For Jesus. So good to see you. Want to welcome everybody out at Alamance? God bless you all. Y'all are crushing it. I'm just hearing such great reports. From what the Lord's doing there.
Can we all just greet everybody at Alamance? We love y'all. Pastor John Mark and the team are.
They're amazing. And, uh, so glad you're here today. Uh, we're going to continue our series on disciple.
But before we dive into that, I want to just add a lot of great things going on. We're in this series called disciple. We have our disciple small groups that are meeting every week and just hearing fun stories about what the Lord's doing there. This week, our student ministries, our Alamance in Chapel Hill campuses, are coming together to do what we call Super Series. It's three weeks, three Wednesday nights in a row where we kind of like blow the roof off and, uh, it's just a great opportunity. We see more guests come, people, um, students hearing about the Lord building new friendships. And I want to ask you, number one, pray. Just pray for the Lord to do something great in the young people's hearts that friends come and that they can be impacted by what God's doing here. And I think that's going to be great in two. Let me mention this. If you'd ever like to participate in, uh, Alamance here in Chapel Hill. Uh, y'all, um, talk to, uh, Pastor Joe, uh, Hugo, whoever, like, we can loop you in, and we have people that come for just those three weeks and serve pizza, meet people, run a game, and, uh, you would love to see the energy of the life and what God is doing, um, with young people at, you know, uh, at Grace church and in our community. So now also, uh, today's the first Sunday for you to be able to sign up for our serve day. Let me tell you what serve day is. Serve day is Saturday, March 14th.
Um, we mobilize both campuses and we're going to go out and serve our community. We have 90 projects, y'all, here in Chapel Hill and Alamance together. A lot of opportunities. Um, we do a rally in the morning, and then we blitz the city, and, um, we serve a meal with Durham Rescue. We do care packages for first responders. Um, we clean up a park. There's just, I mean, 90 projects, lots of opportunities to do something kind of behind the scenes or a little more interactive, whatever you might enjoy. And there's something powerful about doing it together. Uh, we get out there, we do, uh, you know, get out there and make a difference. We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and that one day makes a huge impact within 90 projects. And that's important. And just as importantly, it does something inside of us that as we give, it's more blessed to give than receive. Every time I go to give. I'm always shocked that I get so much more out of it. And we really want to love people the way Jesus does. And we're a church that cares for the poor the least, the needy in our community and around the world. So anyway, I want to encourage you to participate. It's great to have a heart for it. It's great to give, but it's also great to to do it right to to be the hands and the feet. We're not just hearers of the word. We are doers. And so now, today is the day that you can first sign up. And I love this about Grace church. If y'all don't sign up, you the options are going to narrow quickly. I love this about our church. So many people love to serve and make a difference. Care about our community that the projects just fill up. I have people kind of get a little frustrated with me. Pastor, I wanted to, you know, do this project or that project or, you know, whatever. I'm like, hey, maybe just like the new iPhone coming out, you better get after it. You're right. This is even better. Uh, you know, for Jesus, we had 90 projects.
But, um, if there's one of you want to do. Get out there. Get. And can you sign up online? Jonathan.
Okay, you can sign up online to. But listen to the message first. Okay? I'm just kidding, sir. All right.
