Tyler Lynde: He created us because he wanted to have a living, active relationship with us, and we see that in Genesis, chapter 1.
Tyler Lynde: Let's look at that Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 through 28.
Tyler Lynde: You see, the first experience of mankind was to hear the voice of God, the first experience of human beings on this planet, when God breathed into them the breath of life, the first thing that happened is they heard God speak.
Tyler Lynde: Genesis 1, 26 says Then God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Tyler Lynde: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God.
Tyler Lynde: He created him Male and female.
Tyler Lynde: He created them, and God blessed them.
Tyler Lynde: And God what Said to them?
Tyler Lynde: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Tyler Lynde: So what was, again, the first thing that God did after he created humanity was to speak to them, to speak with them, and in fact, we know that this wasn't just instructional, it wasn't just God giving a commandment to them, because we'll see other places in scripture where it says that God walked and talked with them in the cool of the day.
Tyler Lynde: Imagine walking and talking with God.
Tyler Lynde: What an amazing experience.
Tyler Lynde: That's the kind of relationship that God intended to have with human beings that were created.
Tyler Lynde: We were created to be part of his family, to be prepared to be a bride for his son.
Tyler Lynde: So what's the problem?
Tyler Lynde: We all know it.
Tyler Lynde: It's got three letters.
Tyler Lynde: And what is it?
Tyler Lynde: Say it a little louder Sin Say it a little louder Sin.
Tyler Lynde: Sin brought separation in the relationship between God and man.
Tyler Lynde: Look at Colossians, chapter one, verse 21, with me.
Tyler Lynde: This includes you, who were once far away from God.
Tyler Lynde: You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.
Tyler Lynde: Who is the you here?
Tyler Lynde: Was it Satan?
Tyler Lynde: Oh yeah, it was Satan.
Tyler Lynde: But who else?
Tyler Lynde: Who was it after Satan?
Tyler Lynde: Who was it?
Tyler Lynde: Every person ever born on this planet, except for this is we're back in Sunday school.
Tyler Lynde: Here you can answer Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: That's the right answer, except for Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: We are all.
Tyler Lynde: We were all enemies of God, separated from him because of sin.
Tyler Lynde: Sin brought a separation between God and man.
Tyler Lynde: It created an unnatural relationship.
Tyler Lynde: It created a break in relationship.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know that sin could not win in the end?
Tyler Lynde: And why is that the case?
Tyler Lynde: Because at the very time that God, the Father, spoke the curses over this planet and over humanity, and over Satan, he also said in Genesis 3.15 that there would be the seed of a woman who would come and that Satan would attempt to strike him in the heel, but that he would what Crush his head.
Tyler Lynde: So, even at the very point of the breaking of relationship, god, the Father said this is not the end of this story, aren't you glad?
Tyler Lynde: End of this story, aren't you glad?
Tyler Lynde: In Colossians 1, verse 22, it says this includes you who were once far away from God.
Tyler Lynde: Does that include us Absolutely?
Tyler Lynde: You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.
Tyler Lynde: But then let's read the next verse, verse 22,.
Tyler Lynde: Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body.
Tyler Lynde: As a result, he has brought you into his own presence and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him, without a single fault.
Tyler Lynde: Do you believe this?
Tyler Lynde: That is a radical saying.
Tyler Lynde: You know what Jesus did?
Tyler Lynde: He repaired the breach.
Tyler Lynde: He created a bridge where we could be reunited in relationship with our heavenly father.
Tyler Lynde: What a gift of grace that is, what a blessing it is.
Tyler Lynde: And we just took communion as a representation, as a celebration of gratitude for what Jesus did so that we could be made right with God.
Tyler Lynde: God sent his son, jesus, to save us from sin.
Tyler Lynde: He gave his life so that we might have eternal life.
Tyler Lynde: How does all of this get accomplished?
Tyler Lynde: Well, jesus sent Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to speak truth to us.
Tyler Lynde: Let's look at John, chapter 16, and this has been a verse that's been referenced several times in this series already Verse 12,.
Tyler Lynde: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus is talking to his disciples just after the time at the last supper.
Tyler Lynde: They're on their way to the garden of Gethsemane and he's speaking these words to them.
Tyler Lynde: When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not what speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak.
Tyler Lynde: How does he guide us?
Tyler Lynde: He speaks to us and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Tyler Lynde: He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Tyler Lynde: God not only created an avenue, a pathway for us to be in right relationship with him, through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, but he also sent his secret agent into the world, the Holy Spirit, to live on the inside of us, to speak to us, to direct us, to lead us, to guide us, to instruct us.
Tyler Lynde: But make no mistake about it, and some of you have said, and some of you even are thinking this this morning I've never heard the voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm not here to argue with you, but I am here to say you may be wrong on that.
Tyler Lynde: Here's what I mean.
Tyler Lynde: The first truth that the Holy Spirit speaks to us is our desperate need for salvation.
Tyler Lynde: All of us who are believers in Jesus Christ were called by the Spirit of God to respond to the gospel message and to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
Tyler Lynde: So the very first act of our relationship with God started with you hearing the voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: Now, you may not have known it was the voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: You may not have discerned it like that, it may not have shook the heavens, it may not have been like lightning or thunder.
Tyler Lynde: But I'm telling you you could not be saved.
Tyler Lynde: I could not be saved unless the voice of the Holy Spirit drew me to understand my need for a Savior.
Tyler Lynde: We believe that the Holy Spirit lives in the lives of all believers, all believers.
Tyler Lynde: He does not sit there silently.
Tyler Lynde: Scripture says that he testifies of the truth of God, he speaks into our lives, he guides us, he counsels us, he directs us.
Tyler Lynde: All of these things speak of leadership, and they speak of him communicating with us, and they speak of him communicating with us.
Tyler Lynde: Is your faith beginning to build, even now?
Tyler Lynde: Now Jesus is speaking in the John 10 passage to his followers.
Tyler Lynde: And what has just happened?
