Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 1: it gives your perspective to see God is moving in
Speaker 1: your life. Enjoy the message. Come on, clap your hands,
Speaker 1: make some noise for the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hey,
Speaker 1: thank God for the worship team.
Speaker 3: Thank God for our students, thank God for all these volunteers,
Speaker 3: thank God for the group leaders, for you tex thank
Speaker 3: God for Elevation Valentine celebrating a ten year campus anniversary.
Speaker 1: Elevation Raleigh, celebrating us wealth year.
Speaker 2: Anniversary, Happy Birthday, Raleigh, and celebrating you making it to
Speaker 2: church another day looking good.
Speaker 1: You're looking good.
Speaker 2: Tell somebody you don't look like what you've been through.
Speaker 2: Tell them I know you've been through some fire, but
Speaker 2: you don't smell like smoke. You smell like deodorant, and miss.
Speaker 1: Smell like creed. Praise the Lord. Let me look at
Speaker 1: you remains standing for just a moment.
Speaker 2: I do want us to take a moment and welcome
Speaker 2: our EPAM around the world.
Speaker 1: Would you help me do that elevation.
Speaker 2: Valentine, wherever you're watching it, let us know in the
Speaker 2: comments where you're watching from.
Speaker 1: And let us know in the comments today if.
Speaker 2: You feel like it a prayer request that we can
Speaker 2: pray for you about we would love to do that.
Speaker 2: We have an entire prayer team that just exists to
Speaker 2: surround you with prayer.
Speaker 1: I know we may not be together physically.
Speaker 2: But just to have these moments with you in the
Speaker 2: presence of God and to believe that there is no
Speaker 2: distance in the spirit. I believe God brought you here
Speaker 2: for a reason, whether you came in a car or
Speaker 2: whether you came through a link. I believe that God
Speaker 2: has something that he wants to do in your life.
Speaker 2: I believe he wants to speak to you. It is
Speaker 2: an incredible honor and privilege that I will never be
Speaker 2: able to describe to you.
Speaker 1: To preach God's word from this pulpit.
Speaker 2: I value and treasure every opportunity that I get, and
Speaker 2: I prayed for you today that God might give me
Speaker 2: the words that he wants you to hear, cut to
Speaker 2: the continuity of your situation, to remind you that your
Speaker 2: God is greater than anything you will ever face.
Speaker 1: He can bring down any giant. He can cause any
Speaker 1: wall to tumble. He's a great God.
Speaker 2: And in the name of Jesus, today I come into
Speaker 2: agreement with you concerning your family, your children.
Speaker 1: Your health, your body, your mind, and your purpose.
Speaker 2: I pray that God would not only bless you, but
Speaker 2: that you would be a blessing. That God would set
Speaker 2: you back up on your feet so you can serve Him,
Speaker 2: make a difference for him.
Speaker 1: You were made to glorify Him. You were not.
Speaker 2: Made to be in depression and stay in the bed.
Speaker 2: You were not made to go through the motions of Christianity.
Speaker 2: You were made to glorify Him. And I pray that
Speaker 2: today God would give us a word to that end.
Speaker 2: Clap your hands and thank God for his presence. I
Speaker 2: don't think I have to tell you. I think you
Speaker 2: know what time. It is.
Speaker 1: Elevation, preaching time.
Speaker 2: Put it in the comments, just preaching time.
Speaker 1: Put it in the comments. Is preaching time. Say it
Speaker 1: out loud, it's preaching time.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be starting a brand new series today,
Speaker 2: and the title of the series is I know that voice.
Speaker 1: I know that voice.
Speaker 2: I'll explain it to you as we go, but let
Speaker 2: me read our foundational scripture for today's message, and it's
Speaker 2: found in First Samuel chapter sixteen. I'm going to read
Speaker 2: only through verse four and then I'll pick up the rest.
Speaker 1: In just a moment, we stand in honor of the
Speaker 1: Word of God in our house.
Speaker 2: Is just something that we do to say to him. Speak, Lord,
Speaker 2: we respect you. It's something we do to say, you're
Speaker 2: the most important person in the room.
Speaker 1: Lord, So speak to me. Somebody say, speak to me.
Speaker 2: Lord. You may even want to stand right where you
Speaker 2: are in your home or in your kitchen. If you're driving,
Speaker 2: I understand there's limitations keep your seatbelt on, but just in.
Speaker 1: Your heart, your posture reverence the Lord. This is his word.
Speaker 1: On Samuel chapter sixteen, verse one.
Speaker 2: The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn
Speaker 2: for Saul? Since I have rejected him as king over Israel?
Speaker 2: Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.
Speaker 2: I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have
Speaker 2: chosen one of his sons to be king. But Samuel said,
Speaker 2: how can I go? If Saul hears about it, he
Speaker 2: will kill me. The Lord said, take a heifer. Take
Speaker 2: a heifer with you, and say I have come to
Speaker 2: sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice.
Speaker 1: And I will show you.
Speaker 2: I think that's the most beautiful thing that I've read
Speaker 2: in the Bible in a long time. For the Lord
Speaker 2: to say, I know you're confused, I know you're afraid,
Speaker 2: but I will show you.
Speaker 1: Somebody say that he will show me. The Lord said,
Speaker 1: I will show you what to do.
Speaker 2: You are too anoint for me, the one I indicate,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to stop my reading right here. Samuel
Speaker 2: did what the Lord said, and that's really the goal
Speaker 2: of this sermon, the goal of this series, and the
Speaker 2: goal of our faith. Samuel did what the Lord said.
Speaker 2: And so for our week one installment of our new series.
Speaker 1: I know that voice.
Speaker 2: I want to say something to you that maybe you
Speaker 2: felt before, but maybe you don't have the courage to
Speaker 2: say so.
Speaker 1: I'll say it for both of us.
Speaker 2: This is the title of today's message.
Speaker 1: Is hard to hear God. It's hard to hear God.
Speaker 1: It's hard to hear God.
Speaker 2: And if you disagree with me, you can send me
Speaker 2: an email to Hollyfordick nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1: At Juno dot com.
Speaker 2: But all the honest people look at somebody and say
Speaker 2: it's hard to hear God.
Speaker 1: Speak. Lord, we're listening in Jesus' name. Amen, you may
Speaker 1: be seated.
Speaker 2: Soone set up my series with a story. My oldest son,
Speaker 2: Elijah turns twenty one this week. For those of you
Speaker 2: who have been in the church for a long time, that.
Speaker 1: Makes you feel old.
Speaker 2: You remember when we would come up there and hold
Speaker 2: those babies in our arms. And now Elijah is about
Speaker 2: to be twenty one, which means he's technically going to
Speaker 2: be old enough to pay for his own car insurance.
Speaker 1: But you think I was going to say.
Speaker 2: Had a flashback this week as I was preparing a
Speaker 2: series about hearing God's.
Speaker 1: Voice, which is so important.
Speaker 2: What could be more important to talk about? What could
Speaker 2: we spend better time pondering than the voice of God?
Speaker 2: But I was reminded of something that happened when Elijah
Speaker 2: was five years old. I'd been traveling a lot during
Speaker 2: a certain month, and I was leaving again for another trip.
Speaker 2: Holly brought him by the office to say hi to me,
Speaker 2: and I said, man, I'm really sorry I got to
Speaker 2: leave again to go preach in Louisiana, but I love you.
Speaker 2: I'd be back tomorrow. And he walked away and then
Speaker 2: he came back and I found pulling out my shirt
Speaker 2: and he was like, hey, I want to go to
Speaker 2: Easy called it Weezy. I was going to New Orleans
Speaker 2: to preach for the art conference. He said, I want
Speaker 2: to go to Easy. I said, you do. I said,
Speaker 2: I'm leaving in like two hours. He said, I want
Speaker 2: to go to What does he know about TSA? You know,
Speaker 2: I just want to go, And so I bought him
Speaker 2: a ticket and we were going to Easy. Me and
Speaker 2: Elijah were going to eat. Me and e were going
Speaker 2: to Weezy together. The only thing we had to do
Speaker 2: was get through the security line, and a very over
Speaker 2: ambitious TSA agent came and took Elijah and said, sir,
Speaker 2: I'm going to take your son through and then you
Speaker 2: can come through after him.
