Hearing God's Voice: Part One

Does God still speak today? And if He does, how do we recognise His voice?

In this opening episode of our Hearing God's Voice series, we explore the foundation of what it means to hear from God. Rather than chasing dramatic signs or waiting for absolute certainty, we discover that God often speaks through relationship, Scripture, the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit, and the peace that comes from walking closely with Him.

Whether you're navigating a major decision or simply longing to know God more deeply, this episode is an invitation to slow down, listen well, and make space for the Father to speak.

"The question isn't whether God is speaking, it's whether we're listening."

Transcript

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On the topic of hearing God's voice. And we're going to do this for four weeks. So we're going to start today. I'm going to lay a bit of a platform today. And then I'm going to, for the next three weeks, build on that platform. But I really wanted to clarify something up front with you before we dive into the scriptures and we start to unpack what it is that I believe that God wants to share with us over the next month. And that is that I don't come to you today as an expert. So I really want to make that clear. I'm not coming to you saying that I hear his voice with great clarity every minute of every day. And so there's heaps that you can learn from me. I'm like you. I'm a, well, if you're here and you, if you're a believer, I'm like you. I'm a believer. I'm a Christian man. I have been walking with the Lord since I was 12. I'm now 42. There's been three decades of a relationship that I've been building with him. And over that time, I've been trying to do this. And in that 30 years, I have, this is in my notes, I'll get to it later, but I'll say it up front with you today. There have been times in my life in the last 30 years where I believe I have heard his voice with great clarity, but less than a handful. But there have been heaps of times where I think I've heard his voice and I've then walked in it and it's it's um it's become true. Like what I felt was him has ended up happening, and then I've looked back and gone, that was the Lord. And so I often find that it's one of those things that when we when we hear, when we think we hear from the Lord, and then we walk in it, it we he's it's proved right by the fruit. And so I kind of what I want to do is I want to like lay a little platform. So I'm just gonna just talk for a bit. I've got a few points, and thank you for the great slides. Got a few points. Also, uh team Mike and Team Rory today, uh, with Phil's help, basically set up the whole church, sound, A V, whole thing, just crushing. So we just really appreciate you. What about a warm applause for the boys? Warm applause for the boys. They don't want it, they don't want it. Also, too, I was thinking, uh so this is like a side note. This is a side note. So I just did a big launch and big segue into the sermon, but we're gonna segue out of it. This is a side note. Nadia and I, since the beginning of when we we we planted our first church in Canada, this must be, I mean, it must be eight years ago, eight or eight or nine years ago. And from the moment we started that church, her and I have always had a to and fro, I don't know if any of marriages have those, um, about when we should start church. All the time. She's like, we should start it when people arrive. I'm like, we should start it when we say we're gonna start it. And so we have today was a good example of starting church when people arrived. But what happens is, is that the later you so you if you're a part of a church that starts late, then you'll come late. But if the church doesn't start till people arrive, then it will just continually, so we might as well just start church at 3:30. But we're not gonna do that. So next week, you know how we get someone who often prays at the start, like whether it's James today or whoever, next week I'm doing it. I'm gonna do it for the next month. So the Hearing God's Voice series, you'll have Levi at 3 o'clock, welcoming whoever is here to start the church. So this is a warm-up for you. This is seven days' notice, but also for the worship team, if you're rostered next week, be prepared that you might be leading no one in worship for the first song. Be prepared. But I was just talking to someone earlier, I was like, I don't think that's why the worship team comes early to rehearse for us. I think the worship team comes early to rehearse so that they can get their hearts in the right place and sing songs well for him. So that's me just saying, make sure you're on time to church. The first thing I'll say is this. In fact, before I start, Father, Lord, we we do just still our hearts today. And I and I do feel that you are speaking to us about this series. I believe it is my firm belief that in the next month you do want to speak to us, Lord. I pray that today someone here would hear your voice for the first time. My prayer today is that someone who has been doubting, that they've been hearing that small, still, beautiful whisper of your voice, God, that you would remind them and reveal to them today that it has been you that's been speaking. I'm praying today, Lord, that you would do something wonderful in our community. That you would teach us, give us tools, and help us understand, Lord, what it is to truly have a sense, like, yeah, I just feel like I'm I'm in the right place and I'm hearing your voice. And we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. This is actually not in my notes, I'm sorry, but the as I was praying, I thought to share it. The the last time that I think I heard God's voice really, really clearly was in upstate New York at New Skeet, which is a monastery of Eastern Orthodox Christian monks, and I had driven there to pray and believe that God would answer my prayers about whether our family should move back to New Zealand and start a church. And when I was