SPEAKER_00 0:07

Well, I've enjoyed this series on hearing God, and uh I'm excited to continue it this morning. And uh as as we jump in today, uh I'm gonna share some stories out of the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 18 is where we're gonna be. So if you have a good old school Bible uh and you want to turn there, you can do that. Um, we'll have it on the screen this morning for you as as well. Our hope and our heartbeat behind this series is that you would hear God speak. And and here's uh how I want to set this up today. We believe that no matter who you are, you can hear from God. You don't have to be in church your whole life. This this isn't just for the super saved. Anyone super saved? This isn't just for the people who were born in church or drugged to church. Anybody drugged to church as a kid? Hey, if you have teenagers, you drag them to church, alright? Um this is for anybody who wants to know what God's best is for their life. This is for anybody who has like a hunger on the inside of them to say, I'm craving the things of God. And I'm so thankful that the Lord doesn't have this long list of criteria for us to be able to participate in what he's doing. And we should be grateful for that. Because what it means is that in any season, in every season you're in in your life, that God can do a ministering work to you. And that's what we've been praying for you as a team. I love this series because I love the idea that we're growing and getting better. How many of y'all know you're not where you're gonna end up in the end? How many of you know I'm gonna get better? I'm gonna get stronger, I'm gonna get healthier, I'm gonna know more one day than I know today. Well, you know what? That's a posture you take. That's a heart that says, I want what God has for me. And so I'm looking forward to today's message. I uh again, I always tell you these stories because I want to relate, but sometimes I feel like I err way too much of my life. I own tools, but they're clean. And there are some real true Magnolia men probably wearing boots in the room, and drove a truck, and you're judging me right now. Stop it. I know how to use most of my tools, I just choose not to use most of my tools. Uh my uh my dad was a real estate agent and my wife and I were first married, 20, 21, 23 years old. My dad came to me and said, Hey, I have a house and you need to buy it. I wanted to say, you have a house and you want to buy it, you know? And uh he said, Hey, listen, um, I'm gonna take you, I want to show you. Basically, what it was, it was a house that uh an investor that he did real estate for um had bought off an auction block. A guy had inherited a home from his grandparents, completely paid for, and he chose not to pay the taxes. And he lost the entire home. The investor bought it on an auction block, I don't know, for$20,000,$30,000. We bought it for$89,000. How many of y'all know that house was a beauty? I took my new wife and showed her the house. And how many of y'all remember back in the day, you know, when you used to put wallpaper on the walls? It's like your grandma's plaid quilt plastered all over the wall, you know? And and uh because if you've ever has anybody ever uh you know taken wallpaper off the walls? Probably only once, right? Because the next time you decided I'm not taking that wallpaper off, we just laying wallpaper right over the top of that bad boy, you know? So eight layers into this wallpaper, I we bought this house, and I'm I'm like, I'm not doing this anymore. So we're in the bathroom scraping wallpaper, and I just start ripping the sheetrock off the walls. And I'm like, this didn't work. And I'm looking at my dad, I'm like, Dad, I don't, this project is way over my head. I don't know if I can I can do this. And I'll never forget my dad's like, you know, I remember him saying, You should buy this house, it's a good investment, son. I'll never forget like walking through the doors thinking, this house is the ugliest house I've ever seen. And him saying, You can do it. I said, I can do it. I said, I can only do it if you do it with me. And and how many of you know, if your dad's got tools, you're good to go, you know? If he's got the experience, you're good to go. And so, can I tell you, like, that house did a total 180 transformation. You know, I we moved in on our one-year anniversary of being married. I I totally missed it. I thought the house was the anniversary gift. Didn't know you still have to buy flowers, but that's neither here nor there, right? We moved in in the house. I we we tiled the bathrooms. I mean, we got fancy with the tile. We didn't just put it in straight squares, you know, like we did that up in the walls, like all up the shower, and it it looked good. But I want to tell you, I had an encouraging voice behind me. You can do it. I don't think I can do it. You can do it. I don't know if I'll be, I'll help you. How many of you know the right voices encouraging you gets a different result than the wrong voices? Because I'll never forget four years later, my buddy said, Hey, uh, my wife really wants me to redo our bathroom. Didn't you redo your whole house? I said, Well, yes, sir, I did, you know. Got my clean tools out again and said, All right, and he said, We're gonna demo this whole bathroom this weekend and we're gonna retile it before she even gets back, and it's gonna be amazing. I said, I don't know if that's a good idea. You should ask your wife first, you know, we should call in it. And he just kept encouraging me, you ever have those optimistic people in your life? They're like, we can do it, you can do it. Like, you're like, you need a dose of reality, son. And and I I'm he went to Home Depot, he bought all the tile, and I was like, I guess we're doing it. And all weekend I kept telling him, I don't know. You know, the