Speaker 1: I didn't really like that very much, but I let
Speaker 1: him do it.
Speaker 2: But after he took Elijah, like a minute goes by,
Speaker 2: two minutes goes by, like it felt like forever.
Speaker 1: It probably was only about two.
Speaker 2: Minutes, but I started getting very irate and very frustrated
Speaker 2: that I couldn't see my son because the man took him,
Speaker 2: and I'm standing on the other side of the little
Speaker 2: What do you call him security things that you go through.
Speaker 2: And so I'm standing there waiting for the man to
Speaker 2: come get me, and the whole line is held up,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, hey, what's up man, My son's on
Speaker 2: the other side. You need to let me through. And
Speaker 2: the guy, not the same guy, but another guy comes up.
Speaker 2: TSA guy goes, you need to calm down, and I said, no,
Speaker 2: what I need to do is go through this security thing.
Speaker 2: What you need to do is move out of my
Speaker 2: way and let me be with my son.
Speaker 1: Because I'm a pastor, see I have a shepherd's heart.
Speaker 2: But before I'm a pastor, I'm a dad. And if
Speaker 2: those two ever have to fight, the dad is going
Speaker 2: to win. Okay, I've said a few words I had
Speaker 2: to repent for at baseball fields over that very same principle.
Speaker 2: I'm being honest with you. Well, anyway, it goes on
Speaker 2: and on. Three TSA agents later, I'm yelling. I'm yelling
Speaker 2: so loud that I hear one of the TSA agents
Speaker 2: because I'm about to go Liam Neeson in this airport
Speaker 2: and I can feel it. And as I'm yelling top
Speaker 2: of my lungs, I hear the intercom and the airport, go,
Speaker 2: we've got a code one, and I realize I'm a
Speaker 2: code one, and I don't think this means a delightful
Speaker 2: passenger who.
Speaker 1: Needs to be upgraded to first class.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh God, I'm in trouble, but I'm still yelling.
Speaker 2: I'm yelling the whole time. Well, finally the smart TSA
Speaker 2: supervisor comes and goes, I'm sorry, we never should have
Speaker 2: separated you from your son. Come right through, Come right through,
Speaker 2: Come right through. And I'm like, that's still going right.
Speaker 2: Did y'all hear what he said? And when I got
Speaker 2: to Ali, joh, I'm and be honest with you, I
Speaker 2: was disappointed.
Speaker 1: Because he was calm. He was he was so calm.
Speaker 1: In fact, he was so calm.
Speaker 2: I'm still shaking, you know, I'm still shaking thinking I
Speaker 2: was about that prison ministry from inside the prison and
Speaker 2: the appreciate all from the other side of the screen.
Speaker 2: And then and then I'm walking with him through the
Speaker 2: airport and I said, son, you weren't scared.
Speaker 1: He said no. I said, why were you not scared?
Speaker 2: He said, I could hear your voice the whole time.
Speaker 1: That's how loud I was. I could hear your voice
Speaker 1: the whole time. Oh, to have the confidence.
Speaker 2: Of a five year old kid going through the TSSAY
Speaker 2: screenings of life, To have the confidence of a five
Speaker 2: year old boy for faith in my heavenly Father, to
Speaker 2: be able to hear his voice. But you know, and
Speaker 2: I know, at this stage in our life, it's not
Speaker 2: that simple anymore, is it. It's not that simple anymore, Even
Speaker 2: though there are some Christians who would tell you, no,
Speaker 2: I just hear from God all the time, and I
Speaker 2: obey him. I had one brother who came through the church,
Speaker 2: and he was honest enough to tell me.
Speaker 1: I don't know what y'all mean when y'all say.
Speaker 2: God told you. I've not been in the church my
Speaker 2: whole life. Maybe that's something y'all learned when you were little.
Speaker 2: But I don't really know what you mean when you
Speaker 2: say God told you.
Speaker 1: Is it out loud?
Speaker 2: I said, I've never heard him talk out loud, except
Speaker 2: when Holly's given me advice. That's bey as close as
Speaker 2: I ever get. He said, is it out loud? Is
Speaker 2: it an impression? Do you just mean like you knew
Speaker 2: the right thing to do? Is it like your conscience?
Speaker 2: Is it like just reading the Bible? Is it just
Speaker 2: and as he went through all of the lists, I realized,
Speaker 2: we're confused. I realize we're confused, and we can't hear
Speaker 2: God because we're not in an airport, we're in anxiety.
Speaker 2: We're not in a physical location where we can hear
Speaker 2: the physical voice of a physical father. But we have
Speaker 2: a heavenly Father who we have to hear in our hearts.
Speaker 2: And the hard thing about hearing God in my heart
Speaker 2: is he's not the only one talking there. I've got
Speaker 2: fear talking in my heart. I've got shame talking in
Speaker 2: my heart. I've got lust talking in my heart. I've
Speaker 2: got greed talking in my heart.
Speaker 1: Y'all got quiet.
Speaker 2: You got some of the same stuff in your heart,
Speaker 2: and it all sounds the same.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard to hear God.
Speaker 2: It's hard to hear God when you feel separated from God,
Speaker 2: although you understand theologically and technically that nothing will separate
Speaker 2: us from the love of God that is in Christ, Jesus,
Speaker 2: our Lord. You wish you could be like the five
Speaker 2: year old who says, I knew you were coming.
Speaker 1: I knew you were coming, you know.
Speaker 2: To Elijah, I would beat up every tsa agent.
Speaker 1: I would take air gun I would whatever it took
Speaker 1: to get to him.
Speaker 2: And though technically I believe this about God, is hard
Speaker 2: because I'm having to hear Him through my dysfunction, so
Speaker 2: I don't exactly trust what I think I'm hearing when
Speaker 2: I think I'm hearing God, because I thought I heard
Speaker 2: God one time, and I ended up in a relationship
Speaker 2: that almost ruined my life.
Speaker 1: So now I've got to hear God.
Speaker 2: Not only through my present dysfunction, but my past decisions
Speaker 2: that caused me to lose my confidence.
Speaker 1: Because when I.
Speaker 2: Was five, when I was ten, it was simple, Jesus
Speaker 2: loves the little children, all the children of the world.
Speaker 2: But now I'm living in this world where I realize
Speaker 2: that everybody doesn't love everybody heart for me to hear
Speaker 2: from God, because even some people who call themselves Christians
Speaker 2: say the most hateful things and do the most hurtful things,
Speaker 2: and live in the most hypocritical ways, And some of
Speaker 2: the biggest biggots I ever met in my life go
Speaker 2: in the church and quote the Bible over their bigotry.
Speaker 2: So now it's kind of hard for me to hear
Speaker 2: the voice of God when you're using the same book
Speaker 2: to tell me how to be saved that I've had
Speaker 2: people beat me over the head with and tell me
Speaker 2: I was going to hell.
Speaker 1: So it's hard for me to hear God. Not because
Speaker 1: I don't believe in him.
Speaker 2: I believe that He exists and that he rewards those
Speaker 2: who diligently seek him. Although I'm diligently seeking him the
Speaker 2: best I know how, I am not clearly hearing him.
Speaker 2: I do not have the direction that you seem to have.
Speaker 2: You say, God spoke to me. You open your Bible
Speaker 2: and tell us what God said. I go home and
Speaker 2: try to live that out. And I can't exactly get
Speaker 2: what you said to overlay with what I do. If
Speaker 2: it's not confusing, then I'm in conflict the good that
Speaker 2: I would. Paul said in Romans chapter seven, I cannot
Speaker 2: do the thing that I don't want to do.