so I was I was just praying, I was asking God that question for weeks. God, should we go? Should we go back home? Should we go home? And I'm asking that question all the time. He must have got sick of it. Every day I wake up. What do you think, Lord? And then I'll go, and then I'll I don't know about you, but I'll do this. Lord, should we move back to New Zealand? And I'm looking for talking donkeys, that's a biblical reference. I'm looking for um burning bushes, that's another Bible reference. Um I'm looking for things, and you know, like you, I found none of those things. But then when I when I drove, it was about an eight-hour drive from my house. I drove to this monastery, met the head monk, and he showed me my room, and it was a it was just a really basic room with a bed and a little side lamp and a little ensuite, and like um smelt like um mothballs, you know, smelt like an old, like an old AOG or like a Baptist dorm, you know. And there was just one other guy who was also on a prayer retreat, and it was a separate place to where the monks gathered in their monastery. They had two churches, a smaller church where they met in the afternoon for prayer, but then a uh um a larger church that they had built, which is where they met in the morning for um uh their morning prayer, and then in the evening for evening prayer. So before I went and met everyone else, I was just in my room. And I had, and this is what I think is really important about hearing God's voice, is I think your part in that process is really important. So I had been praying one prayer for so long that I was just waiting to hear the answer to that prayer. So I think it's good if you want to scatter prayers and just machine gun, just oozy them. That's cool. I think that's really cool. But how my question to you is how would you know if God answered those prayers if you're just throwing up random prayers all the time? But I think it's totally cool, but how will you know? Because he'll answer a prayer and then you'll be going, oh sweet, that's just serendipitous. That's just something cool that happened to me today. But the Lord's like, no, no, no, you actually asked for it eight days ago, and I'm and I'm reaping that in your life, but we we can overlook it. And so I've been praying the same prayer. So I got there, then I opened up my Bible. The first thing I did, I met the guy, Thomas, Father Thomas, Brother Thomas, open up my Bible when he left. And the Bible speaks, I think it's in um, I think it's in 2 Kings, where Jesus speaks to Elijah after the, there's a there's a um a great sound of a rushing wind, and there's an earthquake, and there's all these noises, and then a whisper comes and speaks to Elijah in the cave. And often uh, you know, I've heard that message preached a lot about the still small voice of God. And I think it it it's it's right with where we're at today. And the preacher will preach about the still small voice, but I never hear anyone preach about what he said to Elijah in the cave. Just this concept of the small voice. And so I got to that point, still small voice. And then the very next line it said, um, it read, I read what he said to Elijah, and it said these words. Now, the context is the prayer I've been praying, should I go back home to New Zealand with my family, leave Canada, hand the church over, quit our jobs, sell everything, move back, and start a church. That was the prayer. And the scripture says, go back the way you came. And so I closed my Bible and put it down immediately. And I felt, I felt, now I'll get to this, the sense of um, the sense of God speaking. I didn't hear anything audible, but I felt absolutely like bang, that's an answer to the prayer. And I got it immediately. So I put my Bible away and then I walked outside. I'm like, Lord, like Lord, and I'm just looking at the breeze through the trees, and this is green grass, it's a beautiful day. I'm like, Lord, I've come to hear your voice to answer this prayer like I'm certain. I'm a hundred percent certain that's you. So I did what any wise man would do. Next, text my wife. I said, This is the scripture, what do you think? And she texts back. I said, Do you feel anything when you read it? She texts back, nah. About five hours later, I got clarity from her that she read 1 Kings. Total wrong book. That's the last time that with certainty I heard his voice. I think that story is valuable for us because it was a lead up, it was a ramp up of the same prayer. For you, that might be career, it might be choosing somebody, it might be where to send your kids to school, what to do with your next step, whatever, it could be anything. Could be anything. But as you pray the same prayer, when you feel like the Lord gives clarity and you look back at all those times you prayed it, you're like, this can only be, this can only be the Lord. But let that be a reference, I'll come back to this later, let that be a reference point that you might return back to. And I'm just looking for more reference points. And I'd had a few reference points, but then when I got the clarity from that verse, I was like, that's it, that's the Lord. And then after that, I got a few more, a few answered prophecies and a few words from different people, but it all fed back to that scripture. The other reason why I think that that story is valuable for us is because it's a scripture that God used to bring certainty to my prayer. Like, if I had been praying something and I felt like God answered my prayer, but his answer that I felt was not biblical, ah man, there's this there's this person I've been praying about, and then then I feel like the Lord spoke to me, I should punch them in the face. I would then use my Bible. Nadia's wearing slippers today, and because she can't find socks, and I can't find my Bible. I've been looking to grab my Bible this whole time I've been preaching to actually look find the scriptures, but I don't know where it is. It's covered in dust somewhere. We've just bought a home and been renovating, so that's why everything's in boxes