Tyler Lynde: The chapter before, there was a man that was blind since birth, and you remember this story and maybe we'll have a reenactment later.
Tyler Lynde: But Jesus stooped over and spit in the dirt and made some mud and applied it to the eyes of the man who was blind, and he told him to go wash himself in the pool of Siloam.
Tyler Lynde: And when he did, guess what happened, he was healed.
Tyler Lynde: There's only one problem when did this happen?
Tyler Lynde: It happened on Shabbat.
Tyler Lynde: It happened on Sabbath day, which was considered a holy day where there was no work to be done, and so Jesus broke the rules.
Tyler Lynde: It's funny how can you break the rules that were yours in the first place?
Tyler Lynde: That's a little arrogant of us to put on him, isn't it?
Tyler Lynde: But he broke the rules right.
Tyler Lynde: So he healed this man on the Sabbath day.
Tyler Lynde: And so the leaders of the law, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day couldn't handle it.
Tyler Lynde: And so they bring this man in and they question him who was this man?
Tyler Lynde: Who did this?
Tyler Lynde: How is it possible that?
Tyler Lynde: That were you just faking it?
Tyler Lynde: They're, they're.
Tyler Lynde: They're quizzing his parents.
Tyler Lynde: They're wanting to find out.
Tyler Lynde: Why is it that this?
Tyler Lynde: How did this happen?
Tyler Lynde: And finally they pull his membership card and say you can't come here anymore.
Tyler Lynde: What is your sin?
Tyler Lynde: You got healed on the Sabbath day.
Tyler Lynde: And then Jesus begins to talk to the crowds, to his disciples and to those very same religious leaders, about the difference between religion that comes to harm and to kill, and about relationship that has at its very core principle a good shepherd who leads us and guides us and keeps us and transforms us.
Tyler Lynde: All of the things that Jesus does.
Tyler Lynde: What beautiful imagery.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not going to even try to get into the whole.
Tyler Lynde: You know the whole shepherd thing because Mark did such a great job the first two weeks in September.
Tyler Lynde: So please, if you haven't heard that message yet, go back to YouTube or find us on Spotify and listen to the podcast of those two messages, because they were so impactful.
Tyler Lynde: God is speaking, is speaking, the Holy Spirit is speaking, and he wants us to hear his voice and to follow it, amen.
Tyler Lynde: So let's look at this a little bit closer.
Tyler Lynde: Some ways that the Holy Spirit speaks to us.
Tyler Lynde: I want to make this as practical as I can.
Tyler Lynde: The number one way that the Holy Spirit speaks to us is no mystery.
Tyler Lynde: How is it?
Tyler Lynde: The word of God, the word of God?
Tyler Lynde: Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12.
Tyler Lynde: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Tyler Lynde: Does the word of God?
Tyler Lynde: Do we read the of the heart?
Tyler Lynde: Does the word of God, do we read the word of God or does the word of God read us?
Tyler Lynde: Hopefully, both right.
Tyler Lynde: When we read the word of God, you know what we need to do Pray before you read the word.
Tyler Lynde: Say Father, would you open up my eyes of understanding that I could see clearly what it is that you're trying to say to me today?
Tyler Lynde: Holy Spirit, open my eyes, help me to see the truth, help me to walk in your ways, help me to know and discern your voice today from the scriptures that I'm reading.
Tyler Lynde: Give God an opportunity, right, it's really not even giving God an opportunity.
Tyler Lynde: It's giving us an opportunity to tune in right.
Tyler Lynde: Even giving God an opportunity.
Tyler Lynde: It's giving us an opportunity to tune in right.
Tyler Lynde: The word of God reveals his will, his desire and his plan for mankind.
Tyler Lynde: It provides us with the knowledge of salvation.
Tyler Lynde: It is the primary way that God speaks to us today, the primary way we will never grow out of a need to hear God from his word.
Tyler Lynde: If you get to that point, or if you're following somebody that gets to that point, please run away.
Tyler Lynde: Run away from yourself, run away from that thought, because it's not from God.
Tyler Lynde: There is a temptation.
Tyler Lynde: There is a popular thought process within the world today that says we need to parse and parcel out the scriptures and you can believe the words of Jesus, but not the words of Paul.
Tyler Lynde: You can throw away the Old Testament.
Tyler Lynde: Let me tell you something the word of God is powerful and we need every single word that's found in it Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Found in it Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Any other way we believe God is speaking to us should always be evaluated through the lens of scripture and utilizing the Bible as a filter for all truth.
Tyler Lynde: So, following the scriptures, the next thing is sound biblical teaching and, by the way, I'm not going to be able to give an exhaustive list, I'm giving categories or examples.
Tyler Lynde: Sound biblical teaching, hopefully, like what you're hearing right now, sound biblical teaching that you can put yourself under, that God may be speaking to you directly.
Tyler Lynde: I know that there have been so many messages in my life that God has used to that have been like lifelong messages.
Tyler Lynde: Other people have spoken that I've been under them, listening to them, and God has spoken to me.
Tyler Lynde: I know Rick was talking about the difference between being thankful in all things and being thankful for all things and the distinction between the two.
Tyler Lynde: I'm going to have to mull that over, because it's easy to do the one but the other oh, my goodness.
Tyler Lynde: So anyway, sound biblical teaching, how about Bible-based podcasts?
Tyler Lynde: There are some really good ones out there.
Tyler Lynde: There's one called Known the Podcast and if you haven't checked that one out yet, I encourage you on all of your devices to locate that one.
Tyler Lynde: Known the podcast.
Tyler Lynde: I even made a guest appearance on there for two weeks.
Tyler Lynde: I don't know how that happened and I have no idea what I said because I didn't listen back to it.
Tyler Lynde: So please pray that you'll be able to discern what is the voice of God and what is maybe my own voice in that.
Tyler Lynde: But it's an important discussion.
Tyler Lynde: Notice that it all has in common that it must be in the Bible and affirm God's truth.