Speaker 1: I find myself doing.
Speaker 2: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me
Speaker 2: from this body of death? And this is Paul talking, y'all.
Speaker 2: The apostle Paul said, is hard for me to hear God.
Speaker 2: That make you feel better, feels good to get it out.
Speaker 2: Not always easy for me to know where the Lord
Speaker 2: is leading me. So it was for Samuel the prophet,
Speaker 2: the priest, and the judge.
Speaker 1: You said, which was he all three? He's the only
Speaker 1: person in the Bible.
Speaker 2: Who simultaneously occupied all three of those offices other than Jesus.
Speaker 2: I got to get that in because they'll put into
Speaker 2: comments what about Jesus and Jesus By as far as
Speaker 2: a human who is not the son of God, Samuel
Speaker 2: is the only onephet, priest, a lot hinges on his
Speaker 2: ability to hear from God. You know, he's a king maker.
Speaker 2: He's the one who anointed Saul. Saul was the first
Speaker 2: king Israel ever had. God didn't want them to have
Speaker 2: a king. He wanted to be their king. Be careful
Speaker 2: what you ask for without consulting God, you might get it.
Speaker 2: And Saul was a very irresponsible and reluctant king. Although
Speaker 2: his height qualified him for the job, his heart cast
Speaker 2: him to lose it. They chose him because he was tall,
Speaker 2: a modern day influencer.
Speaker 1: He was very, very disobedient. I don't want to.
Speaker 2: Say that he was a bad man. I've had disobedient
Speaker 2: moments myself. But now, in verse one of for Samuel sixteen,
Speaker 2: the Bible says that Samuel is mourning for Saul because
Speaker 2: the Lord is tearing the kingdom away from Saul. Samuel
Speaker 2: is experiencing that acute disappointment when you invested much and
Speaker 2: it turned out.
Speaker 1: To be little.
Speaker 2: He prayed for Saul, he coached Saul, he put up
Speaker 2: with Saul, He did a lot for Saul. He poured
Speaker 2: the oil on Saul's head. And from the day that
Speaker 2: he anointed him, until the day when Saul refused to
Speaker 2: destroy the Amalekites and kept back the best part for
Speaker 2: himself and claimed he had obeyed what the Lord told
Speaker 2: him to do. Samuel thought he could pray him through.
Speaker 2: Nothing like praying for somebody you see potential in but they.
Speaker 1: Don't see it in themselves.
Speaker 2: That's the pain of every parent, that's the pain of
Speaker 2: every wife who knows you married a good man. But
Speaker 2: he can't get out of his own head right now,
Speaker 2: get out of his own way right now, and so
Speaker 2: he is paying the cost emotionally of Saul's decisions.
Speaker 1: That's when the Lord speaks.
Speaker 2: And this was the first thing that I wanted to
Speaker 2: tell you today in our new series.
Speaker 1: I know that voice.
Speaker 2: Expect God to give direction in times of disappointment. Expect
Speaker 2: God to give direction in times of disappointment.
Speaker 1: This is a literal disappointment.
Speaker 2: I say that because Saul was appointed to be king,
Speaker 2: and then he was disappointed, and it left an empty
Speaker 2: space to be filled, an empty throne to be filled.
Speaker 2: And into this uncertainty and agony. The Lord said to Samuel,
Speaker 2: give me verse one again, because I love how the
Speaker 2: Lord is still speaking to Samuel even though the problem
Speaker 2: is not solved. The Lord is still speaking to Samuel,
Speaker 2: even though Samuel is still mourning. God will give you
Speaker 2: a message in your mourning. God will give you a
Speaker 2: word in your weeping. You don't have to have a
Speaker 2: feeling from God to receive a word from God.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to prove that to you as we go.
Speaker 1: Notice in verse one what the Lord told Samuel to do.
Speaker 2: He said, how long will you mourn for Saul since
Speaker 2: I've rejected him as king over Israel?
Speaker 1: Question?
Speaker 2: And then instruction, fill your horn with oil and be
Speaker 2: on your way. Fil Everybody, say Phil, fill Phil.
Speaker 1: Put it in the chat. Please say Phil, Say it
Speaker 1: out loud. Phil.
Speaker 2: This is the instruction that the Lord gave Samuel. Kind
Speaker 2: of unusual because normally they would fill a flask with oil,
Speaker 2: but they're actually filling the horn of an animal. They
Speaker 2: did that for David and for Solomon, and in this
Speaker 2: filling of the horn with oil. It is important for
Speaker 2: us to realize that Samuel didn't have to feel it
Speaker 2: to fill it like that, because we think we have
Speaker 2: to feel everything what God wants us to do.
Speaker 1: Some of us think we.
Speaker 2: Have to feel God's presence to worship the ever present God.
Speaker 2: Who told you that you don't have to feel anything
Speaker 2: to throw your hands up in the air and worship God.
Speaker 2: I don't have to feel anything to do the last
Speaker 2: thing God told me. I don't have to feel anything
Speaker 2: to keep the appointments.
Speaker 1: That I put on my calendar.
Speaker 2: God doesn't have to confirm something to me that I already.
Speaker 1: Committed to do. Let me say that again. God doesn't
Speaker 1: have to.
Speaker 2: Confirm to me to do something that I've already committed
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: When the Lord called me to preach, he called me
Speaker 1: to preach.
Speaker 2: Whether I feel like preaching or not, this is my calling.
Speaker 2: And so I begin to study on the weeks that
Speaker 2: I don't feel like preaching because I don't have to
Speaker 2: feel it to feel it. And the more I study,
Speaker 2: the more I feel it. But I don't wait till
Speaker 2: I feel it to do it, because if I waited
Speaker 2: till I felt it to do it, I would never
Speaker 2: feel it. So tell somebody, say feel it, feel it,
Speaker 2: feel it. That's an instruction for somebody. For those of
Speaker 2: you who are fighting sorrow and fighting morning, fill your
Speaker 2: house with praise.
Speaker 1: Turn on worship music in your.
Speaker 2: House, even when you don't want to think about God,
Speaker 2: and start filling the house with the sounds of praise.
Speaker 2: Start filling the house with anthems of worship. Start filling.
Speaker 2: That's why some of you need to say thank you Lord,
Speaker 2: although you are going through something very difficult, because you
Speaker 2: don't have.
Speaker 1: To feel it to fill it. But then watch this.
Speaker 1: Watch this. Not only does he say fill your horn.
Speaker 2: With oil and be on your way, he says, I'm
Speaker 2: sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem.
Speaker 1: I have chosen one of his sons to be king.
Speaker 2: Now, on the surface, God is giving Samuel the directions
Speaker 2: for what he's to do next, but I want you
Speaker 2: to notice those directions aren't complete. He says, I'm sending
Speaker 2: you and I've chosen one of his sons to be king,
Speaker 2: but he doesn't say which one, And so the challenge
Speaker 2: of faith is to fill your horn with oil and
Speaker 2: move forward before you have even found what you're looking for.
Speaker 1: I like you to write down that outline.
Speaker 2: Please put down fill forward found, fill forward found. And
Speaker 2: sometimes when we're waiting on God to tell us what
Speaker 2: to do next, we don't even do what he told
Speaker 2: us to do last.
Speaker 1: So it comes in sequency.
Speaker 2: If you wait for God to show you which one
Speaker 2: to anoint to fill your horn with oil, you will
Speaker 2: never find the one you're supposed to find.
Speaker 1: Because you think I'll feel it when I find it. No,
Speaker 1: you'll find it when you feel it. Let me break
Speaker 1: this down.
Speaker 2: You need to become the kind of person right now
Speaker 2: that the person you want to marry would want to marry.
Speaker 2: You got to fill it before you find it. And
Speaker 2: while you're at it, you need to work on paying
Speaker 2: down some of these debts that you have so that
Speaker 2: they don't inherit your bad decisions from the last decade,
Speaker 2: causing fights that you will spend your entire marriage trying
Speaker 2: to solve. You need to fill it before you find it.
