Chris May: So how many of you know what this is?
Chris May: How many of you had one of these growing up?
Chris May: This is the famous Magic 8-Ball.
Chris May: Remember you were a young teenager and you would say oh, magic 8-Ball, magic 8-B ball.
Chris May: If I ask this girl out, will she say yes, certainly not.
Chris May: That's the answer I always got, and pretty accurate.
Chris May: That's not funny.
Chris May: So let's have a little fun.
Chris May: Magic eight ball, magic eight ball.
Chris May: Should we take Sunday naps today?
Chris May: I don't want to read this Very doubtful Magic 8-Ball, magic 8-Ball.
Chris May: Should the congregation give a little extra in the offering today?
Chris May: This thing's broken.
Chris May: Magic 8-Ball, magic 8-Ball.
Chris May: Is my sermon going to be a little bit lengthy?
Chris May: Cannot predict now.
Chris May: Oh goodness, isn't that fun.
Chris May: Well, listen, wouldn't it be awesome?
Chris May: We know the magic eight ball is not real, it's random, but wouldn't it be awesome that, when we are faced with major decisions in life, that we could know that we're making the right decision?
Chris May: Well, I've got great news, christian, for you today.
Chris May: You can.
Chris May: You know why.
Chris May: Let me read you Romans 8, 14.
Chris May: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.
Chris May: Here's why we can know that we're on the right path and we can know that we're making right decisions, because God's children, his sons and daughters, they are led by the Holy Spirit.
Chris May: Can I tell you today that God still speaks to his people.
Chris May: Now, when you pray and you ask God for guidance, I know what you want.
Chris May: If you're like me, you want God to write a message in the sky.
Chris May: Have you ever prayed for something like that?
Chris May: Or you want him maybe this would be kind of cool Lord, send me a divine text message this morning.
Chris May: I almost, but I didn't want to make light of the sermon.
Chris May: I almost had Jody set up a text to go off right.
Chris May: Then you know from our church text and say you know this is the Lord kind of thing, but I decided against it.
Chris May: But you know the Lord, the Lord's word to us.
Chris May: You know when he speaks to us and he leads us.
Chris May: It's often not that obvious, but I will tell you this we can learn, as believers, to better and more clearly hear and recognize God's voice, and I want to help you do that today.
Chris May: And if you will listen, this will transform your life.
Chris May: Let me tell you why.
Chris May: Because if you can hear God's voice, you could have confirmation and peace that you're making right choices when you listen to him and, by the way, you'll lean in for this one.
Chris May: You can.
Chris May: You know, if you learn to hear God's voice, you might be stopped from making some really destructive decisions.
Chris May: So in our text today we see this new missionary team.
Chris May: You know Paul and Silas.
Chris May: Remember last week we finished out chapter 15.
Chris May: Paul and Barnabas had finished their first missionary journey and you remember what happened At the end of it.
Chris May: They're ready to go on their second journey and Paul and Barnabas get into a knock-down, drag-out fight and this is over Barnabas' cousin, john Mark, who abandoned them on their first missionary journey.
Chris May: So they end up parting ways.
Chris May: So what's happening here is that Paul is establishing a new missionary team for his second journey.
Chris May: So he recruits a leader in the Jerusalem church named Silas, and then he recruits a man, a young man by the name of Timothy, whom Paul actually led to the Lord on his first journey.
Chris May: But then this is really cool.
Chris May: You know who else he recruits.
Chris May: Here it's a little more cryptic, you may not have noticed it.
Chris May: He recruits Luke, who wrote the book of Acts.
Chris May: And the reason we know that is because, if you look down at verse 10, luke uses the pronoun we instead of they.
Chris May: Up to this point he's been talking about they and them, but now he says we.
Chris May: So you have Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke.
Chris May: This is the new fantastic four.
Chris May: They're getting ready to go out on this missionary journey and so, as they set out what I want you to see, I really want to focus on those last several verses, those last five verses, six through 10.
Chris May: I want you to notice how the Holy Spirit guides them and speaks to them.
Chris May: Do you know?
Chris May: Three times in this short passage, in these five verses, luke points out that the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing something or gave them a vision, told them where to go.
Chris May: It's pretty profound, and so we can learn something from this passage about how to hear and follow the voice of the Lord.
Chris May: So how is it if it's not a message in the sky, how is it that God leads his people, how is it that he speaks to his people?
