July 6, 2025 • 47 mins
Even in a world full of noise, God still speaks, and He wants you to hear Him. This message walks through the story of young Samuel to remind us that hearing God’s voice starts with a heart that’s open, surrendered, and ready to listen.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
I heard about this dude who loved to play golf.
One of his favorite courses wasPebble Beach in California.
And on one particular hole atPebble Beach, you have to hit
across the ocean onto an islandgreen.
And this hole just gave the manfits every time he would hit it
in the water.
So much so that as he playedthat hole, he just learned to
not use a good ball.
He would just take out an oldbeat up ball.
(00:21):
Any guys know what I'm talkingabout?
You just know what's going inthe water.
So you just drop a bad ball.
So one day he's playing thecourse.
He comes to that hole and he'sabout to hit his bad ball
probably into the water when avoice from heaven heaven says,
use a new ball.
The man steps back.
He is like amazed.
He's like divine intervention.
God's about to let me make agreat shot.
So I'm going to put a new balldown.
He puts a new ball down.
(00:43):
He's about to hit it.
And the voice from heaven says,again, take a practice swing.
So he says, steps back.
He takes a practice swing, getsready to hit the ball again.
The voice from heaven says, takeanother practice swing.
So he steps back, he takesanother practice swing, gets
ready to hit the ball, and thevoice from heaven says, on
second thought, put the old ballback down.
(01:05):
I read a book over the course ofthe last month by Tyler Staten.
It's a book called The FamiliarStranger.
And in that book, he talks abouthearing from the spirit of God,
the word of God from heaven.
This is what he says.
To hear and live by God's voice,it would seem, is one of the
most potent ways and dangerousaspects of Christian
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spirituality.
Nothing matters more thanlearning to discern the voice of
God, and yet few things in lifeare more susceptible to bringing
you pain, to being abused, todelusion, and deception.
In other words, hearing God isone of the most powerful things
in your life, and it's also kindof tricky, isn't it?
(01:47):
How many of y'all believe thatGod actually speaks to you?
Anybody believe that Godactually speaks to you?
Pew Research says that about 75%of Americans believe that they
can talk to God in some way.
Now, they may not be talking toGod we're talking to, but they
try to pray in some way.
But only about 28% of people inAmerica believe that God would
actually speak back.
(02:09):
Now, you may not be hearingGod's voice, but I believe the
scripture teaches that God doesstill speak today.
And he wants you to learn how tohear his voice.
And I want you to see this truthtoday revealed in a Bible story
that everybody should know.
Okay, so for the next few weeks,we're going to be learning some
stories that everybody shouldknow.
(02:30):
And today, what I want you tohear is that God wants to speak
to you.
You were made for relationshipwith him, not to come to church.
You were made for relationshipwith him.
And you come to church out ofthat relationship.
And so would you open up yourheart today, open up the word of
God today to the book of 1Samuel chapter 3, and I want you
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to learn.
to have confidence that Godspeaks to you and you know how
to hear from God.
That good?
I'm going to try not to preachfor an hour and a half today.
I'm going to try to keep it inthe time frame, but y'all know
how it is whenever I come backfrom break.
I got a lot to say.
I'm going to try to say it realquickly today.
You probably know this story in1 Samuel, at least a little bit
(03:15):
of it.
You remember a guy in the Biblenamed Samuel.
If you don't remember him, youremember about his mama.
His mama couldn't have babiesand she couldn't conceive, so
she went to the temple to prayone day and she prayed, God,
please give me a baby.
She said, God, if you'll give mea baby, I promise I'll give him
back to you.
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And God heard that prayer andshe conceived and had a little
baby boy named Samuel and sheraised him until he was weaned.
And then she did what she saidshe would do.
She gave him back to God.
When Samuel was a small boy, shetook him back to that place of
worship, and she left him thereunder the care of a priest who
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also was a judge of Israel, aman named Eli.
Now, please, nobody get anyideas.
Don't drop your kids offtomorrow and say, well, you
know, he's yours until he's 14.
That's not what we're doing,okay?
But that's what Hannah did.
She and her husband Elkanah tookthis boy to the church and said,
God gave him to us.
We're giving him back to God.
(04:17):
It's from this story that one ofthe most famous Bible verses for
baby dedication comes, right?
1 Samuel 1.27 says, This isHannah's prayer.
She says, for this boy I prayed,and the Lord has given me my
petition, which I asked of him,so I also dedicated him to the
Lord.
As long as he lives, he'sdedicated to the Lord, and he
worshiped the Lord there.
Any of y'all use that verse foryour baby's dedication?
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Anybody willing to say that?
A lot of y'all do.
It's a great verse.
God answered our prayers.
We're giving this child back toGod.
Now, 1 Samuel chapter 2 tells usthat his parents would come to
visit Samuel each year.
They would come and worship.
They would bring him someclothes.
And when you get to 1 Samuelchapter 3, do you tradition
tells us that Samuel's probablyabout 12 years old.
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So for about eight, nine years,he sees his parents once a year,
gets some clothes.
They all worship together.
But Samuel is at the temple.
What's he doing?
This is what the Bible says he'sdoing.
First Samuel three, verse one.
Now the boy Samuel wasministering to the Lord before
Eli.
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And word from the Lord was rarein in those days, and visions
were infrequent.
The Bible says the Word of Godwas rare.
It's like a precious jewel thatyou'd be willing to pay good
money for.
It was scarce.
It was hard to come by.
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Visions were infrequent.
Communication from God was nextto nil, almost nothing.
Now, why?
Why was the Word of God so rare?
Well, I'll tell you why Ibelieve the word of God was
rare.
I think some of it had to dowith the culture in which they
were living.
Eli is the next to last judge.
(06:00):
Before we start getting intokings, Samuel's going to be the
last judge.
But if you don't remember, thebook of Judges ends with this
verse.
Judges chapter 21, verse 25says,"'In those days, there was
no king in Israel, and everyonedid what was right in his own
eyes.'" So in a culture whereeverybody's like, man, I'm just
(06:21):
going to do what I think isright.
God says, if you're not going tolisten to me, I'm not going to
talk to you.
So some of it was the culture.
But part of that culture werepreacher's kids.
Eli has two sons.
Their names are Hophni andPhinehas.
And they are, the Bible says, 1Samuel 2, I'm not calling them
names.
The Bible says they are wickedand worthless.
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They don't know God at all.
They rob from people when theycome to make offerings at the
temple.
They're sleeping with girls whowork at the church.
And God is not happy.
And it leads me to say, Goddoesn't speak with or share his
heart with wicked people who arejust doing their own thing.
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Now, adding to that, Eli, theguy who's the priest, the guy
who's supposed to be the voicefor God in a way, he knows what
his sons are doing.
He actually calls them out, buthe doesn't do anything about it.
God's not happy.
2 Samuel 2.29, God sends aprophet to say to Eli, you're
honoring your kids over me, andthat ain't going to work.
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You're choosing to honor yourchildren more than me.
You won't deal with them forwhatever reason, so I'm about to
judge you and this whole family.
And guess what Eli does withthat warning from God?
Nothing.
He does nothing.
No repentance, no prayers ofconfession to God, no discipline
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of his sons.
Now, here's what I want you tounderstand.
Here's why the Word of God israre.
Eli and his sons are apparentlyliving for themselves.
They're just serving themselves.
They're using God, but it's allabout them.
Do people do that?
Of course they do.
Their lives are all about them,what they could get.
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These boys are wicked, and evenEli, even though he knows it's
wrong, he enjoys the fact that,man, they sure do eat good.
Eli becomes a real fat guy.
God seldom speaks to people whodon't know him, who don't honor
him, and who don't do anythingwith what God tells them.
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The word of God is rare in thosedays and to those people.
Now, in this story, in the bigpicture, the metanarrative,
Samuel is going to stand instark contrast to the wickedness
of his culture and to thewickedness of the priest and his
kids.
At the temple, Samuel, thislittle boy, is ministering to
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the Lord.
He worked at the temple justhelping out and serving God.
He's just this little kid thathis mama dropped off at the
church and comes to visit himonce a year and bring him new
clothes.
But his parents had instilledwithin him the idea that you
honor God You worship Godfaithfully.
And Samuel watched and he heardhis parents pray and worship.
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Men, can I speak it over you?
Your example to your family isenormous.
Your sons and daughters need tosee you worship and pray because
that becomes normal for them.
Amen.
(09:40):
I speak that over all of ustoday, that the next generation
needs to see a generation ofmoms and dads who honor God and
who seek God and listen forGod's voice and follow what he
says.
And I want to speak to the nextgeneration, to the younger
generation.
You listen for God's voice, evenif your parents don't, because
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God will speak to you if youwant to hear him.
God starts speaking to Samuelwhile he's serving God.
And because, hear me, it'sbecause he's serving God.
He's not seeking something fromGod.
He's actively just living hislife to give something back to
God.
He has the faith of a child.
(10:24):
Children don't know yet that youcan give to get.
Then I'll scratch your back sothat you'll come back around and
scratch mine too.
Come on.
How many of y'all know we can betransactional with God?
You go to church on Sunday sothat the appraiser will give you
a good appraisal.
On Monday, you read the Bible sothat God will give you a better
job or a better boyfriend.
Don't act like you don't do it.
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We've all done it.
Right?
But that is not Samuel's heart.
Right?
In a day when everybody wasdoing what was right in their
own eyes, Samuel is doing whatis right in God's eyes.
Listen to me.
He's serving God for God's sakebecause God is worthy, because
God loves him, and because Godmade him, and God wanted to
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bless his life.
That was it.
He just wanted to honor Godback.
He wasn't trying to use God.
He wanted God to use him back.
And I submit to you that Godwill speak to a person who has a
heart like that.
