SPEAKER_00: We are so glad that you're worshiping with us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If we haven't met, my name is Clayton.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the pastor here at the Ark.
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to meet you after service in the lobby.
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear your story, see what God is doing in your life.
SPEAKER_00: We're just honored that you're worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_00: We're in a series called Hearing God, and I'm loving what He's doing in my life in this series, and I hope that you can sense that He's stirring something up inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: I uh I had a dad fail this week.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you about my dad fail?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sure.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that ringing vote of confidence right there.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes I like, I feel I feel like you know way too much about me and I don't know near enough about you.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so I expect in the lobby to be hearing your dad fails uh on the way out the door today.
SPEAKER_00: But dad failed this week.
SPEAKER_00: I was I had my kids in the car and my AC and my car's not working, and and the parts on back order, and we live in Houston, Texas, somebody, so it doesn't matter that it's winter time, you need the AC.
SPEAKER_00: Am I right?
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm pulling into the driveway, and I didn't get the right angle, and I like to back my truck up, and it has to be right on the grass edge, you know, just perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I didn't get it right, and so I I pulled out of the driveway again, and I turned around and I noticed that my daughter, who's six years old, her name is Emmy, she had unbuckled herself from her car seat, and she is hanging out the window looking at the neighbor's dog, shouting out the window, hanging, and I turned around and I said, Baby, baby, don't ever do that.
SPEAKER_00: I said, get back in your seat, don't ever lean out the window, ever.
SPEAKER_00: I turned around, I continued to back up and I backed the truck in the driveway, and I rolled up the windows when all of a sudden I heard a blood-curdling six-year-old girl screaming.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, what?
SPEAKER_00: And I turned around only to find out that I had shut my daughter's head in the car window.
SPEAKER_00: I quickly rolled the window down, I went around.
SPEAKER_00: I got, by the way, mom, it's you know, she's gonna be okay, you know.
SPEAKER_00: I can't remember if I told my wife this story yet or not.
SPEAKER_00: I grabbed my daughter and I held on to her.
SPEAKER_00: I was rubbing her back and just telling her it's gonna be okay and it's gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00: And and through tears and crying, she shouted at me, Daddy, you're fired.
SPEAKER_00: I'm calling your parents, you're fired.
SPEAKER_00: She's just yelling at me, and I'm just I'm just rubbing her back until she's done crying.
SPEAKER_00: And on the outside, I'm being comforting.
SPEAKER_00: But on the inside, you know what I'm thinking?
SPEAKER_00: If you had just listened to what I told you, your head wouldn't have been in the window.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you a message this morning about hearing God.
SPEAKER_00: His voice makes your life better.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I've learned to love about God is that for all the times in my life when I get it wrong, he's right there to comfort.
SPEAKER_00: For all the times in my life where I think I should go right instead of go left, and I went the wrong direction, opposite of what he told me, I have found time and time again that God is the first one on the scene to comfort me in the midst of my failure.
SPEAKER_00: At the very same hand, with the very same token, I want to encourage us today, though.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder how many times God is comforting, and in the midst of his comforting, is saying, if you had only listened to what I told you, you would have got a different result.
SPEAKER_00: It would have been different.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you today because I don't know your faith tradition.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how you grew up, I don't know where you grew up, I don't know how much church was or wasn't a part of your life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if your mom had 25 Bibles throughout the house marked up and highlighted up.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if the Bible at your house sat dusty on a shelf.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to encourage you today with the idea that this word was made to make your life better.
SPEAKER_00: That the blessing of God follows the reading and obeying of his word.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, one of the greatest ways that you're gonna begin to hear his voice.
SPEAKER_00: If you're like, I'm not really sure where to start with all this, Clayton, at first when you brought up the series, I thought you were kind of weird.
SPEAKER_00: I thought maybe only weird people hear the voice of God.
SPEAKER_00: No, listen, if somebody's weird, they were probably weird before they heard God, so it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that as you begin to read the voice, uh as you begin to read the word of God, you will begin to learn what his voice sounds like in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I had Courtney didn't know it, but scripture for today is Psalm 119, 105.
SPEAKER_00: Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
SPEAKER_00: That God's word is actually the voice of God to direct you and bring light to the dark areas and comfort you when you need it and encourage you on the right path when you're on the wrong one, and to give you direction for your family and give you insight and wisdom when you need the peace and help of God.