Chris May: Well, I want to step outside of this text for a moment, because this is foundational, and I want to start by saying that God fundamentally speaks to his people through his word, this thing we call the Bible.
Chris May: Now, this is important.
Chris May: Do you know the early church?
Chris May: We've seen already throughout Acts.
Chris May: They discerned often the will of God by the scriptures.
Chris May: Let me just give you a few examples here.
Chris May: In Acts 1, 16, peter uses Psalm 69 as a guide for replacing Judas with another apostle.
Chris May: In Acts 2, 16 through 20, remember, pentecost has happened, the Spirit's been poured out, people are speaking in other languages and everybody's going.
Chris May: What's going on?
Chris May: And all of a sudden Peter says here's what happened, and he discerns what's happening by Joel, chapter 2 in the Old Testament.
Chris May: Then one more example in Acts 15, james discerns the will of God concerning the Gentile believers by appealing to many of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah, daniel, amos and others.
Chris May: So the word of God is really important if we're going to hear his voice.
Chris May: Now listen, I'm not suggesting that God doesn't speak to us in other ways and I'm going to get into that.
Chris May: But here's what I want you to get.
Chris May: Look at me If you are not consistently in God's word, you will never clearly hear his voice.
Chris May: That is so important.
Chris May: Here's what will happen if you're not in his word.
Chris May: At best, you'll never be sure that it's God speaking to you.
Chris May: Is it your own voice?
Chris May: Is it bad pizza?
Chris May: At worst, when you're not in the Bible, you will end up thinking something is from God that's not from him at all, could even be of the devil and will lead you astray or even destroy your life.
Chris May: So God will never speak to you or lead you in a way that is contrary to his word.
Chris May: Let me just give you an example of this.
Chris May: One of the most consequential decisions you'll ever make in your life is who you're going to marry.
Chris May: If you decide to get married, like, that's kind of an important decision.
Chris May: So let's just imagine for a second that there's a Christian man and this Christian man decides he wants to be married.
Chris May: He's a young man, and so he begins praying God, send me a woman, send me a lady, somebody I can love for the rest of my life.
Chris May: And so he meets a lady, but this lady is a non-Christian woman, but he likes her a lot.
Chris May: She's very attractive, he's smitten by her, he thinks she's very, very kind, he loves spending time with her.
Chris May: They have a lot in common.
Chris May: They stay up all hours of the night talking, and so he prays Lord, could you show me if this is the one?
Chris May: And after praying he hears that this lady, he thinks he hears from the Lord, this lady is the one for him.
Chris May: But I can tell you that man has not heard from the Lord.
Chris May: You say well, that's arrogant.
Chris May: How would you know that?
Chris May: How can you make such a blanket statement?
Chris May: Well, because if you listen to the story I told you, this man was a Christian and the woman was not a Christian.
Chris May: So he shouldn't date her, he shouldn't marry her.
Chris May: Why do I say that?
Chris May: Well, because 2 Corinthians 6, 14, paul makes it, he doesn't mince words.
Chris May: He says do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
Chris May: For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?
Chris May: Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Chris May: So let me ask you, what more serious partnership is there besides marriage?
Chris May: So if you're praying for a young people, if you're praying for a spouse, if you're praying for love, you know love is in the air.
Chris May: If you're praying for love.
Chris May: You know, love is in the air.
Chris May: God is never going to lead you to marry someone who is not a Christian if you are in fact saved.
Chris May: So that's an example.
Chris May: If you hear that from you, think you hear that from the Lord.
Chris May: It's not the Lord, because he'll never lead you, contrary to his word.
Chris May: Okay, this might be worth writing down.
Chris May: I think we have it on the screen.
Chris May: If I am not reading the word of God, I will not recognize the voice of God.
Chris May: Can I say that again, if I am not reading the word of God, I will not recognize the voice of God.
Chris May: God fundamentally speaks to his people by his word.
Chris May: Now, to springboard off that point, there are people who have said to me pastors matter of fact, ron and I were at a conference with the other elders and Ron and I were out on this deck talking to this pastor.
Chris May: His whole goal was to convince us that God doesn't still speak to his people.
Chris May: And the argument is well, since we have the complete word of God and since God speaks to us through his word, that's the only way God speaks to us.
Chris May: So he's never going to, you know, speak to your heart or it's all by the word of God.
Chris May: That's how he does it, which I think, just to be sure, is ludicrous.