Here you go. We're going to continue this series on disciple. We've been talking about this. How do you be a follower of Christ in the 21st century? Like, what does it really mean? How can we grow deeper in our relationship with the Lord? Walk more closely, experience God, it says, lay a strong foundation in our lives. We've been talking about being a disciple means to follow. So we started off with follow me, be with me, become like me. Last week, Patrick Jonathan talked about rest in me today. Here's our topic. Hear me how to hear the voice of God. This is interesting. We do surveys from time to time to ask people, you know, grace. Every week our heart is this we want to help build your life. We want to help kind of equip you in your relationship with the Lord. Super practical. Down to earth. We ask people, hey, what would you like to hear about? What's your point of pain in your life? How can we serve you best? And we, you know, take some surveys and get feedback. Do y'all know this consistently, year after year, number one on the list is hearing God's voice, knowing his will. I think there's something deep inside all of us that people are like, well, I want to know God's plan for my life, or I'm having a hard time making decisions, and I want to know that I'm in God's will, that I'm fulfilling God's purpose for my life. And and I think this topic is so significant and important. And that's what we're going to really dive into today. How do we hear the voice of God. And what we're going to do is this we're going to make this simple, down to earth, practical, easy, accessible. Let me say this. Hearing God's voice is not for an elite few, But it's for all of us. John 1027 says this. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Isn't that cool? So it's not for an elite few, you know. And listen, I know people have done, like, kind of crazy things. I, you know, I'm hearing voices in my head and it's been abused and people have done whatever, you know, either weird or like, even, um, ungodly evil things in the name of, you know, hearing God, you know, but we're not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sometimes the most significant spiritual things we got to sort through and navigate and understand and and just make it simple, practical, down to earth. How do we hear the voice of our loving Heavenly Father and our good Shepherd and get lead in our life? That that you see, it's not just we believe in God in our heads, but we really have a relationship with the Lord in our hearts. And so what I want to do is this today, I want to give you some motivation. I want to give you some. Why? Um. And just to tell you where I'm at, I want to inspire you that that you would have a desire in your heart to really hear from God, hear his voice. And and then two. I also want to give you faith to believe that you can and will hear God. In fact, I'd say this every single person has already heard from God, been led by God in their lives. Every one of us have. But we can grow in that ability. Okay. Uh, and then I want to give you some practical things. Unlike how can you grow?
How can you get better? How can you improve, um, in this relationship, in this skill of really hearing God. So that's where we're headed. So let me start off today, first of all, with, um, the why, the motivation? Let me say that that hearing God is an essential part of our relationship with God. It's not peripheral, it's central. It's essential, like in any relationship. It's meant to be a two way communication. One way communication is shallow. Right. Last night I had a Valentine's Day with my wife, and Nana did not want to just talk to me all night. Like, if she only talked to me and I never talked back, that wouldn't go so well, would it, ladies? Right? Like, no.
Like, let me give you the principle. A relationship grows as your communication grows. The more you communicate, the deeper and the stronger your relationship gets. It means Nana talking. My listening. I need to listen in here. But my talking and her listening and hearing. That's how a relationship grows and gets strengthened. Now, y'all check this out. It's not just for marriage or friendship. It's also true in our relationship with God. The more you talk to God and share your heart with him, he will hear and listen. But the more he'll want to share his heart with you. And we need to be able to hear what God is saying to us. Hearing is an essential part of our relationship. Hearing from God also is how we download his resources. Like God's got resources, hope, strength, peace, wisdom, and actually hearing and receiving our really tight. How do you get God's hope? How do you get God's strength? How do you get God's peace into your life? Hearing is often tied to receiving.
Hearing gives us direction when we don't know which way to go. Like sometimes you're like, Lord, what am I supposed to do? And again, we're going to talk about the Bible. I love the Bible. Ooh, Bible.
But you know, we start there. We're going to we'll come back to the Bible. Very important. Let me say this. The Bible doesn't tell you. Should I work at this company or that company? Should I go to this school or that school? Should I marry this person or that person? Like the Bible gives us a track to run on. But I don't think God just leaves us blindly just to do our own thing. God wants us to be led. He wants to give us guidance and direction in our lives. And so hearing from God gives us direction. Hearing from God. Anchors us when our emotions are unstable. You know, life is up and down and twists and turns and circumstances change. And sometimes you're like, ah, and and hearing from God can give you a peace that passes comprehension in the middle of the storm. One word, just a word will do to end this nightmare. Like you can hear something that really helps and anchors gives you an anchor in your soul.
