WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.320 He will guide you. That's for you. You're not supposed to be left out alone like a boat just 2 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.520 bobbing along on the sea. You get to receive heavenly guidance from someone who knows the end from 3 00:00:13.520 --> 00:00:23.120 the beginning. The maker of heaven and earth. Hallelujah. And he will speak. He will speak. 4 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:30.080 And he speaks today. Amen. Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today 5 00:00:30.080 --> 00:00:34.960 as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. 6 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:41.360 If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com. 7 00:00:41.360 --> 00:00:49.280 That's citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit 8 00:00:49.360 --> 00:00:55.280 is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you 9 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:02.480 are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace, and that He has a real hope and a future for you. 10 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:07.600 Well, are you ready for the Word of God this morning? 11 00:01:10.960 --> 00:01:17.600 I'm going to continue with a part two to last week's message. I got some emails with some questions. 12 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:23.840 I saw that some things, which often tends to happen, were misheard or misconstrued some things 13 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:29.680 that I said. And it's about a very important topic hearing the voice of God being led by the Holy 14 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:37.280 Spirit. It's a very important topic because it seems to be the number one question Christians have 15 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:42.400 all across the country, I believe the world. When you do surveys and mass, the number one question 16 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:46.240 for every believer's, how can I be led by the Lord? How can I hear His voice? 17 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.520 And God is alive and well and He's still speaking today. In fact, the Bible says we're married to 18 00:01:53.520 --> 00:02:00.480 Him. We have an intimate union with Him. Imagine we were married on December 1st, 2012. Imagine 19 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:06.720 if after I said I do, I gave my wife a series of letters, like a good stack of letters. And I say 20 00:02:06.720 --> 00:02:11.360 darling, I've really poured out my heart in these letters. These letters contain all information about 21 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:17.200 me that you'll ever need. Here you go. And I'll see you later, like after we're both dead. I'll see 22 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:23.680 that would be very cruel, wouldn't it? Yet that's how many people believe God treats us. Here's 23 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.400 a book. And that's all you need to know. Yet the book is important. And nothing trumps the word of 24 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:34.000 God. And anything you hear from the Lord has to be in a complete alignment with the written word of 25 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:40.000 God. But he's still speaking today. And Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. And what's going to 26 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.280 happen in this spirit in this in this service is the Holy Spirit is going to attune you so that you 27 00:02:46.720 --> 00:02:55.040 you are a good receiver of his instruction, a good receiver of his guidance. Amen. So we sent out a 28 00:02:55.040 --> 00:03:01.040 survey. I might do this more often because the response was fantastic. So many people responded. 29 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:08.000 And so I'm going to go through as many questions as I can that came in through the survey. You ready? 30 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:14.160 Number one, and please note, at city light, there's people at all different levels in their walk 31 00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:19.440 with the Lord. That's healthy. In fact, the healthy church should have a good bunch of unbelievers. 32 00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:25.440 It shouldn't be unbelievers for long. If they can sit under the anointing forever, then something's 33 00:03:25.440 --> 00:03:31.600 wrong. That's not that's the annoying, not the anointing. But I mean, if you have a church of 34 00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:35.360 only advanced Christians, that just tells me one thing. You haven't gotten anybody saved in the last 35 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:40.560 five to ten years. So different people at all different levels. Keep that in mind when someone 36 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:47.360 asks you out on a date. This would always have to tell the sisters in church. So-and-so, and he's 37 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:53.600 a Christian. He comes, he goes to city light. That's fine. You know, I go to McDonald's. It doesn't 38 00:03:53.600 --> 00:04:05.840 make me a big Mac. They go to city light, but where are they in their maturity? So different people, 39 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:09.680 all different levels of maturity, and some of these questions are reflective of that, and that's okay. 40 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:18.800 We welcome that. Question number one, how can I ask the spirit of God to guide my daily path and 41 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:26.000 my family's daily path? My mom, dad, and sister, great question. And I will answer this question the 42 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:33.360 way I would answer any question that has to do with asking God for something. Whenever you want to ask 43 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:40.960 God for something, you got to make sure it's His will. How do you know it's His will? His word is His will. 44 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:48.080 So you have to go and find Scripture that covers what you're asking of God. In this instance, 45 00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:52.800 guidance. The question is, how do I ask God for guidance? Well, you go to God with His word. 46 00:04:53.520 --> 00:05:01.040 You go to God with His word concerning guidance. You first get it in your spirit. You memorize it. 47 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:05.840 You internalize it. You meditate on it. Now you'll have faith for guidance. Here's some 48 00:05:05.840 --> 00:05:13.200 scriptures that you can use. Isaiah 58-11. So let's just say you're new to the Lord, 49 00:05:13.200 --> 00:05:17.360 or you've been around the way for a while, but this truth hasn't been known to you. You didn't even 50 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:24.720 know that God can speak to you, that He can lead you into good success. These scriptures on my 51 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:36.320 prompter here are like two point font. So if you can just, I'm going to go cross-eyed if I try 52 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:42.640 to read them from the monitor. The Lord will guide you continually. Ah, my faith has already 53 00:05:42.640 --> 00:05:50.560 increased. The Lord will guide you. So you make it in the first person. The Lord will guide me 54 00:05:50.640 --> 00:05:58.080 continually. The Lord will guide me continually, and satisfy my soul in drought and strength in my 55 00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:04.560 bones. I shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. So 56 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.880 when you're in a place of confusion, when you're in a place of spiritual loneliness, and you don't 57 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:17.680 know what to do, then you shout out. There's got to be a shout. It's not so much about decibel 58 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:24.800 as it is the conviction in your spirit. Satan's not afraid of Mickey Mouse Christians. There's some men, 59 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.880 they're strong in the natural. They can assert themselves, they're movers and shakers in the world, 60 00:06:28.880 --> 00:06:34.960 but then they go to pray, and it's Mickey Mouse. Oh Lord, here I come, coming to you again. Can you 61 00:06:34.960 --> 00:06:40.720 maybe give me some guidance? Maybe leave me? In Jesus name, amen. They quickly have to say amen to 62 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:46.480 bounce out because anything can happen in the presence of God. Get the Mickey Mouse out your spirit. 