Chris May: Now, to be sure, we cannot add to or take away from the word of God.
Chris May: It is a closed canon and the Bible tells us everything we need to know about the character of God.
Chris May: Nothing else is going to be revealed to us about God's character.
Chris May: The Bible gives us the gospel.
Chris May: It tells us how we can be saved.
Chris May: That's never going to change.
Chris May: You're not going to get additional insight on how to be saved.
Chris May: The Bible tells us all there is to know about living a godly life.
Chris May: The moral law of God is never going to change.
Chris May: It's not going to be added to, it's not going to be taken away from.
Chris May: But you know, the problem is the Bible gives us a lot of generalities but it doesn't give us specifics.
Chris May: So the Bible would tell you marry a Christian woman if you get married, but it doesn't tell you which Christian woman.
Chris May: And can I say not all Christian women are created equally or they don't act equally.
Chris May: Don't just assume this lady's Christian.
Chris May: She's going to be nice to me, because that's not the case and, by the way, I'm not saying this from experience, my wife is lovely, just to clarify.
Chris May: So how is it then that the Lord speaks to us?
Chris May: Because he does?
Chris May: I strongly believe this.
Chris May: People who are sons of God are led by the Spirit of God day in and day out.
Chris May: Doesn't the psalmist say that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord?
Chris May: Do you believe God speaks to you?
Chris May: How does he do it?
Chris May: Well, one way we see in the text God speaks to us by closing doors.
Chris May: Look at verses six through eight.
Chris May: And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
Chris May: And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithya, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
Chris May: So, passing by, they went to Troas.
Chris May: You know, here's what's interesting.
Chris May: I was thinking about this.
Chris May: Paul has already been told one-on-one by Jesus you're to go out to the ancient world, you're to preach the gospel to the Jew and to the Gentile right.
Chris May: So he knows the mission.
Chris May: And right before chapter 16, paul and Silas are back in Antioch and the church confirms that they're to go out on this second missionary journey.
Chris May: So they just start heading out.
Chris May: But do you know?
Chris May: Paul has no specifics.
Chris May: He's just kind of wandering around and, by the way, they're not in a vehicle, they are walking.
Chris May: And he's got this new ministry team.
Chris May: You know, timothy, he's like guys, you know, I've got experience in this.
Chris May: Hang with me.
Chris May: This is going to be great.
Chris May: And as they're walking through this tough terrain, it's like Paul has no idea where he's going, but it seems to me he thinks that he is going to be ministering in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey.
Chris May: That's not the case.
Chris May: So here's what he does From Iconium, where they start, they go to Phrygia and Galatia, 100 miles by foot.
Chris May: God closes the door.
Chris May: That's not where they're to be.
Chris May: Then they go from that region to Mysia, northwest to northwest Asia Minor, 200 more miles.
Chris May: And from Mysia they attempt to go into this place called Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit says no, it's not it either.
Chris May: Then they travel to Troas, door number three, another 100 miles, wrong again, and finally there the Lord makes his will clear and watch this, they're on the wrong continent.
Chris May: You ever ask the Lord for something and you think you're close and you realize you're on the wrong continent.
Chris May: Come on, somebody Like you're not even close to what God's asking you to do.
Chris May: They're in Asia and they're supposed to cross the sea and go to Europe and into what is Northern Greece Now, into what is Northern Greece Now.
Chris May: Here's what I love.
Chris May: Paul is willing just to try to open some doors by faith, and he's okay if the door's open or if the door's closed.
Chris May: He trusts the Lord.
Chris May: And I think you know what I was thinking about this.
Chris May: I thought you know sometimes we're praying for something and we just kind of sit back and wait for the Lord to drop something in our lap.
Chris May: Like, if you're praying for a spouse like you should probably try to meet some people.
Chris May: Like a lady man is probably not going to just show up at your door, right?
Chris May: I mean, she could.
Chris May: If she is, she's probably selling vacuum cleaners, you know, I don't know, but here's the thing we need to try and say Lord, is this the door you have for me?
Chris May: Let me give you another example If you need a job, it's like I've been through this with some people it's like man, I believe God's got something for me, so I'm just going to sit back and eat Cheetos on the couch while I wait for the phone to ring.
Chris May: It's like that's not going to happen.
Chris May: What do you do?
Chris May: You apply to places, you send in resumes, you network and then you say, god, I don't want to force anything, but if any of these are your will, would you open the door?