the easy part is ripping out all the old carpet and ripping out the walls. The hard part is that part where you think, what did I just do? Is this thing ever gonna go back together? And he kept saying, You can do it, you can do it, we'll do it, you can do it, you can do it. How many of you know that was the ugliest bathroom remodel you've ever seen in your life? The tile wasn't straight. I mean, it was midnight, and he said, We're gonna finish this bathroom tonight. We had only laid half the bathroom. And the thing about laying tiles, you have to have patience, right? You gotta be patient. And uh he said, No, we're gonna finish this tonight. So it was like 3 a.m. I mean, we were just, there was grout everywhere, nothing was straight, it was uneven, it was terrible. I told him, you need to sell this house and get out. Listen, how many know listening to the wrong voice will cause you to do some things you wouldn't otherwise do? I mean, that was that was a life lesson for me. In one instance, I had, you know, both instances I had the same product, same materials. Go to Home Depot, buy the same stuff, I had the same set of tools. What I didn't have was the right voice giving me the right advice. I want to talk to you today about hearing the voice of God through trusted voices in your life. What are the voices that you are listening to? Who are the voices that you are listening to? Because what I learned in that moment right there is that the wrong voice will cause me to do some wrong things. And the right voice will encourage me to go to places I didn't think I could go at all. I want to share this illustration with you. We've been big on illustrations in this series. We had a radio about tuning into the frequency of God. We had a coffee filter that God's word is a filter that helps you as you learn to process God's voice. We we talked about it being a key to open a door, and today I want to talk to you, keeping in theme with our building illustration here, about a plumb line. Ladies, how many of y'all know what a plumb line is? Okay, there you go. Men, you should be so proud of your wife right now. Come on. Y'all need to come over to my house after church today. I got a few projects for you, okay? A plumb line. See, a plumb line is what you build a wall up to. Today they get a little fancy. You seen those guys with lasers? When we uh were remodeling this summer, we had a guy coming to the church and he was volunteering and he said, Hey, I'll help you hang this stuff, and he came with all of his lasers. You know, it's all about the right cool tools in life, right? These lasers, how many of you know I've the most unholy I've ever been in my life was hanging curtains, somebody. That's spiritual work right there. He came with his lasers, and as he was lasering things on the wall, it means that things would end up straight. Why? Because you had a plumb line, you had a line that you could base it off of. As we were building one day in the summer, the kids' ministry rooms next door, the contractors were working on a wall. The superintendent walked up and said, uh-uh, and gave him the eyes. And that contractor looked up from the work that he was doing and he said, It's straight, it's straight, it's straight. And the superintendent looked at him and said, No, it's not. His buddy came over and he said, This wall, it's straight, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's gonna be just fine. And the superintendent, what did he make him do? He made him take three-quarters of that wall right back down and start over. Why? Because it didn't match the plumb line. Because it wasn't straight. This morning I want to talk to you. God's word is a plumb line in your life. This is actually scripture. I'm gonna show you a scripture in Amos here in just a moment. But God's word to you is the plumb life, plumb line of your life. That when you build your life, you're building it to plumb according to what he says, not just what you think looks good. Not, you know how many times your eyes can deceive you. You're standing at this wall, you're standing at a tile line, you're saying, This looks good, it's gonna be good, it's gonna be okay. The right voices in your life are there to help you build your wall plum. They're there to help you align your life with God's word. And so I'm gonna use this idea today. I'm gonna say the phrase trusted voices, and I'm gonna say it often. I was intentional about how to craft that phrase because I don't want you to just listen to voices. How many of y'all got voices in your life? Voices and trusted voices are two totally different things. A trusted voice in your life is helping you build your life according to the plumb line of God's word. And so the heartbeat behind today's message is this that you would surround yourself with, that you would find people that you would allow into your life in such a way that they're going to help you listen to God's voice better. They're gonna encourage you, they're gonna inspire you, they're gonna instruct you in ways that help you. Because how many know we all have voices and friends that will say things like this? It's no big deal. It's not that big a deal. No one will notice. That's a good one right there. No, if I just keep building this wall, this nope, nobody's even gonna see that little detail. We all have voices where people will say things like everyone else does it. But what we want to do is we want to surround ourselves with voices that say, This is what God says. This is God's instruction, this is God's advice, this is God's counsel for what I'm going through. I love what it says in Amos chapter 7, verse 7. This is what he showed me. The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plum, with a plumb line in his hand, and the Lord asked me, What do you see, Amos? A plumb line, Amos replied. Then the Lord said, Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people, Israel. I will spare them no longer. Here's what Amos does. Amos comes and says, I got a word from the Lord, and this word from the Lord, it is a plumb line, and he begins to share it with the king and the priest of the day. And how many of you know, just because it's plum doesn't mean everybody's gonna like it. Just because it's what God says doesn't mean everybody wants to follow it. Just because it's the right thing to do doesn't mean everybody's knocking down the door to do the right thing. And there's a guy there, his name is Amaziah, and here's what he says. He says to Amos, in essence, he says, Go away, Amos. Have you ever had somebody give you some advice in your life and you'd just be like, I wish you would just go away? Sometimes the best counsel in our life, our first response is, I wish you would just go away. How many always sometimes like social media you can mute people? You're like, there are some people in my life, I wish I could just mute what they're saying. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. I'm not listening. And this is what is happening in this story right here, because Amos is giving a word from the Lord, and Amaziah says, Listen, we don't want to hear it. In other words, he said, the land cannot bear all your words. He said, We don't want to hear them. So he literally tells Amos, he says, go to another town. He says, leave Bethel and go to Magnolia. Lord knows they need your help. And he's telling Amos, I don't want what it is that you have to say. I don't even care if it's plum. You know what Amos's response to him in his life? And I think this is good of the response of the people in our life who are trusted voices that we should allow to speak into our life. Amos says, now then I want you to hear the word of the Lord. In other words, Amos didn't stop. Amos didn't stop giving the right word. He didn't let people discourage him from saying what needed to be said. In other words, Amos knew this. Amos knew what plum looks like. And that if he's not building to plum, then guess what? You're building in vain. That guess what? If if the wall is straight, if the foundation is off, if things aren't in alignment, then it's not going to go well for you. And so Amos's heart and Amos's passion was, hey, listen, I'm gonna tell you what God wants you to hear. How many of you know you don't just need people in your life who will tell you what you want to hear, you need people in your life who will tell you what you need to hear. And Amos was that. And Amos gave that word. And I know what you may be thinking this morning. It's like, hey, there are some people in my life that they've been my friends for a long time. Can I tell you this? Just because they've been your friend for a long time doesn't mean they're true to plum. But we've been together through thick and thin. Just because you've been together through thick and thin doesn't mean they're plum. Sometimes I'll hear people say they're like, but he's my favorite podcaster. But the question is, I don't really care if what he's saying isn't plum. I watch that preacher on YouTube all the time. But we don't really care if what he's saying isn't true to plum. But that guy, he's the most successful person in my industry. I gotta do his advice. I gotta pay for his program and jump into what he is doing. But if what he's saying isn't true to plum, it doesn't matter how successful he is in his industry. What am I saying? Am I saying ignore every person in your life? No, I'm seeing, I'm saying be very, very careful about who you allow to help you build your life. Because when the wall comes up, it may look straight to you, it may look straight to the people around you, but they're not the judge. The superintendent comes up and says, it doesn't matter what you think, it doesn't matter about how many times you've built a wall like this. What matters is what plum looks like. God's word is the plumb line for our life. His word wants to come to you. And I want to tell you this this morning that God wants to surround you with trusted voices that will help you hear the voice of God more clearly. And the filter for all of it starts with this. Are they building to the same plumb line you are? Are they building their life around the same values, around the same biblical principles as you are? Listen to what it says right here. I want to give you a couple scriptures that are helpful to this subject. So Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 5. It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools. Alright, you you know, Proverbs, they kind of writes in Ecclesiastes Solomon. He kind of writes in this like creative way. What is he really saying here? Well, well, listen, usually when the song is going, you know, it's like, I'm not gonna do that actually. Uh you know, get your dance on, you know. It's like, I'm I'm getting out of the stage. I just the idea is that often when the music is playing, people are excited. Often when the music is playing, people are moving and and people are are excited about what's going on. Nobody shows up to the party on Friday night and says, Turn off the song, give me the rebuke. You didn't come to church this morning saying, hey, I just hope, I hope that I hope. The pastor stops all the music and just lays it on me thick and rebukes me. Like, people don't wake up that way. And what he's saying here is he said, it's better to heed the rebuke of the wise person than listen to the sounds of fools. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 15 says, in essence, the same thing. The way of fools seems right to them. The wall looks good. I've built this wall before, I know what I'm doing. But here's what he says: but the wise listen to advice. The wise let people speak into it. Proverbs 13, 20. Walk with the wise and become wise. You've heard this one probably. For a companion of fools suffers harm. Listen, this is a message I've preached for 17 years, mostly to 13-year-olds. But how many know sometimes we grow up and we need the same message we needed then? We tell teenagers all the time, parents, you you know, because you you've done this saga, right? You tell them all the time, the people you hang out with determine the direction of your life. The people you surround yourself with matters. My question today is when did we graduate from that? When do we graduate from that? Because here's the world that we live in. We get voices, I think, now more than ever before. I mean, some of y'all, like, I grew up before the internet. Like we had three friends, they all lived down the block, and I had a guy in the lobby tell me today the world would be so much better without internet. And I'm like, I agree. I wouldn't have all these packages showing up, taking all my money on my front door. So many voices. So many podcasts, so many even sermons and spiritual things. The question is, what are these voices saying? What kind of voices are you surrounding yourself with? And if you're preaching that message to your kids, you need to preach it harder to yourself. Because you can't preach what you don't practice. I want to encourage us with this word today because here's what I believe the trusted voices in your life are meant to be a blessing. And if you've ever had a friend that wasn't a blessing, you know just how valuable that is. The voices of people who have told you to go left when you should have gone right, and now guess what? All you have to do is blame them. That doesn't really pan out at the pearly gates. That doesn't really pan out when things fall apart. And here's what he's saying: walk with the wise and become wise. Proverbs 15, 22, the last one, and then jump into this. Plans fail for a lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed. Plans fail with a lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed. What are all of these scriptures telling me? They're telling me that you need the church. They're telling me that I need the church. They're like, well, Clayton, you're the pastor of the church. You're supposed to say that. I didn't say the ark church. I said, what are all these scriptures telling you that you need the church? The church is not a building, it's not an organization, it's not a government-recognized nonprofit 501c3. The church is the bride, the people of Jesus Christ who follow him. Church attendance is not about whether or not you feel like it. Church attendance is not a checklist, it's something that you are wired and designed to need. Because it connects you with the voice of God. Sometimes I hear people say all the time, they're like, I don't feel like my relationship with God is strong. I just can't hear him right now. And one of my first things is, how often are you going to church? And they think because I'm the preacher that I'm just asking that because that's what I'm supposed to ask. No, no, I'm saying because you need the people in the church. It's scriptural, it's biblical. You what you're gonna find is God is always working in community. Only in the American church have we branched away from what the Bible really illustrates over and over and over again, and that God was always doing things in community with his people. He didn't say, Moses, I'm gonna deliver you. He said, Moses, I'm gonna deliver my people, and I want you to be a part of it. It was never an individualized thing, it was always a group experience, it was always the body of the Lord. And here's what I want you to know today. You need the voices of people in your life to help hear the Lord more clearly. Here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying you should depend on everyone else in your life to do your faith for you because that doesn't work either. What I'm saying is that when you are active and participating in your life, what will happen is God will send people around you that can help encourage you, strengthen you, inspire you. Their testimony can become your testimony. People around you that listen will rebuke you when how many of y'all know sometimes you need rebuked? They will give you hard words when sometimes you need. Hard words, but you have to be willing to hear the Lord in this way. I want to give you an example of this today because it's easy to say, well, it's just me and God. Just me and God. I hear people say that sometimes. It's just me and God. No, no, no, no. It's God in his church. And we are a part of his church. And he wants to work in you personally, but he's often going to use the people around you. I want to show you this as an example because of all people in the Bible, I think arguably you could say that Moses heard the Lord more directly than probably almost anybody else in the Bible, over and over repeatedly. For example, in Exodus chapter 3, Moses was minding his own business. He looks over and there is a burning bush, only the bush isn't burning up, and he turns aside to see. And when he turns aside to see, God speaks to him. And God calls Moses and God says, Moses, I have big plans for your life. I want you to go to Egypt and deliver all the people out. You don't think you can do it, but I'm the voice of God, and I'm telling you, you can do it. With my help and my power, you can do it. Moses heard from the Lord. And sometimes what happens in our life is we think, if I'm going to hear from God, I need a burning bush kind of experience all the time. Here's what I you're like, well, I haven't seen the burning bush yet. And oftentimes what we will say in church circles, we're like, well, if God would just do the burning bush or the pillar of cloud, then I for sure I would listen. Not so fast. Moses heard God when he went up