63 00:06:48.400 --> 00:06:52.960 Make it personal. This is for you, every scripture is for you. You say no, that's talking about 64 00:06:52.960 --> 00:07:01.520 Israel. You're Israel. You're a child of Abraham. You're spiritual Israel. You're the nation of God. 65 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:07.360 You're his precious people, his precious possession. The called out ones. The Lord will guide me 66 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:12.160 continually. So the question is, how do I ask for guidance? You come to God with His word and 67 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:17.040 you say, Lord, you said in your word, you will guide me continually. In Jesus name, I thank you 68 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:22.080 for guidance. I thank you that I will hear you. I thank you that I'll be in the right place 69 00:07:22.080 --> 00:07:26.480 at the right time. I will be in the perfect center of your will. I will do whatever you tell me to 70 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:36.560 do. You make it so, Lord, amen. John 16, 13. I'm going to give like three verses to answer this 71 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:41.360 question. That's not because I need any filler material. I do that for two reasons. One, 72 00:07:42.320 --> 00:07:48.640 because I want to hammer the point home, you know. Sometimes I just want to stuff you like a 73 00:07:48.640 --> 00:07:55.040 Thanksgiving turkey full of the word of God. Why don't you come in out? A word of God just coming out. 74 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.680 Two, I'm giving you scriptures that have been life to me that I believe you should not just 75 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:10.480 memorize but meditate on. Let the word become flesh. Let them be a part of you. Because a big 76 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:16.320 and common satanic attack is telling people what God doesn't talk to you. You're just a mess. 77 00:08:16.320 --> 00:08:21.280 You're just a ball of confusion and you miss hear God and you receive that lie and partner with 78 00:08:21.280 --> 00:08:26.080 that lie and then you wonder why you're not getting instructions from heaven. The way you 79 00:08:26.080 --> 00:08:32.720 overcome a lies with the truth. There's no greater truth than the word of God. Jesus saying, 80 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:41.200 however, when he the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you. He will guide you. He will guide 81 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:49.440 you into all truth for he will not. What's that next word? A little bit lighter now. A little bit lighter 82 00:08:49.440 --> 00:09:01.520 now. Hey. Speak. Speak. There's arguments about does the Lord still speak today? He will speak 83 00:09:01.520 --> 00:09:13.280 or he says he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears, he will speak. Speak. Speak. Speak. Speak. 84 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:24.160 He will speak and he will tell you things to come. Hallelujah. So two things out of that. He will 85 00:09:24.160 --> 00:09:30.000 guide you. That's for you. You're not supposed to be left out alone like a boat just bopping along 86 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:37.040 on the sea. You get to receive heavenly guidance from someone who knows the end from the beginning. 87 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:48.960 The maker of heaven and earth. Hallelujah. And he will speak. He will speak and he speaks today. Amen. 88 00:09:50.160 --> 00:09:59.360 Isaiah 48, 17. Hallelujah. I didn't do that so well. If I had an organ behind me, 89 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:04.400 I would have done that much better. But without without the proper instrumentation, see, I'm all 90 00:10:04.400 --> 00:10:18.320 off and comes across. Not good. I got to work on that. I got to watch Eddie Murphy some more. No. 91 00:10:18.400 --> 00:10:34.080 Coming to America. When I got saved, I went to a church like that. That was a church I got saved 92 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:40.720 it. But just a few weeks before that, I'd seen coming to America. And I walked into that church 93 00:10:41.520 --> 00:10:46.400 and the pastor, amazing man of God, anointed to the bone, but was preaching just like Eddie Murphy 94 00:10:46.400 --> 00:10:52.240 when he was playing the preacher in coming to America. And the people that brought me, I was like, 95 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.920 this is just like coming to America. I didn't know that was a thing. I thought it was a thing from 96 00:11:00.400 --> 00:11:05.360 sometimes I overshare from the pulpit. But what do you do? You know, eat the hay, spit out the sticks. 97 00:11:07.920 --> 00:11:12.880 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer. This is one of my favorite verses concerning the guidance of 98 00:11:13.680 --> 00:11:19.280 the Lord. The Holy One of Israel. I am the Lord, your God, who teaches you to profit. 99 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:28.720 God essentially told Joshua, if he will get into the Word of God, he would, he would make his 100 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:33.280 way prosperous. Not that God would make his way prosperous. But then by ingesting the Word of 101 00:11:33.280 --> 00:11:40.640 God, Joshua would make his way prosperous because of the Word of God in him. And he would have good 102 00:11:40.640 --> 00:11:46.000 success. Too many believers don't really, in their heart of hearts, even believe that God wants 103 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:52.240 them to have good success. They believe he wants them, you know, just exist, have mediocrity and 104 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:59.360 then, and then you go up and then you get to enjoy life. But he wants you to have success. Now, 105 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:08.480 when I say success, what do you think of? Yeah. Chris is going to deliver in steam. I want you to 106 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:12.400 meet with Chris Power after service. Now, he was, you were in the first service. Why don't you 107 00:12:12.400 --> 00:12:18.000 dog you? He's in the first service. He shouted out Bentley because I said in the first service, 108 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:24.880 when I think of success, what do you think of? A guy in, you know, a $8,000 suit standing in front 109 00:12:24.880 --> 00:12:31.200 of a Bentley with 100 stacks in his hand. Success. Here's the biblical definition for success. A 110 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:38.320 desired outcome. You partner with God. He puts a desire in your heart. You go at it with God 111 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:44.080 and you actually cross the finish line and actualize that thing. That success. And God wants you 112 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:50.240 to have good success. City light church may be a not-for-profit organization, but we're very profit 113 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:56.080 of bull. Not financial, well, yeah, financially too, but not only financially. We're really counts. 114 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:04.080 Souls. He says he would teach you to profit. He would lead. He would lead. He would lead you by 115 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:12.640 the way you should go. Amen. Hallelujah. So that is my very simple answer to how can I ask the spirit 116 00:13:12.640 --> 00:13:21.920 of God to guide me daily? Amen. That's all I was waiting for. Now question two. Thank you. 117 00:13:22.160 --> 00:13:38.480 Question two. When obeying the spirit of God, will there always be good fruit from that decision? 