Chris May: That's what Paul does here.
Chris May: And let me say this If God closes the door, don't be frustrated.
Chris May: You know, a lot of times we get our hearts set on things right, we want something to happen and the door closes and we get really frustrated.
Chris May: But you know what, if we trust God and his providence, the Lord, when he closes that door, he may be saving you from who knows what.
Chris May: You think this is the girl for you or the boy for you and you think this is who I want to marry.
Chris May: But you don't know the future, because sometimes you don't know somebody until you get married.
Chris May: Actually, that's always the case until you get married and sometimes people seem really sane and they're a little cray-cray.
Chris May: Don't point at your spouse, okay.
Chris May: So don't get frustrated.
Chris May: And here's the other thing.
Chris May: Listen to this Don't try and force a door open that God closed.
Chris May: You know Paul and Silas didn't like, and Timothy and Luke they're not trying to like say come on, lord, I'm going to try this again.
Chris May: Will you please let us go here.
Chris May: No, it's a closed door.
Chris May: We trust the Lord.
Chris May: There's a reason God doesn't want us ministering here.
Chris May: Pastor Chuck Swindoll famously said that when God is in it, it flows.
Chris May: When the flesh is in it, it's forced.
Chris May: God is in it, it flows.
Chris May: When the flesh is in it, it's forced.
Chris May: You know, closed doors are not always permanent.
Chris May: What's so interesting about this story is Paul is forbidden to preach in Asia Minor, but do you know, in Acts, chapter 19, he spends two years in Ephesus, the chief city of Asia Minor, and he preaches and he preaches, and he preaches.
Chris May: Listen, when a door is closed, it's not always that God is saying no.
Chris May: It could be that he's saying not right now.
Chris May: Let me give you one more caveat here.
Chris May: Don't assume that every open door is God's will.
Chris May: I think that's a big mistake.
Chris May: For instance, if you're at a job and you know you've been there and things are going well and a company does happen to call you, don't assume, like, maybe test it, but don't assume that that's God calling you to leave.
Chris May: Like, if you're a good employee and other companies get word of it, you would be switching jobs all the time because you know people are going to be calling you.
Chris May: I had a church pursue us not too long ago in Arizona and you got to know this, nikki and I.
Chris May: We're from Kentucky, we love Kentucky but we love anybody ever get tired of cold weather.
Chris May: Come on somebody.
Chris May: We lived in Arizona before and we really liked Arizona.
Chris May: So this church in Arizona called us and said you know, we'd really like you to consider being our pastor.
Chris May: And I thought, well, I'm not looking to leave real life community church.
Chris May: I love it here.
Chris May: But I said it's an open door.
Chris May: I'm going to see what the Lord has.
Chris May: And so I flew out, nikki and I.
Chris May: We flew out to Tucson and drove to Sierra Vista and we love the church, we love the church and the church loved us and it was a great opportunity and it's kind of primed for growth.
Chris May: It would have been something new, a change, and there's all these good things to say about it.
Chris May: But when I got home I didn't assume that, just because the door was opened, that it was God's will, because it's like that's a major decision.
Chris May: And so as I prayed, I asked God, I said give me a clear sign.
Chris May: And two days later God confirmed that at that time it was not God's will for my life, and so we stayed.
Chris May: Obviously, here I am.
Chris May: I don't look so happy about it.
Chris May: When there are open doors, god will confirm in other ways that those are the ones you need to go through.
Chris May: So God speaks by closing doors, opening doors, but you know he also speaks, as we see in the text, through dreams and visions.
Chris May: And you think, oh, pastor, you're getting kooky, come on.
Chris May: Well, it's in the Bible.
Chris May: You believe the Bible?
Chris May: Look at verse 9.
Chris May: And the vision appeared to Paul in the night.
Chris May: A man of Macedonia was standing there Would that freak you out a little bit?
Chris May: Urging him and saying come over to Macedonia and help us.
Chris May: So they've been searching.
Chris May: Is this the will of the Lord?
Chris May: And what happens?
Chris May: It's no, no, no.
Chris May: And finally, paul's like all right, I'm just going to sleep.
Chris May: And God shows up through a vision.
Chris May: Now you say, okay, sure, they're apostles.
Chris May: You know Paul was an apostle and they didn't have the Word of God completed yet.
Chris May: But God wouldn't speak to me like that, don't be so sure.