Speaker 1: And it's hard for us to hear from.
Speaker 2: God sometimes because we want him to be like our
Speaker 2: maps app.
Speaker 1: You know, on the.
Speaker 2: Maps app the greatest technological invention of my lifetime, you know,
Speaker 2: because I have no sense of direction, and I can
Speaker 2: tell it two things. Watch, I can tell it where
Speaker 2: I want to go, and then I can choose the
Speaker 2: route I want to get there.
Speaker 1: But the difference between God and a maps app.
Speaker 2: And I really thought you'd enjoy this little illustration because
Speaker 2: it's going to help you see why. Sometimes you're confused
Speaker 2: and you go, I don't know what God wants me
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: I don't know how he's directing me.
Speaker 2: I don't know what he's say, I don't know he's
Speaker 2: being Okay, I got a few ideas about that number.
Speaker 2: In my life, I want to give God the destination
Speaker 2: and then let him give me the directions, because that's
Speaker 2: what I do on my maps.
Speaker 1: At y.
Speaker 2: I tell the maps at where I want to end
Speaker 2: up and then I expect it to tell me how
Speaker 2: to get there. So when it comes to this app,
Speaker 2: I tell it the destination and it tells me the directions.
Speaker 1: That's how we treat God.
Speaker 2: We tell God where we want our life to be
Speaker 2: at a certain age. We tell God what we want
Speaker 2: our kids to turn out, like we tell God what
Speaker 2: college we're going to.
Speaker 1: We tell God what we want him to use us
Speaker 1: to do. We tell God all of.
Speaker 2: These things, these destinations, and then we say, speak, Lord,
Speaker 2: your servant is listening. But I'm not sure he's going
Speaker 2: to give you the details if you didn't let him
Speaker 2: set the destination. I'm not sure that I I can
Speaker 2: just ask God for directions for a destination that I set.
Speaker 2: So I remember early in the church, I was talking
Speaker 2: to a great global leader and I said, what are
Speaker 2: some of the things that I need to do to
Speaker 2: have the kind of ministry that you have? He said,
Speaker 2: the first thing is to ask God, are you supposed
Speaker 2: to have the ministry that I have? What's he saying?
Speaker 2: It might not be your destination to do what I did.
Speaker 2: Some of the reason that it's hard for us to
Speaker 2: hear from God, some of the reason that we're so confused,
Speaker 2: some of the reason that we're so stressed out, some
Speaker 2: of the reason that we're so anxious is because we've
Speaker 2: set the destination to something that God never destined us
Speaker 2: to do. And the reason we can't hear God isn't
Speaker 2: because he's quiet. It's because we're comparing, and so we're looking, Oh,
Speaker 2: I'm teaching good today, I'm back, baby, I'm back to
Speaker 2: help you with this craziness you feel in your life.
Speaker 2: Because as long as you're looking at everybody else's destination,
Speaker 2: everybody else's eta, how long it took for them to
Speaker 2: get married, how long it took for them to get
Speaker 2: the job, how long it took them to get the promotion.
Speaker 2: As long as you're looking at all of these snapshots
Speaker 2: of their life and then bringing it to God and
Speaker 2: say God, I want to have what they had, I
Speaker 2: want to do what they did. I'm supposed to be
Speaker 2: like they are. As long as you're comparing, you will
Speaker 2: feel like God is quiet, but He is not going
Speaker 2: to give you directions for a destination that he did not.
Speaker 1: Set for your life.
Speaker 2: My Bible says the steps of a good man are
Speaker 2: ordered by the Lord. That means he sets the direction.
Speaker 2: That means he sets the time, That means he sets
Speaker 2: the purpose. There's a lot of things I may love
Speaker 2: to do that God did not call me to do.
Speaker 1: And I am always going to.
Speaker 2: Be frustrated if I try to anoint a king that
Speaker 2: God has canceled in my life. And the question is this,
Speaker 2: how long are you going to pity yourself over what
Speaker 2: God didn't give you. How long are you going to
Speaker 2: try to wear yourself out getting to somewhere that God
Speaker 2: didn't even call you. You're not going to even have
Speaker 2: a hotel room when you get there. God didn't call
Speaker 2: you there.
Speaker 1: Yea. And you hear other people talk and they make
Speaker 1: it sound so simple. God called us to Charlotte. What
Speaker 1: do you mean he called you to Charlotte. Really, if
Speaker 1: you were honest about it, you just thought the schools
Speaker 1: were good here and.
Speaker 2: They were gonna pay you fifteen thousand dollars a year more.
Speaker 1: But now you talk about it, God called us to Charlotte.
Speaker 2: Well, he may have called you to Charlotte, but to
Speaker 2: say that the biggest thing that God is going to
Speaker 2: tell you is what city to live in is to
Speaker 2: miss the very nature of God. Right, you could be
Speaker 2: a crack addict in Charlotte.
Speaker 1: One thing I love, I really love this.
Speaker 2: I love to get inside of the cliches that we
Speaker 2: use as Christians.
Speaker 1: And just talk about them a little bit.
Speaker 2: I call this Christian Eese. You can speak English and
Speaker 2: need a translator when you come to church.
Speaker 1: Really, the way we talk, you're.
Speaker 2: Reading an old Testament, says the Lord said, to Samuel.
Speaker 1: Well, he's a prophet the way that the Lord spoke
Speaker 1: in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he spoke out loud to Samuel
Speaker 2: or not, but the Lord spoke to Samuel. The Bible
Speaker 2: says that Samuel was the most powerful prophet from Dan
Speaker 2: de Bersheba. The Lord let none of his words fall
Speaker 2: to the ground. Samuel was an amazing prophet. So much
Speaker 2: hinged on his word. History hinged on his word. The
Speaker 2: history of the nation hinged on him. Hearing God write
Speaker 2: what apartment you move into is not that important. So
Speaker 2: some of the cliches that we use in church, we'll
Speaker 2: be like, I'm just dealing with this red sea right now,
Speaker 2: what's the red sea?
Speaker 1: My rent's going up? I get it. I know that's
Speaker 1: a challenge. It's not a red see, it's a rent increase.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's talk about the difference rent increase, red sea.
Speaker 1: Okay, one you move, the other you die. They're not
Speaker 1: the same.
Speaker 2: The stakes are not always as high as the enemy
Speaker 2: would have you to believe. It doesn't always matter when
Speaker 2: the Lord speaks to you. The Lord did not tell
Speaker 2: me to wear matching denham today. I just did the
Speaker 2: best that I could to put it together. Did I
Speaker 2: do all right? Only God can judge me. Who cares
Speaker 2: what you think? I did not pray? This is this
Speaker 2: is so, this is so important for you to get.
Speaker 2: Some of the reason is hard for us to hear
Speaker 2: from God is that we want him to tell us
Speaker 2: things about situations that he just wants us to use
Speaker 2: wisdom for. And so we're singing this song and you
Speaker 2: thanks all week.
Speaker 1: I love this song. I didn't write this song.
Speaker 2: I'm jealous that I didn't write this song, but we
Speaker 2: sang it in church today.
Speaker 1: We're about to see revival like we've.
Speaker 2: Never known, like something out the Bible, the impossible. I
Speaker 2: think the room is ready for a miracle. I think
Speaker 2: this room is ready for a coma. Right about now,
Speaker 2: y'all ain't saying nothing. Come on, I think the room
Speaker 2: is ready.
Speaker 1: I don't know about.
Speaker 2: University City, but I think, come on, young people.
Speaker 1: Stand up real quick.
Speaker 2: Sing the song we're about to see.
Speaker 1: Like we never know.
Speaker 2: Oh, you're about to start something, singing like y'all were
Speaker 2: singing at Friday night, something out the Bible, the impossible.
Speaker 1: I think the room is Come.
Speaker 2: On, Church, help these young people praise the Lord what
Speaker 2: a smile on your bed. We're about to see a revival.