Nobody else may be hearing fromGod around you, but today God
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says to you, I'll talk to you.
You may have never heard Godspeak to you before, but that
can change today.
1 Samuel 3 verse 2 says ithappened at that time while
Samuel's ministering to God.
At that time, as Eli was lyingdown in his place, now his
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eyesight had begun to grow dimand he couldn't see well, so
he's an older guy.
But the lamp of God hadn't yetgone out.
He's not dead yet.
And Samuel is lying down.
Check this out.
He's lying down in the temple ofthe Lord where the ark of God
was.
He's as close to the presence ofGod as he can get.
He ain't hanging out with themtwo hoodlums.
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that are Eli's sons, he's asclose to the presence of God as
he can get.
And I got a feeling it's becausehis mama told him to.
He is right there near the arkof God.
And that's when the Lord calledSamuel.
And Samuel said, here I am.
And he ran to Eli and said, hereI am.
You called me.
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But Eli said, I didn't call you.
Go back and lie down.
So he went back and laid downagain.
So on the night while he'ssleeping in the temple, as close
to God's presence as he can get,God calls.
And that word is a verbal, avocal, an out loud voice.
He hears it.
Goes to Eli, what's up?
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Nothing, man, go back a bit.
Verse six says, the Lord calledyet again.
Samuel, Samuel rose and went toEli and said, here I am, you
called me.
He said, I didn't call you, man,go back and lay down.
Verse seven gives a little bitof a clarifying word.
This is why Samuel doesn't knowthat it's God.
Verse seven says, now Samueldidn't yet know the Lord, nor
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had the word of the Lord yetbeen revealed to him.
Now when it says he doesn't knowthe Lord yet, it means his
understanding of God is minimal.
He worships God, he'sministering to God, but he
hasn't learned God's voice yet,not personally.
He was religious, he's servingGod, but God hadn't become
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personal to him, hadn't startedspeaking to him yet.
Wasn't on his radar that Godwould or could talk to him.
And I just want to say that maybe somebody here right now.
That you love God, you reallydo, you want to serve God, but
it's never occurred to you thatGod might, could, or would want
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to talk to you.
And so please, as much as God'sspirit would allow you to hear
today, would you hear God say toyou, I want to start talking to
you.
You don't have to have thepreacher.
or a podcast, God wants to starttalking to you.
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It doesn't matter if you'venever heard him before.
It doesn't matter if you'reseven or 77.
Good news, God wants to starttalking to you.
You ready to receive that?
It happens the third time.
Verse eight says, the Lordcalled Samuel again for the
third time and he arose and hewent to Eli and he said, here I
am, you called me.
And then Eli discerned that theLord was calling the boy.
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So Eli said to Samuel, go liedown and it shall be if he calls
you that you shall say, speakLord for your servant is
listening.
So Samuel went and laid down inhis place and the Lord came and
he stood and called as at othertimes, Samuel, Samuel.
And Samuel said, speak for yourservant's listening.
And the Lord said to Samuel,behold, I'm about to do a thing
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in Israel at which both ears ofeveryone who hears it will
tingle.
In that day, I will carry outagainst Eli all that I have
spoken concerning his house frombeginning to end.
For I have told him that I'mabout to judge his house forever
for the iniquity, which he knewbecause his sons brought a curse
on themselves and he didn'trebuke them.
Therefore, I've sworn to thehouse of Eli that the iniquity
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of Eli's house shall not beatoned for by sacrifice or
offering forever.
Samuel laid down until morningand then he opened the doors of
the house of the Lord and he wasafraid to tell the vision to
Eli.
And Eli called Samuel and hesaid, Samuel, my son, he said,
here I am.
He said, what's the word that hespoke to you?
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Please don't hide it from me.
May God do so to you and morealso if you had anything from me
of all the words that he spoketo you.
So Samuel told him everythingand hid nothing from him.
And Eli said, it is the Lord.
Let him do what seems good tohim.
Thus Samuel grew and the Lordwas with him and let none of his
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words fail.
And all Israel from Dan toBershaba knew that Samuel was
confirmed as a prophet of theLord.
That's a story you should know.
It's a story you should knowbecause it tells you that God
wants to speak.
It's been his desire and hisdesign since the Garden of Eden
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when he walked with Adam in thecool of the day and would have
conversation.
That's God's desire.
It's his design for you that hewould speak.
Can I give you some verses?
Psalm 85 verse 8 says, I willhear what God the Lord will say
for he will speak peace to hispeople.
Watch it.
To his godly ones.
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But let them turn back.
but let them not turn back tofolly.
In other words, you see what theverse is saying.
God will speak to his people, togodly ones, but he doesn't
promise to speak to ungodlypeople and he doesn't promise to
speak to people who just keepgoing back to their same stupid
ways.
But he wants to speak.
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He wants to speak peace intoyour life.
John 8, verse 47, Jesus said, hewho is of God, look at this,
hears the words of God.
For this reason, you don't hearthem because you're not of God.
Now, this is a wake-up call, butI gotta say it.
It's in the scripture.
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When you are a follower ofJesus, God promises you will
hear his word.
And if you can't hear from God,that's a problem.
That's not a matter of yourears.
It's a matter of your heart.
Do you hear what he's saying toyou right now?
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It's a sobering word.
God speaks to his children.
His children hear his voice.
He says and promises in Jeremiah33, three, called me and I'll
answer you.
I'll tell you great and mightythings which you don't even
know.
God says, if you'll ask, I'lltalk.
Revelation 3, 20, a famous versewhere God was speaking to people
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already saved, to a church.
He says, behold, I'm standing atthe door and I'm knocking.
If you hear my voice...
And you open up the door, I'llcome into him and will dine with
him and he with me.
God's trying to say to us, PineLake, that he's still speaking.
He still wants to talk to youabout being a man, about being a
dad, about being a wife, aboutbeing a friend, about being an
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employee.
He still wants to speak to youabout what it looks like to live
your life daily to honor him.
God wants to speak sometimesmore than I want to listen.
Jesus taught us that his sheephear his voice.
Y'all remember that?
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John chapter 10.
He says, truly, truly, I say toyou, he who does not enter by
the door into the fold of thesheep but climbs up some other
way is a thief and a robber.
In other words, there's a lot ofpeople trying to get your
attention.
But he who enters by the door isa shepherd of the sheep.
To him the doorkeeper opens andthe sheep hear his voice and he
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calls his own sheep by name andleads them out.
And when he puts forth all hisown, he goes ahead of them and
the sheep follow him becausethey know his voice.
A stranger they simply will notfollow but they will actually
flee from him because they don'tknow the voice of the stranger.
What is Jesus saying?
He says the shepherd speaks tohis sheep.
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He calls them by name.
Come on, any of y'all raised upin the country?
Anybody raised in the country atany campus?
Anybody raised in the country?
Whenever country folk, you gottaunderstand, men who raise cows,
you look out at a field of cows,you go, man, that's much cows.
But a farmer looks out there andgoes, yep, there's those
speckles, there's speckle face.
Yep, there's, you know, this oneand that one.
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They know them by name.
Anybody know what I'm talkingabout?
The farmer knows all the cows byname.
I don't, because they ain't mycows.
But when they're your cows, youcare about your cows.
Jesus speaks to his sheep, callsthem by name and he speaks.
Listen, he wants to speak to youbecause he loves you and he
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cares for you and he has a greatplan for your life, but you
gotta be listening.
His sheep hear and know hisvoice.
The way we used to do whenever Iwas growing up before caller ID
and somebody would call andyou'd say hello and they would
say, what's up?
And you would say, what's up?
And you know who it is.
Anybody know what I'm talkingabout?
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Y'all do it at work already.
You know, somebody's talking outthere, maybe in the living room,
or maybe somebody's talking inanother cubicle, and you go, no,
I know who that is.
I ain't going over there.
Y'all know what I'm talkingabout?
You know a voice?
You recognize a voice?
Come on, mamas, y'all know whatit is.
You can be in a crowded place, ababy starts crying, and you're
like, no, that ain't mine.
But if it is yours, you know ifthey're hurt, you know if
they're mad, you know what itis.
You just can train yourself.
You know the Bible says you cantrain yourself to hear God's
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voice?
Hebrews 5 verse 14 says, solidfood is for the mature who
because of practice have theirsenses trained to discern good
and evil.
You can train yourself todiscern this is God.
This is God.
I've heard God enough.
That's God.
I know it.
Sounds crazy, but I know it.
His sheep know his voice andthen they follow him.
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They walk behind the shepherd.
They go where he's taking themand lead them.
John 10, 27 says, my sheep hearmy voice and I know them and
they follow me.
See, I think God could speak toSamuel because he knew that
Samuel would do something withwhat he heard.
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And it scared the you know whatout of him.
but he told Eli everything heheard.
And I think it prepared him inthe future to speak to kings and
to nations and to say, this iswhat God says.
Don't hate the messenger.
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This is what God says.
God speaks in a variety of ways.
I don't know that he's gonnaspeak to you in an audible
voice.
I'm not saying he's not, but inmy experience, And as I read the
balance of scripture, I thinktypically speaking, God speaks
through many, many ways.
One of the ways God speaks toyou, the primary way God speaks
to you is through this book.
It is the revealed word of God.
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Anything that you hear thatcontradicts that book, that
ain't God.
Samuel heard God speak, butlisten to me.
I think it was kind of a layup.
This was kind of an easy one tobreak him in.
It wasn't some crazy word thatnobody had ever heard of.
God spoke to Samuel the exactsame word that God had already
spoken to another prophet whohad given that word to Eli.
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So Samuel's not dreaming upsomething.
He's speaking what God hadalready said to a prophet, and
that prophet spoke to Eli whatwas in alignment with the word
of God that says if you honorGod, God honors you, and if you
don't, God's going to smoke you.