Hearing from God protects us from regret. You know, what we end up regretting in life is when we go our own way and do our own thing. You don't regret ever hearing from God and following him and trusting him. And sometimes what happens is we end up making a decision as we've trusted God, follow God and all suddenly gets hard. Also, in this job and the dynamics are hard. We made a move and we kind of thought God was leading us. And I was like, it's hard. And I know when we moved here from from Minnesota to North Carolina, we had four kids. We made the decision in December. We moved in May in those six months. Nana's dad was the founding pastor of Grace church. He turned the church over to his longtime associate. He turned the network of churches over to a great pastor. And also the whole landscape changed, and we were moving kind of by faith. We had no job offer. My great plan was to like substitute teach because I had a teaching degree. But let me say this in that time for all, suddenly now we're moving and you kind of go, oh! But Nana and I just looked at each other and said, I know God was leading us to do this. I got a piece. Even though things are changing. And when you're in the middle of it and suddenly everything starts swirling. No no no no no no no no. I'm in the middle of God's plan. I'm going to trust him. There's a there's a confidence I can have. And you'll never regret trusting God, hearing God also. Then, as we do, that aligns us with the middle of his will. Because sometimes as we go through life, we've got a plan. We're following the Lord. But, but, but, but as the weeks turns into months, whatever. Over time, what do we tend to do a little bit? We drift a little bit, and then and then when we kind of get God to speak to us, it's like he just reenters us and then we go through life a little bit more, drifting a little bit, and then he just reenters us and it will, it will recenter you. Another thing, hearing God does this, it moves your faith from your head to your heart. It makes it not just an intellectual belief system in your head, but it makes it a relational heart connection where you have passion, where you have purpose, and where you're not just working for God, but walking with God on purpose in his will, fulfilling your God given purpose and destiny that God has for you. Hearing from God deepens your intimacy. Your relationship with the Lord and ultimately hearing from God helps ordinary people like you and me do extraordinary, extraordinary things. Live a supernatural life. So what I want to do is this I want to share with you for my personal experience. Most of you know that our regular attenders that can or tends to be like a three point kind of guy, you know, big idea. And I just started thinking like, Lord, what's helped me grow? What can I share personally from my life? That's been a blessing. And I came up with seven things. So if you do have some notes in front of you, um, it's two sided today. Y'all buckle up. Um, and, uh, we haven't even gotten to point one yet. Aha! Here we go. All right, let me give you some thoughts. That's been helpful to me. Here's the first thought. Though it's true. That was helpful to me, is this God is speaking. God is speaking. Now, I tell you why this is helpful to me is I used to think I need to get God to speak to me. I need to kind of maybe twist his arm, coax him, hope that he might maybe speak to me. But I want to encourage your heart today that you have a good, good father and God is speaking continuous, progressive.
Okay? He keeps he. He is always speaking. The question isn't Will God speak to me?
Can I get God to speak to me? Rather, the question is, am I listening?
Do I have ears to hear what he's already saying? Jesus made that invitation over and over he said this. He who has ears to hear. Let him hear.
He actually said that a bunch of times. Said that with John the Baptist, when he talked about him, he said that. But after the parable of the sower, he talked about following Jesus and the cost of discipleship. And he said he was ears to hear. Let him hear. He said that to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, revelations, chapters two and three. Seven times he would he would say, hey, if you have ears to hear, what does that mean? Is this God is speaking. Do we have ears to hear? Now, it's not just that we have natural ears. We have spiritual ears of the heart. You can hear with your ears naturally, but not hear with your heart. God is speaking. He's a good, good father. And it takes spiritual ears of the heart. So like God's Word to Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet in the Old Testament And in Isaiah chapter six, there's this interesting situation where Isaiah meets with the Lord and he. It's like this. He overhears God, who is already speaking, and he overhears God saying, who will go for us and who will we send? And Isaiah overhears that and he goes, ooh, here, my Lord, send me. And God goes, alright, game on, let's go. You're going to be my voice. You're going to hear from me and speak for me. By the way, if you think about like a prophet, like in the Old Testament or whatever, a prophet, let me just make it really simple for you. A prophet just hears from God and speaks for God. That's all that like Isaiah was doing. So Isaiah's going to bring a message to God's people. Now, this is his very first message that God tells him to go bring to his people. God's trying to help his people. He said this, go and tell this people be ever hearing, but never understanding.