118 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:47.280 That is a great question. It is a great question because the knee jerk answer would be 119 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:56.080 to say, of course, God is speaking. If God is speaking, it's going to bear fruit. And I mean, pastor just 120 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:01.040 got finished saying God wants you to have good success and prosper. And so if you listen to the 121 00:14:01.040 --> 00:14:10.080 voice of God, you immediately enter into that, right? Wrong. The answer is in the long term, 122 00:14:10.800 --> 00:14:17.440 and along enough time horizon, it will always result in great fruit and great success. But in the 123 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:23.840 short term, you might appear like a complete failure. In fact, sometimes it tends to go that way 124 00:14:26.560 --> 00:14:33.760 because you're being tested. I'll give you a scriptural example. In Mark chapter six, Jesus Christ 125 00:14:33.760 --> 00:14:41.040 himself, God in the flesh, had a dud of a church service, a very, very bad evangelistic crusade, 126 00:14:41.040 --> 00:14:48.080 read it for yourselves. In Mark chapter six, Jesus goes back to Nazareth. Now, was Jesus always 127 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:53.600 led by the Father? Absolutely. He said, I don't even do anything unless I see the Father do it first. 128 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:01.520 So Jesus, much more so than any preacher on earth or any Christian on earth, was 100% led by the 129 00:15:01.520 --> 00:15:08.720 Holy Ghost. Yet, the Holy Ghost led him into Nazareth where they didn't respect him. They didn't 130 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:13.840 honor him. They said, oh, we know him. We know his brothers, his sisters. Isn't this 131 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:19.840 decarpenters kid? They didn't honor him. And it says, Jesus could not do their any mighty works. 132 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:25.520 He doesn't say he would not do there. Like, he got stuffy and said, well, forget you guys now. 133 00:15:25.520 --> 00:15:30.640 No, he could not because there was no faith. He could not do any mighty works, except that he 134 00:15:30.640 --> 00:15:37.200 healed a few sick folk. That's a dud. That's a failure of a meeting. Yet, God led him to that. 135 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:42.480 So on the surface, it looks like, oh, a failure. And even his very crucifixion, I mean, 136 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:47.840 someone just took a photo of that and said, look at that. What a failure. I mean, he was really 137 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:52.720 riding a good wave there for a while and then they put him up out and across and killed him, 138 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:58.160 but then came the resurrection and then came great fruit so much so that we're here praising the 139 00:15:58.160 --> 00:16:05.280 name of Jesus Christ because of all the fruit. Hallelujah. So short term, it could look like a failure, 140 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:13.280 but long term obeying the voice of God will always result in great fruit. That's why that's 141 00:16:13.280 --> 00:16:17.680 what we want is the leading and guiding of the Lord in our lives. Hallelujah. 142 00:16:19.520 --> 00:16:26.080 Question three. Questions three through seven. They didn't come in this way, but I grouped them 143 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:33.680 this way because they're all essentially the same question. And this is the most common question 144 00:16:33.680 --> 00:16:39.520 that you'll get. One version of this or another when it comes to hearing the voice of God being 145 00:16:39.520 --> 00:16:46.640 led of the Holy Spirit. Anything under that banner. I mean, isn't that a good question? How do I really 146 00:16:46.640 --> 00:16:54.240 know it's from God? How do I really know it's from God? Number four. 147 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:04.560 Is it the spirit leading or is it my own idea? How to know the difference? Great question. You see 148 00:17:04.560 --> 00:17:11.040 the similarity between this question and the previous question. Number five, also in the same vein. 149 00:17:11.360 --> 00:17:18.960 Great question. How to differentiate my emotions from the voice of God. Question six. 150 00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:31.120 How not to confuse God's quiet voice inside of you with your own. And then finally, 151 00:17:31.120 --> 00:17:37.120 question seven, which is my favorite question of all. I don't know which one of you wrote this. 152 00:17:37.520 --> 00:17:43.920 If you're here right now, God bless you. I love this question. Very similar to all the other 153 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:50.400 questions, but it's just very raw. For real, for real. Just, I mean, this is how you want to add. 154 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:55.600 This is how God wants you to ask him questions just like this, the way this is written. How do you 155 00:17:55.600 --> 00:18:03.520 really, really like for real? No, it's God. And that you're so. Your soul is your mind, 156 00:18:03.520 --> 00:18:09.680 your will, your emotions. I know that if it aligns to his word, that's one way this person is on 157 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:15.600 the right track. They understand what a soul is and they understand that whatever you claim to hear 158 00:18:15.600 --> 00:18:20.160 from the spirit realm, what you claim to hear from God, it has to align with the word of God. 159 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:32.080 It has to. When somebody gets, gets in rebellion or gets traumatized or gets hurt, they'll hear 160 00:18:32.080 --> 00:18:38.960 all sorts of things and say, it's God. There's whack-a-do men that'll go out there and invite all 161 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:43.840 sorts of spirits into their heart and then go, the Lord told me to divorce my wife. No, he did not. 162 00:18:43.840 --> 00:18:51.680 He's not going to contradict his word. Amen. A mightier amen next time to crazy example like that. 163 00:18:51.760 --> 00:18:58.560 Please. This is a crazy example, but it's a real life example. 164 00:19:01.520 --> 00:19:06.640 I know that if it aligns to his word, that's one way, but some stuff is not found in his word. 165 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:13.440 Like, should I leave New York? LOL. This is awesome. A question 80% of us have had. 166 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:21.920 And the other 20% your time is coming. You're not a true New Yorker until you've been tempted to 167 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:27.200 leave at least 10 times. You're just playing games. You're new. You're still in the romance phase. 168 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:32.880 You got to go through the hard times. That's when you know your marriage to New York. 169 00:19:35.600 --> 00:19:40.880 It's solid. All right. First, Thessalonians 523. This is how I'm going to answer this question. 170 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:49.040 Understanding this verse. First Thessalonians 523. This verse got opened up to me in 1996, 171 00:19:49.040 --> 00:19:55.280 I was 20 years old, saved at 16 for four years. I was struggling and wondering, how does God speak? 172 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:01.360 You know, because you do have Christians who run around, God told me, God told me, God told me. 173 00:20:01.360 --> 00:20:05.200 And you wonder, you're afraid to ask, how did he tell you? What does his voice sound like? 174 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.640 Can you record him next time? I want to hear myself. 175 00:20:11.280 --> 00:20:15.840 This verse is a key if you want to hear from the Lord and he wants to talk to you. He loves you. 176 00:20:15.840 --> 00:20:20.400 He made you. He died on the cross for you. You can have an intimate relationship with him. 177 00:20:21.120 --> 00:20:26.240 You have to understand this verse and that's understanding that we as humans are tripartite beings. 