You feel me?
God speaks through the word.
Sometimes he speaks through theHoly Spirit prompting you.
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It's just a sense in your heartthat something's right or it's
wrong.
You should or you shouldn't.
Jesus said in John 16, 13, thatwhen he, the spirit of truth
comes, he will guide you intoall the truth, for he will not
speak on his own initiative, butwhatever he hears, he will
speak.
He will disclose to you what isto come.
He will glorify me, for he willtake of mine, and he will
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disclose it to you.
When we just sang a moment ago,I'm listening for your voice.
Holy Spirit, fall like rain.
This is a way that God speaks toyou by the spirit who lives
inside of every believer.
The Spirit of God prompts andleads.
Now, how do you know it's God'sSpirit speaking and not just me?
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Here's the test.
Is what the Spirit's saying, isit glorifying Jesus or is it
glorifying you?
If it's glorifying Jesus, thisis the test.
John 16, 14, I just read it.
If it glorifies Jesus, probablyGod.
But if it's just all about you,it's probably just bad pizza.
But the Holy Spirit says, speaksand many times he uses the word.
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God can speak to you throughdreams and visions.
Think about all the times in theBible where God spoke to someone
through a dream or through avision.
I think about Joseph in the OldTestament or Joseph in the New
Testament.
Peter, Paul, Daniel, Potiphar'swife, Ezekiel saw some bizarre
stuff as does John in the bookof what we call Revelation.
But that is a promise from Godin Joel repeated by Peter on the
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day of Pentecost.
Acts 2 verse 17 says, It shallbe in the last days, God says,
that I will pour forth of myspirit on all mankind, on your
sons and daughters.
They shall both prophesy.
Your young men shall see visionsand your old men will dream
dreams.
Even on my bond slaves, both menand women, I will in those days
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pour forth of my spirit and theyshall prophesy.
God speaks to men and women,young and old, sometimes through
dreams and visions.
God ever done that to you?
I feel like God warned me onetime.
He warned me I'd been drivingtoo fast.
And I'd been driving too fast.
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And it's like God gave me anightmare.
And I said, got it.
Was that from God?
I don't know.
But I felt like it was.
There's a guy on our staff whosaid that he and his wife
separately had the same dream,that they got married and had a
daughter, but they didn't telleach other.
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Until after they got married andhad a daughter, that's when they
told each other that they hadactually been given a dream.
He said, literally, I'm marriedto the girl of my dreams today.
Okay?
Now, can I be honest with you?
Not every dream you have is fromGod.
You may have just taken a littlebit too much melatonin.
Okay, so let's just be real.
Come on, you take too muchmelatonin, you have really
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vivid, wild, crazy dreams.
But a lot of times in yoursubconscious, God is talking to
you.
Sometimes God speaks throughChristian counsel, the desires
of your heart, open doors.
He even speaks through nature.
Romans 1 says God speaks to usthrough what's been created.
The Psalms say that God, theheavens declare the glory of the
Lord.
Some of you like to hear fromGod in nature, especially during
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hunting season, where mybrother's at.
That's why you don't come tochurch during hunting season.
No, I hear from God in a tree.
I know you do.
And I ain't hating on that,fellas.
Y'all know I ain't hating onthat.
But here's what I do when I askyou honestly, what's he saying?
And even more importantly, whatare we doing with it?
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Whatever he says.
You feel me?
Man, go experience God.
But make sure you're listening.
And then you do something withthat.
Whatever you think God issaying, through the Spirit,
through dreams, visions,Christian counsel, desires, open
doors, nature, whatever it is,it's got to align with this
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book.
If it doesn't align with theword of God already revealed, it
wasn't God.
I had a guy one time tell methat it was God's will for him
to have an affair.
He had dreamed about it.
He desired it.
He wanted to do it.
He had an opportunity to do it.
One of his friends even told himit was okay.
And that's awesome.
The only problem with that isthis book says thou shalt not.
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Y'all feel that?
This is our standard.
Eli, Samuel's word was in directalignment with what God had
said.
Now, I'm convinced that God canspeak to you in a lot of ways,
and there are some times thatmaybe he'll speak to you.
I think one of the times that hespeaks to you is just daily
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while you're in the word, whileyou're reading the word of God,
and while you're praying.
This requires discipline.
That's the key word here.
This requires discipline, butdaily you're in the word, you're
reading, and you're just puttingyourself in the He doesn't
always speak something profoundevery day, but he's speaking,
and sometimes it is profound.
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I know I'm talking to somebodyhere, and you're wanting God to
write it on the wall.
Anybody know what I'm talkingabout?
Well, God's probably not goingto write it on the wall, but he
has already written it in theword.
His word is a lamp to your feetand a light to your path, so if
you want to hear from God, startreading the Bible.
That's a daily discipline.
I love Isaiah 50 verse fourwhere it says, the Lord God has
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given me the tongue of disciplesthat I may know how to sustain
the weary one with a word.
He awakens me morning bymorning.
He awakens my ear to listen as adisciple.
The Lord God has opened my earand I was not disobedient, nor
did I turn back.
Y'all see what that's saying?
That you can say, God, give methe ears of a disciple to hear
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you, to walk in that, and thento pass that word on to somebody
else.
Back in February, I was at agathering of preachers and just
doing my L3.
My L3 at the time was in Acts,and I was reading Acts chapter
8.
And in Acts chapter 8, Peter andJames and John had gone to a
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particular place, and somepeople trusted Jesus, and they
put their hands on them, andthey received the Holy Spirit,
and it's on like forever.
Fire.
And there's a magician there whosees it and he says to Peter,
hey bro, could I pay you and youshow me how to do that thing?
And Peter lights him up.
He said, man, may you go to hellwith your money too, blah, blah,
blah, blah, down the road.
And God just spoke to me.
I wasn't really looking for it,but God just spoke to me.
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You know what?
There are people who would wantto use God to enrich themselves.
And if they don't have ananointing, they'll steal your
anointing.
They'll borrow your anointing.
So God was just saying to me,put your head down and just run
your lane.
That wasn't necessarilyprofound, but it was just for me
a good word to say, let me justrun my lane.
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Later on that evening at dinner,we were sitting at a table with
people I did not know.
And there's this dude sittingbeside me.
This big guy played football andwrestled at the University of
Oklahoma.
He's a pastor now.
And we're just talking it up.
And it's like God spoke to meand said, tell him what I told
you this morning.
Now, when I say God told me,please hear me, I sensed that
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word that God had implanted inmy heart was just something I
was supposed to share to thisbrother.
And so I looked at this guy.
Look, he could squash me, y'all.
He could absolutely squash me.
This guy's huge.
I said, bro, this is going tosound crazy because you don't
know me and I don't know you.
But I sense in my spirit I'msupposed to tell you something.
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Right out of Acts chapter 8, Godsays, told me this morning, this
is a word for you right now,that there may be some people
who are trying to steal your orborrow your anointing and
monetize your anointing, andyou're supposed to just keep
your head down and walk what Godhas for you.
As I'm saying that, his facelights up, his wife beside him
starts flooding with tears.
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And he says to me, bro, you arereading my mail.
I have no idea what that means.
don't.
I don't know what it meant.
I just knew that God had spokenan ordinary mundane word in my
heart and the spirit quickenedit to say, share it with this
brother.
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And somehow it wastransformative for him as he was
making a life decision.
You hear me?
Get in God's word every day anddo it.
Sometimes God speaks to youalong the way, somewhat like I'm
explaining to you, not in themoment, but along the way, that
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very word comes back.
Sometimes God speaks to youalong the way with spiritual
promptings, and that requiresfrom you awareness and
discernment.
To be in the word every dayrequires discipline.
To hear God's voice along theway requires you to have some
awareness and some discernmentabout whether or not this is God
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or not.
The spirit will whisper to you,don't say that.
Or tell them you love them.
Tell them you're sorry.
Come on, y'all ever heard that?
And it don't go very well, doesit?
But if you'll follow that Spiritprompting, things go better.
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God may prompt you through theSpirit to put your phone down,
to send a text, to change thechannel.
The Bible says in Isaiah 30,verse 20, to some people who
hadn't been following God somuch, although the Lord has
given you bread of provision,privation and water of
oppression.
He, your teacher, will no longerhide himself, but your eyes will
behold your teacher.
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Your ears will hear a wordbehind you saying, this is the
way, walk in it.
Whenever you turn to the rightor to the left, do you hear what
he's saying?
He's saying to you, you mightnot be used to following God,
but if you would start doing it,he'd start telling you, go left,
go right, this is the way.
I was at the gym yesterday and ayoung guy who raised up in our
church came up to me and Ialready talked to him one time,
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just, you know, what's up?
And he said to me, hey, man, yousaid a minute ago, how you
doing?
And I lied.
I told you I was good.
I ain't good.
I'm anxious.
And he began to tell me how he'staking a new job.
He feels like it's God's call onhis life.
He's in a new city, away fromwhat's familiar.
And he said, man, I've neverbattled anxiety in my life, and
I'm battling anxiety, and Idon't know what to do.
And he said, I saw you walk inthe gym, and the Spirit of God
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told me, go talk to him.
And I didn't want to do it.
But I'm so thankful that he didbecause it was a good, I think,
helpful conversation for both ofus to be able to talk about, you
know what?
When you follow God, it doesn'tmean you always have peace.
Sometimes you have anxiousmoments, but yet God's word
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says, give those to him too andtrust him in what you don't
know.
You follow what the Spiritspeaks.
That takes awareness and somediscernment.
But sometimes God speaks to youas you need direction on a
particular specific thing.
It's a big thing, God.
I need you to talk to me.
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And that requires patience.
That's going to require somepatience.
According to Exodus 24, Moseswent up on Mount Sinai and
waited six days before God eversaid a word.