Have you ever seeing, but never perceiving? So he's saying is this you can be hearing with your natural ear, but not really understanding with your heart. You can be seeing with your natural eyes, but not really perceiving spiritually what God's doing. How can that be? How could you end up not hearing or not seeing spiritually? How would that be? Well, look at this next verse. It kind of like shows us make the heart of this people calloused, make their ears dull and close their ears. Otherwise they might see with their ears, with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. Now, God's goal wasn't to have people have callous heart hearts. What he's saying is speak that his goal was for them to not do that. God's heart was that he wanted them to have ears to hear. Eyes to see. Hearts to understand. In order that they would turn and be healed. That's what he. That's what his goal was. But he was saying is this. If God is speaking and you're going, hey diddle diddle diddle diddle diddle diddle diddle not listening. What happens to your heart? It gets hard, calloused a little bit. And when God is speaking to you, leading you and you go, well I kind of feel like I see what the Bible is saying. I see I feel like what God is saying to me is this, but I just want to do my own thing. Hey. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. What happens to your heart? And really, what he's saying here is this hearing that we're kind of teeing up for a second point, hearing is a heart issue. Hearing is a heart issue, which I want to encourage you about.
That hearing is a heart. It's a level playing field today on your ability to hear from God. You got a good, good father in heaven, like a loving heavenly Father who loves you and cares for you. You're one of his kids. He wants to speak to you. He wants you to speak to him. And let me say this hearing from God is not a spiritual gift for a few. Let me say that again. Hearing God is not a spiritual gift. It's a right of all God's kids and a privilege of relationship with the father. And I think part of it is this it's like when we read the Bible, or maybe we hear stories, whatever. We hear these sort of like, oh, you know, like Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in Isaiah six. And Paul was caught up to the third heaven. And there's these kind of like Moses talked to God face to face as the man talks to another man like you, you're like, oh, I don't know, man. I'm just like, got up and had my coffee and was seeing stars. You know, I could barely read the Bible, you know. And so then we don't think I'm not like that. And let me just say that that's hearing from God in those big ways is not the most usual. Right? Like God is so down to earth, he's so simple. He's accessible and in just the best way. And I want to encourage you that you have the ability to hear from God as one of his sheep. And the issue of hearing is an issue of the heart. The question do we have ears to hear is a question of this.
Do I have a heart to respond when your heart is in a good place? You tend to hear a lot better. And actually, in order to hear what we need to work on is not our ears but our heart. Let me say it again. In order to hear from God, you need to not work on your hearing. You need to work on your heart. It's a heart issue. Hearing is a heart issue.
Hearing begins with heart surrender. Mary said it this way, you know. An angel shows up to Mary and says, you're going to have a son. And she's like, I'm a virgin. He goes, yup. And, you know, it's kind of unexpected news and but I just want to zero in on what she responds and says. At the end she says this, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. I love that's really powerful.
This is a heart of surrender. First of all, notice your identity. Behold, she says, I'm a servant of the Lord. I'm God's servant. I'm serving him. I'm on his plan, not my plan. And so, as a servant of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word, when I find out your word. When I know your will. Because my identity. Because I am a servant of the Lord.
I just want you to know the answers. Yes. Let me say it this way. I've pre decided that I'm going to say yes to you. God. Because I have a harder surrender.
A harder surrender means we've determined upfront. I'm going to say yes to the Lord, and I'm going to trust him, and I'm going to follow him. When Jesus says, follow me, he doesn't tell you where you're going. He start following a person and a heart of surrender means, Lord, I'm a servant of the Lord. Let me tell you this God is not a consultant. God's not a consultant. This last weekend, I was down in Florida visiting a church for a couple of days, and I was trying, you know, there was a good church, but I'm trying to coach them up a little bit. And when I get in those scenarios, trying to encourage people to take next steps. I'll often, you know, you know, encourage, encourage positive positive. But I also like try to I might nicely be nudging them along, stepping on their toes a little bit, trying to challenge them, stretch them out of their comfort zone in order to help them grow and reach more people and build more lives. Okay. And I know sometimes I'm kind of weeding into maybe some sacred cows or things, you know, and when I can feel it, I. When I feel I'm getting into that zone, I've got a little line that I tend to use. I say, hey, by the way, I break the tension. Hey, by the way, just to let you all know, I'm flying out of here Sunday afternoon. Y'all are good. You can do whatever you want. See, when I show up in that environment, what am I? I am a consultant. I'm just throwing out some ideas. I'm brainstorming with you. I'm trying to stretch you a little bit. But at the end of the day, you get to make your own decision. Right. Let me just tell you this. God's not a consultant. He doesn't just say, let me throw out some ideas. At the end of the day, you just go ahead and make your own decision. I know what I want to do, I know what my spouse told me. The friend I asked somebody at work, God's got an opinion. He told me what he wants me to do. And this I'll just sort of throw it in the mix and, um, determine if I want to do it or not. Let me say that sometimes, sometimes not all the time.