Speaker 1: I love that, all right. How many want to see.
Speaker 2: God do something like it's something out.
Speaker 1: The Bible in your life? Come on, come on, come on, everybody,
Speaker 1: get in on this. Come on, I want to How many.
Speaker 2: Want to see God raise something back to life like
Speaker 2: He raised Lazarus, like something out the Bible. Come on,
Speaker 2: touch your neighbors say, like something out the Bible, Like
Speaker 2: something out the Bible, like.
Speaker 1: A red sea splitting, like a mountain moving. I want to.
Speaker 2: See dry bones come back to life. I want to
Speaker 2: see the dead raised. I want to see the sick heal.
Speaker 2: I want to see it like it's something out the Bible.
Speaker 2: But the question becomes this, if you want to see
Speaker 2: something out the Bible, are you willing to do something
Speaker 2: in the Bible?
Speaker 1: Ah ah, I.
Speaker 2: Gotta ask you this because it's hard to hear a
Speaker 2: God speaking specifically who you will not obey generally.
Speaker 1: So I want to.
Speaker 2: See I want to see something out the Bible.
Speaker 1: But how can I see something.
Speaker 2: Out the Bible if I won't do something in the Bible.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I don't need to hear God's voice, I just
Speaker 2: need a verse because sometimes the verse is his voice
Speaker 2: in the beginning was a word, and the word was
Speaker 2: with God, and the word was God.
Speaker 1: So when I have God's word, I have God's voice.
Speaker 2: And I believe that the reason that Samuel was abel
Speaker 2: to hear the voice of God. Yeah, he knew that
Speaker 2: voice because he had known that voice since he was
Speaker 2: twelve years oh when he was ministering in the temple
Speaker 2: under Eli, whose vision was them.
Speaker 1: He couldn't see and the temple was corrupt.
Speaker 2: But the Lord called him Samuel, and he thought it
Speaker 2: was Eli, but it was God. And he called him
Speaker 2: again Samuel, and he thought it was Eli, but it
Speaker 2: was God. And he called him a third time, and
Speaker 2: Eli said, that's not me, that's God.
Speaker 1: Next time he speaks, say speak, Lord, your servant is listening.
Speaker 2: For Samuel three ten, six decades earlier than the passage
Speaker 2: I read you. The Lord came and stood there, calling,
Speaker 2: as at other times Samuel Samuel. Then Samuel said, speak
Speaker 2: for your servant is listening. Go to verse nineteen.
Speaker 1: Please.
Speaker 2: The Bible says the Lord was with Samuel as he
Speaker 2: grew up, and he let none of Samuel's words fall
Speaker 2: to the ground.
Speaker 1: And from Dan Tabersheba. Next verse, please.
Speaker 2: All Israel recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet
Speaker 2: of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Verse twenty one.
Speaker 2: The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he
Speaker 2: revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
Speaker 1: Through his word, you have his word.
Speaker 2: And so before we go getting confused about the things
Speaker 2: that God isn't speaking to us, let's check on the
Speaker 2: things that he's already spoken. Because the more I'm flowing
Speaker 2: in what He's spoken, the more I can hear what
Speaker 2: he speaks. Clap your hands and praise the Lord. Come on,
Speaker 2: clap your hands and praise the Lord. You like that
Speaker 2: something out the Bible, Daniel in the lions, Then well
Speaker 2: you're not going to see something out the Bible if
Speaker 2: you don't do something in the Bible. What do you
Speaker 2: mean something in the Bible? I brought a list. You
Speaker 2: want to hear my list?
Speaker 1: Let's go through it real quick. Just a few things.
Speaker 2: How many want to see God do something out the
Speaker 2: Bible in your life?
Speaker 1: I mean a miracle?
Speaker 2: Brak okay, okay, all right, now I got something in
Speaker 2: the Bible, so you can see something out the Bible.
Speaker 2: Colossians three nine. Do not lie to each other. That's
Speaker 2: in the Bible. That's what the Lord wants you to do.
Speaker 2: I'll know what the Lord wants you to do.
Speaker 1: I know what the.
Speaker 2: Lord wants you to do. He wants you to do
Speaker 2: do not lie to each other. That means you have
Speaker 2: to maybe delete your whole social media account because maybe
Speaker 2: the whole.
Speaker 1: Thing is a lie. Maybe the whole thing is not
Speaker 1: a you. Maybe you are like something out the Bible.
Speaker 2: How about some in the Bible? Can we do some
Speaker 2: in the Bible? Do not lie to each other? Oh,
Speaker 2: I'm just getting started.
Speaker 1: With this list.
Speaker 2: They want something out the Bible. Give them Philippians to fourteen.
Speaker 2: Do everything without grumbling.
Speaker 1: Or arguing. Now now I want something out the Bible.
Speaker 2: I want to do something in the Bible because.
Speaker 1: I want God to ope in the grave.
Speaker 2: And God is like, before we start dealing with graves,
Speaker 2: can we deal with grumbling? Because your grumbling is the grave.
Speaker 2: For every good thing I'm trying to do in your life,
Speaker 2: you bury it in your complaining. You want see some
Speaker 2: out of the Bible. I wants you to do something
Speaker 2: in the Bible. Next verse, let's keep it going. James
Speaker 2: wanted you to know this is in the Bible. Now.
Speaker 2: He didn't know this was going in the Bible when
Speaker 2: he wrote it. He was just writing out of faithfulness,
Speaker 2: and now it's in the Bible. James one, chapter four,
Speaker 2: verse eleven says, brothers and sisters do not slander one another.
Speaker 1: That's in the Bible. That's in the Bible. I can't
Speaker 1: figure out why y'all aren't.
Speaker 2: Shouting over that, because when I was saying stuff out
Speaker 2: the Bible, it made us feel excited. But when I'm
Speaker 2: saying something in the Bible, we get quiet. And maybe
Speaker 2: God's not quiet. Maybe I'm just not doing what's in
Speaker 2: the Bible.
Speaker 1: You said you were glad I was back.
Speaker 2: Next verse touch somebody say it's in the Bible.
Speaker 1: Flee from sexual immorality.
Speaker 2: Put that on the Uthex twenty twenty seventy shirt.
Speaker 1: Flee sexual immorality. That's in the Bible.
Speaker 2: I love you enough to tell you you're not gonna be
Speaker 2: able to hear God if you're so tangled up in
Speaker 2: intimacy that isn't really intimacy, that's just corrupting your ability
Speaker 2: to think you're not gonna really be able to hear
Speaker 2: the great, imprecious promises of God, if your mind.
Speaker 1: Is consumed with porn, you got to you gotta run from.
Speaker 2: Some stuff in order to receive some stuff.
Speaker 4: And it's not just true for the youth. It's in
Speaker 4: the Bible. Touch somebody say it's in the Bible. It's
Speaker 4: in the Bible. It's in the b I, B L E.
Speaker 1: Bible. I think I got one more. I don't remember.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, put this for the kids. Honor your father
Speaker 1: and mother.
Speaker 2: Come on, parents, you ought to tie this week with
Speaker 2: this sermon.
Speaker 1: About to see revival, life, heaven. Honor and my mama.
Speaker 1: When I get back home, the leading all my snapchat
Speaker 1: from my phone, and now I've got a fire.
Speaker 2: And this in a Bible, you can change. You can
Speaker 2: be transformed through the renewing of your mind. Jimmy verse
Speaker 2: four again, first Samuel sixteen four. Here's the goal. Samuel
Speaker 2: did what the Lord said. Oh, it's wonderful to hear.
Speaker 2: It's wonderful to be in tune. It's wonderful to be educated.
Speaker 2: It's wonderful to have information. It's wonderful to quote scripture.
Speaker 2: But I would rather you walk in one than quote
Speaker 2: a hundred. Now I'm going to encourage you a little
Speaker 2: bit more uplifting message that the Lord gave me today
Speaker 2: called I.