In the book of Jeremiah, somepeople came to Jeremiah and
said, we don't know what to do.
What do you think God wants usto do?
And the Bible says in Jeremiah42, 7, at the end of 10 days,
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the word of the Lord came toJeremiah.
I wrote in the margin of myBible.
He waited 10 days for God tospeak.
I won't wait 10 minutes.
Come on, can I get an amen outof anybody?
I mean, we are such a fast-pacedspeak now, God.
If God doesn't speak, well, Ijust have to be forced to take
matters into my own hands.
How's that going for you?
It don't go too good for me.
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If you really want to hear Godspeak on something, it's going
to take some patience.
If you want to hear God speak toyou about your job, about your
career, about your money, abouta relationship, these are
decisions way too big for you tojust kind of wing it.
You need to hear from God.
How do you hear from God on abig decision like this?
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Here's how I'm learning, andthis comes from years of reading
various people, listening, andjust practicing.
Here are kind of the steps Ifollow when I'm trying to
discern, God, what are yousaying?
Step one is you gotta removedistractions.
Jesus, the Bible says in Mark1.35, would get up and go to a
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secluded place to pray.
He would get along and he wouldremove all other voices and all
other distractions.
To me, it's really hard to hearGod when I got a million things
going on.
You need to get into a placewhere there are no distractions
or as few as possible and removeanything that can take your mind
away.
Put your phone, turn it off, putit away, turn off the TV.
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Maybe find yourself a placein...
a bedroom or the bathtub or theshower or in the car by
yourself.
Any of those places could beenough.
But find yourself a place freefrom distraction.
You're trying to help your brainand your senses be as minimally
distracted as possible.
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This year at camp, we didn'tallow our students to take their
cell phones.
That was somewhat controversial.
But the purpose of that wastwofold.
One is we didn't want them to doanything stupid with a video
camera.
But more importantly, we didn'twant any distractions that would
keep them from hearing what Godhad to say.
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And man, that phone can be a bigdistraction, can't it?
So if you're gonna hear fromGod, minimize the distractions,
okay?
God spoke to Samuel, not whilehe was working, but while he was
laying down.
Still.
undistracted.
Secondly, quiet your soul.
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Sometimes it helps me to justbreathe for a minute and just
say, God, I wanna come presentbefore you.
I wanna be mindful of you.
And so this is what you do.
You say, God, I wanna be in yourpresence.
I claim that you're here withme.
And if your mind starts to turnto, man, groceries or work or
that person, just say, God, Igive you that person.
I give you work.
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I give you groceries.
God, I give you all that.
I just wanna be present beforeyou.
To you.
And if you have all these voicesthat are going on in your head,
right?
Sometimes you have to say, inJesus' name, I command every
other voice in my head, thevoice of my flesh, the voice of
this world, the voice of theenemy, the voice of my mama, the
voice of expectation, in Jesus'name, be quiet.
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Holy Spirit, you alone can speakto me now.
This is part of you standing inyour authority as a child of
God.
But there's a verse for it.
James chapter four, verse sevensays, submit therefore to God,
resist the devil and he willflee from you.
Draw near to God, he'll drawnear to you.
So remove the distractions,quiet your soul and then cleanse
your heart.
Make sure there's nothingbetween you and God that would
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keep you from hearing hisspirit.
That's why the word of God wasso rare in Samuel's day because
everybody was just doingwhatever the heck they wanted
to.
And it took the faith of a childto hear.
So God cleansed my heart If youknow there's a sin that you need
to confess and repent of, say,God, I give you that right now.
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Change my heart.
I'm done with it.
And if you can't think ofanything else, say, God, I pray,
Holy Spirit, would you search meand try me?
Psalm 139.
Search me, oh God, know myheart.
Try me, know my anxious thought.
If there's any hurtful way inme, lead me in the way
everlasting.
God, show me.
So cleanse your heart.
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Fourthly, surrender your will.
Tell God that you know that youhave desires around this thing.
You have emotional attachment towhatever it is you're praying
about or seeking directionabout, but you're laying down
your will and your desires athis feet, trusting him.
Jesus modeled that for us in thegarden.
God, you know what I want, butI'm laying down my will, not my
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will, but your will.
So I surrender to his will.
And then fifthly, you invite theHoly Spirit to speak.
It's what Samuel does.
Speak Lord, your servant islistening.
And then you just ask the Lordto speak to you about that one
thing.
Don't ask him about seventhings, ask him about one thing.
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And then you wait.
Samuel listened and waited andGod spoke.
I personally do not wait on anaudible voice.
God doesn't speak to me, hasn'tspoken to me that way.
But I do wait on the spirit ofthe Lord to speak.
and I'll let the word of Godspeak.
Ephesians 1.17 says that Paulprayed that the God of our Lord
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Jesus Christ, the Father ofglory, would give you a spirit
of wisdom and revelation and theknowledge of him.
So sometimes the spirit, whenyou're saying, okay, God, speak
to me.
Speak to me, I'm waiting.
Maybe he'll give you a Bibleverse.
Maybe he'll give you a picture.
Maybe he'll give you a thought.
Sometimes he'll remind you of aBible story.
But whatever that is, say, God,if that's you, I want to pray
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that.
I want to speak that.
I want to do that.
Then I write it down.
It's the last thing I do.
Write down whatever it is youthink God is saying and then
weigh it against the word.
You weigh it against the wordand say, God, is this you?
Samuel heard God speak through avision, through an audible
voice, and that word he receivedwas in alignment with what God
had already said through theprophet in 1 Samuel 2.27.
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And so you write it down and yousay, God, is this you?
Now here's the question for you.
What do you do then if you hearGod speak?
The answer is obey it.
Do whatever it is.
Thank God for it, but then dowhat he says do.
That's why he's speaking to you,not so you have more
information, but that your lifecould be different.
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Do you hear that?
Would you waste your timetalking to somebody who ain't
listening or not going to dowhat you say?
Neither would God.
Jesus says in Luke 11, 28,blessed are those who hear the
word of God and observe it.
And can I just say to you, themore you hear God's word and do
it, the more God will speak toyou.
I'm convinced God didn't talk toEli because Eli wasn't doing
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anything with what God hadalready told him.
So until you're doing somethingwith what God's already told
him, you're maybe wasting yourtime to ask him to do something
different or something new.
Y'all with that?
So if God speaks, obey.
Here's the real question forsome of us.
What are you doing with the wordGod has already spoken?
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You don't need God to speaksomething new.
God's already spoken to you,just like he spoke to Eli.
What are you doing with thatword that you've already
received?
Come on, I'm talking to somebodyright now.
God's been warning you.
God's been trying to get yourattention.
God's been saying to you, wakeup, wake up.
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Would you do what my mama usedto say?
She would say, you betterstraighten up and fly right.
Anybody's mom ever say that?
You better straighten up and flyright.
Hey, you came to church on thisday and this is the word and God
is saying to you, you've heardhis voice and he's been saying
to you, that's enough.
That's enough.
That's enough.
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Because the window ofopportunity for you to do right
closes.
And so if there's something foryou to stop doing, if there's
something for you to startdoing, if there's a way of life
that God's calling you to or away of life God's calling you
out of, today is the day.
Hebrews 3.15 says, today if youhear his voice, don't harden
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your hearts as when theyprovoked me.
And so the question on the tablefor you today is, do you believe
God still speaks?
It can be powerful and it can betricky Is God speaking to you
now?
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And if he is, what's he saying?
And what will you do with it?
There's one way I believe thatGod is speaking to all of us
even now, and that comes fromHebrews chapter one, verse one,
where the scripture says this,God, after he spoke long ago to
the fathers and the prophets inmany portions and in many ways,
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in these last days has spoken tous in his son.
whom he appointed as heir of allthings, through whom also he
made the world.
I believe God is speaking to youright now through Jesus, and
this is what he's trying to say.
I love you like crazy, and Iwant a relationship with you,
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and I want you to learn to trustme, but you've got to stop
living according to this worldin your own way.
Stop doing what's right in yourown eyes.
Give your heart to me, and I'llmake your path straight.
forever come on across the roomright now wherever you are would
you just quiet your heart forjust a moment what is God saying
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to you what's he speaking thisis not church this is life it's
not religion it's a relationshipthat God's calling you into this
is what he wants your regularlife to be like from now on that
you would hear God as a littleboy And you would say, God, I'll
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do whatever you tell me.
That for the rest of your life,this is the way you live life.
God, you're in control.
I'm not.
I trust you.
And what I don't understand,God, I'll still trust you.
Holy Spirit, speak to me.
Fall like rain.
Speak now.
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Would you make room for God tolead you, to break down all the
ways that you've kind offashioned your own life and to
shake up all the comfortableplaces in your life?
Would you just say to God rightnow, God, I'm making room for
you today to lead me.
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Teach me to hear your voice andfollow.
For some of you, today is a daywhere you need to say to Jesus,
I surrender my life.
I confess my sin.
God, change me.
Sometimes it helps for you tohave a brother or sister just
lay a hand on you and affirmwhat maybe you're sensing today
or to pray for you.
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And when we stand up and singthis last song, there are going
to be people around the front ofthe room.
They'd love to pray with you.
Maybe you just lean over to yourson or daughter or your friend
beside you and say, hey, wouldyou pray for me for just a
second?
That'd be cool too.
But would you make room for Godand respond to what you hear him
saying?
Jesus, I love you and I thankyou and I bless you that your
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sheep know your voice, that youspeak.
Speak now.
Holy Spirit, silence every othervoice of the enemy, of our
flesh, of this world, of ourparents, of expectations, of
everything else.
And God, I pray, would you speakto us?
And God, call us to yourself foryour glory.
Change us in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
Amen.