SPEAKER_00: As we jump into today's message on God's word making your life better, I was thinking about a testimony in my life, a time in my life where I really needed the Lord's direction.
SPEAKER_00: I had just uh graduated high school, I applied to one college and I got rejected.
SPEAKER_00: I was so confident.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've been there, if you've ever been in a season of your life where you think you know exactly what the will of God is for your life, only to find out you heard wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember in that moment thinking, what do I do now?
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget because I came home, I was on a weekend retreat, I got the rejection letter in the mail, my mom read it to me over the phone, it wasn't going so well.
SPEAKER_00: I remember getting home, and my mom had taken a scripture card and wrote Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you a hope and a future.
SPEAKER_00: And she wrote that on a yellow index card.
SPEAKER_00: I can still see it in my mind today.
SPEAKER_00: I remember coming home thinking, what am I gonna do now?
SPEAKER_00: And she had laid it on my bed and I read that scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Over the course of the next three months, I began touring different colleges all over Arkansas and Oklahoma and Missouri, but how many of you know they weren't the promised land?
SPEAKER_00: Every school I went to, I got madder and madder.
SPEAKER_00: Every time I visited a university, I got more bitter and bitter.
SPEAKER_00: Because I thought this wasn't the plan.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't what I had in mind.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm getting more confused by the moment.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever set out to try and do something with God or for God?
SPEAKER_00: Only to find out in the end you're like, I'm more confused than when I started.
SPEAKER_00: You know that phrase, clear as mud, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like sometimes in our life when we're looking for direction, we feel like things are just about as clear as mud.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget because I stepped on the campus of Dallas Baptist University in Dallas, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: I'm walking around and something inside of me is like, I think this is it.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had a moment in your life where you're like, I actually, I really think this actually might be God.
SPEAKER_00: I I really don't think it was yesterday's pizza.
SPEAKER_00: I really think like God Almighty is like encouraging me in this direction, but you're just like, I need some confirmation.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I don't want to just like hope that this works out.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I how many of you know some of those decisions in life, you're like, I want to know that I know that I know.
SPEAKER_00: I walked into their chapel service with all their students, and I'm sensing this is the right place.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm in chapel and in worship, and they have this beautiful old Baptist chapel, huge chapel, and I look up about 40, 50 feet in the air, and across the rafters of the ceiling were scripture verses written on every single one of them.
SPEAKER_00: And the rafter that I was standing on when I looked up said Jeremiah 29, 11.
SPEAKER_00: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that God's word ministered to me.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know how big a deal this is because I'm in ministry today because of what was deposited to me in that room.
SPEAKER_00: I'm married to the person I'm married to today because she was in that same room.
SPEAKER_00: And I look back at moments in my life, and I cannot help but be thankful that God's word still speaks.
SPEAKER_00: There is history in the Bible, but can I tell you there's more than history?
SPEAKER_00: There's lots of different kinds of literature in the Bible, but it's not just a history lesson, it's not just a story of some dead people's faith.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible actually teaches and reveals that it is the living and active word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Which means this: God wants to speak to you through his word the same way he did to the person who was writing it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes I think we can look at spiritual people or people in the Bible and think, well, they must have really had it all together and their life, they probably knew whether to go left or right every single time, and they probably had no drama in their family.
SPEAKER_00: If they met my family, they'd know I need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to know that the same God who inspired them and encouraged them is the same God who can live inside of you through the power of the Holy Spirit to speak to you a living and active word.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you some examples today of people in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to share their examples with you because I took an Old Testament passage and a New Testament passage, and I want to deliver it to you today because I want you to see how God's word has always been making people's lives better.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me loud and clear.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give a disclaimer.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not telling you today that it makes your life perfect.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying that this is God's best plan for your life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you that the blessing and favor of God follow his spoken word over your life as you receive it, as you learn it, as you listen to it and you walk it out.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be blessed today?
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, blessing is not a random by chance occurrence in your life.
SPEAKER_00: The favor of God from time to time will fall on you in areas and moments of your life where you don't deserve it at all.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: The more you follow God's word, the more you're gonna see his blessing.
SPEAKER_00: The more you begin to live by his word, the clearer his voice is gonna become to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's like growing in awareness of what his voice sounds like.