Sometimes we have a hard time hearing because God's working on surrender.
There's a deeper issue in our heart that he's trying to lead us to a place where Mary was at, where he said, I'm a servant of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word, Lord, Lord, not my will, but your will be done, not my will, but your will be not my plan, but your plan, not my will, but your will be done. Where's that from? That's. Those were the words of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Before he went to the cross, Jesus actually asked the disciples to pray with them. They fell asleep. He's there in the garden and he's wrestling with the father. Check this out. This is the perfect Son of God who always trusted the Lord, obeyed perfectly, love God fully God, fully human. And he's wrestling with the father to the point that he sweat blood. And he said, Lord, if there's any other way, take this cup from me. Y'all check that out. Jesus didn't want to go to the cross. He didn't want to be separated from his father and absorbed the wrath of God, taking upon the sins of the world. He didn't want to do that.
If there's any other way that we can work this out, please take this comfort from me.
But not my will. Your will be done at the end of the day. I've pre decided it's been settled in my heart. I'm a servant of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word. Not my will, Lord, but your will be done.
And y'all, here's my thought. If the perfect Jesus Son of God had to wrestle with the father to surrender his will to God's will. Do you think maybe you and I are going to have to, from time to time, surrender our will to God's will? That God's will is going to cross my will, that I'm going to have a plan. But God's going to have another plan. And if Jesus had to wrestle internally to surrender and to say, be done unto me according to your word, is really what he was saying. Not my will, but your will be done. How much more do you and I will have to do that? I think maybe in small things. Day by day, in my attitude and my tone of voice, my words, my perspective, whatever. But then also from time to time and big things, big decisions, big perspectives. Can I let me just say this I love you everyone, I love you. Just pastoral moment. I'm so for you. I want you to win in life.
But can I just wade into a little bit of a a warning a little bit, if I may, Mr. Pastor?
Encourager. If if we're just agreeing with God and His will and His word when it agrees with me and my will, then I'm creating a God in my own mind, in my own image.
That's really a figment of my imagination. If God's will doesn't cross your will. If God's ways don't cross your ways. If God's thoughts don't cross your thoughts and you don't wrestle with oops, I need to realign myself like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, like Mary did. Be it done to me according to your word. Listen, I want you to win. And I just think it gets real for all of us. Y'all. Like, I'm trying to normalize this a little bit, that you're going to feel that this has nothing to do with Kendrick or Grace church, but it does have to do with his word. Like what happens when God's will crosses your will.
What happens when God's will crosses your will about forgiveness? Y'all were going to be there at some point. You go, oh Lord, I don't want to forgive him. When God's will cross, is your will about forgiving somebody? Uh, Uh, Lord, I don't want to forgive him. I don't want to love my enemy. I don't want to bless those who curse me. I want to, you know, like I'm still just mad. What happens when God's will crosses your will about something personal? Like your sexual purity, premarital sex, sexual preferences, God's will. I'm reading this, but I think this. When God's will cross, is your will about money, when God's real crosses your will about like, whatever. Like I'm just telling y'all, you don't have to argue. You don't have to argue with me. Here's a really cool thing. It's between it's kind of cool and it's a little weight to it.