178 00:20:27.520 --> 00:20:31.520 You know in the world, people intertwine the word soul and spirit all the time. 179 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:37.920 I love you with all my heart and all my soul and my spirit and you know just what they're saying is 180 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:44.000 these are just mystical things, intangible things and they're all just put in the same category. 181 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:50.320 No, no, no, this is very, very important, very different. You're spirit. That's the real you. 182 00:20:50.320 --> 00:20:58.800 You have a human spirit. Even even in pagan cultures, even even in Asian pagan cultures, 183 00:20:58.800 --> 00:21:02.720 you understand that to source your strength, your chi, whatever you want to call whatever energy, 184 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:08.240 it's in your belly. It's in the center of man. Jesus said out of your belly will flow forth 185 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:15.280 rivers of living water out of your spirit. Not the Holy Spirit, your human spirit. That is the 186 00:21:15.280 --> 00:21:23.680 real you. You are a spirit. The Holy Spirit will come when you give your life to Jesus and live 187 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:30.640 inside of your human spirit. But you are a spirit that has a soul. What is the soul from the Greek 188 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:37.840 suitcase where we get psyche from? Soul is your mind, your will and your emotions. Your spirit, 189 00:21:38.560 --> 00:21:43.360 it doesn't need any further cleansing. It's thoroughly cleansed by the blood of Jesus. There's 190 00:21:43.360 --> 00:21:48.800 not one speckle or spot of sin in your spirit. Your spirit is completely accepted by God. 191 00:21:49.600 --> 00:21:58.080 You're soul because it's picked up all the nonsense of the world. That needs help. Your soul 192 00:21:58.080 --> 00:22:06.240 will tend to side with the flesh and with Satan. If somebody doesn't have a renewed mind, 193 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:11.440 and the only way to renew your mind is with the word of God, they won't be good at hearing the voice 194 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:17.280 of God. They'll hear the voice of their own soul. That's why there's people who, 195 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:22.960 if they've been beat up by religion, whenever they go to hear from God, they actually hear God 196 00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:29.520 condemning them. They go, God is so angry with me. God is so mad at me. I know one fellow, 197 00:22:29.520 --> 00:22:33.360 he'd say, God, you stupid jerk, you need to get your access together. He said that. 198 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:43.600 Intelligent guy. Successful guy. And convinced that that's what God was saying. 199 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:48.800 Meanwhile, it probably sounded just like the voice of both of his parents or one of his parents. 200 00:22:49.360 --> 00:22:54.080 And that got in his soul. And now his soul is filtering. The Lord is saying, I love you. 201 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:59.360 I love you, your mind. And when it passes through his unrenewed mind, he hears, you jerk, 202 00:22:59.360 --> 00:23:04.720 you need to really get your act together. You see how this works. So your soul needs to be 203 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:11.680 renewed with the word of God. What about your flesh, your body? Well, you just consider it dead 204 00:23:11.760 --> 00:23:18.160 is what the Bible says. Your flesh, that unregenerate part of you was nailed to the cross of Christ. 205 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:23.440 And you need to just believe that it's crucified there with him. Your spirit man is great. Your soul 206 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.280 needs to be renewed by the word of God. And you can see all that in the Scripture. Now, may the 207 00:23:27.280 --> 00:23:35.440 God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit so and body be preserved 208 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:42.160 blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you are a spirit, you have a soul, 209 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:49.920 you live in a body. Amen. Note that he's the holy spirit who lives inside your human spirit. 210 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:57.360 He's not the holy brain who lives inside your cranium. And I've heard Christians who say, 211 00:23:57.360 --> 00:24:03.600 I heard God, I heard God. No, really, I heard this voice in my head. Stop right there. Stop 212 00:24:03.600 --> 00:24:09.840 listening to voices in your head. There's hospitals all over New York City with padded rooms filled 213 00:24:09.840 --> 00:24:17.200 with people who hear voices in their head. God is not a voice in your head. He's in your spirit. 214 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:24.240 Amen. If you're hearing voices in your head, we have a prayer team after service. We would love 215 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:32.000 to lay hands on you and pray for you and with you. I mean it. Hallelujah. No, I mean it. I'm not 216 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:41.840 making light of it. I mean it with all my heart. Hebrews 5, 14. We're answering the question of 217 00:24:41.840 --> 00:24:51.120 how do you know it's God versus your own emotions, right? Your own soul. Well, one thing is I 218 00:24:52.320 --> 00:24:56.240 I like to whenever I'm asking God for something, make sure that I'm in neutral. 219 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:06.000 I'm not to be worked up myself about it. Like when it was time for this house move, I made sure I 220 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.680 was in neutral. I made sure I held everything loosely because if I really, really wanted so bad, 221 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:14.480 I'm going to put words inside God's mouth. So I want to make sure I'm in neutral. I'm like, Lord, 222 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:18.960 whatever. And you got to be sincere. If you think you're tricking God, you're only tricking yourself. 223 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:24.640 Lord, I'm really whatever you want. I'm in neutral. Now speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. 224 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:26.960 Is your will that I fill in the blank? 225 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.640 But solid food belongs to those who are full age. I'm still answering the same question. 226 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:47.760 That is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. 227 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:57.040 You can exercise your spiritual senses. See, I was never taught this. It seemed like you either had 228 00:25:57.040 --> 00:26:02.400 the gift of hearing from God. And let me tell you something, a lot of Christians, they really are, 229 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:08.880 they really need healing in their souls because they so want affirmation, they so want validation, 230 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:13.840 they so want to be counted as one of the spiritual that they will they will they will quote God, 231 00:26:13.840 --> 00:26:19.600 God told me in quotes and they'll write out a paragraph. I'm like, wow. You got all you could 232 00:26:19.600 --> 00:26:28.000 write a whole paragraph of what God told you? That is some specificity right there. Because God 233 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:33.520 has communicated whole paragraphs to me never in paragraph format. God, when he speaks, it can be a 234 00:26:33.520 --> 00:26:41.040 whole paragraph of information. You just know it. And I can't quote him. And you look at their quote. 