Chris May: Let me ask has anybody ever had what you feel like is a dream from the Lord or a vision from the Lord.
Chris May: Okay, in Acts, chapter 2, after the Holy Spirit's poured out again, peter quotes Joel, chapter 2.
Chris May: Here's what he says, verse 17, quoting the Old Testament, in the last days.
Chris May: What are the last days?
Chris May: It's the church age From the time of Christ's ascension, or Pentecost, to the time of Jesus' return.
Chris May: So you are in the last days.
Chris May: People ask me all the time Pastor, you think we're in the last days?
Chris May: Yep, and we've been for 2,000 years.
Chris May: Here's what he says will happen in the last days.
Chris May: So if you're in the last days, nod your head at me, because I'm going to make this argument and I will pour out my spirit, holy Spirit, on all flesh.
Chris May: You got flesh.
Chris May: Pinch yourself, make sure All right, we're good.
Chris May: And here's what will happen when the spirit is poured out you ready your sons and your daughters Does it say apostles only Does it say men only.
Chris May: It says your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
Chris May: That's a spiritual gift.
Chris May: And your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.
Chris May: There's a famous missionary by the name of Hudson Taylor you might know that name and he described a dream in which he saw millions of Chinese people passing before him into eternity without Christ.
Chris May: And the dream so profoundly shaped his life that he began what's called the China Inland Mission and he gave his life from then on to spreading the gospel in inland China, where multitudes by the thousands came to the Lord.
Chris May: Now most of your dreams are probably you ate too close to bedtime or you watched a crazy movie or whatever, but be open that the Lord still speaks that way.
Chris May: I believe this comes by faith, right?
Chris May: So if you just discount this altogether, you're probably not going to recognize that maybe the Lord's trying to speak to you.
Chris May: Number four God speaks through angelic messengers.
Chris May: In Acts 5, 19 and 20, the apostles are in prison and it says but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said go and stand in the temple and speak to the people.
Chris May: All the words of life.
Chris May: We just saw this happen again to Peter, who was in prison just a few chapters back.
Chris May: God also speaks through let's say it like this spiritual gifts and kind of prophetic words.
Chris May: Now let me read you 27 through 30 of Acts 11.
Chris May: Sorry, now, in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world.
Chris May: This took place in the days of Claudius.
Chris May: So the disciples determined, based on what the prophet said, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea, and that's what they did.
Chris May: So there are Paul lists in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, what we call the supernatural gifts.
Chris May: And look at me, I didn't grow up this way, what I'm about to tell you, but believing this, but I am 99.9% sure that I'm right on this, no, I'm going to say I think I'm 100% sure that I'm right on this.
Chris May: There is nothing in the Bible to suggest that those supernatural gifts are no longer for today, nothing.
Chris May: And it frustrates me when good Bible-believing people make that argument.
Chris May: Beloved, if the apostles needed the gifts of the Spirit, who are we to think that we no longer need the gifts of the Spirit?
Chris May: So let me list three of those nine spiritual gifts.
Chris May: You have the gift of prophecy, you have the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom.
Chris May: So this is not just regular knowledge.
Chris May: This is a special, you know, kind of revelation.
Chris May: And you have the word of wisdom, and not just regular wisdom.
Chris May: This is wisdom imparted by God for a particular situation, and do you know that is one of the most needed gifts in the church today.
Chris May: It frustrates me, like, by the way, I believe in all the gifts, including the gift of tongues, which means languages and interpretation and all of that.
Chris May: I believe in the gift of faith and miracles, but so many people, when they think of spiritual gifts, they immediately think of the gift of tongues.
Chris May: But you know what Paul said, and when he's writing the church in Corinth, that's what they were doing, that's what they were focusing on.
Chris May: He said listen, desire the gifts, but especially the higher ones, and he tells us what that is that you might prophesy.
Chris May: Let me show you how this works.
Chris May: Years ago, I was pretty new in ministry and I was serving in a small church as an associate pastor in Lexington, and a church in Tucson, arizona, called me as a big church 800 to 1,000 people, five buildings on campus and I thought man, I'm in my 20s and they want me to come work for them.
Chris May: I thought this is going to be great.
Chris May: It's going to be great, it's an opportunity of a lifetime, right, and so I made the decision.
Chris May: Nikki and I flew out Actually, we went out twice and finally made the decision to accept the job.