Speaker 1: Know that voice. By the way, I got to put
Speaker 1: this in there.
Speaker 2: If you hear me condemning you right now, that's not
Speaker 2: God's voice. Just because I'm being loud doesn't mean I
Speaker 2: don't love you.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean God doesn't love you.
Speaker 2: And sometimes we confuse correction, which is a sign of love,
Speaker 2: with condemnation, which is the opposite of love. You can
Speaker 2: drive your car wherever you want tonight at two am.
Speaker 1: I don't love you like that, Graham Fredick.
Speaker 2: We got to have some boundaries around two am because
Speaker 2: I love him so much.
Speaker 1: I love him so much. Yeah, but so much to share.
Speaker 1: Will you come back to next week too?
Speaker 2: I'm not done, but will you come back to next
Speaker 2: week too? You know, one of the things that I
Speaker 2: associate with hearing from God is frequency. Frequency. That's an
Speaker 2: interesting word because it has a double meaning. One we
Speaker 2: hear in frequency. Sound has a frequency, but frequency also.
Speaker 1: Refers to how many times you do it.
Speaker 2: And did you notice that the Lord continued to reveal
Speaker 2: himself to Samuel. But what encouraged me that I really
Speaker 2: don't want you to miss here is that even though
Speaker 2: Samuel had been doing it for decades, he still found
Speaker 2: it hard to hear God.
Speaker 1: Good watch.
Speaker 2: The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn foresaw?
Speaker 2: Since I've rejected him as king o is Israel. By
Speaker 2: the way, I could preach another message sometime about how
Speaker 2: sometimes God says, your grieving period is over, even though
Speaker 2: your grief is still real, and you have got to
Speaker 2: move forward filled until you find what's next. That's another
Speaker 2: message for another day, filled forward found. But see, Samuel
Speaker 2: has to launch out with the knowledge that he has
Speaker 2: to pass through Saul's hometown to get to Bethlehem, where
Speaker 2: God is sending him. So the word God is giving
Speaker 2: him is taking him through a difficult place. So he's
Speaker 2: got to go back to his school and live it out.
Speaker 2: He's got to go back to a loveless marriage and
Speaker 2: love his wife as Christ loves the truth. He's got
Speaker 2: to go back to a job where there aren't many Christians.
Speaker 2: He's got to go back to a job where the
Speaker 2: boss doesn't even appreciate or actually the boss is the problem.
Speaker 1: He's got to go.
Speaker 2: Back to something in this case that could cost him
Speaker 2: his life. So in verse two it says, but Samuel said,
Speaker 2: how can I, which we're all familiar with, How can
Speaker 2: I he heard God? He recognized and discerned this is
Speaker 2: God because he knows that voice. But what that voice
Speaker 2: is saying is very hard. And so his question is how,
Speaker 2: And I think that's where most of us are. How
Speaker 2: How can I go? If so all hears about it,
Speaker 2: he will kill me. Now we all have a how,
Speaker 2: and we all have an if.
Speaker 1: How do I do that? If this happens?
Speaker 2: That happens, and the Lord responds verse three, So beautiful,
Speaker 2: the Lord said, I got this cover. Get your heifer.
Speaker 2: It's your heifer. Tell somebody get your heifer. I don't
Speaker 2: know what that means. I just wanted to hear you
Speaker 2: say heifer too. If I got to say it, we
Speaker 2: all got to say it.
Speaker 1: Get your heifer, take your heffer with you. Of course,
Speaker 1: this is very symbolic.
Speaker 2: He's a priest, a prophet, and a judge, so he's
Speaker 2: going to make a sacrifice when he goes by the way.
Speaker 2: I used to think that this was a lie when
Speaker 2: the Lord told him take a heifer and tell him
Speaker 2: I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. But it's not
Speaker 2: a lie because every time there is an anointing.
Speaker 1: There's a sacrifice, and.
Speaker 2: What the Lord is giving him here is a strategy
Speaker 2: for a difficult act of obedience. How many have a
Speaker 2: difficult act of obedience hanging over your head right now?
Speaker 2: How many have something in your life that is going
Speaker 2: to be hard to obey God about?
Speaker 1: Raise your hand?
Speaker 2: A difficult act of obedience God has called you to.
Speaker 2: I'm going to slow down and ask you again, because
Speaker 2: I just read do not lie. How many have a
Speaker 2: difficult act of obedience ahead of you? It could be anything.
Speaker 2: It could be staying sober. It could be staying on
Speaker 2: this diet because you're trying to take care of your body.
Speaker 2: It could be being more loving. It could be refusing
Speaker 2: to consume certain things that you know are actually consuming you.
Speaker 2: A difficult act of obedience. Sometimes it's not hard to
Speaker 2: hear God. Sometimes it's hard to know how you're going
Speaker 2: to do what he said. Lors said, take a heifer,
Speaker 2: and we don't have to have heifers anymore.
Speaker 1: We have Jesus.
Speaker 2: Praise the Lord somebody. We don't have to have a
Speaker 2: heifer anymore.
Speaker 1: We have the Holy Spirit. We have Jesus, the once
Speaker 1: and for all sacrifice. But now watch this this crazy.
Speaker 2: He's been doing this for six decades, Prophesy. Not only
Speaker 2: has he been hearing from God, he's been speaking for God.
Speaker 1: He should know how to do this by now.
Speaker 2: They said, how can I go, Saul, here's somebody coming,
Speaker 2: should take a heffer and bite Jesse to the sacrifice,
Speaker 2: and I I will show you what to do. But
Speaker 2: I'm not going to show you what to do there.
Speaker 1: Here. I'm gonna show you what to do today. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna show you what to do this moment.
Speaker 2: I have a weird time when I'm coming back from
Speaker 2: time off from preaching, where I start thinking about, oh man, I've.
Speaker 1: Got to get ready. I'm not I.
Speaker 2: Don't even know if I remember how to do this,
Speaker 2: you know, And then the enemy start loading me with
Speaker 2: all the preaching that I've got to do over the
Speaker 2: rest of the year, and I have to come back
Speaker 2: to You don't have a preesure rest of the year.
Speaker 2: You just have preach today.
Speaker 1: You just have to forgive today. You just have to
Speaker 1: love today.
Speaker 2: You just have to go the meeting today.
Speaker 1: Today. You just have to breathe today. You have to
Speaker 1: get on the peloton today. You gotta read the Bible today.
Speaker 2: You just got to not freak out and not lose
Speaker 2: your mind, not go crazy. Today, the Lord said, I
Speaker 2: will show you.
Speaker 1: What to do.
Speaker 2: You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.
Speaker 2: Samuel did what the Lord said, but now I want
Speaker 2: to read the rest to you. When he arrived at
Speaker 2: Bethlehem versus four party, please, the elders of the town
Speaker 2: trembled when they met him. They asked, do you come
Speaker 2: in peace? That's a loaded question. They mean, is their trouble?
Speaker 2: Because the prophet could declare a war, prophet could do
Speaker 2: almost anything.
Speaker 1: I mean, Samuel was the man, But.
Speaker 2: I think it's kind of got a double meaning to it,
Speaker 2: don't you. He has a problem, but he came in
Speaker 2: peace because he heard from God. I think that's the
Speaker 2: most amazing thing in life, when you have a problem
Speaker 2: and peace. I think that's the most amazing proof of
Speaker 2: God's presence. Is that I am dealing with stuff you
Speaker 2: wouldn't believe right now, and I'm concerned about.
Speaker 1: It, and I am losing some sleep. But something down
Speaker 1: in me knows that voice. I can hear his voice
Speaker 1: on the other side of that tsa line. I know
Speaker 1: somehow he's going to get me. I don't know how,
Speaker 1: but I know who. I know. Sama did what the
Speaker 1: Lord said. When he arrived. The elder said, do you
Speaker 1: come in peace?