I heard about this dude who loved to play golf.
One of his favorite courses wasPebble Beach in California.
And on one particular hole atPebble Beach, you have to hit
across the ocean onto an islandgreen.
And this hole just gave the manfits every time he would hit it
in the water.
So much so that as he playedthat hole, he just learned to
not use a good ball.
He would just take out an oldbeat up ball.
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Any guys know what I'm talkingabout?
You just know what's going inthe water.
So you just drop a bad ball.
So one day he's playing thecourse.
He comes to that hole and he'sabout to hit his bad ball
probably into the water when avoice from heaven heaven says,
use a new ball.
The man steps back.
He is like amazed.
He's like divine intervention.
God's about to let me make agreat shot.
So I'm going to put a new balldown.
He puts a new ball down.
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He's about to hit it.
And the voice from heaven says,again, take a practice swing.
So he says, steps back.
He takes a practice swing, getsready to hit the ball again.
The voice from heaven says, takeanother practice swing.
So he steps back, he takesanother practice swing, gets
ready to hit the ball, and thevoice from heaven says, on
second thought, put the old ballback down.
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I read a book over the course ofthe last month by Tyler Staten.
It's a book called The FamiliarStranger.
And in that book, he talks abouthearing from the spirit of God,
the word of God from heaven.
This is what he says.
To hear and live by God's voice,it would seem, is one of the
most potent ways and dangerousaspects of Christian
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spirituality.
Nothing matters more thanlearning to discern the voice of
God, and yet few things in lifeare more susceptible to bringing
you pain, to being abused, todelusion, and deception.
In other words, hearing God isone of the most powerful things
in your life, and it's also kindof tricky, isn't it?
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How many of y'all believe thatGod actually speaks to you?
Anybody believe that Godactually speaks to you?
Pew Research says that about 75%of Americans believe that they
can talk to God in some way.
Now, they may not be talking toGod we're talking to, but they
try to pray in some way.
But only about 28% of people inAmerica believe that God would
actually speak back.
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Now, you may not be hearingGod's voice, but I believe the
scripture teaches that God doesstill speak today.
And he wants you to learn how tohear his voice.
And I want you to see this truthtoday revealed in a Bible story
that everybody should know.
Okay, so for the next few weeks,we're going to be learning some
stories that everybody shouldknow.
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And today, what I want you tohear is that God wants to speak
to you.
You were made for relationshipwith him, not to come to church.
You were made for relationshipwith him.
And you come to church out ofthat relationship.
And so would you open up yourheart today, open up the word of
God today to the book of 1Samuel chapter 3, and I want you
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to learn.
to have confidence that Godspeaks to you and you know how
to hear from God.
That good?
I'm going to try not to preachfor an hour and a half today.
I'm going to try to keep it inthe time frame, but y'all know
how it is whenever I come backfrom break.
I got a lot to say.
I'm going to try to say it realquickly today.
You probably know this story in1 Samuel, at least a little bit
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of it.
You remember a guy in the Biblenamed Samuel.
If you don't remember him, youremember about his mama.
His mama couldn't have babiesand she couldn't conceive, so
she went to the temple to prayone day and she prayed, God,
please give me a baby.
She said, God, if you'll give mea baby, I promise I'll give him
back to you.
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And God heard that prayer andshe conceived and had a little
baby boy named Samuel and sheraised him until he was weaned.
And then she did what she saidshe would do.
She gave him back to God.
When Samuel was a small boy, shetook him back to that place of
worship, and she left him thereunder the care of a priest who
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also was a judge of Israel, aman named Eli.
Now, please, nobody get anyideas.
Don't drop your kids offtomorrow and say, well, you
know, he's yours until he's 14.
That's not what we're doing,okay?
But that's what Hannah did.
She and her husband Elkanah tookthis boy to the church and said,
God gave him to us.
We're giving him back to God.
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It's from this story that one ofthe most famous Bible verses for
baby dedication comes, right?
1 Samuel 1.27 says, This isHannah's prayer.
She says, for this boy I prayed,and the Lord has given me my
petition, which I asked of him,so I also dedicated him to the
Lord.
As long as he lives, he'sdedicated to the Lord, and he
worshiped the Lord there.
Any of y'all use that verse foryour baby's dedication?
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Anybody willing to say that?
A lot of y'all do.
It's a great verse.
God answered our prayers.
We're giving this child back toGod.
Now, 1 Samuel chapter 2 tells usthat his parents would come to
visit Samuel each year.
They would come and worship.
They would bring him someclothes.
And when you get to 1 Samuelchapter 3, do you tradition
tells us that Samuel's probablyabout 12 years old.
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So for about eight, nine years,he sees his parents once a year,
gets some clothes.
They all worship together.
But Samuel is at the temple.
What's he doing?
This is what the Bible says he'sdoing.
First Samuel three, verse one.
Now the boy Samuel wasministering to the Lord before
Eli.
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And word from the Lord was rarein in those days, and visions
were infrequent.
The Bible says the Word of Godwas rare.
It's like a precious jewel thatyou'd be willing to pay good
money for.
It was scarce.
It was hard to come by.
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Visions were infrequent.
Communication from God was nextto nil, almost nothing.
Now, why?
Why was the Word of God so rare?
Well, I'll tell you why Ibelieve the word of God was
rare.
I think some of it had to dowith the culture in which they
were living.
Eli is the next to last judge.
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Before we start getting intokings, Samuel's going to be the
last judge.
But if you don't remember, thebook of Judges ends with this
verse.
Judges chapter 21, verse 25says,"'In those days, there was
no king in Israel, and everyonedid what was right in his own
eyes.'" So in a culture whereeverybody's like, man, I'm just
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going to do what I think isright.
God says, if you're not going tolisten to me, I'm not going to
talk to you.
So some of it was the culture.
But part of that culture werepreacher's kids.
Eli has two sons.
Their names are Hophni andPhinehas.
And they are, the Bible says, 1Samuel 2, I'm not calling them
names.
The Bible says they are wickedand worthless.
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They don't know God at all.
They rob from people when theycome to make offerings at the
temple.
They're sleeping with girls whowork at the church.
And God is not happy.
And it leads me to say, Goddoesn't speak with or share his
heart with wicked people who arejust doing their own thing.
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Now, adding to that, Eli, theguy who's the priest, the guy
who's supposed to be the voicefor God in a way, he knows what
his sons are doing.
He actually calls them out, buthe doesn't do anything about it.
God's not happy.
2 Samuel 2.29, God sends aprophet to say to Eli, you're
honoring your kids over me, andthat ain't going to work.
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You're choosing to honor yourchildren more than me.
You won't deal with them forwhatever reason, so I'm about to
judge you and this whole family.
And guess what Eli does withthat warning from God?
Nothing.
He does nothing.
No repentance, no prayers ofconfession to God, no discipline
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of his sons.
Now, here's what I want you tounderstand.
Here's why the Word of God israre.
Eli and his sons are apparentlyliving for themselves.
They're just serving themselves.
They're using God, but it's allabout them.
Do people do that?
Of course they do.
Their lives are all about them,what they could get.
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These boys are wicked, and evenEli, even though he knows it's
wrong, he enjoys the fact that,man, they sure do eat good.
Eli becomes a real fat guy.
God seldom speaks to people whodon't know him, who don't honor
him, and who don't do anythingwith what God tells them.
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The word of God is rare in thosedays and to those people.
Now, in this story, in the bigpicture, the metanarrative,
Samuel is going to stand instark contrast to the wickedness
of his culture and to thewickedness of the priest and his
kids.
At the temple, Samuel, thislittle boy, is ministering to
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the Lord.
He worked at the temple justhelping out and serving God.
He's just this little kid thathis mama dropped off at the
church and comes to visit himonce a year and bring him new
clothes.
But his parents had instilledwithin him the idea that you
honor God You worship Godfaithfully.
And Samuel watched and he heardhis parents pray and worship.
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Men, can I speak it over you?
Your example to your family isenormous.
Your sons and daughters need tosee you worship and pray because
that becomes normal for them.
Amen.
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I speak that over all of ustoday, that the next generation
needs to see a generation ofmoms and dads who honor God and
who seek God and listen forGod's voice and follow what he
says.
And I want to speak to the nextgeneration, to the younger
generation.
You listen for God's voice, evenif your parents don't, because
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God will speak to you if youwant to hear him.
God starts speaking to Samuelwhile he's serving God.
And because, hear me, it'sbecause he's serving God.
He's not seeking something fromGod.
He's actively just living hislife to give something back to
God.
He has the faith of a child.
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Children don't know yet that youcan give to get.
Then I'll scratch your back sothat you'll come back around and
scratch mine too.
Come on.
How many of y'all know we can betransactional with God?
You go to church on Sunday sothat the appraiser will give you
a good appraisal.
On Monday, you read the Bible sothat God will give you a better
job or a better boyfriend.
Don't act like you don't do it.
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We've all done it.
Right?
But that is not Samuel's heart.
Right?
In a day when everybody wasdoing what was right in their
own eyes, Samuel is doing whatis right in God's eyes.
Listen to me.
He's serving God for God's sakebecause God is worthy, because
God loves him, and because Godmade him, and God wanted to
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bless his life.
That was it.
He just wanted to honor Godback.
He wasn't trying to use God.
He wanted God to use him back.
And I submit to you that Godwill speak to a person who has a
heart like that.
Nobody else may be hearing fromGod around you, but today God
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says to you, I'll talk to you.
You may have never heard Godspeak to you before, but that
can change today.
1 Samuel 3 verse 2 says ithappened at that time while
Samuel's ministering to God.
At that time, as Eli was lyingdown in his place, now his
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eyesight had begun to grow dimand he couldn't see well, so
he's an older guy.
But the lamp of God hadn't yetgone out.