Chris May: Well before I left the church in Tucson or in Lexington, we had a guest evangelist Can't remember the guy's name, but he came and he preached the word and my pastor called me after he took the evangelist back to the airport and he said Chris, I just want to tell you this.
Chris May: He said Heather, this is Pastor Randy.
Chris May: He said to me.
Chris May: He said Chris.
Chris May: He said that evangelist doesn't know you from Adam.
Chris May: And as we were driving to the airport, he said to me where is your?
Chris May: He said your associate pastor is about to move somewhere and if it, if he does, it will kill him.
Chris May: My pastor calls and he tells me that.
Chris May: And I'm.
Chris May: I told Nick.
Chris May: I said I just think pastor Randy's trying to, you know, manipulate me.
Chris May: So I won't leave, cause you know it's a small church and they're going to lose their music leader and all that.
Chris May: So I went anyways and I didn't even consider that word.
Chris May: Well, I will tell you, I was there two years.
Chris May: I went with a clean bill of health.
Chris May: I left with a stack of medical records like this, and if I would have stayed another few months it would have killed me.
Chris May: It was a nightmare and I thought many times.
Chris May: I thought many times since, man, I wish I would have considered that God was speaking through that evangelist and, by the way, it's not just evangelists or pastors whom God uses like this.
Chris May: So, if God ever, you know, you're probably not going to hear some audible voice that says you know, courtney, you know, tell Ben, whatever, but you know what it is.
Chris May: It's the prompt, and I'm going to talk about this in a second.
Chris May: But it's this sense in the spirit, that God wants you to share something with somebody and you don't have to say I would guard from this.
Chris May: You thus sayeth the Lord no, it's, you know what.
Chris May: This is what I sense God's laying on my heart, and we've had this happen in this church many times.
Chris May: You don't have to get up from the platform and do it, you just go to that person.
Chris May: Now, not every word quote unquote word that people share with you are from the Lord.
Chris May: There are some kooks out there, right, man?
Chris May: You open this up.
Chris May: You know, I had a guy come in my office one time in Tucson and he came in from another church and he was frantic.
Chris May: He, I had an office upstairs and he comes up the stairs and he sits down across from my desk, pastor, he's out of breath.
Chris May: I said what's wrong?
Chris May: He said, pastor, I need a word.
Chris May: I said what do you mean?
Chris May: You need a word?
Chris May: He said well, I was in church and this person told me I was supposed to go to this country and be a missionary.
Chris May: This other one said God was calling me here.
Chris May: And this one, he said, pastor, I just need a word.
Chris May: And I just slid my Bible over to him and I said this is the word you need right now.
Chris May: But but you know what?
Chris May: What the Bible says is this first Thessalonians, 520, do not despise prophecies.
Chris May: So just because there's some kooky things out there, we don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Chris May: But he says test everything.
Chris May: Test it and hold fast to what is good You're going to get.
Chris May: If you practice this, you're probably going to miss it sometimes and somebody's going to miss it when they talk to you.
Chris May: That's all right, just kick them and go on.
Chris May: No, don't do that.
Chris May: Just kick them and go on.
Chris May: No, don't do that.
Chris May: So God speaks through these spiritual gifts.
Chris May: But most often, here's how God speaks to us regarding specific situations he speaks to us internally by the Holy Spirit.
Chris May: Have you ever just felt prompted?
Chris May: Let's say you're walking by somebody and the Lord just prompts you to give them something, share food, or give them a few dollars.
Chris May: Or maybe you have been awakened in the middle of the night and somebody that you maybe even haven't thought of in a while was on your heart and it was the Holy Spirit prompting you to pray.
Chris May: Has that happened to anybody recently?
Chris May: That happened to me just not too long ago.
Chris May: Or maybe the Holy Spirit will just prompt you to call somebody at just the right time.
Chris May: We call those the nudgings of the Holy Spirit.
Chris May: So what's happening there is, it's the Spirit of God speaking to our spirit, and you've got to learn to listen to that voice.
Chris May: Okay, this is most often how the Lord speaks and it's like well, how do I know I'm hearing from God?
Chris May: Because if you're like me and don't put me in the loony bin for this, but anybody else hear voices in your head all day, you don't know how to respond to that.
Chris May: No, but your own voice is in your head all the time.
Chris May: Right Now, I speak out loud to myself I'm sorry.
Chris May: Then I answer myself.
Chris May: That's when things get really crazy.
Chris May: But you hear that voice in your head, but also from Scripture.