and plastic bags. Uh, that's my thing that I've lost. Uh, and um and the the script the the scripture of the Lord becomes the the filter that I that we should use about when we think we've heard from him. So I think I've heard from you, Lord. But is it biblical? Is it legal? Is it moral? Is it ethical? Is it biblical? No, I'm not saying is it in the Bible? Because there wasn't a story about Levi in the Bible to move back to New Zealand, but there was a story about uh uh uh uh Elijah that God said, Go back the way you came. And was that a coincidence? Was that the that was the first that I read, the first scripture that I read on that on that journey? Anyway, I say all of that to say this. God wants to speak to us, and this is our first point for the day. Romans 8 verse 16 says this the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Spirit Himself, the Holy Spirit, bears witness with our spirit. There's a connect, there's something about God, a leaping that takes place with our spirit, telling us, informing us, emphasizing with us that we are children of God, that we are his kids. And and I have four kids. And if I want anything with my kids, it's a it's a it's a relationship with them. I I want to communicate with my kids. I actually found it difficult to be a father before my firstborn could talk back to me. Because I'm looking for that, like, what are we, when are we, you know? But before that, it's just diapers and stuff, and you're kind of like, okay, like the maternal in me is not massive. I'm looking for like a buddy. But as soon as bro could talk, man, we would just hang out all the time. Because there's there's a relationship that I think is inherent in us. I'll never forget being on holiday once when we had uh just Ryder and Mika, we're both young, and we were away with um uh on holiday with a couple of families, and there were like nine kids in the house on this particular holiday, and the the guys were in one room, you know, and and then the women were in the other room, and all of the but all the kids were in another room, which is I think is that's how it should be, you know, it's just like you got you got dudes over here kind of hanging out. Oh, so men and women were in the same room, but the kids were just like doing their thing. But then in in the next room we heard a thud and then a cry. And the fathers either didn't hear it, were none the wiser, or looked nervous because they didn't know what to do. And and then the mums all heard it. I thought that was interesting. Some of the dads didn't hear it, but all of the mums heard it, and some of the dads who did hear it didn't know what to do, but all the mums heard it and they just craned their neck ever so slightly. Yeah, they're just sitting there sipping lattes, and then it just went like this. And as they craned their neck, one mum said, Yeah, no, that's one of mine. And then she listened one just for one more second and then said, Ah, she'll be right. And turns out this mum was right on both counts. It was her unko baby, and the baby was totally fine. And I'll never forget going to bed that night. And I said to Nadia, I was like, Nad, do you remember earlier in the day with the we had the pool, the swimming pool, the kids were in another room, we were here, everyone's having a great time, and one of the kids there was a bump in another room, and one of the kids was crying, and then the the the mums, and then, and you all knew. And she's like, she it was just so normal for her, she didn't remember. She's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, actually, yeah, I do remember. Yeah, what about it? I was like, How do you how did you do that? She's like, do what? I was like, how did you all know? The the men we didn't know. We were nervous, we didn't know what to do, but you you had the sense, like, and how did the mum know? How did she know that it was her child? And and Nadia was like, Oh, we're like lying in bed, you know, bit of pillow talk. And she's like giggling, she's like, Oh, well, no, you're alright, don't worry about it. I was like, I'm worrying about it, man. I want that power. Like, I want to be able to see through a wall and know information about what's happening out there. And she says, Levi, you're such an involved father, but you've got to understand, we we all these mums have had these kids nine months in the womb. Whatever, six plus months breastfeeding, physically being close to these kids. When you went when you went back to work, I was on Matt Leave, I still had the kids. And you come home from work and you'd you'd hang and connect and you're you're involved, but like the maternal level of involvement for me with our four kids and with these other mums at this point in their life, because all the kids were toddlers, is kind of just like it's just more. It's just more. And then she's like, and we're just better, and just all those kind of things. And she says, like, I have spent so much time without at that point our two kids. She says, I can just, I know the tone, I can tell the from the volume, the pain, whether I need to move or not move. Just all just all based on all the time we've spent together. And I'm and she kind of dozed off, and I remember praying, I was like, Lord, like for my kids, for my kids, I want that for sure. I want to know my kids, like as well as Nadia does to have that emotional connect. But I was like, I just was praying, I was like, Lord, man, I want that with you, Lord. I I want to know when you're speaking. I want to know the tone, Lord. I want to know the volume. I want to know, Lord, like, are you being sarcastic? Like, I want to know if you're cracking a joke. I want to know if you if if you're like, if this is fatally crucial. Or if you're just cracking up. Like, because I think that the Lord communicates with us how we receive communication. I think for sure he has a way. He's a father. That's in the Bible. He he he has a way of communicating like a father would, but I think that he's so gifted at communicating with us that he uses our language