Tyler Lynde: Do not follow a podcast just because somebody has a good communication skill.
Tyler Lynde: That can't be the only reason.
Tyler Lynde: Everything must be based and baked and cultivated and come from the riches that are mined from the word of God.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you have experienced God speaking through other people?
Tyler Lynde: God speaks through others.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to spend a lot of time next week looking at that.
Tyler Lynde: God uses whomever he chooses to build up the church for the good work we are called to do.
Tyler Lynde: Godly relationships are meant to disciple and grow one another to fulfill our God-given purpose and potential.
Tyler Lynde: God speaks through other people.
Tyler Lynde: He really does Pay attention.
Tyler Lynde: God speaks through supernatural beings.
Tyler Lynde: This is exciting.
Tyler Lynde: Now, first of all, let me say this you realize that the definition of supernatural is it's supernatural to us.
Tyler Lynde: It's not supernatural to God.
Tyler Lynde: This is the realm that he lives in.
Tyler Lynde: This is completely normal and natural for him.
Tyler Lynde: So don't make it something that it's not.
Tyler Lynde: It is supernatural to us because it's something that is out of the ordinary, that happens in our time, in our day, in a moment in time.
Tyler Lynde: Right, it's God intervening in a situation.
Tyler Lynde: So it is supernatural to us, but to God.
Tyler Lynde: This is his MO, this is how he operates, this is who he is.
Tyler Lynde: So the gifts of the spirit, one way that God speaks to people.
Tyler Lynde: We had some examples of that this morning.
Tyler Lynde: I remember in my own life, the first time that I ever considered being a pastor was somebody prophesied over me when I was eight years old and said that God is calling you to the ministry and he's calling you to be a pastor.
Tyler Lynde: And my dad was a pastor and I knew at eight years old I didn't want to do that.
Tyler Lynde: So why was that word important for me?
Tyler Lynde: Because God was establishing something in my life that I was going to try to run from for a season, but he was going to always bring me back to it because it was what he had called me to do.
Tyler Lynde: That make sense.
Tyler Lynde: How about dreams and visions?
Tyler Lynde: God speaks through dreams and visions as well.
Tyler Lynde: Acts 2.17,.
Tyler Lynde: And in the last days it shall be.
Tyler Lynde: God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.
Tyler Lynde: Now I'm not going to ask you if you're seeing visions or having dreams okay, that's not what this morning is about, right.
Tyler Lynde: But I know that God speaks in these ways.
Tyler Lynde: If you just think about the name Joseph in the Bible Old Testament, new Testament we have beautiful examples of people who saw dreams, had dreams that God gave to them.
Tyler Lynde: Right, and did God fulfill those dreams?
Tyler Lynde: Absolutely, he fulfilled them.
Tyler Lynde: Right Now, not every dream is from God.
Tyler Lynde: Some dreams are because you ate pepperoni pizza.
Tyler Lynde: Some dreams are because you were watching a movie and your mind continues the movie on and puts you as one of the characters in the movie.
Tyler Lynde: So, but if there's a dream that comes to you, that sticks with you and you can't seem to get away from it, maybe you need to ask the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, would you show me?
Tyler Lynde: Is there something about that dream that I need to pay attention to?
Tyler Lynde: God can use dreams for warnings.
Tyler Lynde: He can use dreams for vision.
Tyler Lynde: He can use dreams in many, many different ways, and visions are just daydreams.
Tyler Lynde: So, like Peter when he was on the roof and the blanket came down to him with all the animals on it and the voice said rise, kill and eat.
Tyler Lynde: That was a vision, that was a daydream, right?
Tyler Lynde: Also, signs and wonders.
Tyler Lynde: Signs and wonders are ways that God can speak to us.
Tyler Lynde: Hello, pay attention.
Tyler Lynde: Here's a sign, here's a wonder.
Tyler Lynde: What are they supposed to do?
Tyler Lynde: Point to Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: If they point to a person, run from it.
Tyler Lynde: If they point to Jesus, pay attention.
Tyler Lynde: How about a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day?
Tyler Lynde: How about a donkey speaking?
Tyler Lynde: Can God speak through a donkey?
Tyler Lynde: He did.
Tyler Lynde: I won't go into what that could mean for the rest of us, right?
Tyler Lynde: How about Gideon's fleece?
Tyler Lynde: God spoke to Gideon through his fleece.
Tyler Lynde: Right On and on, examples that we could go through.
Tyler Lynde: I remember one time being in a service and a glory cloud filled the room.
Tyler Lynde: I was a teenager and I was old enough to recognize it wasn't just an air conditioning problem right, the air conditioning was working properly but the room literally filled with the cloud.
Tyler Lynde: And the thing that I recognized, the thing that made me, as a teenager, recognize that God was with us.
Tyler Lynde: People were not shouting.
Tyler Lynde: Nothing wrong with shouting.
Tyler Lynde: People weren't running around.
Tyler Lynde: Nothing wrong with running around.
Tyler Lynde: People weren't dancing.
Tyler Lynde: Nothing wrong with dancing.
Tyler Lynde: You know what they were doing.
Tyler Lynde: They were on their face in the presence of a holy God.
Tyler Lynde: What a powerful thing to experience.
Tyler Lynde: God in signs and wonders, angelic visitation how many of you know?
Tyler Lynde: Just as there are demons and in fact there are twice as many angels as there are demons I think we forget that sometimes there are twice as many angels as there are demons.
Tyler Lynde: The spirit world is real.
Tyler Lynde: If you don't believe me, go to Haiti.
Tyler Lynde: If you go to Haiti, you go to Africa, you go to some of these places.
Tyler Lynde: You will discern very quickly that there are good forces and there are evil forces.
Tyler Lynde: There is demonic activity and there is angelic activity.
Tyler Lynde: We're not supposed to pray to angels, we're not supposed to command angels, but we do know that God uses angels as messengers.
Tyler Lynde: Can you think what's an example of an angel giving a message in the scriptures?