SPEAKER_00: Last week I gave the illustration or painted the example of a mom in a room full of a bunch of kids shouting, uh kids shouting, Mom, how does the mom know that that's her kid?
SPEAKER_00: Because she has an awareness of her child's voice.
SPEAKER_00: She's familiar.
SPEAKER_00: And the heart behind today's message is that as you become more and more familiar and acquainted with God's word, it would help you in everyday life.
SPEAKER_00: That on Monday morning, when you're driving in traffic, feeling like you're losing your salvation from the day before, that you would find that God can speak to you in your car just as much as he could in your quiet time.
SPEAKER_00: That God could speak to you on a Friday night when you're out with your family and doing things with your family as much as he can on a Sunday morning when the word is being read to you in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the kind of relationship I want you to have with God.
SPEAKER_00: The first example this morning comes from a guy in the Bible named Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapter 1 is going to be our text, and Joshua, I want to paint this picture for you because Joshua had a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua's problem is that his predecessor was this little unknown guy named Moses.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to imagine with me for just one moment, you're Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let me jog your memory because you're I don't know if you're tracking with me.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is the guy who parted the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is the guy who the people were in slavery for over 400 years.
SPEAKER_00: Moses says, I'm gonna set you all free.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Moses is the man.
SPEAKER_00: And you're Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua chapter 1 starts with, and Moses died.
SPEAKER_00: Your story starts when Moses dies.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua is standing here, and I want you to imagine with me for just a moment all these people.
SPEAKER_00: You know how hard it is to leave your house sometimes, right?
SPEAKER_00: In your prayer time, you're like, dear Jesus, you did give me these kids.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you forget it.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do this without you.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua is praying, dear Jesus, these are all your kids.
SPEAKER_00: All several million of them that have been wandering around in the wilderness, and now they're tired and they're hungry and angry.
SPEAKER_00: And we've been through a few things over the years.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua is in a place, I'm just trying to paint a picture.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua just needs to know what the voice of God sounds like in his life.
SPEAKER_00: There's no way he could take the mantle of responsibility and leadership that he was about to have to step into if he did not have the help of God in his life.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to hear just what God would say to Joshua in this text.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 Just as I was with Moses, Joshua, so I will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: How many of y'all say, Thank you, God, for your encouragement?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you're Joshua in your moment, you're no, it doesn't tell us, but I'm I'm feeling a sense of inadequacy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling a sense of the task before me is way too big for me, all on my own.
SPEAKER_00: And the first words out of God's mouth were encouragement to Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua, just like I was with Moses, I'll be with you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's so important for you to learn how to hear God's voice in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because your greatest encourager is none other than God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: The person who's going to remind you what you need in the moments of your life when you need it the most is none other than God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that God doesn't use people.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying if if all you have are people, how many of you know sometimes people get it wrong?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know sometimes in your life that people are only adding to the insecurities that you feel?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know sometimes people don't help the problems in your life get smaller, they just help the problems in your life get bigger?
SPEAKER_00: And in this moment, in front of a faith journey that's head, God says to Joshua, I will be with you just like I was with Moses.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that's a word he could hang his hat on?
SPEAKER_00: How many know that on the days when it got hard, that's what he had to lean on?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that in the times of his life he didn't know if I'm gonna go to the right or to the left?
SPEAKER_00: He knew in that moment that God was with him.
SPEAKER_00: A word from God will change your life.
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty dramatic for preachers to stand up and say, This is gonna change your life, but I'm telling you what, the word of God will change your life.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua in this moment is getting this encouragement from the Lord, but it's not just encouragement that he wants to speak to you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6 be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
SPEAKER_00: Only be strong and be very courageous, being careful to do according to the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: Do not turn to it from the right to the left, that you may have, circle this, good success wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: How many came to church today and say, I hope I fail in my life?
SPEAKER_00: I hope things get worse, not better.
SPEAKER_00: I hope I make a mess out of this deal.
SPEAKER_00: And God is speaking to Joshua, and He's telling him in this moment, you're going to have good success in your life when you stick with my word.
SPEAKER_00: When you don't depart from it.
SPEAKER_00: When you make a conscious decision that you live by the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it on Sunday mornings at 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: You shall meditate on it day and night.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, you shall receive it when your pastor preaches it.