to talk with us. When we do pre-marriage counseling, one of the things we're trying to communicate with those getting married is like, what's your love language and what's the love language of your spouse? So in my family, you get a love language like me, like I'm words of encouragement or quality time. So if we're hanging out, I'm I'm happy as Larry. Nadia's gifts, she's a gift giver. People here have received gifts from Nadi because she's very good at that. It's number five on my list. So I never give gifts. Not because I don't care about gifts or care about you, or not because I don't care about her, but because I don't, it's not high on my list, eh? Like, I'm like gifts. Let's just hang out. If you come, don't bring anything. Let's just hang. Oh, a couple bears will go a treat, you know, but like, but whereas her, she's like, the gift is is crucial. I think God is so gifted at communicating with us that He's going to communicate it with you based on what are your love languages. I don't think God's trying to communicate in a way that's so inverted on what's your way of hearing that we have to do all the changing. I just think we have to do all the listening. He wants to speak with us. The next thing I'll say is this is that God, God is always speaking to us. The challenge for us, I think, is that we're not, it's not about trying to figure out like when is God talking, but understand that He's always, He's actually just always communicating. Isaiah 30, verse 21 says this whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice and note where it comes from. It will come from behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it. This is the illustration that I would use. I would say that if I'm standing still and not trying to be actively hearing God's voice in my life, and he says, turn to the left or to the right, then I am just um standing in a stationary position, turning. Which is fine if you want a different vantage point of exactly where you are. But if you're taking steps, just really trying, eh? Like I saw Audrey's, she made these little cupcake bickies, the rolling scones, strike again, and I was gonna eat them. I didn't I didn't honest. But I was thinking, man, if I just tried to start baking, how bad I would be, eh? But imagine if Audrey was just giving me little bits of advice every step of the way, that as I move, as a voice comes from behind and nudges me ever so slightly, I think many Christians when it comes to things like this are so nervous that that you do we just don't move. It's too hard, basket. I think, I think, especially men, and I think for men when something's too hard, we're just like, nah, not interested. But let me encourage you today, just I I would I would love for us in this service, this week, this month, just start to go, Lord, I'm I'm listening, Lord. And believe that there might be a voice that comes from behind. Psalms, this is 19, verse 1 and 2 say this. Note what's talking here. The heavens declare. That's amazing. They declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands day after day. They pour forth speech night after night. They display knowledge, they pour forth speech. Wow. They declare glory. The skies and the heavens they're proclaiming his work. The skies, nature is talking to us. I was we were uh we were at my house and Jaden was around doing a bit of Mahi, and like my my window looks um west. And there were these stars, these two stars in the sky for like it was like two or ten days. And we were talking about these stars every day. Bro, you see those stars? They're freaking me out, and they're moving. And then someone's like, nah, satellites, they're satellites. I was like, nah, they're not satellites, man. And we were every day, and then we figured out because someone had a star um star app, stargazer app, that it was Jupiter and Venus. And we were like, yes, Lord. Like when you, I don't know about you, but like, how could the people sitting in church so they've got sunglasses on? Why? Man, this this the sunlight street, thank you, Jesus. That the sunlight doesn't just warm our um, doesn't just light up our lives, that warms our hearts. Let creation be something that speaks to you, that that the Lord is using that to communicate with you all the time. Relationship, though, is the foundation. Ephesians 2 verse 14 says this for he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups become one, and has destroyed the battle. Barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. For he himself is our peace who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Jesus has come that we might have a relationship with God. In other words, there is no hostility between us and God because of what Jesus has done, and that's the foundation. But let me say this relationship is a long process. Relationship is a long process. I have four brothers, I have mum and dad and four brothers. Nadia has five brothers and sisters on his mom's side. She has three on her father's side, and she has all these aunties and cousins. One of her aunties has 16 kids. So that's 16 first cousins from one person. Well, it took two people to make those 16 people, but from one. And so you got like, you got all you got all this family. I've got all these brothers, I've got all these brothers, I've got four brothers. And I am still learning about my brothers. My brother Dylan and I came from the same mum and dad, same womb, different time, not twins. Like everything about us is, we're just, but I still, I don't, I don't know him that well. Why? Because relationship's a long process. I've got friends here I've known for two years, some 10, some 20 years. Relationship takes a long time. You I might know you and hang out with you, and then you might share something with me that I didn't know about. Crazy. And I might say something back, like, uh, you know, what about this? I mean, crazy. That's crazy. Because relationship just information just takes a long time. So I've been walking with Jesus for 30 years, but have I every day tried earnestly to