Tyler Lynde: Who?
Tyler Lynde: Yeah?
Tyler Lynde: Gabriel speaking to Mary?
Tyler Lynde: Right, many, many examples throughout scripture.
Tyler Lynde: And then also the audible voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: The audible voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: And though there is no biblical reason why God can't choose to speak audibly today, the reality is that it's fairly rare.
Tyler Lynde: It's fairly rare, I don't know how many I don't not asking for a show of hands.
Tyler Lynde: I don't know how many of you have literally heard the audible voice of God, like when God was speaking to Saul.
Tyler Lynde: Saul, saul, why are you persecuting me?
Tyler Lynde: How do we know it was audible?
Tyler Lynde: Because those around him heard what A sound like thunder.
Tyler Lynde: They couldn't discern what it was that God was saying, but they knew something was happening.
Tyler Lynde: But Saul heard it and it began the change and the transformation that we see so beautifully poured out in the book of Acts and beyond.
Tyler Lynde: What a transformation, right.
Tyler Lynde: The only time that I can ever recall hearing the audible voice of God was at a very dark time in our lives.
Tyler Lynde: Our son, levi, was at the point of death.
Tyler Lynde: He had a disease called Stevens-Johnson which was attacking his entire body and especially his mouth was closed and sealed.
Tyler Lynde: Amy had to feed him with a straw.
Tyler Lynde: We took him to nine doctors, I think, and none of them could really discover or figure out what was wrong with him.
Tyler Lynde: And so one day I couldn't handle it anymore, so I just got in my vehicle and started driving and turned the music up as loud as I could, and then I just started screaming.
Tyler Lynde: Did you know, God's not bothered by us screaming.
Tyler Lynde: I was screaming at him.
Tyler Lynde: What are you doing?
Tyler Lynde: Take me.
Tyler Lynde: That was my prayer.
Tyler Lynde: Save his life and take mine.
Tyler Lynde: I pulled over and I don't know if it was audible or not, but it shook me when God said to me Levi will live.
Tyler Lynde: And I know not everybody has that testimony and I'm so sorry for those of you who have lost loved ones in similar scenarios.
Tyler Lynde: Levi was completely transformed from that day on.
Tyler Lynde: It wasn't that he was immediately healed.
Tyler Lynde: Something happened in him as well, and we didn't know until years later.
Tyler Lynde: When we were having a Bible study in our house, we were talking about hearing the voice of God and we asked have anybody in this room have an example of hearing the voice of God?
Tyler Lynde: And Levi raised his hand and said one day, when I was very, very sick, the Lord spoke to me and said that I was going to live and I can tie it to that same day, the day God spoke to me.
Tyler Lynde: God spoke that to him as well.
Tyler Lynde: I needed.
Tyler Lynde: I was in such a place of desperation and brokenness that I needed to hear from God, not only for myself.
Tyler Lynde: I needed to be able to go tell my wife.
Tyler Lynde: God spoke to me.
Tyler Lynde: He is going to live as if you don't know.
Tyler Lynde: Levi's sitting right here and he is alive and well.
Tyler Lynde: Thanks be to God.
Tyler Lynde: So God speaks to us through supernatural means.
Tyler Lynde: God also speaks to us sometimes through circumstances.
Tyler Lynde: You experience that God sometimes speaks to us through life circumstances, in times of difficulty, in seasons of blessing, and opened and closed doors.
Tyler Lynde: Yet again, we have to filter what we think we're hearing or seeing through the light of scripture.
Tyler Lynde: Not all open doors are from God, please hear.
Tyler Lynde: Hear me when I say that when God wants to bless you, he opens the right doors, but when Satan wants to curse you, he opens what seems to be the right doors, but they're the wrong doors.
Tyler Lynde: Right doors lead to holiness and righteousness.
Tyler Lynde: Wrong doors lead to sin and unrighteousness.
Tyler Lynde: Again, amy and I experienced this when we were young and newly married.
Tyler Lynde: I was working in the pizza and delivering pizza, and an opportunity came for us to be able to purchase a Christian bookstore.
Tyler Lynde: Here's the problem.
Tyler Lynde: We didn't have any money, and so we asked for some counsel from some people who were kind of like non-committal, like you really need to hear God on this.
Tyler Lynde: And then we asked God for an open door, and in the mail, we got a notification of a credit card that we could take out for the exact amount not joking the exact amount that we needed to make the purchase of this bookstore.
Tyler Lynde: And so we took that as God opening the door and we took the credit card out and we purchased the business, and was it two years later, a year and a half later, a year later, whenever he was born we don't equate it with Jordan's birth, but it was around that time, yes.
Tyler Lynde: So, anyway, what happened was it was not a sustainable business, and so we ended up having to basically to just offload that business and lose $20,000 in the process.
Tyler Lynde: Now, did God just disappear from the scene during that time?
Tyler Lynde: Do you know how many lives were touched because we were in that place in that time, including ours?
Tyler Lynde: I'm not just saying that we were the ones doing all of the.
Tyler Lynde: We had conversations with people.
Tyler Lynde: People would come into the store and talk to each other and God would speak to them.
Tyler Lynde: So am I upset that that happened?
Tyler Lynde: I'm upset that we didn't discern correctly, but I also understand that God turns all things together for his good, for those who are called according to his purpose, and so God did accomplish a lot of things through that time, but, man, that was tough.
Tyler Lynde: So make sure that you don't just use the open door policy.
Tyler Lynde: It has to be an open door that God opens, amen, and he can give you discernment on that.
Tyler Lynde: He will.
Tyler Lynde: And this one is probably the most important, the one I want to land on here for a minute An inner voice or impression, something that you experience or feel on the inside of yourself, and this is really hard to describe, like in English.
Tyler Lynde: I feel like if I could say it in my prayer language I might be able to communicate it better.
Tyler Lynde: I don't know, it's just strange, it's hard to say in words.