235 00:26:41.040 --> 00:26:46.480 And if you're from the south, it has a southern twang in it. No, it's true. If they're from the hood, 236 00:26:47.040 --> 00:26:51.120 God is speaking in another dialect. If they're in everything, what does that tell you? It's going, 237 00:26:51.120 --> 00:27:02.080 it's their soul. Oh, man. How did I get on that? Somebody needed to hear that. And I'm just trying 238 00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:07.200 to take the spook out of this and expose the nonsense that goes on out there. And then other people 239 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:15.680 get intimidated and go, wow, I can never do that. You can have your spiritual senses exercise. 240 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:19.200 That's what I was saying. Nobody taught me that. It seemed like you either had the gift of 241 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:27.360 instantly hearing or not at all. But you can exercise your spiritual senses. Now, may I give you 242 00:27:27.360 --> 00:27:33.520 some wise counsel and encourage you to start off small as you begin exercising. You know, when you 243 00:27:33.520 --> 00:27:40.160 take off from the gym for a few years, ever do that. I know I have. And you go back. You don't 244 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:46.400 immediately slide on all the 45-pound plates and start deadlifting 500 pounds. You start off small, 245 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:53.520 maybe just the bar. This did work on that form again. But people will hear a message like this 246 00:27:53.520 --> 00:27:59.760 and get excited that God still speaks and go out, e kaladadabashah alone in their room and come 247 00:27:59.760 --> 00:28:04.880 back. The next Sunday said, God, it told me to move to Timbuktu. I'm not supposed to be a missionary 248 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:12.720 there. Whoa, hold your horses. Maybe you don't want to go on such a pivotal life changing directional 249 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:19.200 word so quickly. I mean, you're not even employed. Why don't you tell me what the Lord is telling you 250 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:26.240 about your job situation? Let's see how that works out. Really? And get a history. Get a track record. 251 00:28:27.040 --> 00:28:31.840 Get good at hearing the voice of God by exercising your spiritual senses. 252 00:28:33.520 --> 00:28:37.200 You know why most people don't do that? Because they're afraid of missing it. They're afraid of 253 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:43.520 mishearing God's voice. But those are victories, too. You're going to miss your God's voice. I know 254 00:28:43.520 --> 00:28:48.720 I have. You have two choices when you do. You can pretend it never happened, which is what most 255 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:55.360 Christians do. Why do we do that? So many Christians, I know if you've been around any church for a 256 00:28:55.360 --> 00:29:01.840 while, you know that one Christian who they're always like cross-eyed. God told me, and it's 257 00:29:01.840 --> 00:29:06.720 and you go, but the last 10 times God told you your life got mishearing messier. There's nothing 258 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:11.360 about your life that I want to emulate. Yet nobody I know hears from God more than you, right? 259 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:17.200 This is how I lose babe. More good members. This is how I lose and this is 260 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:26.400 me. Sarah, don't send me any emails that come in this week. I'm taking a week off. 261 00:29:29.760 --> 00:29:34.560 I've missed it. So when you miss it, you got to go and ask yourself, why did I miss it? 262 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:41.040 Which was emotional. Why did I think that was God? Oh, maybe I didn't check in with a few people. 263 00:29:41.040 --> 00:29:46.320 The Bible says in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. You get good at hearing the voice 264 00:29:46.320 --> 00:29:57.200 of God. You get better and better. Did I offend you, son? I know I'm so much nicer at home, 265 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:10.720 and then the crazy comes out at the altar. Funny how that works. 266 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:29.280 You want to train your human spirit. One of the best ways to train your human spirit to hear 267 00:30:29.280 --> 00:30:34.320 accurately from heaven. Number one is to get the written word of God in you. 268 00:30:35.120 --> 00:30:42.880 Every time you get the written word of God in you, you're making a deposit into your well, 269 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:46.720 and you're giving God something to withdraw from. 270 00:30:51.360 --> 00:30:57.200 I'm still answering the question, how do I know it's me versus God? Or how can I decipher 271 00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:01.920 between my own voice and God's voice? When I first started hearing the voice of God, 272 00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:08.240 one of my biggest shocks was it comes from within. It's very similar to the voice of your conscience. 273 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:23.680 This voice, this voice is not a different voice. The Lord is using your spirit. That's the relay 274 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:31.360 station. So even the world will call it, my gut is telling me, the voice of my conscience. 275 00:31:31.360 --> 00:31:36.400 The voice of your conscience is the voice of your spirit, your human spirit, and that's what you 276 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:41.600 will hear it in. So quit looking for an echoey voice with a Hebrew accent. 277 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:53.600 To train your human spirit, get in the word. Two, you know what I find when I do this for like 278 00:31:53.600 --> 00:31:59.840 20 minutes and instantly it's prophetically completely different. Soak. What is soaking? 279 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:06.800 Soaking, there's a lot of synonyms for the term soaking. There is a meditative prayer. Soaking 280 00:32:06.800 --> 00:32:11.840 prayer. Be still and know that I'm God prayer. The old time, world-timers, I don't mean like 281 00:32:11.840 --> 00:32:17.280 1950s, old-timers, I mean like 13th century old-timers. Used to call it contemplative prayer. 282 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:25.760 That's when you're praying but not speaking. You're just being silent. I'll go into my office 283 00:32:25.760 --> 00:32:31.760 lay down for 20 minutes and just be silent. I resist the urge to say anything. It's very uncomfortable 284 00:32:31.760 --> 00:32:39.280 actually. Resist urge to do anything. Your mind will drift. It's okay. Just bring it back to 285 00:32:39.360 --> 00:32:47.360 Jesus when you see it drifting and just be with him and you will feel absolutely unproductive. 286 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:56.400 That's what you're going to feel. I feel like that was nothing. We like to do. Do, do, do. 287 00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:02.320 But just do that and you will feel unproductive but something would have happened on the inside. 288 00:33:03.040 --> 00:33:13.840 Your spirit's like a tuning fork and tuning in to the vibration of heaven. You may not hear 289 00:33:13.840 --> 00:33:18.080 anything during your soaking time. You may not hear anything immediately after your soaking time. 290 00:33:19.360 --> 00:33:23.600 But as you're turning on the faucet and your kitchen sink six hours later, all of a sudden God 291 00:33:23.600 --> 00:33:28.320 speaks, or the next day when you're walking your dog, or a week later, but these are ways to 292 00:33:28.320 --> 00:33:33.680 train the human spirit. Another way to train the human spirit is to instantly obey the voice of 293 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:40.480 your spirit. If you're, if you're constantly negating the voice of your spirit, you will quiet that 294 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:45.600 voice. There's some people they don't even hear the voice of their own conscience. The Bible 295 00:33:45.600 --> 00:33:51.680 talks about that. This is having a conscience seared. When you keep pushing down and ignoring 296 00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:56.000 the voice of your conscience, you won't hear it anymore. That's where there are some quote-unquote 297 00:33:56.080 --> 00:34:01.280 Christians. They'll be doing lines of coke and going, God, isn't God so awesome? God, and you'll go, 298 00:34:01.280 --> 00:34:06.880 you know, there's a little, how do you say, in congruity between your love for God and what you're 299 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:11.120 doing right now, before me, right now? How do you explain that? No, God is fine with it. 300 00:34:12.240 --> 00:34:17.120 Well, he, you think he's fine with it because you shove down the voice of your conscience for so 301 00:34:17.120 --> 00:34:24.000 long. Now you don't even hear it anymore. And you cannot be led by the Holy Spirit who lives inside 302 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:32.800 of your spirit if you've eliminated the voice of your conscience. A little eerily quiet. 