hear from him and build my relationship with him? No wait. Oh my gosh, as Christians, we're taking months off, hey, we're taking years off, hey, and we go, that's right. Oh, I'm a Christian. Yes, Lord. But as we invest over time and relationship is a process, it takes a long time. These are foundational thoughts. Foundational thoughts. But hearing his voice, I want to just transition now into going from just more ethereal stuff and try and land a little bit for us this afternoon. When hearing God's voice, I believe that he speaks to us more as an impression rather than with clarity. What I'm trying to touch on there is I think that there's what we call an inner witness when it comes to hearing God's voice. And it can be a feeling or an impression rather than clarity or an actual audible voice. This inner witness is something that comes, I've written here in my notes, like a breezed idea. It comes like a spark of knowledge in our consciousness. It's a click from the Spirit of God that brings our mind to the awareness of the will of God. God spoke to me is a little creepy. Just a hey, this is my opinion, it's my sermon, I can say what I want. When someone says to me, God spoke to me, immediately I think that's a bit creepy. But when someone says to me, and I felt like God spoke to me, I personally feel like that's a lot more, that's safer language. Because if you can say with certainty that God spoke to you on a regular basis, man, far out, you're an oracle, mate. We want to hear from you about who to vote for. Like we want to know where to invest our cryptocurrency. Like if you're hearing from God with that degree of clarity, go to the Strait of Hormuz, solve the whole thing. No one's got that utter degree of clarity all the time, but there's a sense of an impression. I said this before, I've only been supremely confident of God speaking to me a handful of times in my life, and the last time that happened was two and a half years ago. But I have been reasonably confident and prove right many, many more times than that. The next thing I say is this is that we grow into it. God is talking, we just need to be the ones that are listening. We need to dial into his voice. And as the relationship grows, as we mature, so does God's voice, the topic, the tone. If I think about Nadia, if Nadia was here right now, she's in kids. But if she was here right now and I was preaching, she would be looking at me a certain way. And the way that she looks at me could be determined on how she's feeling or what she's going through at this time in her life, or how I'm doing. And I'm trying to figure out as I look, because I'd like to make eye contact, and no doubt, in the time that we've been preaching together, you would have noticed that as I continue to make some more. And I make eye contact with her. And I actually like picking people in the congregation who have a yes, who have a yes face, not a different kind of face. A yes face is someone I like to look at because I because I get a sense of like, oh, this, you know, this is this is going well. And so when I look at Nadia, I'm always trying to get more from her. Like any of the merry churches. But Nards, when I'm looking at Nards, I'm like, in my head, I'm thinking, how am I going? And sometimes it's impossible to know because she's a um she's a dreamer creative, so she'll sometimes be phasing out and thinking about something totally different. Like the amount of people today have talked to me about the colours at my house. I love the colours at your house. Because she's been taking photos. Hey, writer, taking photos of the wall. She's been walking around taking photos of the wall in different rooms, in different angles, with different sunlight all the time. But on the socials, people love it. And that people are getting the carpet that we own because they're confident now to get it because they've seen us get it. This is amazing. So flooring extra should have given it to us for free. And so, so she's thinking, and so I'll be preaching. I'll be preaching, man. I'll be walking up and down this front here, and then I'll get one look, and then I'll be then I'll be thinking, dang it. Did I go? Did I cross the line? You know, perfect. You know, was it too far? Definitely. You know, what should you do? Go back to the notes, you know what I mean, back to the scriptures. Like, but a a wink, a nudge, a look, a smile, a frown, because of the time that we've spent together every day since like 1995, we've been together, that all those little nuances, all those little idiosyncrasies of body language, all those little micro movements, they mean something to me because of the time spent. I'm saying all of this to say that I do believe with all my heart that God is as communicative as a wife. Dang it. Sorry, no. Ah two of them, you know. He he he communicates consistently with his kids. And our job is just to, as we can, still ourselves and posture ourselves to hear what he has to say. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? There's another thing I'd like to add to that, and that's that there are four voices in my head. And I think this is the I think this is true for all of us. So I'll tell you about the four voices in my head. I've got, I've got, and I think this is the same for you, although there'd be a couple of variations. I think in your head you've got your voice. I got mine. I think you've got God's voice. I think you've got the enemy's voice in your head, and I think I've got Nadia's voice, so I'm not sure if you've got hers. Um, but usually a significant other or a parent or a or a significant person in your life who has been speaking to you like a sibling or a mentor or a you know a coach or someone, eh, someone. Could be negative, could be positive, you know, and so mine's Nadia. So it's both. And so I've got my voice, you've got your voice, you got God's voice, you got the enemy's voice, and you and I have Nadia's voice. So our job when trying to hear God's voice, I think this is a really simple skill, is just to try and figure out when