Tyler Lynde: It's a knowing that comes from God, that registers on the inside of who you are.
Tyler Lynde: Your born-again spirit bears witness with the Holy Spirit that is speaking to you and your soul somehow is in the mix and picks it up.
Tyler Lynde: It registers with your mind, your will and your emotions.
Tyler Lynde: So it's God speaking to you.
Tyler Lynde: The Holy Spirit is quickening your spirit, which is born again and made alive to God, and then somehow they zap your mind and your mind picks it up and discerns it and understands it.
Tyler Lynde: We need to do a Christian version of Inside Out, the movie Inside Out, where we can kind of try to personify this and make it a little bit more easy to comprehend.
Tyler Lynde: But in my life I would have to say that 95% no, I can't say that because majority of the time is through the word of God but the times that I have felt like the Lord spoke to me directly or distinctly, especially directionally, leading me question that I had in front of him, things like that, the majority of the time it has come through this kind of experience when I've just had the sense that God was saying something to me.
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: And again, I want you to, I want to be able to explain this in a way that you can begin to experience it, because you are, honestly, I believe you already are experiencing it.
Tyler Lynde: You may not recognize it all the time, but it is.
Tyler Lynde: It's just a knowing, it's just a feeling.
Tyler Lynde: Any other words to help me with this?
Tyler Lynde: An unction that's another Bible word.
Tyler Lynde: Right, it's an unction.
Tyler Lynde: It's a yeah, it's not weird, it's a guide.
Tyler Lynde: It's a yeah, it's all of those things.
Tyler Lynde: Now, even in the biblically recorded instances of God's speakings, it doesn't always say in what form he spoke, right, like, was it audible?
Tyler Lynde: Was it an inner voice, like I'm talking about?
Tyler Lynde: Was it a mental impression or realization?
Tyler Lynde: Was it an image that somebody saw?
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes people see images.
Tyler Lynde: Was it a what was it?
Tyler Lynde: How was God speaking?
Tyler Lynde: It doesn't define it always for us, right?
Tyler Lynde: And so one of the reasons that I think that is is because we tend to formulize things.
Tyler Lynde: Have you noticed that?
Tyler Lynde: And so if I hear from God in a particular way, then you must hear from God in the same way.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know God created us all with distinct what Flavors?
Tyler Lynde: I'm not going to mention his name because this is online, but somebody in the church said flavors, which is not horribly wrong, but I was going to say personalities, right, distinct personalities, distinct ways of thinking about things, approaching things, you know, feeling things, expressing things.
Tyler Lynde: We're all unique, right, and so God, in a relational way, just as we do, how many of you know that you communicate with different people in different ways, based on who you are and based on who they are?
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, my wife and my daughter sound a lot alike.
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes my daughter and this is hard because I only have one daughter, so you know who it is right.
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes my daughter intentionally tries to trick me into thinking that I'm talking to my wife.
Tyler Lynde: So I'll call my wife's number, but they're together.
Tyler Lynde: My daughter will answer the phone.
Tyler Lynde: Hello, and I have to pause for a minute.
Tyler Lynde: Not that I'm waiting necessarily for God to show me, but I'm trying to discern carefully because I may have a completely different conversation with my wife than I would with my daughter, and I don't need to go into any further clarification on that.
Tyler Lynde: Right.
Tyler Lynde: It's important to know.
Tyler Lynde: So God chooses to speak to us relationally.
Tyler Lynde: He's created us uniquely and so he speaks to us in unique ways.
Tyler Lynde: The principles are the same in unique ways.
Tyler Lynde: The principles are the same.
Tyler Lynde: What he says is all uniform in the sense that it all is in line with who he is and all of those things.
Tyler Lynde: But he may speak to you vastly different than he does to me, and that's exciting to me.
Tyler Lynde: I'm thankful that God is so creative in his approach.
Tyler Lynde: So let's get into the nuts and bolts a little more.
Tyler Lynde: Believers can learn how to hear Holy Spirit clearly.
Tyler Lynde: I'm just going to tell you right now I'm not going to be able to finish this entire message this morning, so we're going to do what we can and then we'll take a break and we'll come back tonight.
Tyler Lynde: We could, but we'll come back next Sunday.
Tyler Lynde: We'll pick it up where we left off.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, is that okay with you?
Tyler Lynde: All right, good, we'll come back next Sunday and we'll pick it up where we left off.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, is that okay with you?
Tyler Lynde: All right, good, because even if it's not, we're probably going to pass the plant.
Tyler Lynde: So work with me here so believers can learn how to hear, and we're going to use an acronym here.
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes acronyms help us to remember things, right, so we're going to use an acronym for hear on how we can hear the Holy Spirit clearly.
Tyler Lynde: So the H is make it a habit to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: How many of us, literally every day, take time to practice listening to the Holy Spirit?
Tyler Lynde: If we're not doing that, this is not condemnation hour.
Tyler Lynde: I'm encouraging you.
Tyler Lynde: Begin to do that.
Tyler Lynde: If you are doing it, do it even more than what you are Listen, make it a habit to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: Learning the unforced rhythms of grace requires practice.
Tyler Lynde: Now, what is the problem with this?
Tyler Lynde: We live in a society that appreciates and promotes and applauds what Busyness, business or busyness, either one right.
Tyler Lynde: So the more that you do and the more that you can say that you do, the more that you've accomplished, hopefully, and everybody else will judge you based on your accomplishments.
Tyler Lynde: And so it's very hard sometimes within our culture, within our mindset, to break free from that so that we can actually focus in on taking time to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: It goes like this we wake up each day, try to maximize every moment before us.
Tyler Lynde: We get ready as fast as we can, we eat breakfast on our way out the door.
Tyler Lynde: We pack every possible moment with meetings, work, chores, children, exercise, zoo driving, shopping, eating, emails, facebook, instagram, phone calls, texts, social media, errands, entertainment and ministry, just to name a few.
Tyler Lynde: I'm tired just reading it.