303 00:34:34.160 --> 00:34:35.680 Nevertheless, we press on. 304 00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:56.000 This is not for the new believer. This is for the one who's given their life to Jesus fully, 305 00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:03.120 fully your surrendered. Your heart's cries, Lord, your Lord of everything, and all I want is what 306 00:35:03.120 --> 00:35:11.200 you want from me. Now, when that person comes to me and goes, how do I know it's not me? I mean, 307 00:35:11.200 --> 00:35:17.840 I keep thinking this. How do I know it's not just me? I would say, well, what's wrong with just you? 308 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:28.800 Listen now, God said, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, God will cause you to will, 309 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:36.160 to want to and to do after his good pleasure. When your life is surrendered to the Lord, 310 00:35:36.160 --> 00:35:42.880 genuinely, your surrender to the Lord, God will make it so that what you're wanting is what he's 311 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:52.000 really wanting. So someone says, how do you know this is God? Because I keep thinking it over, 312 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:57.600 no weeks go by, months go by, I'm bringing it before the Lord and I still keep thinking that I 313 00:35:57.600 --> 00:36:02.160 push it away and I'm like, Lord, I'm not even going to, and then I wake up and I'm thinking it's 314 00:36:02.160 --> 00:36:05.760 and it's like the Lord and when you're in an intimate place with the Lord, you're like, Lord, 315 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:10.560 you are flooding me with your desire. I keep thinking this thing. I believe you want me to go ahead 316 00:36:10.560 --> 00:36:17.120 and do this thing because he's willing you when you're in a place to surrender and abandon to the 317 00:36:17.120 --> 00:36:23.600 Lord. This is how you'll start talking to you. He's willing you to desire and to do his good 318 00:36:24.560 --> 00:36:28.080 pleasure. This is why the early apostles, you know how they made decisions, lots of different 319 00:36:28.080 --> 00:36:32.720 ways, but one of the ways was they said it seemed good to the holy ghost and to us. 320 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:41.840 What a beautiful way of discerning the will of God. They didn't say God appeared in bodily form 321 00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:47.840 before us. We heard his audible voice. There was thunder in the sky, the top of the mountain 322 00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:53.600 smoked. No, they just said, we made this major directional decision. It seemed good to the holy 323 00:36:53.600 --> 00:36:59.280 ghost and to us. We were walking in such relationship and intimacy with the Lord and we said, we're 324 00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:05.840 going to go this way and the Holy Spirit never said no. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. 325 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:10.720 When you're in a place of intimacy with the Lord, you can tell, listen to this now. You can tell 326 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:14.960 the will of the Lord just as much by what he doesn't say is what he does say. 327 00:37:18.720 --> 00:37:24.160 This is important. Some people, some people, they really love the Lord and they really want his will, 328 00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:29.360 but because they never hear the Lord say, do this, they get crippled and never move. 329 00:37:31.040 --> 00:37:36.080 I'm talking to some singles here right now. They get crippled and the Lord may not tell you 330 00:37:36.080 --> 00:37:42.320 ask so and so out on a date or move to such and such town, but you are surrendered to him. 331 00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:48.480 And why don't you start thinking about it? Why don't you start just making some small decisions 332 00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:55.200 and see if the Lord corrects you or reigns you in, pulls you back. And if you get no red light, 333 00:37:55.200 --> 00:37:59.120 what he's saying is, well, you just go ahead and do this thing. I'm with you wherever you go. 334 00:37:59.120 --> 00:38:03.680 It seems good to you and the Holy Ghost to do this thing. Hallelujah. 335 00:38:05.120 --> 00:38:12.240 Is this helping any people this morning? Hallelujah. God is good. 336 00:38:14.560 --> 00:38:18.320 But it's important to get that track record, exercise your spiritual senses, 337 00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:23.680 get better at hearing it. Question eight. 338 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:33.760 Why don't I feel connected? Two reasons why, quote unquote, you don't feel connected. 339 00:38:34.640 --> 00:38:40.160 Because you're condemned, number one, and number two, because you're relying on your feelings. 340 00:38:43.680 --> 00:38:49.440 Next question. No, just kidding. No, go back to eight. Whoever that is, 341 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:59.200 I had this question for years, because I'm from the Balkans. I'm a feeler. I like to feel. 342 00:38:59.200 --> 00:39:06.080 I feel good. I felt bad. Good is better. I choose good every time. I don't want to feel bad or 343 00:39:06.080 --> 00:39:13.840 feel nothing. I want to feel God. He feels great. And sometimes I don't feel connected. What to do then? 344 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:17.520 Well, there's two reasons. I've studied this out. Trust me. This was a quick answer. 345 00:39:17.520 --> 00:39:24.000 I've deep dove into this. Number one, when you don't feel connected, you're feeling condemned. 346 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:29.120 Not by God. Do you know if you're in Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who 347 00:39:29.120 --> 00:39:35.280 are in Christ Jesus. It is utterly impossible for God to condemn you because you and all your sin 348 00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:42.560 has already been condemned in Jesus. That's good news. So you said, what is that condemning feeling? 349 00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:50.160 That's the voice of your own spirit, recoiling. Perhaps it's something you did. It's not God 350 00:39:50.160 --> 00:39:54.720 condemning you, but you go out and do something sinful. Your own spirit is going to be saying, 351 00:39:55.920 --> 00:40:00.960 and people go, I know God is disgusted with me. No, you're disgusted with you. The real you. 352 00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:07.760 The real you goes, but God doesn't turn his nose up at you. God loves you. Doesn't mean he's 353 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:13.520 excusing the sin. Doesn't mean he loves the sin, but you, he loves. But you're condemned. 354 00:40:16.240 --> 00:40:25.280 Not by God. By either your own spirit or Satan, his literal name means 355 00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:30.960 Hasa time, the accuser, the condemner of the people of God, of the brethren. 356 00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:39.280 And he works over time. Condemnation kills. He works over time. He comes and whispers to you. 357 00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:46.160 You're just not enough. It's always you're not enough. When I was in my early years seeking after God, 358 00:40:47.200 --> 00:40:53.280 pursuing him to get into the pastorate, I would, I was a legalist. 