He's not dead yet.
And Samuel is lying down.
Check this out.
He's lying down in the temple ofthe Lord where the ark of God
was.
He's as close to the presence ofGod as he can get.
He ain't hanging out with themtwo hoodlums.
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that are Eli's sons, he's asclose to the presence of God as
he can get.
And I got a feeling it's becausehis mama told him to.
He is right there near the arkof God.
And that's when the Lord calledSamuel.
And Samuel said, here I am.
And he ran to Eli and said, hereI am.
You called me.
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But Eli said, I didn't call you.
Go back and lie down.
So he went back and laid downagain.
So on the night while he'ssleeping in the temple, as close
to God's presence as he can get,God calls.
And that word is a verbal, avocal, an out loud voice.
He hears it.
Goes to Eli, what's up?
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Nothing, man, go back a bit.
Verse six says, the Lord calledyet again.
Samuel, Samuel rose and went toEli and said, here I am, you
called me.
He said, I didn't call you, man,go back and lay down.
Verse seven gives a little bitof a clarifying word.
This is why Samuel doesn't knowthat it's God.
Verse seven says, now Samueldidn't yet know the Lord, nor
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had the word of the Lord yetbeen revealed to him.
Now when it says he doesn't knowthe Lord yet, it means his
understanding of God is minimal.
He worships God, he'sministering to God, but he
hasn't learned God's voice yet,not personally.
He was religious, he's servingGod, but God hadn't become
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personal to him, hadn't startedspeaking to him yet.
Wasn't on his radar that Godwould or could talk to him.
And I just want to say that maybe somebody here right now.
That you love God, you reallydo, you want to serve God, but
it's never occurred to you thatGod might, could, or would want
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to talk to you.
And so please, as much as God'sspirit would allow you to hear
today, would you hear God say toyou, I want to start talking to
you.
You don't have to have thepreacher.
or a podcast, God wants to starttalking to you.
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It doesn't matter if you'venever heard him before.
It doesn't matter if you'reseven or 77.
Good news, God wants to starttalking to you.
You ready to receive that?
It happens the third time.
Verse eight says, the Lordcalled Samuel again for the
third time and he arose and hewent to Eli and he said, here I
am, you called me.
And then Eli discerned that theLord was calling the boy.
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So Eli said to Samuel, go liedown and it shall be if he calls
you that you shall say, speakLord for your servant is
listening.
So Samuel went and laid down inhis place and the Lord came and
he stood and called as at othertimes, Samuel, Samuel.
And Samuel said, speak for yourservant's listening.
And the Lord said to Samuel,behold, I'm about to do a thing
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in Israel at which both ears ofeveryone who hears it will
tingle.
In that day, I will carry outagainst Eli all that I have
spoken concerning his house frombeginning to end.
For I have told him that I'mabout to judge his house forever
for the iniquity, which he knewbecause his sons brought a curse
on themselves and he didn'trebuke them.
Therefore, I've sworn to thehouse of Eli that the iniquity
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of Eli's house shall not beatoned for by sacrifice or
offering forever.
Samuel laid down until morningand then he opened the doors of
the house of the Lord and he wasafraid to tell the vision to
Eli.
And Eli called Samuel and hesaid, Samuel, my son, he said,
here I am.
He said, what's the word that hespoke to you?
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Please don't hide it from me.
May God do so to you and morealso if you had anything from me
of all the words that he spoketo you.
So Samuel told him everythingand hid nothing from him.
And Eli said, it is the Lord.
Let him do what seems good tohim.
Thus Samuel grew and the Lordwas with him and let none of his
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words fail.
And all Israel from Dan toBershaba knew that Samuel was
confirmed as a prophet of theLord.
That's a story you should know.
It's a story you should knowbecause it tells you that God
wants to speak.
It's been his desire and hisdesign since the Garden of Eden
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when he walked with Adam in thecool of the day and would have
conversation.
That's God's desire.
It's his design for you that hewould speak.
Can I give you some verses?
Psalm 85 verse 8 says, I willhear what God the Lord will say
for he will speak peace to hispeople.
Watch it.
To his godly ones.
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But let them turn back.
but let them not turn back tofolly.
In other words, you see what theverse is saying.
God will speak to his people, togodly ones, but he doesn't
promise to speak to ungodlypeople and he doesn't promise to
speak to people who just keepgoing back to their same stupid
ways.
But he wants to speak.
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He wants to speak peace intoyour life.
John 8, verse 47, Jesus said, hewho is of God, look at this,
hears the words of God.
For this reason, you don't hearthem because you're not of God.
Now, this is a wake-up call, butI gotta say it.
It's in the scripture.
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When you are a follower ofJesus, God promises you will
hear his word.
And if you can't hear from God,that's a problem.
That's not a matter of yourears.
It's a matter of your heart.
Do you hear what he's saying toyou right now?
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It's a sobering word.
God speaks to his children.
His children hear his voice.
He says and promises in Jeremiah33, three, called me and I'll
answer you.
I'll tell you great and mightythings which you don't even
know.
God says, if you'll ask, I'lltalk.
Revelation 3, 20, a famous versewhere God was speaking to people
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already saved, to a church.
He says, behold, I'm standing atthe door and I'm knocking.
If you hear my voice...
And you open up the door, I'llcome into him and will dine with
him and he with me.
God's trying to say to us, PineLake, that he's still speaking.
He still wants to talk to youabout being a man, about being a
dad, about being a wife, aboutbeing a friend, about being an
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employee.
He still wants to speak to youabout what it looks like to live
your life daily to honor him.
God wants to speak sometimesmore than I want to listen.
Jesus taught us that his sheephear his voice.
Y'all remember that?
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John chapter 10.
He says, truly, truly, I say toyou, he who does not enter by
the door into the fold of thesheep but climbs up some other
way is a thief and a robber.
In other words, there's a lot ofpeople trying to get your
attention.
But he who enters by the door isa shepherd of the sheep.
To him the doorkeeper opens andthe sheep hear his voice and he
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calls his own sheep by name andleads them out.
And when he puts forth all hisown, he goes ahead of them and
the sheep follow him becausethey know his voice.
A stranger they simply will notfollow but they will actually
flee from him because they don'tknow the voice of the stranger.
What is Jesus saying?
He says the shepherd speaks tohis sheep.
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He calls them by name.
Come on, any of y'all raised upin the country?
Anybody raised in the country atany campus?
Anybody raised in the country?
Whenever country folk, you gottaunderstand, men who raise cows,
you look out at a field of cows,you go, man, that's much cows.
But a farmer looks out there andgoes, yep, there's those
speckles, there's speckle face.
Yep, there's, you know, this oneand that one.
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They know them by name.
Anybody know what I'm talkingabout?
The farmer knows all the cows byname.
I don't, because they ain't mycows.
But when they're your cows, youcare about your cows.
Jesus speaks to his sheep, callsthem by name and he speaks.
Listen, he wants to speak to youbecause he loves you and he
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cares for you and he has a greatplan for your life, but you
gotta be listening.
His sheep hear and know hisvoice.
The way we used to do whenever Iwas growing up before caller ID
and somebody would call andyou'd say hello and they would
say, what's up?
And you would say, what's up?
And you know who it is.
Anybody know what I'm talkingabout?
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Y'all do it at work already.
You know, somebody's talking outthere, maybe in the living room,
or maybe somebody's talking inanother cubicle, and you go, no,
I know who that is.
I ain't going over there.
Y'all know what I'm talkingabout?
You know a voice?
You recognize a voice?
Come on, mamas, y'all know whatit is.
You can be in a crowded place, ababy starts crying, and you're
like, no, that ain't mine.
But if it is yours, you know ifthey're hurt, you know if
they're mad, you know what itis.
You just can train yourself.
You know the Bible says you cantrain yourself to hear God's
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voice?
Hebrews 5 verse 14 says, solidfood is for the mature who
because of practice have theirsenses trained to discern good
and evil.
You can train yourself todiscern this is God.
This is God.
I've heard God enough.
That's God.
I know it.
Sounds crazy, but I know it.
His sheep know his voice andthen they follow him.
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They walk behind the shepherd.
They go where he's taking themand lead them.
John 10, 27 says, my sheep hearmy voice and I know them and
they follow me.
See, I think God could speak toSamuel because he knew that
Samuel would do something withwhat he heard.
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And it scared the you know whatout of him.
but he told Eli everything heheard.
And I think it prepared him inthe future to speak to kings and
to nations and to say, this iswhat God says.
Don't hate the messenger.
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This is what God says.
God speaks in a variety of ways.
I don't know that he's gonnaspeak to you in an audible
voice.
I'm not saying he's not, but inmy experience, And as I read the
balance of scripture, I thinktypically speaking, God speaks
through many, many ways.
One of the ways God speaks toyou, the primary way God speaks
to you is through this book.
It is the revealed word of God.
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Anything that you hear thatcontradicts that book, that
ain't God.
Samuel heard God speak, butlisten to me.
I think it was kind of a layup.
This was kind of an easy one tobreak him in.
It wasn't some crazy word thatnobody had ever heard of.
God spoke to Samuel the exactsame word that God had already
spoken to another prophet whohad given that word to Eli.
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So Samuel's not dreaming upsomething.
He's speaking what God hadalready said to a prophet, and
that prophet spoke to Eli whatwas in alignment with the word
of God that says if you honorGod, God honors you, and if you
don't, God's going to smoke you.
You feel me?
God speaks through the word.
Sometimes he speaks through theHoly Spirit prompting you.
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It's just a sense in your heartthat something's right or it's
wrong.
You should or you shouldn't.
Jesus said in John 16, 13, thatwhen he, the spirit of truth
comes, he will guide you intoall the truth, for he will not
speak on his own initiative, butwhatever he hears, he will
speak.