Tyler Lynde: Our lives are stretched to the max.
Tyler Lynde: Our days are full from the time we wake up to the time we drop into bed and hope that we can somehow fall asleep.
Tyler Lynde: And though we're living very full days, we often come to the realization that we're quite unfulfilled because there's no time to simply be.
Tyler Lynde: You know what the voice of the Holy Spirit gives us a chance to do?
Tyler Lynde: Just to be, to be with Him, just to be, to be with him.
Tyler Lynde: There are times when Amy and I, after a busy season in our lives, spend time together, but we don't talk a lot while we're spending that time together, because it's enough for us just to be together.
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: God wants to be with us.
Tyler Lynde: So how do we do that?
Tyler Lynde: How do we create a habit?
Tyler Lynde: Choose a time to be still before God in devotion.
Tyler Lynde: Choose a time, put it on your calendar.
Tyler Lynde: Put it on your calendar, set a reminder.
Tyler Lynde: Choose a time to be still before God in devotion.
Tyler Lynde: Psalm 46.10 says be still and know that I am God.
Tyler Lynde: Practice stillness, practice silence, practice solitude, practice listening.
Tyler Lynde: That's one way to do this.
Tyler Lynde: Another way to create a habit is to create an atmosphere that helps you to focus in on hearing God.
Tyler Lynde: Some of you may be able to hear God while you're listening to music at 100 decibels Is that right, very loudly?
Tyler Lynde: Or some of you may be able to hear God as you're you know, driving down the road at hopefully at the speed limit, right?
Tyler Lynde: So maybe you may be able to hear.
Tyler Lynde: So I'm not trying to limit that, but I am saying there are times where we need to create an atmosphere for us to practice the presence of God.
Tyler Lynde: For me, that looks like a Spotify playlist that I've made.
Tyler Lynde: That's all of my favorite worship songs and I'm able to play that.
Tyler Lynde: I don't have to sing along to every song.
Tyler Lynde: I don't have to stand necessarily, clap my hands, raise my hands, bow although I can do all of those things.
Tyler Lynde: I'm creating a space for God.
Tyler Lynde: I'm creating an atmosphere for Him to feel welcome and for my mind to be able to focus in on what it is I'm trying to hear.
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: So, whatever that looks like for you for some of you it's going to look like you having a journal in your hands, with a pen or a pencil.
Tyler Lynde: It's going to look like you turning your notifications off of your phone.
Tyler Lynde: The world will not end.
Tyler Lynde: I'm of the age that I lived before cell phones.
Tyler Lynde: I lived when you still had a cord attached to your phone.
Tyler Lynde: That's as far as you could go If you stepped out of the house.
Tyler Lynde: All bets are off.
Tyler Lynde: You may find me, you may not right.
Tyler Lynde: Somehow we survived, we made it.
Tyler Lynde: So I encourage you turn off your notifications, turn the TV off, unless you're playing your worship music through it.
Tyler Lynde: Some people create an atmosphere for themselves to be able to focus in by walking through it.
Tyler Lynde: Some people create an atmosphere for themselves to be able to focus in by walking, walking and talking with God.
Tyler Lynde: That's biblical, right.
Tyler Lynde: Here's one Fishing, amen.
Tyler Lynde: I have a saying that I believe I heard it when I was very young.
Tyler Lynde: God talks to little boys while they're fishing.
Tyler Lynde: God's always talking.
Tyler Lynde: Why is it the little boys hear him when they're fishing?
Tyler Lynde: Because they're quiet.
Tyler Lynde: You're supposed to be quiet in order to catch fish.
Tyler Lynde: That's why taking grandchildren fishing is entirely different.
Tyler Lynde: That's not called catching, that's called fishing.
Tyler Lynde: But get quiet.
Tyler Lynde: I guess God could talk to you while you're shopping.
Tyler Lynde: I mean, we could make a whole list, but create an atmosphere I love.
Tyler Lynde: Rick mentioned this yesterday.
Tyler Lynde: Brother Lawrence wrote a book called Practicing the Presence of God and he made a determination that, no matter what he was doing, that he was going to include God in it.
Tyler Lynde: He was a cook for a monastery and so he would say, when I'm chopping carrots, I'm chopping carrots with Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus is here with me.
Tyler Lynde: And he made himself aware of the constant presence of God just in the daily routines of life.
Tyler Lynde: And then, of course, he did have separate times where he spent with God in the quiet, in the still, where he could really focus in.
Tyler Lynde: But let's take God with us.
Tyler Lynde: You know he's already there.
Tyler Lynde: Let's acknowledge it.
Tyler Lynde: Let's welcome him.
Tyler Lynde: Next thing is make sure that your prayer time is conversational.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you have experienced a relationship in your life?
Tyler Lynde: And do not elbow your neighbor.
Tyler Lynde: It's not allowed today.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you have experienced a relationship in your life where one person did 99.9% of the talking?
Tyler Lynde: How did that make you feel Valued, appreciated, loved?
Tyler Lynde: Not necessarily right.
Tyler Lynde: It's interesting how we think of prayer, as us talking to God.
Tyler Lynde: Prayer is communication with God.
Tyler Lynde: It's talking to Him and it's listening to Him.
Tyler Lynde: That's the rhythm of it.
Tyler Lynde: It's the rhythm of grace.
Tyler Lynde: Encourage you to practice that.
Tyler Lynde: And then, finally, don't end the conversation at the end of your devotional time.
Tyler Lynde: Don't say amen and then well off to do the rest of my stuff.
Tyler Lynde: Our family has a group chat, a family chat, and so sometime during the day I can be sure that I'm going to get a picture or video of one of my grandchildren doing something amazing.
Tyler Lynde: I'm going to get a joke from one of my grandchildren doing something amazing.
Tyler Lynde: I'm going to get a joke from one of my kids.
Tyler Lynde: I might even throw out something occasionally that's humorous to me in the group chat.
Tyler Lynde: I haven't gotten kicked out yet.