the mountain after they had delivered the people. They're in wilderness. Goes up the mountain and comes back with this little thing that God had told him about, you know, just no big deal, just only the Ten Commandments. Not once, but he goes up twice. God speaks to him. And here's what I'm here to tell you today. There are times in your life where God is going to speak just clearly as clearly as he did to Moses, like that for you. And you hold on to those words, and guess what? The rest of Moses' life was forever impacted because of the word that he got in the private moment with God on the mountain. But I want you to know this that even Moses, who heard directly from God, had other people that God from time to time would use to speak into his life. And at any point in time, listen, this is the God of the universe. He can kind of do what he wants to. At any time, he could have said, Moses, I got a word for you. What you're doing is not good. You need to change course. But instead, he chose to send the person that no one in the room wants to hear from. Your in-laws. And in Exodus chapter 18, after Moses has seen the burning bush, after Moses goes up on the mountain here in the next couple chapters where God speaks to him directly. And instead of that, God says, I'm going to use your father-in-law. And I'm going to speak to you through him to confirm some things that I want to do in you and some things that I want to do through you. Exodus chapter 18, it's a long one, but we're going for it. Verse 7, Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare, and they went into the tent. Then Moses told his father-in-law all the things that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way and how the Lord had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done in Israel and that he had delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians. In other words, Jethro's coming to visit Moses. Moses and Jethro get together and begin to share all the good things that God has just done. Listen, if you have good voices in your life, they got to be willing to celebrate the good things that God is doing. You don't want people who can't stop and celebrate what God is doing in you and through you. The best trusted voices in your life are ready to celebrate the activity of God in your life. If the best closest people you have around you can't stand to hear you talk about what Jesus is doing in you, then I want to tell you something today. They're too close. They're too close. Why? Because God wants the people closest to you, the voices that get the amplification in your life to celebrate what he's doing. Because people who can celebrate what God is doing in your life and through your life are the people who are going to encourage you to do more of the very same. That you need these voices who are excited about what God is doing. In verse 10, Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and he has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people. Listen, Jethro was saying, Look, I what I'm seeing God do in you, it excites me because I know God is good. I know what God is doing. I can see God's hand moving. Verse 12, and Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. In other words, they offered sacrifices to God. This was their act of worship. They worshiped together. The trusted voices in your life. When you share a common bond, what is your common bond? It's not your hobbies. Your common bond is not your interests. Your common bond is not that you have the same kind of job or career field. The common bond is not that you have all the same interests in your life. You want to know what the common bond is? The common bond for the Church of Jesus Christ is that they love Jesus Christ. And they can come together and they can worship. And when they come together and worship, God does something supernatural in their midst. Jethro was his father-in-law, and they got together and they celebrated with God. They invited God in. They invited God to move. They got together and they ate a Texas buffet in God's presence. Verse 13, the next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known the statutes of God and his laws. In other words, Moses is kind of acting like a king, a standing king, and a judge. I'm going to sit before the court all day, and you guys got your problems, and you come with your drama and all your stuff, and I'm going to help point out what God's way is versus your way. And he's going to do this. And Jethro's looking at him saying, What are you doing? And Moses, his father-law, said to him, verse 17, what you are doing is not good. Now hold on a second. If I'm Moses, I'm saying, Do you know who you're talking to? I mean, in my hand, the Red Sea parted. Do you know who you're talking to? I mean, did you see all those plagues? I mean, come on, that was kind of cool. They should make a movie out of it one day. If you're Moses, you're like, I've been following God. I know. But his father-in-law says to him, what you are doing is not good. How many of you know it doesn't matter how high up in leadership you go, you still need counsel. It doesn't matter how long you've been walking with the Lord, you still need counsel. It doesn't matter how good you think you are, you still need counsel. And Jethro tells Moses, what you're doing is not good. You and the people with you certainly will wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice, I will give you advice, and God be with you. You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, and you shall warn them about the statues. In other words, instruct them and teach them the way to go, and make known the way in which they should walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men, people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place these