He will disclose to you what isto come.
He will glorify me, for he willtake of mine, and he will
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disclose it to you.
When we just sang a moment ago,I'm listening for your voice.
Holy Spirit, fall like rain.
This is a way that God speaks toyou by the spirit who lives
inside of every believer.
The Spirit of God prompts andleads.
Now, how do you know it's God'sSpirit speaking and not just me?
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Here's the test.
Is what the Spirit's saying, isit glorifying Jesus or is it
glorifying you?
If it's glorifying Jesus, thisis the test.
John 16, 14, I just read it.
If it glorifies Jesus, probablyGod.
But if it's just all about you,it's probably just bad pizza.
But the Holy Spirit says, speaksand many times he uses the word.
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God can speak to you throughdreams and visions.
Think about all the times in theBible where God spoke to someone
through a dream or through avision.
I think about Joseph in the OldTestament or Joseph in the New
Testament.
Peter, Paul, Daniel, Potiphar'swife, Ezekiel saw some bizarre
stuff as does John in the bookof what we call Revelation.
But that is a promise from Godin Joel repeated by Peter on the
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day of Pentecost.
Acts 2 verse 17 says, It shallbe in the last days, God says,
that I will pour forth of myspirit on all mankind, on your
sons and daughters.
They shall both prophesy.
Your young men shall see visionsand your old men will dream
dreams.
Even on my bond slaves, both menand women, I will in those days
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pour forth of my spirit and theyshall prophesy.
God speaks to men and women,young and old, sometimes through
dreams and visions.
God ever done that to you?
I feel like God warned me onetime.
He warned me I'd been drivingtoo fast.
And I'd been driving too fast.
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And it's like God gave me anightmare.
And I said, got it.
Was that from God?
I don't know.
But I felt like it was.
There's a guy on our staff whosaid that he and his wife
separately had the same dream,that they got married and had a
daughter, but they didn't telleach other.
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Until after they got married andhad a daughter, that's when they
told each other that they hadactually been given a dream.
He said, literally, I'm marriedto the girl of my dreams today.
Okay?
Now, can I be honest with you?
Not every dream you have is fromGod.
You may have just taken a littlebit too much melatonin.
Okay, so let's just be real.
Come on, you take too muchmelatonin, you have really
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vivid, wild, crazy dreams.
But a lot of times in yoursubconscious, God is talking to
you.
Sometimes God speaks throughChristian counsel, the desires
of your heart, open doors.
He even speaks through nature.
Romans 1 says God speaks to usthrough what's been created.
The Psalms say that God, theheavens declare the glory of the
Lord.
Some of you like to hear fromGod in nature, especially during
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hunting season, where mybrother's at.
That's why you don't come tochurch during hunting season.
No, I hear from God in a tree.
I know you do.
And I ain't hating on that,fellas.
Y'all know I ain't hating onthat.
But here's what I do when I askyou honestly, what's he saying?
And even more importantly, whatare we doing with it?
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Whatever he says.
You feel me?
Man, go experience God.
But make sure you're listening.
And then you do something withthat.
Whatever you think God issaying, through the Spirit,
through dreams, visions,Christian counsel, desires, open
doors, nature, whatever it is,it's got to align with this
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book.
If it doesn't align with theword of God already revealed, it
wasn't God.
I had a guy one time tell methat it was God's will for him
to have an affair.
He had dreamed about it.
He desired it.
He wanted to do it.
He had an opportunity to do it.
One of his friends even told himit was okay.
And that's awesome.
The only problem with that isthis book says thou shalt not.
(27:32):
Y'all feel that?
This is our standard.
Eli, Samuel's word was in directalignment with what God had
said.
Now, I'm convinced that God canspeak to you in a lot of ways,
and there are some times thatmaybe he'll speak to you.
I think one of the times that hespeaks to you is just daily
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while you're in the word, whileyou're reading the word of God,
and while you're praying.
This requires discipline.
That's the key word here.
This requires discipline, butdaily you're in the word, you're
reading, and you're just puttingyourself in the He doesn't
always speak something profoundevery day, but he's speaking,
and sometimes it is profound.
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I know I'm talking to somebodyhere, and you're wanting God to
write it on the wall.
Anybody know what I'm talkingabout?
Well, God's probably not goingto write it on the wall, but he
has already written it in theword.
His word is a lamp to your feetand a light to your path, so if
you want to hear from God, startreading the Bible.
That's a daily discipline.
I love Isaiah 50 verse fourwhere it says, the Lord God has
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given me the tongue of disciplesthat I may know how to sustain
the weary one with a word.
He awakens me morning bymorning.
He awakens my ear to listen as adisciple.
The Lord God has opened my earand I was not disobedient, nor
did I turn back.
Y'all see what that's saying?
That you can say, God, give methe ears of a disciple to hear
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you, to walk in that, and thento pass that word on to somebody
else.
Back in February, I was at agathering of preachers and just
doing my L3.
My L3 at the time was in Acts,and I was reading Acts chapter
8.
And in Acts chapter 8, Peter andJames and John had gone to a
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particular place, and somepeople trusted Jesus, and they
put their hands on them, andthey received the Holy Spirit,
and it's on like forever.
Fire.
And there's a magician there whosees it and he says to Peter,
hey bro, could I pay you and youshow me how to do that thing?
And Peter lights him up.
He said, man, may you go to hellwith your money too, blah, blah,
blah, blah, down the road.
And God just spoke to me.
I wasn't really looking for it,but God just spoke to me.
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You know what?
There are people who would wantto use God to enrich themselves.
And if they don't have ananointing, they'll steal your
anointing.
They'll borrow your anointing.
So God was just saying to me,put your head down and just run
your lane.
That wasn't necessarilyprofound, but it was just for me
a good word to say, let me justrun my lane.
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Later on that evening at dinner,we were sitting at a table with
people I did not know.
And there's this dude sittingbeside me.
This big guy played football andwrestled at the University of
Oklahoma.
He's a pastor now.
And we're just talking it up.
And it's like God spoke to meand said, tell him what I told
you this morning.
Now, when I say God told me,please hear me, I sensed that
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word that God had implanted inmy heart was just something I
was supposed to share to thisbrother.
And so I looked at this guy.
Look, he could squash me, y'all.
He could absolutely squash me.
This guy's huge.
I said, bro, this is going tosound crazy because you don't
know me and I don't know you.
But I sense in my spirit I'msupposed to tell you something.
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Right out of Acts chapter 8, Godsays, told me this morning, this
is a word for you right now,that there may be some people
who are trying to steal your orborrow your anointing and
monetize your anointing, andyou're supposed to just keep
your head down and walk what Godhas for you.
As I'm saying that, his facelights up, his wife beside him
starts flooding with tears.
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And he says to me, bro, you arereading my mail.
I have no idea what that means.
don't.
I don't know what it meant.
I just knew that God had spokenan ordinary mundane word in my
heart and the spirit quickenedit to say, share it with this
brother.
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And somehow it wastransformative for him as he was
making a life decision.
You hear me?
Get in God's word every day anddo it.
Sometimes God speaks to youalong the way, somewhat like I'm
explaining to you, not in themoment, but along the way, that
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very word comes back.
Sometimes God speaks to youalong the way with spiritual
promptings, and that requiresfrom you awareness and
discernment.
To be in the word every dayrequires discipline.
To hear God's voice along theway requires you to have some
awareness and some discernmentabout whether or not this is God
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or not.
The spirit will whisper to you,don't say that.
Or tell them you love them.
Tell them you're sorry.
Come on, y'all ever heard that?
And it don't go very well, doesit?
But if you'll follow that Spiritprompting, things go better.
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God may prompt you through theSpirit to put your phone down,
to send a text, to change thechannel.
The Bible says in Isaiah 30,verse 20, to some people who
hadn't been following God somuch, although the Lord has
given you bread of provision,privation and water of
oppression.
He, your teacher, will no longerhide himself, but your eyes will
behold your teacher.
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Your ears will hear a wordbehind you saying, this is the
way, walk in it.
Whenever you turn to the rightor to the left, do you hear what
he's saying?
He's saying to you, you mightnot be used to following God,
but if you would start doing it,he'd start telling you, go left,
go right, this is the way.
I was at the gym yesterday and ayoung guy who raised up in our
church came up to me and Ialready talked to him one time,
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just, you know, what's up?
And he said to me, hey, man, yousaid a minute ago, how you
doing?
And I lied.
I told you I was good.
I ain't good.
I'm anxious.
And he began to tell me how he'staking a new job.
He feels like it's God's call onhis life.
He's in a new city, away fromwhat's familiar.
And he said, man, I've neverbattled anxiety in my life, and
I'm battling anxiety, and Idon't know what to do.
And he said, I saw you walk inthe gym, and the Spirit of God
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told me, go talk to him.
And I didn't want to do it.
But I'm so thankful that he didbecause it was a good, I think,
helpful conversation for both ofus to be able to talk about, you
know what?
When you follow God, it doesn'tmean you always have peace.
Sometimes you have anxiousmoments, but yet God's word
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says, give those to him too andtrust him in what you don't
know.
You follow what the Spiritspeaks.
That takes awareness and somediscernment.
But sometimes God speaks to youas you need direction on a
particular specific thing.
It's a big thing, God.
I need you to talk to me.
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And that requires patience.
That's going to require somepatience.
According to Exodus 24, Moseswent up on Mount Sinai and
waited six days before God eversaid a word.
In the book of Jeremiah, somepeople came to Jeremiah and
said, we don't know what to do.
What do you think God wants usto do?
And the Bible says in Jeremiah42, 7, at the end of 10 days,
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the word of the Lord came toJeremiah.
I wrote in the margin of myBible.
He waited 10 days for God tospeak.
I won't wait 10 minutes.