I think if it's between you and the Lord, no one's checking up on you. No one's knocking on your door. No. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, at the end of the day, it's you and God. It's you in the word. And you have to pre decide, Lord, not my will, but your will. And I think it's healthy from time to time that all of us really end up wrestling with this. I'll tell you real briefly story. I don't want to, nor should I give you the background, but there was a hiring situation several years ago where I was determined I was going to hire this person who had left another church. And and, you know, in the kingdom, we all kind of know each other anyway without giving you the details. Basically, my pastor said, Kendrick, because of this relationship, honor, like, you really shouldn't hire this person. And I'm just telling you, I was so determined that I was right there. Like, I was like, I was crystal clear. And it was one time where, like, I'll be honest with you, my will got seriously crossed and I had to go and wrestle with the Lord. Kind of like go to the Garden of Gethsemane. And I prayed, and at the end of the day, I knew, Lord, like there's a place for making appeal, and I've done that and, you know, whatever. But I realized God was saying, Kendrick, not your will, but my will be done. and I had a trust. And I'm just telling you, it was like it was hard for me to surrender that one because I thought that's I got it. I was very.
Anyway, let me just tell you this again without any details. We get two months down the road and all suddenly kaboom. And I, the Lord, made it crystal clear by the grace of God that we made the right decision. God protected me. He protected us like it was crazy. And I was walking headline in there. And here's the point. Praise God I got one right.
Okay, we don't get him, all right. But that was one. It was just so personal and deep for me that I had to surrender. Now I'm just telling you, you're you're going to have that experience. We're not going to get it, all right? Sometimes we get it wrong. But it's so healthy to to get in a place of like, God, what are you saying? And when your will crosses my will, I want you to know. I predetermine, by the grace of God, I'm going to do my best. We don't always get it right and we get it wrong. We make mistakes because there's a lot of grace. There's forgiveness, there's fresh starts. But you wake up the next day and you go, hey, best I can. By the grace of God, I am a follower of Jesus. I'm a disciple. What does that mean? I'm like Mary. I'm a servant of the Lord. Be done to me according to your word. And when your will crosses my will. That's what Isaiah says. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways. My ways, declares the Lord. For as high for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
My thoughts and God's thoughts aren't just a little bit like God's ways are just different. And he's going to. We should be experiencing that from time to time. Hearing is a hard issue. Now I want to give you some practical things. Number three is this here the small things daily. Here are the small things daily. And this is probably, I think, maybe the most helpful, practical thought for us. I think one of the best things we could do to learn to hear God is to learn to hear God in the small things daily. Now, in the famous Lord's Prayer, Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray, and he said, give us this day our daily bread. And I believe this, that there is daily bread, food, manna from heaven. However you want to say it, that God's got spiritual nourishment daily for each of us. God wants to like, feed your heart. Right. We all feed our stomachs. God wants to feed your heart. And just like I get up in the morning, I have my breakfast. I got three eggs and a piece of bacon, and it's a good Aeropress coffee. Mhm. This morning. All right. In the same way I feed my stomach every morning. I believe God wants to feed our hearts. And one of the best things we did give us this day our daily bread. Before you start your day, God has something to say. He wants to nourish you. He wants to strengthen you. And let me say this I think God is is speaking. And he speaks first and most frequently through His Word, through the Bible, and every day in the Bible, in the word, there's daily bread, there's food, there's nourishment, there's spiritual strength for you.
Let me say this you won't hear God's voice in your heart if you're not consistently hearing God's voice in His Word, like you need to hear God's Word, you get up and you read the word in the morning, the Bible, and he talks about a peace. He encourages you. He challenges you. You get inspired by a story of Esther and you go, oh my gosh, I want to have her faith. And, you know, like and every day you get fed a little bit and it nourishes you. And, and we often think about hearing God and the big things. But if we can learn to experience God in the small things day by day, then when we come to the big things. We kind of know what it's like. Should I take this job? Should I marry this person? Should we move? Should we have another kid? See what I'm saying? Like. I mean, I'll just be honest. Over the years, Nana and I have made most of our big decisions relatively quickly and relatively easily. Now, I don't know. I know it's not always that way, but my point is like. We pray about it. And that piece, that little nudge of direction, is what I got the last. Months, years. Every morning in my heart, I go. I know that peace and I don't. Let me say this I don't think you have to necessarily strive really hard.