men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter, yeah, they should bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide for themselves, so it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. How many of y'all woke up this morning and said, I'd like life to be a little bit easier? I don't always want to have to do it the hard way. And Jethro's coming to Moses saying, You're doing it the hard way, and there's a better way. What you're doing, it may be working for you now, but it's not going to work long term. You're going to need the course correct. You need some counsel and advice. And in verse 23, he says, This if you do this, God will direct you. You will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace. Probably the most important line, verse 24. So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and he did all that he said. I love this passage because I love that a man who hears from God, a man who loved God, and a man who obeyed God was not too proud to be humble. He was not too far along in his journey to stop and take correction. He knew that God could come to him in a burning bush, and God could come to him through the man he was least expecting to speak into his life. And Moses had a heart that said, God, I'll receive from you however you want to speak to me. And I think that should be the heart and posture of the church in 2026. That we should have a heart that says, God, we are open and we are willing, and we are humble enough to be postured that however you want to speak to me, whatever voice it may come through, I am willing to hear and I will do what it is that you're asking me to do. And Moses did that. I want to give you some things that I think help make a great trusted voice in your life. Maybe you call it a friend. I didn't want to call it a friend, a trusted voice. Because I'm not saying you have to hang out every Friday night and have pizza. I'm saying sometimes what you'll find is some people you don't even know that well, but they have the same values. They base their life on the same biblical principles as you, and they could be somebody you least expect it, but they are a trusted voice who will speak into you, encourage you, and give you direction. So here's my encouragement: prioritize trusted voices in your life. How do you do that? What does a trusted voice look like? The first criteria is this a trusted voice is someone who cares about you. A trusted voice is someone who cares about you. You're like, that doesn't sound very spiritual. Yes, it is. Watch this. A trusted voice cares about you. Look at what Jethro did with Moses. He didn't jump right in and dissect everything Moses was doing. You know what he did? He jumped right in and celebrated what God was doing. You only do that with people you care about. They asked each other about their welfare. Jethro rejoiced. In other words, he had an overwhelming joy on Moses' behalf. You know what I find? The people who often care for me the most are the people who don't need anything from me. You ever had somebody you thought was in your corner, and then all of a sudden you realized when the money was no longer involved, they didn't care about you as much as you thought they did. The challenge in this is you want people who have a God-sized calling on their life to shepherd you, to care for you, to love you. In other words, they woke up today and they said, My job as a believer in the body of Jesus Christ is to edify his people, which means I'm gonna love people even if I don't know them. It doesn't matter if I'm gonna get anything out of this deal. Those people that want you, oh, I'll give you this deal if you'll do this for me. That's not what you're looking for. And when it comes to growing in your spiritual faith, you're looking for people who don't have a vested interest in your decisions. There was a guy, I have a friend, I met him at Starbucks randomly, and he's a believer. He doesn't go to church here, but we we began talking and having a conversation. Turns out he's a he was an assistant coach in the NFL. And uh we began having these conversations and talking, got to know each other, got to know his testimony. I said, Well, how did you get out of it? He said, Well, that's an interesting story. I said, Well, well, tell me about it. He said, Well, one night I was sitting on a plane crying, and he said, I made the decision, I I I gotta do something different with my life. I said, Well, tell me about, I mean, you're sitting with a bunch of multimillionaire football, big macho football players on an airplane. Like, what are you crying about? He said, Well, I had a mentor in the industry that had coached me, and he was a good guy, and he wanted me to be successful, and he said, but he made me get on the plane that night. I said, Well, what's the big deal? He said, Well, about six hours before that, my wife had a baby. And I'm sitting on this plane flying to some big wig football game and smoozing who's who and who's who and all about the win. And he said, I'm crying on the plane ride because I realized the thing that I loved the most wasn't on the plane. And I said, He said, the voices that I was listening to were well intended, but they didn't care about me. And at the end of the day, him, like you and I, are gonna get to a place where nobody else may be standing there with us. And the wall is either gonna be true to plum or it's not. I I think about this, this is silly, but I when I was in college, uh, Courtney and I started dating, and I had some close people around us that we had spent time with start telling us we shouldn't be dating. I don't think God wants you to date. Listen, sometimes Christians, woo, watch out for them. You love them because he said you have to. And they're like, I don't think you and Courtney should be dating. It just doesn't seem right. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, we feel like this is what God's telling us to do, and and by the way, she's way out of my league, and this is my only chance. So y'all just shut your mouth. And uh, you know, turns comes to find out. Well, in their immature, one of their friends liked me. Why are you laughing? Only happened once in my life, but it did. They had a vested interest in it. I felt the Lord impress on me in that moment. I remember saying, I'm really wrestling with this. Why is this so divisive? And the Lord said, Clayton, stop taking advice from people who are not praying for you. I never forgot that. Stop taking advice from people who are not praying for you. Why? Because the people who care about you, they will pray for you because they know that is the one thing that's gonna help you more than anything. It's better than a tip off YouTube, it's better than best practices of your business or your career. Someone who prays for you doesn't get anything out of it. It's generous. I I I I remember that in that season of life, and it changed the way I received advice. The question on the table today is this Are you taking advice from people who don't really care about you? Listen, that's not a correction, it's an encouragement. If you are, you can change. If you are, you can start looking for different voices in your life. Voices that are gonna align with the word of God. Number two, prioritize voices that start their advice with God's word. Elevate, amplify the voices in your loud. Turn down the other voices. Amplify the voices that start their advice with God's word. What did Jethro and Moses do? They got together, they sacrificed, they got before the Lord. There's this sense that what they are doing comes from within the presence of God, that out of the presence of God and out of his word, the best advice is going to flow to you. I uh a while back I had a uh a family in the church. We went to dinner with them, and and at the end she said, Hey, I have a scripture, can I just share it with you? She said, I don't really know what it's about, and and I don't really know all the things if it's gonna mean anything to you. But she said, but I just want to throw this out there, this scripture, I think it's for you. And she read the scripture and I said, Thank you, that was really helpful and and just appreciated it. And how many of you know the world liked to have blown up that week? Got all political and all this stuff, and and uh and how many of you know I needed that scripture in that time? I I made it on all the lovely Facebook Magnolia groups, you know, the real spiritual ones like Magnolia Unfiltered and Magnolia Gossip Central and and an open letter from the church member who was criticizing what I was doing and publicizing over 300 comments. People just and I went to my mentor and I said, Did I do the wrong thing? I said, I said, he called me seven times in this one email, he called me a coward seven times. I said, Listen, I'm not perfect, I'm not always gonna get it right, but I want to do what God wants me to do. And he looked at me and he said this he said, You're not a coward, you're called. And people who are called don't do what people want them to do. People who are called do what God wants them to do. People who are called don't say what other people want them to say. People who are called say what God wants them to say. Now, listen, that's not a cop-out. That's not a cop-out. Let's not say let's not say you get everything perfect. Here's what I'm saying: God's word and God's advice is going to stand the test of time. And you need people who don't just have a good idea, they have a God idea. You don't need people who just say, I think this might work, I hope it works on your life, I hope this saves your marriage. You need a word that you can hang your hat on. And trusted voices, their advice comes not from within them, but from within the spirit that lives on the inside of them, which by the way, is the same Holy Spirit of God that lives on the inside of you. And when your spirit and their spirit get together with the spirit of God, can I tell you something? You're gonna get a word that you need, you're gonna get direction. You're not just gonna get good advice, you're gonna get God advice. I had that scripture meant something to me. And God delivered it to me. Listen, as a preacher, I read and study on my own. I read and pray on my own. But God chose to give me a word for a week that I was gonna need it long before I ever even knew I was gonna need it. I didn't even know what it meant. I didn't know why I was getting it, I didn't know if she was right or she was wrong, but I held on to that word, and guess what? In the hour when I needed it the most, it was there. That's what God wants to do for you when you surround yourself with the right, trusted voices who give counsel and advice out of the word of God. Number three, prioritize the voices that love you enough to tell you the truth. We don't have a lack of information in 2026. By the way, we should be praying right now for our country and for people all over the world on that note of what I just said just a moment ago. But listen, we don't pray our opinions, y'all. We pray the word of God. We're praying for people to be saved. We're praying for God's peace to heal every land and every nation and our own. And we're praying for our leaders, like scripture says, whether you like your leader or not, we pray. That's what we do. That's God's word. That's that's the counsel and advice we can stake our life on. Where was I? Tell you the truth. I I have a confession to make. I um had a pastor, uh boss, who told me one time, he said, Hey Clayton, you don't receive constructive feedback well at all. The first words out of my mouth were, yes, I do. And it made me mad. Can I can I just too bad I got the microphone, I'm gonna tell you. It