SPEAKER_00: He says, day and night.
SPEAKER_00: In your car, when your kids are acting crazy.
SPEAKER_00: On date night with your spouse.
SPEAKER_00: When you're at work, I love hearing the stories and testimonies of people going to work, and they say the first thing I do in the morning is I leave my Bible right on top of my desk and I open the Bible and I read it.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if you're at work or at church or on a date.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if you're at your kids' sporting activities.
SPEAKER_00: How many know?
SPEAKER_00: You can be meditating on God's word night and day, and it will change your life.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on and he says this, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way, here's a good word, prosperous.
SPEAKER_00: And then you will have good success.
SPEAKER_00: There it is again.
SPEAKER_00: Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: I love this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Do I say that every week?
SPEAKER_00: I think I do.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
SPEAKER_00: This is my new favorite passage of this moment.
SPEAKER_00: I can do that.
SPEAKER_00: I love this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Because God comes to listen, the number of people that come through the doors of the church and they say, Well, the walls aren't falling in yet.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what they're saying is, I haven't been to church a while and things didn't really go according to plan, and I haven't been living the best, but I thought maybe when I come to church the walls are going to fall in because God's just not going to be happy with me.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about this passage is the first thing God shows up to do is to encourage Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if all the voice you of God that you hear in your life is only negative and bad, I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that you're hearing the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You might be hearing the voice of the enemy who's bringing shame and guilt on your life.
SPEAKER_00: The next thing that God does is he instructs Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua, I have an assignment for you.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua, this is how I want you to live your life.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua, this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that if all you ever hear is God's encouragement but never his instruction, you may not be listening to the voice of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes what happens is we find that we follow our heart, that we follow our passions.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that your heart is wicked and deceitful above all else.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God, that's not very encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: But if it's true, it means that I don't just need God's encouragement, I need his instruction, I need his direction in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why there are times when you read the Bible, you will cry.
SPEAKER_00: Because you think God is speaking right to my situation.
SPEAKER_00: And there will be times, listen, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'm your preacher, and I'm telling you, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: There will be times when you read the Bible and everything in you wants to disagree with what you're reading.
SPEAKER_00: There will be times where you read it and you're mad about what you're reading.
SPEAKER_00: There are times when you will read it and you'll think, that's too hard.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to do can hey, you know, we're all human in here.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay to be in process.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to know this God's word wants to instruct you why?
SPEAKER_00: To make your life better.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, I'm not a mechanic, otherwise, my AC on my truck would be fixed by now.
SPEAKER_00: But the thing about the manual is the manual is written with a design in mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's not somebody just writing, you know, maybe just plug that wire into that wire and it might work.
SPEAKER_00: You don't pick up a manual and say, if you press these ten buttons ten times and then pray really hard, maybe the, you know, maybe the radio will work in your truck.
SPEAKER_00: No, the person who wrote it wrote it with the design in mind.
SPEAKER_00: They're the designer of God's word, does the very same thing.
SPEAKER_00: That God, when he made you, he knew what you needed before you even knew what you needed.
SPEAKER_00: He knew about the steps of your life before you even knew about the steps of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And so his word is meant to encourage you and instruct you along the way.
SPEAKER_00: And God did that for Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: I want to paint a picture because he's still doing it in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, because sometimes people are like, well, that's the Old Testament, and God just spoke to people all the time, and this is the New Testament, and we, you know, we have the Bible, but I don't know if God really does care about speaking to me in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear what Paul tells a young Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy, just like Joshua, has a big task ahead of him.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy, he's young and inexperienced.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy desperately needs God's help to accomplish the task that is before him, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: But as for you, Paul says to him, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed.
SPEAKER_00: Circle the word learned and circle the word believed.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing from who you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred sacred writings.
SPEAKER_00: Other translations specifically say the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16 All Scripture is Breathed out by God.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is breathed out by God, and it is profitable for your teaching, for your reproof.
SPEAKER_00: Some translations say your rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: There are times you will read the Bible and it will rebuke your lifestyle or the way you're living.
SPEAKER_00: It will be correctional and for training in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: That the man or the woman of God may be, listen to these words, complete and equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER_00: I love what both passages have in common.