359 00:40:54.000 --> 00:41:01.280 Because I was serious about my calling. So I took great pride in how much I prayed, how much I 360 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:06.080 studied, how much I evangelized, and there were times I still didn't feel God. And I would go, 361 00:41:06.080 --> 00:41:10.720 you know, last week I felt you, but why not this week? What sins have I done? I'd go, okay, 362 00:41:10.720 --> 00:41:16.720 there's no sins that I did. So no sins of commission. But what about sins of omission? Maybe I didn't 363 00:41:16.720 --> 00:41:22.720 read enough. Maybe I didn't pray enough. Maybe I didn't evangelize enough. I'm not enough. I'm 364 00:41:22.720 --> 00:41:30.160 never enough. And that's why you have nutty people in the church. Because secretly they're always 365 00:41:30.160 --> 00:41:36.880 feeling not enough. And they're always feeling condemned. And this is why people leave the church. 366 00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:41.200 They'll give you all sorts of reasons why they left, starting with me and something offensive, 367 00:41:41.200 --> 00:41:52.720 I said. But really, what the real reason is is they hate to feel condemned. That's why 368 00:41:52.720 --> 00:41:58.880 when Christians backslide, nobody backslides like a Christian backsliding, they go crazy. 369 00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:05.200 And it's like the more on fire you were than when you backslide, like sinners look at you and go, 370 00:42:06.160 --> 00:42:13.520 take it easy. You're really like knocking yourself out now. Can you just keep the sinning at like, 371 00:42:13.520 --> 00:42:20.960 you know, a healthy level six, seven, you're ten and beyond. They go wild. They're trying to escape 372 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:26.000 that voice of condemnation. That's not from God that's from Satan. And then trying to escape 373 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:32.880 that voice of condemnation, they go, you know what? Forget it all anyway. Might as well just 374 00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:38.080 do the deep dive into that lake ascend. It's interesting, isn't it? 375 00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:45.440 So why don't you feel God? Two reasons. One, you're living in condemnation. You need to stop 376 00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:51.120 living in condemnation. The blood of Jesus is the answer to condemnation. You need to realize that 377 00:42:51.120 --> 00:42:57.760 it is legally, scripturally impossible. If you are trusting in Christ for your righteousness, 378 00:42:57.760 --> 00:43:04.880 you're saved. You're a Christian. You are not condemned by God. Therefore now no condemnation 379 00:43:05.680 --> 00:43:14.000 in the Greek means there is now no condemnation, not now, nor can there ever be condemnation 380 00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:20.800 to those who are in Christ Jesus. Two, why don't I feel connected? It's because you're too 381 00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:28.800 feely and you got to ignore it when you don't feel connected. Because here's what the word says 382 00:43:28.800 --> 00:43:34.320 that you are in him and he is in you. How much more connected can you get than you and him and him 383 00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:40.640 and you? I love it when I feel that connection. And yeah, there's some things I can do. If I, 384 00:43:40.640 --> 00:43:45.600 if I'm having a rough day and I go, you know what? I'm having a 15 minute worship session. Just me 385 00:43:45.680 --> 00:43:51.040 and Jesus, I start worshipping him and then I start singing out loud and I start singing in tongues. 386 00:43:51.040 --> 00:43:55.600 I'm going to feel more connected. Nine out of 10 times. I will say there's sometimes still. I'll do 387 00:43:55.600 --> 00:44:05.920 that and it's like, man, but you just ignore that. Sometimes you're feeling. Sometimes you don't. 388 00:44:06.640 --> 00:44:12.400 I love feeling. Yeah, that was it. 389 00:44:16.080 --> 00:44:17.040 Hallelujah. 390 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.160 You know, that other question came up, I didn't actually add to my list, but similar to this one of 391 00:44:24.160 --> 00:44:30.240 the questions was, what do I do when I haven't heard from the Lord in so long? The first thing you do 392 00:44:30.240 --> 00:44:37.920 is go back and see what the last thing he told you to do was. Why is God not offering up fresh 393 00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:43.600 information because you didn't do anything with the last information? So he's not going to offer 394 00:44:43.600 --> 00:44:49.440 up new information when you've done nothing with the previous information. Hallelujah. 395 00:44:53.120 --> 00:44:56.400 Nine has nothing to do with hearing the voice of God, but I like the question. 396 00:44:56.800 --> 00:45:03.040 I don't know how what tone this is, but I read it as, is he ever angry? 397 00:45:04.640 --> 00:45:07.520 Like you preach so much on the love of God, is he ever angry? 398 00:45:09.760 --> 00:45:13.840 Because if you've been around the church for a while, then the immediate answer should be not 399 00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:21.520 this church, but the church. Yeah, he's angry. You kidding me? Like 98% of his job is being angry. 400 00:45:22.080 --> 00:45:28.480 Did you read the Bible? Cities were burnt down. Grounds opened up and swallowed rebellious people. 401 00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:38.560 He's in the angry business and don't you anger him? I answer this question two ways, is he ever angry? 402 00:45:39.840 --> 00:45:47.120 To the born again believer, washed in the blood of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, 403 00:45:47.120 --> 00:45:55.520 the answer is never to the person who's outside of Christ who hasn't received Jesus as their 404 00:45:55.520 --> 00:46:03.040 Lord and Savior. The answer is always, both of those things at the same time are true, 405 00:46:03.920 --> 00:46:12.560 and I'll show it to you from the scriptures. John, I believe, 336, you know it's good because 406 00:46:12.560 --> 00:46:17.600 it's just 20 verses after John 316, and Jesus was on fire when he was preaching this sermon. 407 00:46:18.240 --> 00:46:21.680 You know it's good. John 336, is he ever angry? 408 00:46:24.240 --> 00:46:29.520 He who believes in the Son has the wrath of God. No, has everlasting life, 409 00:46:30.160 --> 00:46:36.240 and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God. 410 00:46:36.960 --> 00:46:40.960 Because God's wrath is exercised against all sin. 411 00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:49.040 Now, to those who are outside of Jesus, this is by the way why city light church exists. 412 00:46:49.040 --> 00:46:53.280 This is why we ask you to invite your friends. This is why I'm here preaching the gospel 413 00:46:54.000 --> 00:47:00.880 to give humanity the solution to their predicament, which is the wrath of God is on you. 414 00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:04.880 It's like an umbrella over your head that you take with you everywhere you go. It's the wrath of 415 00:47:04.880 --> 00:47:09.440 God is on you, and when you die, you will see the full culmination of their wrath if you die outside 416 00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:18.960 of Christ. But to the one who's in Jesus, it is, call it legally, mathematically, 417 00:47:19.760 --> 00:47:25.600 theologically impossible for there to be God's wrath on you. Why? Because his full wrath 418 00:47:26.320 --> 00:47:30.000 was exhausted on the body of Jesus at the cross. 419 00:47:30.720 --> 00:47:36.480 He said, what about the Christian who really rebels and does wrong? God's not happy about that 420 00:47:36.480 --> 00:47:41.840 behavior, but the wrath of God is not on them. And you can know, no, but bad stuff happened to 421 00:47:41.840 --> 00:47:46.880 them after that. That's not the wrath of God. That bad stuff is just the natural consequences to 422 00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:53.360 their own sin. You don't know what the wrath of God is. The wrath of God comes, your dust, 423 00:47:53.360 --> 00:47:56.800 your vapor, your always smell is just a little bit of smoke in your gun. 424 00:47:58.960 --> 00:48:04.960 Yeah. But it's interesting that people have this question, is he ever angry? 