Tyler Lynde: I don't know.
Tyler Lynde: Are you allowed to remove people from a family chat or group chat?
Tyler Lynde: I don't know, but they haven't removed me yet.
Tyler Lynde: Family chat or group chat?
Tyler Lynde: I don't know, but they haven't removed me yet.
Tyler Lynde: But literally, guys, god is with us.
Tyler Lynde: We need to keep the conversation open.
Tyler Lynde: I believe that God can speak to me at any point in time that he wants to, and I attempt to keep my ears listening to stay tuned in Right.
Tyler Lynde: Stay tuned in right, stay tuned in.
Tyler Lynde: God wants to have an ongoing, real relationship with all of us.
Tyler Lynde: All right, let's move on.
Tyler Lynde: We're only on E.
Tyler Lynde: Let's hurry E expect to hear the Holy Spirit in whatever way that he chooses to speak, expect.
Tyler Lynde: There's something that has to do with faith here.
Tyler Lynde: We must believe that God loves us, that he's called us, that he saved us.
Tyler Lynde: And, by the way, if you're not yet a Christian, all of this that I'm talking about today is available to you If you will simply repent of your sins, turn away from your way of life that is up to this point and put your faith and hope and trust in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: If you'll do that today, your relationship with God will be restored and you can have this kind of intimacy with him, just like I'm talking about for believers, 1 Kings 19,.
Tyler Lynde: I love this.
Tyler Lynde: I love this story.
Tyler Lynde: The Lord said to him what are you doing here, elijah?
Tyler Lynde: Elijah's running.
Tyler Lynde: Remember hiding in a cave?
Tyler Lynde: Elijah replied I have zealously served the Lord, god Almighty, but the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars and killed every one of your prophets.
Tyler Lynde: I'm the only one left.
Tyler Lynde: Have you ever played the victim card with God?
Tyler Lynde: Oh, it's a tough one, because he comes back with some.
Tyler Lynde: He always comes.
Tyler Lynde: He talks to me pretty plainly I don't know about you, but when I complained to him, he comes back and says oh really, what about this?
Tyler Lynde: You know he killed everyone of your prophets.
Tyler Lynde: I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me too.
Tyler Lynde: So God says go out and stand before on the mountain.
Tyler Lynde: The Lord told him.
Tyler Lynde: And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain.
Tyler Lynde: It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind.
Tyler Lynde: How many of us love when God shows up in dramatic ways.
Tyler Lynde: It's craveable when God shows up and shows off in ways that we feel that we experience, that we're like, wow, god was there.
Tyler Lynde: God was here, but does he always do that?
Tyler Lynde: No, sometimes he's not in the noise and the loud and the dramatic, it was such a terrible blast.
Tyler Lynde: The rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind.
Tyler Lynde: And after the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
Tyler Lynde: And after the earthquake there was a fire.
Tyler Lynde: Well, fire represents the Holy Spirit, this must be it, but the Lord was not in the fire.
Tyler Lynde: And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper.
Tyler Lynde: When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave and a voice said what are you doing here, elijah?
Tyler Lynde: Still small voice, the whisper, something we just sometimes need to lean into here.
Tyler Lynde: It's just as powerful as the greatest earthquake or the largest fire or whatever you could talk about.
Tyler Lynde: The still small voice that brings comfort and peace in your time of trouble.
Tyler Lynde: The Holy Spirit can speak through anyone or anything, at any time and in any way, and sometimes for me the voice of God sounds like my wife.
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes the voice of God sounds like my children.
Tyler Lynde: God wouldn't be that cruel, would he use your yes, he's used my kids to bring correction into my life.
Tyler Lynde: Hasn't happened yet with my grandkids, but it's not far behind, I'm sure, and I'm thankful.
Tyler Lynde: I'm thankful, co-workers, strangers.
Tyler Lynde: Holy Spirit can speak through anyone or anything, at any time and in any way.
Tyler Lynde: Expect it, expect him to speak.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, anticipate, that's the, A Anticipate growing in your ability to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: Another great story in 1 Samuel we have Samuel, who Hannah had prayed for a child and God gave her the gift of Samuel and she said I'm going to dedicate him to the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: All the days of his life he will live in the house of the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: So Samuel's there and Eli is the priest.
Tyler Lynde: And in those days, messages from the Lord were very rare and visions were quite uncommon.
Tyler Lynde: One night, eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed.
Tyler Lynde: The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was sleeping in the tabernacle near the ark of God.
Tyler Lynde: Suddenly, the Lord called out echo, near the ark of God.
Tyler Lynde: Suddenly the Lord called out Samuel.
Tyler Lynde: Yes, samuel replied what is it?
Tyler Lynde: He got up and ran to Eli.
Tyler Lynde: Why did he run to Eli?
Tyler Lynde: Here I am.
Tyler Lynde: Did you call me?
Tyler Lynde: Samuel didn't discern the voice of God, but God was speaking.
Tyler Lynde: I didn't call you.
Tyler Lynde: Eli replied Go back to bed.
Tyler Lynde: So he did, and then the Lord called out again Samuel.
Tyler Lynde: Again, samuel got up and went to Eli Three times.
Tyler Lynde: This goes on.
Tyler Lynde: And then finally Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy.
Tyler Lynde: So he said to Samuel go and lie down again and if someone calls again, say speak, lord, your servant is listening.
Tyler Lynde: See that posture Anticipating, tuning in listening.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to grow in this.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to increase in our ability to be able to discern the voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: Go and lie down.
Tyler Lynde: If someone calls again, say speak, lord, your servant is listening.
Tyler Lynde: So Samuel went back to bed and the Lord came and called us, as before, samuel, samuel and Samuel replied speak, your servant is listening.
Tyler Lynde: Then the Lord said to Samuel I'm about to do a shocking thing in Israel and he goes on to tell him how he's going to rip apart the priesthood because of the sins that had been involved.