Chris May: We know the devil tempts us in things.
Chris May: So it could be.
Chris May: You know, demons can't possess a believer, but I believe, just like the devil put a thought in Judas's heart, I believe that there's times that he can do that in the life of believers, and so we've got to learn to discern like is this me, is this God, is this the enemy?
Chris May: So let me give you quickly I'm just going to list these out four questions that you can ask to see if this is, if what you're hearing in your spirit is from the Lord.
Chris May: Number one, to be redundant, is does it align with God's word?
Chris May: If not, nope, it's not God.
Chris May: Does it make me more like Christ and does it bring glory to God?
Chris May: Our lives are about the glory of God, so if it doesn't do that, then probably not God.
Chris May: Here's another one Does it bring me peace or confusion?
Chris May: Now let me just add a caveat here.
Chris May: When God speaks to you, he will often lead you to do things that stretch you, that often don't make sense.
Chris May: If he calls you to move somewhere, if he calls you to start this new job or start this new ministry, and there will be a little bit of I don't want to say anxiety, because we're not supposed to be anxious, but just concern.
Chris May: You're going to have a lot of questions, that you may not have answers, but if you are in a really confused state, the Bible says God is not the author of what confused state.
Chris May: The Bible says God is not the author of what Confusion.
Chris May: Fourth question this is an important one Is it confirmed by the church?
Chris May: Is it confirmed by the church?
Chris May: So in verse 10 of our text, when Paul sees this vision, here's what happens.
Chris May: It says immediately Luke says we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel.
Chris May: So watch this.
Chris May: Paul has this dream, but he doesn't assume that by himself he can decipher if this is from God or not.
Chris May: He brings it to Luke and to Timothy and to Silas.
Chris May: Here's the dream I had.
Chris May: Do we sense this is from God or not?
Chris May: He brings it to Luke and to Timothy and to Silas.
Chris May: Here's the dream I had.
Chris May: Do we sense this is from the Lord?
Chris May: And collectively, yes.
Chris May: Luke says we concluded that this word is from God.
Chris May: Now, when you are faced with a major decision and you think you are hearing from the Lord.
Chris May: It is arrogant and unwise to make that decision without talking to people who love you, who are unbiased and who will speak the truth to you in love and are spiritually wise.
Chris May: When I'm faced with any major decision, when I told you about that church in Arizona, I called three or four people who are a lot wiser than I am.
Chris May: I said, hey, here's what I'm hearing from the Lord.
Chris May: What do you think?
Chris May: The Bible says that there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.
Chris May: And I'll tell you this if there's an opportunity before you and you really want that opportunity, you will ignore many red flags because you want it so bad and you'll explain them away if one comes up.
Chris May: That's why you need somebody on the outside to step in who cares about you and say you know what?
Chris May: I've prayed about this.
Chris May: Now, ultimately, you've got to decide where is this?
Chris May: The Lord or not?
Chris May: But that's a great question.
Chris May: Is it confirmed by the church?
Chris May: Well, today, you may say well, that sounds good.
Chris May: God speaks to his people?
Chris May: Ok, I believe that, but I never hear his voice.
Chris May: I never hear his voice.
Chris May: So how do you hear God's voice more clearly.
Chris May: I'll close with this, number one.
Chris May: Can I say it a third time Be in the word.
Chris May: Number two you've got to pray, because James says we receive, not because what we ask not.
Chris May: If a man lacks what Wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally.
Chris May: So you've got to pray and, by the way, don't just pray one time when you've got something to pray about.
Chris May: You remember, in Matthew 7, I believe it's verse 7, Jesus says these words.
Chris May: He says ask, remember, and it will be given.
Chris May: Seek and you will find Knock and the door will be opened and you say okay.
Chris May: Well, in the Greek, when you look at the Greek, the original text, original language here, the Greek imperatives there ask, seek, knock those are in the present active form.
Chris May: So how the verse should read, the way it reads in Greek, is this Ask and keep on asking and you'll receive.
Chris May: Seek and keep on seeking and you'll find Knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.
Chris May: So you need to pray and you need to pray until you get a word from the Lord when you've got any major decision in your life.
Chris May: Pray and keep on praying.
Chris May: And, by the way, a good practice is too, is that you could incorporate fasting with prayer when there's a major decision before you.
Chris May: We saw that in Acts 13, the disciples before sending out Paul and Barnabas, they prayed and fasted, and that's when they heard from the Lord.