SPEAKER_00: Both passages have the same big picture idea in common.
SPEAKER_00: Paul tells Timothy that you may be complete and that you may be equipped.
SPEAKER_00: Another way of saying that you may be whole, that you may have what you need for life and godliness.
SPEAKER_00: God tells Joshua that you would be prosperous and successful.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture, the word of God to you, is designed to help make you whole.
SPEAKER_00: It's designed to help make you equipped for life.
SPEAKER_00: It's designed to complete you.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the idea that the gaps in your life are filled in, are completed by the power of his word in your life.
SPEAKER_00: That his word would make you prosperous and successful in every area of your life.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's powerful.
SPEAKER_00: I've been using some illustrations over the last few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Every week I've had a new one because how many of y'all are picture people?
SPEAKER_00: Like, don't tell it to me.
SPEAKER_00: Give me a picture.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about a radio.
SPEAKER_00: And a radio, you got to tune in to the right frequency, hearing the voice of God.
SPEAKER_00: You got to turn some other noises down.
SPEAKER_00: If you happen upon a station that you don't speak the language, the problem's not with the radio, it's with the frequency that you're on.
SPEAKER_00: So you have to adjust the dial.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we talked about God's word being a key.
SPEAKER_00: The God's word is a key that opens your ability to hear God in a fresh and a new way.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning, I want to paint it to you like coffee, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all just got excited.
SPEAKER_00: I can see it in your face.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody said, Somebody say coffee?
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_00: I have a theory about coffee.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody really likes coffee.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just telling you.
SPEAKER_00: My theory is nobody drank coffee for the first time in their life and thought this is the best thing I've ever had.
SPEAKER_00: They used to have a phrase, young man, drinking coffee will put hair on your chest.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you were drinking my grandfather's coffee, Folgers, not warmed up milk from Starbucks, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: This week I got in trouble with my wife.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we had a discussion, that's what I meant to say.
SPEAKER_00: Um I uh I went to Starbucks, and when I went to Starbucks, um I couldn't get her order right.
SPEAKER_00: I don't, Starbucks, man, it just baffles me, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, uh, I would like a large coffee, please, with risk, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And my wife said to me, you know, oh, I'm going through the line and I'm I'm butchering her order.
SPEAKER_00: And the lady behind the intercom on the other side says, Oh, are you Courtney's husband?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Oh, you'll have a grande venti cinnamon powder.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I can't, I can't.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Hold on, you know her order without her even being here?
SPEAKER_00: And I pulled up to the window, I said, I'm gonna have a budget talk with my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Because if the Starbucks lady knows your order, we got a problem, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh my wife, she said, I just I can't believe you can't remember my drink order.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, babe, the problem is I don't even know what half the words mean.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I I don't drink coffee.
SPEAKER_00: I I I'm I'm a phony pastor because I don't drink coffee.
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know what to tell you here, but I know some things about coffee, and that is this that you know, to have good coffee, you have to have some good coffee beans ground up, right?
SPEAKER_00: So, we're gonna make us a cup of coffee here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And um since I don't drink it, uh Jimmy, I was wondering if you'd go ahead and you know, if you ask people what makes a good cup of coffee, it's like, well, my grandfather had folders and it was terrible because it was just hard stuff, it just wasn't good.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all say, well, it's all about the kind of coffee.
SPEAKER_00: And some of y'all like real connoisseurs, and you just like have all these fancy things you order from other countries and you just hope you know what's in it.
SPEAKER_00: And um, but how many of you know it really isn't about the beans?
SPEAKER_00: It's all about the filter.
SPEAKER_00: A good cup of coffee cannot happen without a good filter.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this fancy thing.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what you do with this.
SPEAKER_00: A good cup of coffee cannot happen without a good filter, right?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that the filter impacts the outcome?
SPEAKER_00: That whatever the filter does or doesn't do is going to have a direct result on what it is that you drink, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so we can sit here and watch this all day long.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what's gonna happen the filter has an impact on the outcome of what you drink.
SPEAKER_00: How many of y'all would like to drink the second cup over the first cup?
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes here's what I think we do in life: we we pour all the ingredients in and we take a sip and we think, that's bitter.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't come out the way I expected.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I was hoping for.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: As you're spitting beans out of your mouth for the rest of the day.