you've when you've got voices in your head, which one is it? So the other day I was at Gervin Road uh dairy um on the way to Uttatucky to drop the kids off. And there was a houseless individual sitting outside. You've got those park benches outside, you know, you got the fish and chip shop and you got the dairy, and you got what used to be a pharmacy. And old mate's sitting out there, and um, and I was like, How you going, bro? And he said, Have you got any money? You got a couple of dollars, bro? And I was like, I actually don't have any money, because I'm surprised that anybody has any money these days. Well, the cash, you know, um on them. I said, I'm sorry, man, I don't have any money. But would you like some food? And he's like, Oh, pie would go off. I was like, No problem. They got this nice little pie warmer in there, and he goes, Dairy free though, bro. I was like, all right, relax, you know. Um, you know, take it easy. And so then I walked in, went to the pie warmer, and at this point, I'm not trying to figure out whose voice is in my head because I told bro I would buy him a pie. So it's done, right? So I go and get him a pie, come out, my man. And I bought two lunch packs. You know those five dollar lunch packs for the kids? The plastic things? He goes, hey, cheating on lunches. And I was like, this guy, hey, he's hand picking pies and judging my lunches with this guy. So then um I went there a few days later because we just moved house, so I was getting lunch packs every day. Went back and he was there. And I had the kids with me in the car, Hugo and Jovi. And I get out of the car and I see bro, and I was like, hey going, brother, and bang, voices. Straight away voices. So here are the four voices. And here's the question that I'm that I'm hearing, right? Here's the question I'm asking. Should I buy bro another pie? You because that's not, I'm not special, I'm not spiritual. This is the this is what you would think. You get out of your car, see, bro, you already bought him a pie two days ago, and you would think, should I buy him another one? Right, tell me I'm wrong. So, first voice, uh, mine. 100% no. Definitely not. He needs to get a job. I done my part, that's me. That's me. Done my part, bro needs to get a job. I can help with that. He needs education, he needs to sort himself out, right? He didn't struggle, needs to go with massive drug issues or mental health problems. So this is but this is what I'm thinking. Boom. The devil. Yeah, you're right. He's the worst. Definitely don't get him a pie. Get yourself a pie. Yeah, what does that mean? You know, then third voice, Nadia. A hundred percent get him a pie. 100%. This man needs a pie. He's hungry. He's a houseless individual, he needs food, and he's looking to you to provide something, just a little something. God. This is why we're doing the sermon for this month, is to try and figure out what is God's voice. So I just go back through the first three and figure out which of those sounds more like God. Me, no. The enemy, I believe not. Does God's voice in the 30 years I've been walking with him sound more like Nadia of those other voices? Yeah. So I walked in and I grabbed the lunch packs and the pie, and then, here, bro, take care. He says, Man, I appreciate it. Yeah, no worries. Then I get in the car and Hugo and Jovi straight away, who's that guy? And I said, I don't know. And they said, What do you mean? I said, I don't know his name, I've never asked his name, but I do know that he look he's hungry because he asked me for a pie the other day, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a home. And they go, Wow, Dad, you're the man, you're the most generous person ever. I was like, So drop them off the next day. Got no food, more lunch packs. Go back, there's the bro. Go through the process, but this time it's shorter. Because they've already done it. So this way, and then I just walk past. Dairy free, going bang. Kids, what's his name? Don't know. Man, is that that same guy? Yeah. Fire out, dad. You're changing his life. Now I say that what they're saying, not because I'm trying to big note me, I'm trying to teach us how I'm trying to live my life. But the for me, the the the point is the fruit that's in their life. So then now I'm going, hey, this is the process I went through about what happened with this guy. So if all that happens, is not that this man is fed, although that's important. If all that happens is that my kids have my kids have some empathy, which they get from their mum, that has been dialed up a little bit for the poor, dialed up a little bit for the houseless individuals in our city, man, that's a win. And it cost me 15 bucks. So now I look back at the reference point of hearing from God. Now, without getting into a conversation about how we actually help houseless individuals, that we can do that another day. I think that thus far, with my lunch pack at Goen Road story, I have been effectively hearing from God. That's just one example from a snapshot of three mornings of my life last week. I'm asking you to do that in your life this week. In the mornings, at work, in the evenings, at church. Like when you, I just wanted, I just would love for you to, when you have an interaction with somebody, just go through that process. Should I do this thing? Could be something like road rage, hey. You know, you get high beam from behind. Guy thinks you're break checking him. You know what I mean? And it's like, bro, we're on girl, we're on Hewlett's road, it's a 70k. Relax, you know? I'm just trying to get some cheap diesel from the Y turmour, you know what I'm saying? And still play my road user charges in this economic environment? Give me a break, man. And I feel like floating a bird. I feel like it, man. It's so I've got four things going through my head, and I'm going through those things. And then I get to the end. Would the Lord pull the fingers at this guy? 100% yes. And so then I let it fly, you know. The last thing I say is this is that the peace of God, maybe Rose, would you mind?