Come on, can I get an amen outof anybody?
I mean, we are such a fast-pacedspeak now, God.
If God doesn't speak, well, Ijust have to be forced to take
matters into my own hands.
How's that going for you?
It don't go too good for me.
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If you really want to hear Godspeak on something, it's going
to take some patience.
If you want to hear God speak toyou about your job, about your
career, about your money, abouta relationship, these are
decisions way too big for you tojust kind of wing it.
You need to hear from God.
How do you hear from God on abig decision like this?
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Here's how I'm learning, andthis comes from years of reading
various people, listening, andjust practicing.
Here are kind of the steps Ifollow when I'm trying to
discern, God, what are yousaying?
Step one is you gotta removedistractions.
Jesus, the Bible says in Mark1.35, would get up and go to a
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secluded place to pray.
He would get along and he wouldremove all other voices and all
other distractions.
To me, it's really hard to hearGod when I got a million things
going on.
You need to get into a placewhere there are no distractions
or as few as possible and removeanything that can take your mind
away.
Put your phone, turn it off, putit away, turn off the TV.
(36:18):
Maybe find yourself a placein...
a bedroom or the bathtub or theshower or in the car by
yourself.
Any of those places could beenough.
But find yourself a place freefrom distraction.
You're trying to help your brainand your senses be as minimally
distracted as possible.
(36:38):
This year at camp, we didn'tallow our students to take their
cell phones.
That was somewhat controversial.
But the purpose of that wastwofold.
One is we didn't want them to doanything stupid with a video
camera.
But more importantly, we didn'twant any distractions that would
keep them from hearing what Godhad to say.
(37:01):
And man, that phone can be a bigdistraction, can't it?
So if you're gonna hear fromGod, minimize the distractions,
okay?
God spoke to Samuel, not whilehe was working, but while he was
laying down.
Still.
undistracted.
Secondly, quiet your soul.
(37:22):
Sometimes it helps me to justbreathe for a minute and just
say, God, I wanna come presentbefore you.
I wanna be mindful of you.
And so this is what you do.
You say, God, I wanna be in yourpresence.
I claim that you're here withme.
And if your mind starts to turnto, man, groceries or work or
that person, just say, God, Igive you that person.
I give you work.
(37:43):
I give you groceries.
God, I give you all that.
I just wanna be present beforeyou.
To you.
And if you have all these voicesthat are going on in your head,
right?
Sometimes you have to say, inJesus' name, I command every
other voice in my head, thevoice of my flesh, the voice of
this world, the voice of theenemy, the voice of my mama, the
voice of expectation, in Jesus'name, be quiet.
(38:08):
Holy Spirit, you alone can speakto me now.
This is part of you standing inyour authority as a child of
God.
But there's a verse for it.
James chapter four, verse sevensays, submit therefore to God,
resist the devil and he willflee from you.
Draw near to God, he'll drawnear to you.
So remove the distractions,quiet your soul and then cleanse
your heart.
Make sure there's nothingbetween you and God that would
(38:29):
keep you from hearing hisspirit.
That's why the word of God wasso rare in Samuel's day because
everybody was just doingwhatever the heck they wanted
to.
And it took the faith of a childto hear.
So God cleansed my heart If youknow there's a sin that you need
to confess and repent of, say,God, I give you that right now.
(38:49):
Change my heart.
I'm done with it.
And if you can't think ofanything else, say, God, I pray,
Holy Spirit, would you search meand try me?
Psalm 139.
Search me, oh God, know myheart.
Try me, know my anxious thought.
If there's any hurtful way inme, lead me in the way
everlasting.
God, show me.
So cleanse your heart.
(39:09):
Fourthly, surrender your will.
Tell God that you know that youhave desires around this thing.
You have emotional attachment towhatever it is you're praying
about or seeking directionabout, but you're laying down
your will and your desires athis feet, trusting him.
Jesus modeled that for us in thegarden.
God, you know what I want, butI'm laying down my will, not my
(39:33):
will, but your will.
So I surrender to his will.
And then fifthly, you invite theHoly Spirit to speak.
It's what Samuel does.
Speak Lord, your servant islistening.
And then you just ask the Lordto speak to you about that one
thing.
Don't ask him about seventhings, ask him about one thing.
(39:54):
And then you wait.
Samuel listened and waited andGod spoke.
I personally do not wait on anaudible voice.
God doesn't speak to me, hasn'tspoken to me that way.
But I do wait on the spirit ofthe Lord to speak.
and I'll let the word of Godspeak.
Ephesians 1.17 says that Paulprayed that the God of our Lord
(40:16):
Jesus Christ, the Father ofglory, would give you a spirit
of wisdom and revelation and theknowledge of him.
So sometimes the spirit, whenyou're saying, okay, God, speak
to me.
Speak to me, I'm waiting.
Maybe he'll give you a Bibleverse.
Maybe he'll give you a picture.
Maybe he'll give you a thought.
Sometimes he'll remind you of aBible story.
But whatever that is, say, God,if that's you, I want to pray
(40:39):
that.
I want to speak that.
I want to do that.
Then I write it down.
It's the last thing I do.
Write down whatever it is youthink God is saying and then
weigh it against the word.
You weigh it against the wordand say, God, is this you?
Samuel heard God speak through avision, through an audible
voice, and that word he receivedwas in alignment with what God
had already said through theprophet in 1 Samuel 2.27.
(41:02):
And so you write it down and yousay, God, is this you?
Now here's the question for you.
What do you do then if you hearGod speak?
The answer is obey it.
Do whatever it is.
Thank God for it, but then dowhat he says do.
That's why he's speaking to you,not so you have more
information, but that your lifecould be different.
(41:24):
Do you hear that?
Would you waste your timetalking to somebody who ain't
listening or not going to dowhat you say?
Neither would God.
Jesus says in Luke 11, 28,blessed are those who hear the
word of God and observe it.
And can I just say to you, themore you hear God's word and do
it, the more God will speak toyou.
I'm convinced God didn't talk toEli because Eli wasn't doing
(41:44):
anything with what God hadalready told him.
So until you're doing somethingwith what God's already told
him, you're maybe wasting yourtime to ask him to do something
different or something new.
Y'all with that?
So if God speaks, obey.
Here's the real question forsome of us.
What are you doing with the wordGod has already spoken?
(42:06):
You don't need God to speaksomething new.
God's already spoken to you,just like he spoke to Eli.
What are you doing with thatword that you've already
received?
Come on, I'm talking to somebodyright now.
God's been warning you.
God's been trying to get yourattention.
God's been saying to you, wakeup, wake up.
(42:28):
Would you do what my mama usedto say?
She would say, you betterstraighten up and fly right.
Anybody's mom ever say that?
You better straighten up and flyright.
Hey, you came to church on thisday and this is the word and God
is saying to you, you've heardhis voice and he's been saying
to you, that's enough.
That's enough.
That's enough.
(42:49):
Because the window ofopportunity for you to do right
closes.
And so if there's something foryou to stop doing, if there's
something for you to startdoing, if there's a way of life
that God's calling you to or away of life God's calling you
out of, today is the day.
Hebrews 3.15 says, today if youhear his voice, don't harden
(43:10):
your hearts as when theyprovoked me.
And so the question on the tablefor you today is, do you believe
God still speaks?
It can be powerful and it can betricky Is God speaking to you
now?
(43:31):
And if he is, what's he saying?
And what will you do with it?
There's one way I believe thatGod is speaking to all of us
even now, and that comes fromHebrews chapter one, verse one,
where the scripture says this,God, after he spoke long ago to
the fathers and the prophets inmany portions and in many ways,
(43:54):
in these last days has spoken tous in his son.
whom he appointed as heir of allthings, through whom also he
made the world.
I believe God is speaking to youright now through Jesus, and
this is what he's trying to say.
I love you like crazy, and Iwant a relationship with you,
(44:14):
and I want you to learn to trustme, but you've got to stop
living according to this worldin your own way.
Stop doing what's right in yourown eyes.
Give your heart to me, and I'llmake your path straight.
forever come on across the roomright now wherever you are would
you just quiet your heart forjust a moment what is God saying
(44:37):
to you what's he speaking thisis not church this is life it's
not religion it's a relationshipthat God's calling you into this
is what he wants your regularlife to be like from now on that
you would hear God as a littleboy And you would say, God, I'll
(44:59):
do whatever you tell me.
That for the rest of your life,this is the way you live life.
God, you're in control.
I'm not.
I trust you.
And what I don't understand,God, I'll still trust you.
Holy Spirit, speak to me.
Fall like rain.
Speak now.
(45:37):
Would you make room for God tolead you, to break down all the
ways that you've kind offashioned your own life and to
shake up all the comfortableplaces in your life?
Would you just say to God rightnow, God, I'm making room for
you today to lead me.
(45:58):
Teach me to hear your voice andfollow.
For some of you, today is a daywhere you need to say to Jesus,
I surrender my life.
I confess my sin.
God, change me.
Sometimes it helps for you tohave a brother or sister just
lay a hand on you and affirmwhat maybe you're sensing today
or to pray for you.
(46:19):
And when we stand up and singthis last song, there are going
to be people around the front ofthe room.
They'd love to pray with you.
Maybe you just lean over to yourson or daughter or your friend
beside you and say, hey, wouldyou pray for me for just a
second?
That'd be cool too.
But would you make room for Godand respond to what you hear him
saying?
Jesus, I love you and I thankyou and I bless you that your
(46:41):
sheep know your voice, that youspeak.
Speak now.
Holy Spirit, silence every othervoice of the enemy, of our
flesh, of this world, of ourparents, of expectations, of
everything else.
And God, I pray, would you speakto us?
And God, call us to yourself foryour glory.
Change us in Jesus' name.
(47:03):
Amen.
Amen.
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