SPEAKER_00: But any person who loves coffee would tell you, well, get you a good filter, and that'll solve a lot of problems.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you the picture and illustration today that as we study God's word, I want you to know that God's word is a filter for your life.
SPEAKER_00: God's will, God's word and God's will for your life is the filter through which you experience the outcomes of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to paint it to you this way because this is what's going to form the filter around our lives that allow us to get the result God wants.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is this we have to learn what God says.
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna put a good filter, a good key to learning how to hear the voice of God, is you have to learn what God's word, the Bible, says.
SPEAKER_00: Now, listen, I'm not gonna look at anybody right now, okay?
SPEAKER_00: My eyes are closed.
SPEAKER_00: Don't step off the stage.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to graduate from this method of hearing from God.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm really going through a problem right now.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 23.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't work, that's not helpful.
SPEAKER_00: Don't eat bacon.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Like, it is time to graduate from this kind of faith and move into a learning.
SPEAKER_00: There was a business guy who said, God, I really need some direction on what kind of business I should start.
SPEAKER_00: Old story.
SPEAKER_00: I need some direction on business.
SPEAKER_00: And he did this and he pointed, and the scripture was, God owns a cattle on a thousand hills.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, I'm gonna start a cattle business.
SPEAKER_00: About a year into cattle business, he realized I'm not made for this, I'm not cut out for this.
SPEAKER_00: God, I really need some direction.
SPEAKER_00: What should I do?
SPEAKER_00: Oil.
SPEAKER_00: That's a way better idea, God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go into the oil business.
SPEAKER_00: He went into oil business and it was not working.
SPEAKER_00: And he went back and he said, God, I need some direction.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 11?
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to file for bankruptcy.
SPEAKER_00: You know that kind of faith.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not listening if you've ever done that, I've done that a million times.
SPEAKER_00: I did it this morning for our message.
SPEAKER_00: Kidding.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know God can speak to you through that way?
SPEAKER_00: But there is a mature way, there is a growing up in your faith way, and that is learning what God's word says.
SPEAKER_00: And when you learn what it says, it will help you in the moment of crisis.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm here to tell you today, if you're not in a crisis, good news is for you, it's time to train for one.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to deposit things in you so that when you get in crisis, you don't have to go like this and say, I hope it works.
SPEAKER_00: What I want for you is I want you to get in God's word so that you can learn it.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you learn it, it will teach you what his voice sounds like.
SPEAKER_00: And when you find yourself in the midst of the crisis and you get some good advice from a friend, and you wonder, I don't know if that was God speaking to me through them, or if that was them just being crazy.
SPEAKER_00: You can say, I have a filter, and the filter in my life is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: I know it.
SPEAKER_00: I've been reading it, I've been learning what his voice sounds like.
SPEAKER_00: That's why God told Joshua, meditate on his word day and night.
SPEAKER_00: Get in it regularly, open it up daily, find times throughout your day.
SPEAKER_00: Let your app notify you.
SPEAKER_00: Time to read God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a verse you might need today.
SPEAKER_00: Like get in God's word and meditate on it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you will learn what it sounds like.
SPEAKER_00: This is probably one of the most important keys to keep the beans from getting in your coffee.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes the challenge when you start trying to hear God speak, you have to know that this is the key.
SPEAKER_00: And the key is this if what you think you are hearing from God directly contradicts what this says, I can promise you you're not hearing from God.
SPEAKER_00: If what you think you're hearing God speak or say to you directly contradicts this, listen, God will never contradict his word.
SPEAKER_00: This is the filter through which our life flows, which is why you could hear a business guy say, God is really blessing our business right now.
SPEAKER_00: Look how much money we're making, and you've been doing business with him for a while, and you know he's lying and cheating and stealing.
SPEAKER_00: Then the words God blessing this business does not coexist with lying and stealing and cheating.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're learned.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, listen to this verse right here, Proverbs 11:18.
SPEAKER_00: The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.
SPEAKER_00: So, how many of you know just because the business has money in the bank account doesn't mean God is blessing it.
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you the business that God is blessing.
SPEAKER_00: It's the person who's sowing in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter what the bottom line is, because the bottom line on his heart is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Walking righteously.
SPEAKER_00: I hear this.
SPEAKER_00: I listen, I'm not at you at all today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just giving you some practical examples.