Tyler Lynde: But anticipate growth in this area If you begin to practice this, make this a part of your everyday life.
Tyler Lynde: You're going to hear more clearly and more clearly and more clearly.
Tyler Lynde: Before you know it, you're even going to be hearing God for other people.
Tyler Lynde: That's amazing when it gets to that point where you get to be a blessing to other people because God is speaking through you.
Tyler Lynde: And finally, the last part of the here acronym is respond, r respond.
Tyler Lynde: Respond in humble obedience to what the Holy Spirit is truly saying.
Tyler Lynde: And back to John 10,.
Tyler Lynde: It says when he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Tyler Lynde: It's not enough to hear the voice of God, but we must be obedient to that voice as well.
Tyler Lynde: Amen, all right, that's our stopping point for today.
Tyler Lynde: Next week we'll start talking about voices that are not from God that we hear.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to look at also look at how to know it is God who's speaking to us and the types of things that hinder us from hearing God clearly.
Tyler Lynde: So we'll look at those things and we'll be also looking forward to how to hear the voice of God for others.
Tyler Lynde: That sound good.
Tyler Lynde: All right, let's take just a minute as we close here.
Tyler Lynde: Let's just get quiet.
Tyler Lynde: I don't know if somebody could just play the keyboard for just a minute Quietly.
Tyler Lynde: I just had in my mind, it just popped up I can't play.
Tyler Lynde: Oh, when the saints go, mark, I mean God could speak, that's fine, but let's just get quiet before the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: We're not going to try to manufacture anything here, but I just want you.
Tyler Lynde: I have faith that that God is going to fine tune our hearing.
Tyler Lynde: So I just want you to just take a minute just to be still.
Tyler Lynde: Put your phone down, quiet your mind.
Tyler Lynde: If it helps for you to focus, you can close your eyes.
Tyler Lynde: I just want you to just pray, a simple prayer.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, would you speak to me in this moment.
Tyler Lynde: Holy Spirit, help me to hear your voice.
Tyler Lynde: Just be still for a minute and listen.
Tyler Lynde: Thank, you.
Tyler Lynde: It may come to you just as an impression, or an image, or a thought, a feeling.
Tyler Lynde: A verse of scripture is very common, even a line from scripture Just some reassurance, a sense of peace.
Tyler Lynde: So many ways the Holy Spirit wants to engage with us and foster the relationship between us and our Heavenly Father.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, we ask that, as we go through this week, that you would fine tune our hearing.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, we ask that, as we go through this week, that you would fine tune our hearing, lord, that we would be able to make a habit of taking time to listen to your voice, that we would expect for you to speak to us clearly so that we could discern it, that we would anticipate, that we would grow in our ability to hear and discern you and also, lord, that we would grow in our ability to hear and discern you.
Tyler Lynde: And also, lord, that we would respond in obedience to what it is that you're speaking to us.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, I thank you that you are as close as the mention of your name and we can just say the name of Jesus and the audience of heaven comes to attention.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you that Jesus is alive and well, he sits at your right hand and that he prays for us, he intercedes on our behalf.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you that you haven't left us alone in this world, but you've sent the Holy Spirit not only to be with us but to dwell in us.
Tyler Lynde: And, father, we pray again this day that you would fill us to overflowing with your Holy Spirit, and we give you glory in Jesus name.
Tyler Lynde: If you just raise your hand, if you felt like that, you had an impression, a thought, something that you feel like could have been from God.
Tyler Lynde: You're not saying that it is Good, good, good, yeah, awesome, put this into practice.
Tyler Lynde: Put this into practice.
Tyler Lynde: Put this into practice, practice listening to the voice of God.
Tyler Lynde: I felt like the Lord spoke to me, that there's somebody here today that feels like you've never experienced true love, like you've never experienced true love, and I just want you to know from the bottom of my heart that God loves you with an everlasting love, and the love that he offers doesn't take advantage of you or doesn't harm you, or it isn't one-sided.
Tyler Lynde: It is one-sided in a way.
Tyler Lynde: He gives up himself freely, not expecting anything in return.
Tyler Lynde: So we're going to have a prayer team that's going to be up here in just a minute.
Tyler Lynde: I encourage you, if that's you come down here and let them pray with you I'll stay and pray with you as well that you would experience the depths and the height and the breadth and the length and the width of how great the love of God is for you.
Tyler Lynde: It's really indescribable, unbelievable.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, lord.
Tyler Lynde: I did want to mention also I was chatting with Aaron, texting back and forth with Aaron Jones yesterday, and he and Beth are doing well.
Tyler Lynde: They've been a month now in Ireland and Saoirse has got them all adjusted.
Tyler Lynde: This is Saoirse, their young child.
Tyler Lynde: They're doing well and Aaron just wanted me to say again how grateful they are for all of us and all of you who have supported them, given towards them, prayed for them and sent them with such love to fulfill their mission.
Tyler Lynde: And I, just so I told him that I would mention that here this morning.
Tyler Lynde: So I'm doing that.
Tyler Lynde: Honor him.
Tyler Lynde: We love you, aaron and Beth.
Tyler Lynde: If you're watching, we miss you guys, but we're thankful that you're following God and we look forward to many times in the future where we'll be able to connect and help.
Tyler Lynde: So would you stand to your feet and we'll close this morning, but please don't let another week go by where you just stay dry and don't take time to appreciate the presence of God.
Tyler Lynde: Now, there are seasons in life where it feels like God isn't speaking, but how many of you know, it doesn't stop us from reading his word and hearing his voice there, doesn't stop us from coming to church and listening to sermons that he's, that God, is putting in the hearts of people to share.
Tyler Lynde: There are ways that we can do that even if we're not hearing.
Tyler Lynde: Don't feel like we're hearing personally.
Tyler Lynde: Right, I'm just going to pray a blessing over you.
Tyler Lynde: May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Tyler Lynde: May he cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
Tyler Lynde: May he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace In Jesus' holy name, amen.