Chris May: So you've got to be in the Word, you've got to pray and you've got to give yourself wholly to God.
Chris May: If you want to hear his voice, let me quickly read you Romans 12, 1 and 2.
Chris May: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual worship.
Chris May: Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by the testing, you may discern what is the will of God.
Chris May: Did you get this?
Chris May: If you're living like the devil and you're not following the Bible, if you're reading it but not following it, praying but not following God's wisdom and his word and his commands, you will not be able to hear God's voice.
Chris May: He said offer your bodies, give yourself wholly to me, give your mind to me, let it be transformed by the word, and when you do that, then you'll be able to discern what is the perfect will of God.
Chris May: And finally actually sorry two more quick points.
Chris May: Number four the more you listen, the more clear you'll hear.
Chris May: So, if you don't ignore God's voice when you don't like his advice, you'll begin to hear him more clearly.
Chris May: If you do ignore what God's saying today, his voice will be a little less fainter tomorrow, okay and now.
Chris May: Finally, if you want to hear God's voice, his voice will be a little less fainter tomorrow, okay and now.
Chris May: Finally, if you want to hear God's voice, you've got to remove distractions.
Chris May: Now, if you've checked out, check back in, all right.
Chris May: Colossians 3, 2,.
Chris May: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth.
Chris May: You know, people say to me often Pastor, you know, I know how important Bible reading and prayer is and church and all this, but I just don't have time and I go really, how many hours are in your day?
Chris May: 24.
Chris May: How many hours are in your week?
Chris May: And most of them say I don't know.
Chris May: And I have to tell them what is 168, right, 168 hours, and you don't have time.
Chris May: 168 hours every week.
Chris May: You don't have time to take 15, even 20 minutes, pray, read your Bible.
Chris May: You don't have a few hours on Sunday to come and worship with God's people.
Chris May: Do you know that the average American as of 2025, the average American and this is a very conservative number spends four and a half hours a day on their cell phone.
Chris May: Average American and this is a very conservative number spends four and a half hours a day on their cell phone.
Chris May: Four and a half hours a day.
Chris May: For Gen Z, it's something like six to seven.
Chris May: Now you go okay, that's a lot, but listen to this.
Chris May: If you do the math, that averages out to over one full day a week on your cell phone, scrolling through social media, reading the news, playing games.
Chris May: You know what that comes out to.
Chris May: A year, about two and a half months every year, you're going to be on your.
Chris May: You lose two and a half months every year to your cell phone.
Chris May: By conservative, very conservative estimations, a person today who receives a smartphone at the age of 13, if that person lives to 80 years old, they will lose 13 years of their life to that mobile device.
Chris May: You know technology, as helpful as it is, it has robbed us of our ability just to be still before the lord, and most of you get this.
Chris May: The tv goes off, you lay down in bed and it's quiet.
Chris May: What's the?
Chris May: What's the nudge?
Chris May: You get what.
Chris May: What do you want to do Immediately, without even thinking?
Chris May: You want to grab some device, most people Beloved.
Chris May: If we don't set the phones and the iPads and the computers down and just pray and read the Word and just sit and be still but for the Lord, we will never hear his voice.
Chris May: You know why most people today don't hear the voice of the Lord clearly?
Chris May: Because there are a million other things vying for your attention and most of us are giving in to those things.
Chris May: How many want to hear God's voice more clearly?
Chris May: I'm going to challenge you to take just real easy to do this week.
Chris May: Okay, I'm going to challenge you to take five minutes every day.
Chris May: Put your cell phone in another room and just sit before the Lord, ask Him to speak to you and just listen.
Chris May: Can you do that?
Chris May: Is that easy enough to ask?
Chris May: The story is told of a frightened young boy during the London Blitz in World War II.
Chris May: He was running through the streets terrified as bombs were falling around him, but then suddenly he heard his father's voice calling his name.
Chris May: Instantly, fear gave way to peace and he knew he was safe to peace and he knew he was safe.
Chris May: You know, church life is chaotic, isn't it?
Chris May: A lot of uncertainties.
Chris May: There are many things on the news every day that can make our hearts melt with fear.
Chris May: But if you will quiet your soul and you will hear the voice of the Lord, day by day, that anxiety that so many of us struggle with can turn to peace.
Chris May: May the Lord, by His grace, continue to speak to us, and may we, his people, listen and obey.