Speaker 2: And Samuel replied, yes, in peace, I have come to
Speaker 2: sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the
Speaker 2: sacrifice with me. And then he consecrated Jesse and his
Speaker 2: sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
Speaker 1: Now reset, because I.
Speaker 2: Need your full attention for this last thing I want
Speaker 2: to give you on this sermon today. I need you
Speaker 2: to not be checked out. I need you to not
Speaker 2: be thinking. Man, he's been talking a long time. If
Speaker 2: God is still talking, don't you want to still be listening?
Speaker 2: So listen close to what I'm about to say when
Speaker 2: they arrived. I think this is the pivotal skill when
Speaker 2: it comes to hearing from God. Because in this series,
Speaker 2: I want to talk to you about how to know
Speaker 2: the difference between your crazy impressions in God's voice. I
Speaker 2: want to talk to you about how to discern the
Speaker 2: difference between just a burst of motivation or a surge
Speaker 2: of ambition and a mission.
Speaker 1: That comes from the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: I want us to see together how to not just
Speaker 2: wait for something out the Bible, but to do what
Speaker 2: is in the Bible, so we can see something out
Speaker 2: of the Bible happen in our lives. But I need
Speaker 2: you to understand what verse six says. When they arrived,
Speaker 2: Samuel saw Eliab and thought, surely, the Lord's anointed stands
Speaker 2: here before the Lord.
Speaker 1: But the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance.
Speaker 2: Or his height, for I have rejected him.
Speaker 1: Listen close to me. The Lord does not look.
Speaker 2: At the things people look at. People look at the
Speaker 2: outward appearance. The Lord looks at the heart. So I
Speaker 2: want to preach a little about verse six. It says
Speaker 2: Samuel saw Eliab and thought, surely, how many times have
Speaker 2: you got in trouble in your life because you saw
Speaker 2: and thought surely? You saw and thought surely, and you
Speaker 2: held so hard to what you thought because of what
Speaker 2: you saw that God couldn't show you what he wanted
Speaker 2: because you were so sure about what you thought. The
Speaker 2: reason he thought Eliab was the one is that Eliab
Speaker 2: was tall. Guess who else was tall, Saul. So the
Speaker 2: first thing Samuel wanted to do was pour the oil
Speaker 2: on somebody who reminded him of the past. But God said,
Speaker 2: I'm done with the past. I'm doing a new thing
Speaker 2: in your life. I'm doing a new thing in this generation.
Speaker 2: I'm doing a new thing in this church. I'm doing
Speaker 2: a new thing in your faith.
Speaker 1: I can't hear God's voice.
Speaker 2: Sometimes because I can't do what God says if I
Speaker 2: don't see as God sees.
Speaker 1: So the Lord says, the first.
Speaker 2: Thing I've got to get you to do is stop
Speaker 2: thinking that everything you see is true, thinking that everything
Speaker 2: you feel is true.
Speaker 1: Y'all. They send me a clip the other day.
Speaker 2: One of my friends send me a clip of one
Speaker 2: of my sermons and said, I got this the other day.
Speaker 2: It was kind of surprising. Show real quick. They send
Speaker 2: me on YouTube is a fifty second clip. I want
Speaker 2: to show you this. It's called how to make a
Speaker 2: man miss You Deeply. Sometimes the hardest thing isn't about
Speaker 2: making someone love you. It's about making them feel your
Speaker 2: absence to miss you deeply, not just in passing, but
Speaker 2: in that place where their heart aches and their mind
Speaker 2: keeps coming back to you. It's not about chasing or pleading.
Speaker 2: It's about becoming so powerful in who you are that
Speaker 2: you lingers even when you're gone. Today I want to
Speaker 2: show you how to unlock that power, the kind that
Speaker 2: doesn't beg for attention, but commands it naturally. This is
Speaker 2: about mastering the art of being unforgettable, of creating a
Speaker 2: space in his life that only you can fill. Are
Speaker 2: you ready because what you're about to learn will change
Speaker 2: the way you.
Speaker 5: Love and the way he remembers you. Let's dive in.
Speaker 5: Let's dive in. That's crazy.
Speaker 2: It had my image, it had my name, It even
Speaker 2: kind of had my voice, but it didn't have my values.
Speaker 2: That's how you can tell. Because you listen to me preach.
Speaker 1: You know my values.
Speaker 2: And no AI bought in the world, trained on a
Speaker 2: manual about seduction can make you believe that's me because
Speaker 2: you know that boy, when you know God's boy, when
Speaker 2: you know what God values. No devil in hell, no
Speaker 2: freight room, no toxic person can't talk you out of
Speaker 2: what God said without surfish, no lie. I think the
Speaker 2: Lord is saying over some stuff.
Speaker 1: In your life that's not me. Touch somebody say that's
Speaker 1: not God.
Speaker 2: I don't care if it sounds spiritual, if it does
Speaker 2: not align with his word, it is not God. I
Speaker 2: don't care what culture calls it.
Speaker 1: If God calls his sin, run from it and be
Speaker 1: ye sextified.
Speaker 2: And if God says He's for you, I don't care
Speaker 2: if the whole world is against you. What he says
Speaker 2: is the final Say phil your horn with oil and
Speaker 2: be on your way.
Speaker 1: Even if you feel like you don't know what to
Speaker 1: do next.
Speaker 2: It's hard to hear God speaking about your future when
Speaker 2: you're still talking to him about your past.
Speaker 1: It's hard for you to hear God talk about the
Speaker 1: heart when you keep focusing on the height.
Speaker 2: And if you want to hear God's voice, you got
Speaker 2: to have God's values so you'll know what to do,
Speaker 2: so you'll know how God wants you to treat somebody.
Speaker 1: So you'll know how he wants you.
Speaker 2: To live, whether you're in Miami or Montana, so that
Speaker 2: you'll know what He's saying about your life, so that
Speaker 2: you can fill your horn, move forward with God.
Speaker 1: And find his purpose. Because watch this.
Speaker 2: The proof of Samuel's ministry is not that he never
Speaker 2: got it wrong. You saw him get it wrong twice
Speaker 2: in his seventies. Anybody in their seventies in here tell
Speaker 2: these young people. Listening to God is a life long skill,
Speaker 2: and doing what the Lord said requires that you get
Speaker 2: the grace for this season of your life, because the
Speaker 2: Bible says in verse seven this Maybe you won't care
Speaker 2: about this, but this blew my mind, y'all. I called
Speaker 2: three preachers and said, have you ever seen this before
Speaker 2: in the Bible? And they all said no. And if
Speaker 2: you don't preach it this Sunday, I'm stealing it. There
Speaker 2: is a progression that happens. In verse six, Samuel thought,
Speaker 2: because he saw, surely, I want you to I want
Speaker 2: you to get that this week and kind of work
Speaker 2: it through.
Speaker 1: I saw.
Speaker 2: I thought, surely. I was so certain about it. I
Speaker 2: was so committed to the thing that wasn't God. I
Speaker 2: was so like I hear things and they sound like God.
Speaker 2: You know, certain things sound like God, but just because
Speaker 2: they sound good doesn't.
Speaker 1: Mean they're from God.
Speaker 2: I've heard sermons before where people say God has to
Speaker 2: take you into isolation to give you revelation.
Speaker 1: That rhymes, but that's not right.
Speaker 2: Occasionally God will give you revelation in isolation. But our
Speaker 2: God is a God of community, and God doesn't want
Speaker 2: you in isolation.
Speaker 1: The enemy does. God speaks through peopure.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, And it sounds like God,
Speaker 2: like that video sounded like me kind of.
Speaker 1: That's not his values.
Speaker 2: And when you know his values, you will know his voice.
Speaker 2: In verse six, he said, Samuel saw and thought surely,
Speaker 2: But the Lord said to Samuel, you're wrong.
Speaker 1: You got the wrong one.