unknown 36:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

The peace of God, this is what I believe. I believe that the peace of God is the ultimate gauge. The peace of God is the ultimate guide. Did I have peace buying this man a pie? Yeah, 100% I had peace. Do I think that there's other ways? Yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure. But those are all in the moment excuses of reasons why I shouldn't actually just make sure this man has some food. Um, did I have peace floating the bird on Hewlett's road? No. Felt great though. I was like, yeah, hell yeah, you know. But definitely didn't, you know, didn't have peace. Peace is the best guide. Psalm 85, verse 8 says this. I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. He speaks peace. Isaiah 9, verse 5, and I've just truncated the verse here. His name will be then it goes through names. Wonderful counselor, mighty God, Prince of Peace. And Prince of Peace there. Prince of peace. Prince William is the Duke of Cambridge. It's one of the six dukedoms in the UK. So in Cambridge, he is the Prince of the people of Cambridge. So he has a law, he's lordship over the city and the subjects of this place. Just in case you cared. Jesus, the Bible says, is also a prince of a certain thing. So he has power and lordship over this thing called peace. So he, when we feel peace, we can feel the Lord. So before the church started today, I came in and uh, and I hadn't followed some WhatsApp chats about the fact that um Mike needed a hand setting up the venue today. And I got here and I was like, what's up, bro? How are you? He goes, good man, big smile on his face. And he's in, he's doing the kids' fences, and his worship team's in here, kids team, Anna, Nards, whole whole people's squad doing stuff. And then I came in and realized that he was alone doing venue and AV. But this so then Rory was setting up the AV stuff for him. And I was like, dang, the boys are the boys are on. Like, I was like, fire out. I've got to help, but I had a prayer meeting. So I was like, nah, man, like good help, bro. So then then Phil came and he's like, What are we up to? I noticed that Mike needs a hand. I was like, bro, that's us. He goes, we can do that in prayer, right? It's like, yeah, heck yeah. So we start doing that. Then I walk in like to the prayer meeting and Heather's in there. But on the way to the prayer meeting to see Heather, Phil's like, hey, one of the toilets is blocked. I was like, which one? And he goes, like the main one that will get used the most in church. And I was like, dang it. He goes, I'm looking for a plunger. And I was like, check this room. He goes, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go. So he's just on this mission opening all these random doors to find the plunger. And he opens the cleaning cupboard, which is where the plunger should be. It's not in there. Then he unblocked the toilet without a plunger, you know, which I'm sorry I said that because all the images going through your mind. You know, the freaking man. Yeah, no, I know, so did I, you know, man of the people. And so he's doing that. Then we come into the prayer meeting. Heather, um, sorry I'm late. Me and Phil are out here helping Mike. And she goes, I heard what's going wrong. Well, you know, plunges and stuff. And she's like, Oh, turmoil. And I was like, Yeah. And then we both look at each other, we're like, gonna be a great day in church. Because when there's when there's stuff going wrong, you have to figure out as a believer, is the stuff going wrong because God's trying to tell me to stay away? Or is stuff going wrong because God wants you to push through because on the other side of that thing, he's gonna do something really powerful? And I can't tell you the answer to that question. Even if you gave me all the facts and we sat down, we had a coffee, and you said, Here's an hour of context of the difficulty in my life, what do you think? I would do my best, but I wouldn't know. The best judge of what God is doing in your life is time. And I think that we have three three salty old Christians here who know that just like little four, who just know that random little things going wrong before church, like bad rehearsals or like things can't find the kids sign and thing, the printer paper's broken, kids are crying. All those little things are just yeah, let's go. Let's do our best to get through them, but we just know that on the end of that confusion, God's gonna do something really powerful. But then there might be other times in your life where it's like, man, I've been trying to like, I've been trying to open this door and it can't open, I can't get clarity, I can't find a way through. Maybe God's saying that the door is actually closed because he closed it. I don't know the answer to that question. That's why we're doing this series. And my point here is this is that in the last point of our of our sermon today, is that peace is the ultimate guide. Because what I will say is that Mike, Heather, myself, and Phil were totally calm. Not that it was like major dramas, eh? But we were just like, yeah, man, stuff's falling apart, but like it's gonna be fine because peace is the guide. And so this week, as you start to try and hear from the Lord, let peace be your guide. Lord, what should I