SPEAKER_00: I saw this thing the other day, and somebody said, God really brought the two of us together.
SPEAKER_00: And after three months, only three months of being together, we just knew God was with us, and so we moved in together and we're living together, and our relationship is just going better than any relationship I could have ever imagined.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I'm not at you today, but I want you to know that that directly contradicts the instruction of God's word, which says, one man and one woman together under his blessing and doing it his way.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, every time we get instruction and correction in our life, it's always an opportunity to say, God, I did this the wrong way.
SPEAKER_00: Would you please forgive me?
SPEAKER_00: Would you encourage me and instruct me back on the right path?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, it's not always how you start, it's how you finish.
SPEAKER_00: And when your heart says, Listen, I'm open to your instruction in my life.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, God cannot bless something that contradicts his word.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's important to learn it.
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know about you, but I want the blessing of God on my life.
SPEAKER_00: Number two is this you don't just have to learn what God says, you have to believe what God says.
SPEAKER_00: You have to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Paul tells Timothy in chapter 3, verse 16, all scripture is breathed out by God.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things.
SPEAKER_00: For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets through human spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What am I telling you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you that every word you read on this page was inspired by the author of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You have over 66 books in your Bible written by numerous authors.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of them had a different life.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of them started in a different place.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of them had a different calling by God on their life.
SPEAKER_00: But every single one who wrote this was not just writing their best ideas.
SPEAKER_00: Every single person who played a part in the writing of Scripture, the Bible says, were inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That's God's breath.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it's really important.
SPEAKER_00: If you were with us a couple of weeks ago, I talked about God forming man in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: And of all the things that God made, man was different.
SPEAKER_00: God formed man in the dust, and what did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He breathed his breath into Adam.
SPEAKER_00: And Adam had life.
SPEAKER_00: And when they got kicked out of the garden because they didn't follow God's word, the question and the quest of life became how do I get God's breath back again?
SPEAKER_00: Adam walked with God in the garden in relationship.
SPEAKER_00: God was speaking to him all the time, and now he's out of the garden.
SPEAKER_00: And what does a relationship with God look like?
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ came that he may save you for all of eternity, but empower you by his Holy Spirit in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to know how you get God's breath back again?
SPEAKER_00: The power of his Holy Spirit is breathing on these words that you read every day.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't you picking up the best self-help book you could find on Amazon last week.
SPEAKER_00: This is you sitting down, listen, with the breath of God every day.
SPEAKER_00: There's a big difference.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I want you to think about this as you read your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Every morning, you're reading it like this.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to imagine a picture for all of you, visual people, on the other side of your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: God is doing this.
SPEAKER_00: And He's blowing His words and His life, and you're reading it.
SPEAKER_00: And as you're reading it, you are inhaling life.
SPEAKER_00: You are receiving direction.
SPEAKER_00: You are finding a path forward.
SPEAKER_00: You are finding answers and solutions to some of your greatest challenges.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is on the other side of his word, a living and active word, breathing it to you.
SPEAKER_00: Your job is to learn it and believe it.
SPEAKER_00: He tells a young Timothy, he says, Hey, do what you did in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Learn it and believe it.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, the power and the activation of it comes when you believe what it is that he says.
SPEAKER_00: And the last one is this: do what God says.
SPEAKER_00: Learn, believe, and do.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a three-legged stool.
SPEAKER_00: All three parts working together.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 1, verse 22 says this, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says.
SPEAKER_00: He will be blessed in his doing.
SPEAKER_00: You want to see the blessing and favor.
SPEAKER_00: You want to see the prosperity of God on your life like never before.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, become really good friends with the Word of God in your life?
SPEAKER_00: And the more you do, it will serve as a filter in your moments of crisis and on your good days.
SPEAKER_00: It will serve as a filter that directs the steps that you take.
SPEAKER_00: It will serve as a filter that protects and preserves the integrity of your relationships.
SPEAKER_00: It is a filter that will help you make the biggest business decisions you will ever have to make.
SPEAKER_00: It's a filter that will help you when you need a new job because the one you have isn't working.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God is life to you to make you whole, to equip you, to prosper you, and make you successful?
SPEAKER_00: Would you bow your heads?
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the response Is there something that God has been asking you to do that you know you need to do?