425 00:48:08.880 --> 00:48:16.480 I've had marvelous falls in my serving the Lord for the record books, horrible stuff. 426 00:48:16.960 --> 00:48:24.880 I don't say that. I say that half-joke, but no, it's true. Who hasn't, right? Who here? 427 00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:30.960 Who can you go? My walk with the Lord has been flawless. But do you know, I never, 428 00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:36.880 ever, when I would go to the Lord, I'd be self-condemning. I'd be, I never once, 429 00:48:36.880 --> 00:48:43.520 ever once received anger from him, never once. Now that will you see that in the scriptures, 430 00:48:43.520 --> 00:48:47.200 if you want to dig in the old covenant, before the blood of Jesus will shed, you'll see plenty of 431 00:48:47.200 --> 00:48:51.680 it. But we're not under the old covenant. You know not what spirit you are of if you're digging 432 00:48:51.680 --> 00:48:58.560 into the old covenant. Under the new covenant, you get the solution for your sin, the thing that'll 433 00:48:58.560 --> 00:49:08.960 empower you to come out of sin, and that's grace. Hallelujah. Ephesians 5, 6. This is really good. 434 00:49:08.960 --> 00:49:13.440 Why did I include this in a message on how to hear from heaven? Because if you think that God 435 00:49:13.440 --> 00:49:18.080 is angry with you, you're not going to hear from heaven. Or you'll, you'll miss here from heaven. 436 00:49:19.040 --> 00:49:26.720 You won't hear accurately. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things 437 00:49:26.720 --> 00:49:35.040 the wrath of God. So is God ever angry? Yes. With unbeliever always, with the believer, never, 438 00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:42.960 the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Do I got any sons of disobedience in the 439 00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:54.640 house today? No, you're Christians. You're saved. You're bloodwashed. And if you came in here 440 00:49:55.200 --> 00:50:00.240 and you go, I don't know if I am. Awesome. Come up to the altar after service. I want to talk to you. 441 00:50:01.360 --> 00:50:07.600 Yeah. Anybody here, the ministry team, we'll talk, we will lead you into the things of God. 442 00:50:07.600 --> 00:50:14.080 Yeah. Or you can keep hanging out and join a life group, maybe come, don't get baptized, 443 00:50:14.080 --> 00:50:19.920 but check it out. That's all cool too. Kick the tires on this vehicle, call Christianity, see what 444 00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:28.640 it's all about. Just don't wait too long. The devil loves to say tomorrow. Hallelujah. This verse 445 00:50:28.640 --> 00:50:33.360 is obviously not talking about believers. It's talking about unbelievers. How much do I believe 446 00:50:33.760 --> 00:50:39.040 that's what this tattoo is? You know what cups are a symbol of in the Bible? The wrath of God 447 00:50:39.840 --> 00:50:49.280 over and over again, cups are the wrath of God. And this is an upside down cup. The wrath of God 448 00:50:49.280 --> 00:50:56.800 has been poured out completely, not on you though, because God loved you so much. He came in the 449 00:50:56.800 --> 00:51:04.240 person of man in humanity as Jesus Christ and took that wrath in your place. What a love story. 450 00:51:04.960 --> 00:51:08.000 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 451 00:51:15.680 --> 00:51:20.480 Number 10, I'm thinking worship team should come up. 452 00:51:20.720 --> 00:51:31.600 We have a few more, but yeah. I want to give an opportunity for the Lord to massage you spirit. 453 00:51:33.360 --> 00:51:38.720 Talk to you, bring comfort to you, bring you guidance. It may not happen in the service by the way, 454 00:51:39.600 --> 00:51:46.880 but if you will, if you will reach out to him, it'll happen after the service. Maybe not today, 455 00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:52.240 maybe not tomorrow, but after. You know what the most important thing when it comes to hearing the 456 00:51:52.240 --> 00:52:00.720 voice of God is? The most important thing is wanting only what he wants, a surrendered heart. 457 00:52:01.840 --> 00:52:06.800 That's the most important thing. When someone has that heart attitude, I don't worry about them. 458 00:52:06.800 --> 00:52:10.960 When someone is scheming and wanting to do their own thing, but wanting to bring God into it, 459 00:52:10.960 --> 00:52:16.640 I'm very concerned about that person. You know what? I only have one more question left. 460 00:52:18.080 --> 00:52:20.400 That's not the question I'm going to choose. It's a good question. 461 00:52:25.520 --> 00:52:30.240 I want to do 15 and 16 and end with that, because those are important also. 462 00:52:31.200 --> 00:52:35.920 Can you ever hear God's voice in an audible way? 463 00:52:38.400 --> 00:52:44.640 And then do question 16 kind of long, but Pastor Bo slightly answered this in Sunday's preaching, 464 00:52:45.440 --> 00:52:52.160 but I still wanted to ask, do people really hear his actual voice coming from like the sky or the air? 465 00:52:52.160 --> 00:52:57.200 I came from a very, this is important. I came from a very scarring place where everything told to me, 466 00:52:58.000 --> 00:53:03.680 God told me God says and thus says the Lord. I always felt inadequate because I never heard an 467 00:53:03.680 --> 00:53:09.200 external voice telling me things and then when I didn't believe it was happening to other people, 468 00:53:09.200 --> 00:53:12.800 I felt like maybe I was the one who was wrong. They're both the same question. 469 00:53:14.960 --> 00:53:20.400 Can God speak in an audible voice? Obviously he's God in numbers. He spoke through 470 00:53:20.400 --> 00:53:26.080 Balam's donkey and there's like over 25 different ways you'll find throughout the Bible that he speaks. 471 00:53:28.080 --> 00:53:37.600 But I have sat at the feet of great men of God with 50 plus years of ministry experience. That's 472 00:53:37.600 --> 00:53:43.920 a lot of exercising your spiritual senses. And you know what they'll say? They'll say I heard the 473 00:53:43.920 --> 00:53:52.400 audible voice of God maybe once, maximum twice in my ministry. It's not frequent. 474 00:53:55.680 --> 00:54:00.400 I've never heard the audible voice of God. I've heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's 475 00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:05.920 different than the voice of your own spirit. The voice of the Holy Spirit is stronger and more 476 00:54:05.920 --> 00:54:11.840 authoritative and it's like a lightning bolt of life and joy and direction hitting you all at 477 00:54:11.840 --> 00:54:17.680 the same time. It's so wonderfully jarring that you'll think it was audible but like if I had a 478 00:54:17.680 --> 00:54:24.480 tape recorder out I wouldn't have caught anything. I don't not sure I even want to hear the audible 479 00:54:24.480 --> 00:54:30.240 voice of God. The audible voice of God, you know the Bible says it splits the cedars of Lebanon. 480 00:54:30.960 --> 00:54:35.280 But also if I hear the audible voice of God that means I was so rebellious for so long 481 00:54:35.360 --> 00:54:38.960 God couldn't get through to me with all the other ways he speaks internally he had to come with 482 00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:47.840 his audible voice. May I not be that stubborn and stiff-necked? Hallelujah. Say this with me. 483 00:54:48.640 --> 00:54:58.800 I'm a child of God. I'm his sheep. I hear his voice. God's direction. It leads me into a place 484 00:54:59.760 --> 00:55:07.600 of plenty, into a place of prosperity, into a place of good success. I believe the Holy Spirit guides 485 00:55:07.600 --> 00:55:18.400 me into all truth and he speaks. He speaks. He speaks to me. In Jesus name, amen. 486 00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:38.320 Visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. 487 00:55:38.320 --> 00:55:43.920 We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today. That you have been 488 00:55:43.920 --> 00:55:50.560 reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. 489 00:55:50.560 --> 00:55:55.440 Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts 490 00:55:55.440 --> 00:55:58.880 worldwide.