made me mad for a year. A year. You ever had somebody tell you the truth and it hurt? I was mad for a year. And one day I came home after somebody told me something that I didn't like, and I went to my wife, who happens to be very partnered with the Holy Spirit, and I said to her, I don't really like it when people tell me what to do. And she goes, Oh, really? I had no idea. Like that's how you know you married the good one. They'll be patient with you, they'll give you the truth, but be patient with you. I had a problem. I didn't like people telling me what to do, but how many of you know it's good for you? Because it may have taken me a year, but I realized there were some unchiseled parts of my life, some rough edges that needed some sanding down. They'll tell you the truth, and you need to start seeing it as this not something to be defensive about, but something to say, Holy Spirit, is that what they said? Is that true? Because of it, it is, then it could be God's greatest gift to save your soul. To refine your character, to put integrity in the blind spots of your life where you thought the wall was straight, but it wasn't. Listen, I know in 2026 it's taboo to disagree. I know it's taboo to correct people, and your truth is your truth, and my truth is my, but that is not the plumb line that Amos was talking about. The plumb line stands no matter what the world says, the plumb line stands. God's word doesn't change and it doesn't shift. And so if something is off, it's not the plumb line, it's me. And God in his love and compassion cares so much about us that he would give us one another to be a gift to each other, a trusted voice who would be willing to say, in the dark age in which you live, when people say you can do whatever you want, it's not the truth. When people say you can live however you want to live, it's not the truth. When people say do whatever you want and you'll get whatever you like, it's not the truth. I'm gonna base my life on the word of God because it's the plumb line that guides me. And he wants to use people to speak that truth to you. The last one is this prioritize the voices that see great things in your future. This is important. Don't leave this one out. Listen, I'm a three-point guy. Today's four. You need number four. I couldn't cut it. You have to have it. Trusted voices see great things in your future. This is really important. Why? Because Jethro was not there to harm Moses, he was there to help him. Did you hear what Jethro said? Jethro said, if you take this advice, then you will have peace going with you in your travel into the promised land. And I love this because you got to think about this. They are wandering in the wilderness. And how many of you know sometimes the hardest seasons of your life are the times when you need to be surrounded by people who see things that you can't see? Are we ever gonna get there? Are we gonna make it to the destination? Is God still God? I know he did it in Egypt, but what about out here? And Jethro is looking at Moses, he's saying, Listen, you're gonna make it, but not if you do it that way. But I want you to know I still believe in your future. This is really important because listen, sometimes there is a cloud over your head and you can't see what is spiritually real. This is why wilderness seasons are hard. Because if you're depressed or discouraged or in grief, or there's been a lot of hard stuff happening lately, or you feel whopped upside the head, often it feels like a cloud is over your head. The problem with a cloud is you can't see the sun. What do you do? Well, my friend right over here who walks with me every day. Her name is Courtney, and she loves God. And when I'm under a cloud, she has the ability to see the sun when sometimes I don't. And she will remind me what it looks like. She will encourage me to keep going. I have mentors that I meet with, people who I sit down with and say, Am I seeing this wrong? And they'll say, I think you got a cloud over your head, but I just want to remind you the sun is still there and it's gonna get okay. It's gonna get better. You're gonna make it through this season, you're gonna come out of this, we're gonna pray you through it. You need people who can see a great future in you. And this is why this is important. I remember when I was 15 years old, a pastor gave me a book by John Maxwell. I looked at him and I said, Hey, listen, I'm 15, I don't read. And he said, You're gonna read this book. I said, Why would I do that? I said, It's about leadership, and I'm not even a leader. And he said, There are things in you that you don't even know about. I still have his book, and I still have the letter that he wrote to me right there where he said, You are a leader and you're gonna lead. Here's why I share that. Because at 15 years old, that trusted voice deposited something in me that was prophetic for today. I remember the first time my youth pastor, five seconds before he went up to preach, he said, You know, I feel like the Holy Spirit's telling me that you should preach. And I said, uh, maybe if you give me like 10 weeks, you know. And he handed me a microphone, he said, Listen, whatever God is just telling you on your heart, I was the person who said, Don't ever hand me a microphone. But I had no idea how when you surround yourself with the right people, they will confirm the things that God wants to speak to you. And what if, what if I had not listened? What if you don't listen? What might God be trying to do in you today that He wants to deliver, just like Moses, to some of the people around you? Would you bow your head? I want to pray a blessing over you today. At the end of service, here's what we're gonna do right here. I have a prayer team coming down front. Maybe you're here today and you're saying I'm alone. I don't have any trusted voices.