To know God's will. The way I think about it is this it's a parent's responsibility to make it clear to a kid what to do, right? Like, what parent would discipline their kid for something that the kid didn't know? What that would be just me. That'd be terrible. It'd be awful. A child's responsibility is just to have a heart, to be willing to do what Mom and Dad say, right? In the same way, let me just say this as a child of God, I think my heart it needs to be to to be simply to be a follower, to be willing to say yes. If I can have my heart in a good place. I put the responsibility on God to make it clear what to do here. God in the small things daily, then here the small steps. The other practical thing is this. Here the small steps. We often want the big steps, the big plan. We want it all laid out. But let me tell you this God teaches us to trust him one small step at a time. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the book in the whole Bible written by King David, and it's really a cool chapter. It's mostly upon about the word and how he loves the word and meditates on the word and all that. But what's really cool about the chapter is that it's an acrostic poem, and there's 22 Hebrew letters, you know, like, and each letter starts a eight verse section, so it'll be like a eight verses, B eight verses, C eight verse. It does that 22 times for each. And the Hebrew letter nun starts this eight verse section. That's about going through difficult, challenging wilderness experiences. And the beginning of that. Psalm 105. The beginning of this section about going through tough seasons says this. I think this context is really cool. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And when I go through a challenging season, when I go through a wilderness. When I'm going through it. Your word is a lamp to my feet. And again, this is very meaningful for me personally because I just love this picture. We live out in the country. I love a good flashlight baby. More lumens better, you know, led. I mean, I can light up the whole field, you know, you hear a coyote, you know, we and, uh, but this is not that. They did not have led with thousands of lumens. Okay?
The a lamp would be lit by a candle. And again, a candle puts off some light, but not that much light. It's a lamp unto my feet.
One step. Oh, I can see the next one. One step. Oh, I can see the next one. One step. I can see the next one. See? Song of Solomon talks about the beloved.
She comes up out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved. And I think when we go through the wilderness, a tough time, a tough season, and we learn just to take one step at a time, we learn to lean, trust God one step at a time. And it's often those small steps that are so significant and helpful. I want to encourage you embrace the walk of faith. Kind of get used to it. You don't graduate from it. Lean into it a little bit that that you got to get comfortable following God just one step at a time. Sometimes he'll give you more light up a whole path for a while, but a lot of the time it's going to be just one step at a time. You got to lean into that next one. Is this here, the small still voice, here the small, still voice. Elijah was one of these amazing prophets in the Old Testament. He had this showdown with the prophets of Baal where they had this offering. And you know, he ends up throwing water on it. He calls it on fire from heaven, licks it all up. And anyway, it was it was incredible.
Great story. Jezebel threatens his life. He runs and flees for his life. He's out in the wilderness like in the tank. I'm the only one that follows God and the God's like. No, you're not, buddy.
Whatever. Um. And, uh, God says, you know, he needed to meet with God. So he goes 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Sinai, actually, where Moses met God, and he goes up to meet with up the mountain to meet with God. And this is the mighty prophet Elijah. Okay. And God sends a wind, a mighty wind.
And it shakes the rocks and they're flying. But God wasn't in the wind. God sent an earthquake. Shook the mountain. God wasn't in the earthquake. God sent a fire.
He just called. He had just called down fire. God wasn't in the fire. And then God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice, in a gentle whisper, a gentle whisper. Let me tell you this I think God most often speaks to us in a gentle whisper. I mean, listen, I like earthquakes and fires and big, huge like, oh, God, a miracle. That was amazing.