what should I do with this decision here? I uh I lay it before you. Let peace be the guide. Judges 6 speaks about Gideon, and Gideon's trying to figure out if he's gonna be the one that the Lord will use, because the Lord has spoken to him and said, I'm gonna use you to save Israel. And he's like, nah, you know, I'm not sure. And he does this thing called he lays out a fleece. You know, you know, um, we used to have these growing up, hey, like uh little sheepskin rugs in front of the fireplace. So I picture one of those, so he lays it out, and he said, Lord, if this is you speaking, let the let the fleece be dry and the ground be wet. Then that happens. And he comes back the next day and says, Okay, Lord, if this is you, let the fleece be wet and the ground be dry. And it happens, and the Lord was speaking to him. And so in our lives, we can do this thing called laying out a fleece. And I'm just trying to lay something out to see, like, Lord, where is the peace in this thing? Um, and I'll close with this illustration. Like, when we moved back here from Canada, we're trying to figure out where to send the kids. So we set it on Arataki and Bethlehem College, and you might have sent your kids to different schools. That's totally cool. But I wanted to figure out like where for us is is where's the peace? And um when I I I caught up with Jake and Stace, I was like, what do you guys think about Aratuki? Jake, ATK all day, you know, and I was like, okay, there's the peace, Lord. You know what I mean? Like, and I spoke with Lex, and he's like, dang it, if you're gonna send your kids anywhere else. It's like, okay, cool, this is good. I got I got some reference points. I got some reference points. And I found a sense of peace. And it's been the best decision for our younger kids sending them to Atuaki. And so in you in your life, hearing, hearing from God, don't don't try and find a um a message in the sky. Don't try and go, you know, like there's like a clairvoyant um I'm sorry, I'm not trying to. But there's this clairvoyant sign down the road, you know, like you know, all these, all these, there's all these opportunities for us to try and force it. I believe that peace and stillness are your friend. I believe time and fruit is the great judge of if God is speaking to you. And I do believe that he's speaking, and if you make space for him, he will fill it. I believe that with all of my heart. And over this month, I'm asking you, I'm asking us as a church congregation that we would just, and I haven't got some 30-day devotional plan and whatever. I didn't, nothing. We got nothing there. But I'm just asking that you would just open up your heart this month. And just make some space for the Lord and say, God, I want to hear your voice for my marriage, for my family, for my decisions, for what's next for us, for big things we have in the future, for relationships. And just let that stillness and that peace guide you. And I really believe, I really do believe that he will speak to you. There's potential that he's been speaking to you today about something that you've been thinking about or praying about or just have been thoughtful of over the last little while. And as I've been talking, he's been talking to you about that thing. Because that would be just like him to do that. That'd be just like that's a classic God thing. That's classic Jesus. Classic. That's classic. Someone's talking about hearing from God, and then you've got this thing you can't shake. Classic. So maybe that's it. So this week, just simmer on it, man. Let that be the fleece that you lay out. Okay, God? I'm now gonna try and tackle this thing. And I'm scared. But I need your guidance, Lord. And see if you can't just have a good listen. Amen. Thank you, Father. We love you, Lord. We are um yeah. Man, we're nervous, man. There's a nervous faith. Oh, in the people's hearts. We're excited. We we are we anticipate something, Lord. We anticipate you doing something in our hearts and in our lives. We anticipate hearing from you. Father, we're asking that you be gentle with us. Man, this is new for some and scary for others. And for many of us, as a bike that's rusty in the garage, and we're just trying to shake it off and put on some WD-40 and give it another crack. And Father, I'm praying that you would just gently guide us in this time. Our prayer is that you would speak to your people. But our prayer, I guess, on top of that, is that we would be people that would listen. That we would lean in. Like a breezed idea, like an impression, like a click, like a penny drop, like those little moments that we would just know, yes. Oh man, I think that's you, Lord. And that we would just give it a nudge. Right now, Lord, speak to your people. Just in your hearts, just um put out that fleece. That sheepskin. Just put it out. And maybe, maybe uh mentally just have an image where you've written on it what it is, or you can see it, or if it's a person that they might even be on the fleece. Just put it out and just say, Lord, I'm trying to hear from you about this. And this is my my prayer for the month. For the month of July. Lord, I'm believing that you're gonna answer this prayer. Speak to your people, Lord. Let us listen. Let us listen. We pray. We pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.