Speaker 2: And God doesn't measure faith by your confidence. He measures
Speaker 2: faith by your correct ability. Oh wow, wow. Is not
Speaker 2: in never getting it wrong that God calls you faithful.
Speaker 2: It's that when the Lord spoke and interrupted what Samuel
Speaker 2: thought was supposed to happen.
Speaker 1: This is crazy.
Speaker 2: In verse seven, the Lord said to Samuel, he's.
Speaker 1: Not the one who said, come on, talk to me.
Speaker 2: Who said, okay, The Lord corrected Samuel's values. He said,
Speaker 2: I'm not looking at what you're looking at. Now look
Speaker 2: at verse eight. Then Jesse called a benedab that was
Speaker 2: his second son, the second one that wasn't right. He
Speaker 2: called a Benaedabh and had him pass in.
Speaker 1: Front of Samuel. But Samuel said.
Speaker 2: The Lord has not chosen this one either. Who said,
Speaker 2: read it again, Samuel. Because he's heard God's values.
Speaker 1: Now he knows God's voice.
Speaker 2: And God doesn't have to tell him over and over
Speaker 2: and over again. He has internalized the word of God
Speaker 2: until the point where seven sons of Jesse passed before Samuel,
Speaker 2: and he kept saying, not that one looks good, not
Speaker 2: that one sounds good, not that one seems to be
Speaker 2: a king, not that one.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, noe is that all you have?
Speaker 2: And Jesse said, there's still the youngest. He is tending
Speaker 2: the sheep. And Samuel said, sin for him. We will
Speaker 2: not sit down until he arrived. So he sent for
Speaker 2: him and had him brought in. He was glowing with
Speaker 2: help and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then
Speaker 2: the Lord said, rise and annoying him, this is the one.
Speaker 2: So Samuel took the horn of oil, the one that
Speaker 2: he filled back home, for the one that he found,
Speaker 2: even after he got it wrong to love this sermon.
Speaker 1: Today he took the oil that he.
Speaker 2: Filled, not knowing, and anointed him in the presence of
Speaker 2: all of his brothers. And from that day on the
Speaker 2: spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David, and Samuel
Speaker 2: went to Rama. And all I'm trying to say to
Speaker 2: you today is when you know God's voice, when you
Speaker 2: know God's heart, when you know your God. When Jesus said,
Speaker 2: my sheep know my voice, and they follow me.
Speaker 1: And I know his hard.
Speaker 2: I know his heart for you to hear for what
Speaker 2: God wants you to do about this situation.
Speaker 1: But I want to remind you of something.
Speaker 2: You've heard his voice before, You've missed his voice before,
Speaker 2: and he didn't stop speaking, and he's still speaking. Even
Speaker 2: though you can't always feel him, you can be filled
Speaker 2: with him, even though you didn't get it right the
Speaker 2: first time. Even though your morning there is a message.
Speaker 2: When Elijah went to college, he came home after three
Speaker 2: weeks and he said, it's been so hard for me
Speaker 2: to get on track without you.
Speaker 1: Dad. I said, dude, I miss you too.
Speaker 2: It's kind of crazy because sometimes we would drive each
Speaker 2: other crazy in the house. But there were days where
Speaker 2: I'll be like, man, I love for Elijah to be
Speaker 2: here driving me crazy.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? He said. The hard part
Speaker 1: is you have always been.
Speaker 2: The voice in my head giving me wisdom. And I
Speaker 2: know I can call you, and I know I can
Speaker 2: text you, but it's just not the same because when
Speaker 2: I lived at home, you would come wake me up
Speaker 2: and get me to work out, and nobody does that
Speaker 2: for me now, he says.
Speaker 1: So now.
Speaker 2: I have to hear you even though you're not here.
Speaker 2: I know that God is always present. I know that
Speaker 2: he's always here, but there may be somebody in here
Speaker 2: who you have been feeling like God is not speaking
Speaker 2: to you anymore. And I think you think that because
Speaker 2: you think you did something that disappointed him so much,
Speaker 2: you did something that was so different, you are secretly
Speaker 2: afraid that he's left you. You are secretly afraid that
Speaker 2: you messed it up. Do you really think that the
Speaker 2: God who raised up a shepherd named David to replace
Speaker 2: a king named Saul doesn't have a plan for your
Speaker 2: life too?
Speaker 1: Do you really think God's that small that.
Speaker 2: There's something you can do that's bigger than the blood
Speaker 2: of Jesus. Do you really think that the God who
Speaker 2: created you didn't have a contingency plan? Do you really
Speaker 2: think that the God who knows your destination doesn't know
Speaker 2: how to reroute you when you take a wrong turn?
Speaker 2: So he's still speaking, Somebody says, speak, Lord, your servant
Speaker 2: is listening. Stand to your feet all over this room,
Speaker 2: heads bowed, eyes close. Although you may not be Samuel,
Speaker 2: and you may not be a prophet, I'm not either.
Speaker 2: A lot hinges on you hearing from God. The truth
Speaker 2: of the matter is, if you keep listening to the
Speaker 2: voice of the enemy. You're going to drive everyone and
Speaker 2: everything away that you love. If you keep isolating and
Speaker 2: thinking that God has you isolated, when God has really
Speaker 2: surrounded you by people, you are going to continue to.
Speaker 1: Be depressed and you can't pray it away. You're going
Speaker 1: to have to obey it away. You hear me.
Speaker 2: You can't pray that away. You're going to have to
Speaker 2: take the next step. If you keep staring at the
Speaker 2: missed opportunity called Saul, you will never meet the future
Speaker 2: called David. You are going to have to fill your
Speaker 2: horn with oil and be on your way.
Speaker 1: With heads bowed and eyes closed.
Speaker 2: I want to pray for the people in this room
Speaker 2: today who have been feeling like God has stopped speaking
Speaker 2: to you. You feel like it's been silent from heaven,
Speaker 2: with heads about and eyes closed, no one looking around,
Speaker 2: and even online. Would you raise your hand if that's you.
Speaker 2: I felt like God has been not talking to me.
Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna fix that right now. God said
Speaker 2: he loves you. God said he knows you. God said
Speaker 2: he knit you together in your mother's roomb. God said
Speaker 2: that you are not a mistake. God said that he
Speaker 2: knows the plans that He has for you. God said
Speaker 2: that you're more than a conqueror. God said that nothing
Speaker 2: in all create will be able to separate you from
Speaker 2: the love of God that is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.
Speaker 2: I know that's God's will, because that's God's word. I
Speaker 2: want to pray for those today who have been paralyzed
Speaker 2: by some decisions, and you've been letting the details that
Speaker 2: you don't have distract you from the things that you
Speaker 2: know to do.
Speaker 1: Raise your hand. If that's you. I've been so distracted and.
Speaker 2: So stressed about what I don't know that I haven't
Speaker 2: been putt it.
Speaker 1: Raise your hand.
Speaker 2: If that's you, raise your hand, Raise it boldly. Father,
Speaker 2: in Jesus' name, Your sheep, know your voice.
Speaker 1: I pray that this week there's going to be clarity
Speaker 1: in their spirit.
Speaker 2: They're going to maybe not know what the next ten
Speaker 2: steps are, but they will know what the next one is,
Speaker 2: and they'll know who's with them. I thank you God
Speaker 2: that we're walking in the confidence of a God who
Speaker 2: never stops carrying us.
Speaker 1: I thank you that we're walking in the confidence of
Speaker 1: belonging to a.
Speaker 2: God who knows the end from the beginning and God,
Speaker 2: I thank you that.
Speaker 1: You speak to us, not through the words that we
Speaker 1: can hear, but through the whispers that we can't.
Speaker 2: Father, help us to quiet the noise. What's that song
Speaker 2: that we sing? Tune the whole world out. I don't
Speaker 2: need a thing, couldn't ask for more. If I have
Speaker 2: seen your face, I have all I want. Put me
Speaker 2: at your feet. Tune the whole world out. You know
Speaker 2: where I'll be in my father's house.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.