You know, like the couple that couldn't get pregnant, having a child, you know, like. And God does do cool big stuff from time to time. Whew. Okay. That's awesome. Let me tell you this day in and day out. Most of the time, it's a gentle whisper. It's a still, small voice. So here's let me just I'm trying to inspire you a little bit. God is speaking, but he is most often speaking through his word. And when he does speak to our hearts, it's often in a gentle whisper and at the speed that we're going at and the volume of all the things that you're hearing this week, y'all, there's a you're we tend to go fast and hard and there's a lot of voices speaking loudly. And if you're not intentional, this is what I'm going to challenge you a little bit. If you're not intentional to quiet and get still and to listen, God's voice most often is a gentle whisper. It's a gentle whisper, and we have to intentionally lean into that if we're really going to hear that next. Be willing to hear what you don't want to hear. Be willing to hear what you don't want to hear. Now, there's one aspect of that. Where maybe God gives you the answer you don't want or doesn't give you the answer when you want. But I want to go down this line for a minute. Sometimes I'm praying and asking God for wisdom on this decision or this direction. And when I realize this is what I want, what I need an answer for.
And God comes in this direction. I want to know, I don't know. Should I take this job?
Should we buy this house? And God says, hey, I want to speak to you about your your marriage and your unity. I want a better job. I'm trying to decide if I should quit. I know I got this angst at my own work, and God says, hey, I want to speak to your contentment. There's a restlessness inside your soul that's deeper. We're going to start there.
And let me just tell you that I've just found this over and over. I want an answer here on what I want. God knows what I need. Let me just say this. Be willing to hear what you didn't expect to hear. Be willing to go in a direction you didn't expect. And then lastly, be willing to adjust. Be willing to adjust. Hey, I was going this way, following the Lord. But then maybe God will redirect you. Or hey, let me just speak. Peace to you. Like maybe you didn't get it right. I don't think we'll find out for sure until we get to heaven. And by the way, we don't stone prophets. You know, the Old Testament went stone up. All right. We don't do that. You'll be free. You're going to grow in your ability to hear. We can make an adjustment. Look at Proverbs three, verses five and six. This is a well-known proverb, these two verses. But let me say this. I want you to, as we read this, listen to it through the voice of what we've been talking about today, through that lens, what we've been talking about today in terms of hearing God's voice. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, your own plans, your own will, but in all your ways. Submit to him. Acknowledge him in all your ways.
Choose to say, be it done to me according to your word, and he will make your paths straight. I love that trust in the Lord with all your hearts. In all your ways. Say, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. Submit to him. Follow him. Surrender to him.
It's not always easy. Sometimes his will crosses my will. And it's a wrestling.
But I want to pray a blessing over you. I so can feel the loving Heavenly Father who wants to speak to us. This week I'm going to have a date with one of my daughters. She wanted to have a Valentine's Day. I'm like, oh, she beat me to it. I should have asked. But anyway, um, I just think of it as a father. I'm so looking forward to sharing some things from my heart with her. Let me say this you have a loving Heavenly Father who so wants to speak to you. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I want to just pray this prayer. Lord, open our ears and help us to listen. Lord, open our eyes that we can behold wonderful things in your word. May we experience you know you. May we grow in this spiritual skill in our depth of our relationship with the Lord. Father, we thank you today that you are a God who is not just to God, far off. You're a God who's not just a spiritual life force that puts principles into play and unwinds the universe. No no no no no, Lord, you're you're real, you're living, and you want to speak to us. We thank you for your word that is living and active, and your Word that speaks to our heart and encourages us and challenge us. Lord, I pray you give us ears to hear.
Help us to surrender. Help us to surrender. Maybe you're here today and you realize you've never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. You've never surrendered your heart like maybe you've believed in God in your head. You've prayed to God. But like the concept of surrender, not my will, but your will be done of of being like Mary said, I'm the servant of the Lord you'd done to me according to your word. What if today was the day that you said I've decided to follow Jesus. I'm going to be a servant of the Lord. I'm going to put him first in my life.
Oh, that's the greatest decision. Most significant, important decision you'll ever make.
You just need to say, Lord, I, I surrender. I give my heart, I give my life to you. I put you first. I want to know you. I want to walk with you. I want to experience you.
I tell you what. God hears that prayer. He truly become a follower, a disciple.
Lord, I pray for all of us that you truly would open our ears to hear or we're struggling to know your will. I pray there be maybe fresh surrender, fresh ears to hear. May the Lord may your word come alive and speak to us and feed us. I mean, we encourage one another in these things. In Jesus name, Amen.