How to Hear God | Week 4: Obedience

The best way to hear God is to obey God. Sounds tricky, but it really isn’t that complicated—and it’s possible for all of us. When we make aggressive moves with what we think God is saying, it refines our ears to actually know what He is saying and it gives us courage to actually do what God is calling us to do.

  • 00:00:00
    Well, welcome to church.
  • 00:00:01
    My name's Lena Schuller and I'm the Crossroads Anywhere
  • 00:00:03
    Community Pastor.
  • 00:00:04
    And I'm here with my good friend Vicki.
  • 00:00:06
    >> Hello, everyone.
  • 00:00:07
    I'm the Community Pastor for Crossroads Columbus.
  • 00:00:11
    And our family moved up there about a month ago and we are
  • 00:00:14
    loving making Columbus home.
  • 00:00:16
    And we're really excited about where Crossroads Columbus is
  • 00:00:19
    headed.
  • 00:00:20
    God is doing some really sweet things in Columbus.
  • 00:00:23
    So if you're in the Columbus area, be sure to pay attention a
  • 00:00:26
    little bit later when we talk more about that, but in the
  • 00:00:29
    meantime, we're going to spend some time worshipping together.
  • 00:00:31
    >> Yeah. And for me, worship is a really good opportunity for me
  • 00:00:35
    to sing my way into the truths of the songs.
  • 00:00:39
    And I feel like the louder I sing, the better I engage in
  • 00:00:42
    worship, the farther my heart and my head move in that
  • 00:00:46
    And so I just invite you guys to do that right now, to sing
  • 00:00:49
    really loud and see where your voice takes your mind and your
  • 00:00:53
    heart.
  • 00:10:21
    >> You know, we're in a series right now called How to Hear God,
  • 00:10:23
    and we're going to explore that a little bit more in a few
  • 00:10:26
    But first, I'm here with my friend Vicki.
  • 00:10:28
    Vicki, what do you do?
  • 00:10:29
    >> I am the Columbus Community Pastor.
  • 00:10:32
    >> That's right.
  • 00:10:33
    So tell us a little bit about what's happening in Columbus.
  • 00:10:35
    >> Yeah. There's a group of people who have been meeting
  • 00:10:38
    regularly in Columbus for quite some time now.
  • 00:10:41
    And we've had a chance to gather together as a community for
  • 00:10:44
    worship and to explore where Columbus has come from and what
  • 00:10:47
    direction we're headed in.
  • 00:10:49
    It's been really sweet to get to know the community there and
  • 00:10:53
    just experience the way it's been growing.
  • 00:10:55
    And you just took on this role and you're doing a great job --
  • 00:10:59
    >> -- leading from the start here in Columbus.
  • 00:11:02
    And I'm excited to see what God does next in that city under
  • 00:11:06
    your leadership and with the amazing community that you have up
  • 00:11:09
    It's really good.
  • 00:11:10
    So we actually have lots of communities that are meeting around
  • 00:11:14
    the country.
  • 00:11:15
    Columbus is one of them.
  • 00:11:16
    And there are more.
  • 00:11:18
    And, you know, the best way for you to get plugged into
  • 00:11:20
    community, whether there's people who are meeting in a home
  • 00:11:23
    together or in a theater like in Columbus,
  • 00:11:26
    Is if you head to Crossroads.net
  • 00:11:28
    and click on Get Connected, you can see different opportunities
  • 00:11:32
    for you to get plugged in.
  • 00:11:33
    And the best opportunity for you is coming this fall and it's
  • 00:11:36
    called the Play and Purpose Journey.
  • 00:11:39
    Vicki, what's a Journey?
  • 00:11:40
    >> A Journey is a chance for the whole church to get together
  • 00:11:44
    around one topic and we explore it over weekend teachings.
  • 00:11:48
    We get together in groups and we have some personal work that we
  • 00:11:51
    work through ourselves, all related to the same topic.
  • 00:11:54
    And this year it is Play and Purpose.
  • 00:11:56
    And I could not be more excited for what that will mean for my
  • 00:11:59
    family and for our community.
  • 00:12:01
    And if you want to head to crossroad.net/journey,
  • 00:12:05
    you can sign up there to be a Journey host and start to build
  • 00:12:09
    relationships with people around you in your city.
  • 00:12:12
    And we all need a little bit more play and a little bit more
  • 00:12:15
    It's what makes our life worth it.
  • 00:12:17
    It's what makes our life godly.
  • 00:12:19
    And it puts us in a place where we're actually thriving.
  • 00:12:21
    And so I want that for me and I want that for you.
  • 00:12:24
    And I want that for the people who are in your city, whether
  • 00:12:27
    you're in Columbus or you're in Batesville, Indiana, or you're
  • 00:12:30
    in Topeka, Kansas, or Cape Coral, Florida.
  • 00:12:33
    I want you to get to do the Journey with other people.
  • 00:12:36
    And so all you need is a friend to do this with.
  • 00:12:38
    So head to the Journey Web site to learn more and to sign up to
  • 00:12:41
    be a leader.
  • 00:12:42
    >> Yeah. And if you're in Columbus and you're not sure yet if
  • 00:12:45
    you want to lead a Journey group or how engaging in the Journey
  • 00:12:48
    might look like for you, I would love to meet with you and get
  • 00:12:51
    to know you.
  • 00:12:52
    So you can go ahead and email me directly at
  • 00:12:53
    columbus@crossroads.net.
  • 00:12:56
    And I'll take you out for coffee.
  • 00:12:57
    And we can share stories and just see what the next step for you
  • 00:13:00
    might be.
  • 00:13:01
    >> That's awesome.
  • 00:13:02
    Well, if you want to be part of the Crossroads team and you want
  • 00:13:05
    to fuel the work that God's doing in Columbus or in your very
  • 00:13:09
    own city, you can head to crossroads.net/give
  • 00:13:12
    and become a giver.
  • 00:13:14
    One of the amazing communities that I've had the opportunity to
  • 00:13:17
    get to know and spend some time with over the last year or so
  • 00:13:21
    is the people who are meeting in Batesville, Indiana.
  • 00:13:24
    That's right.
  • 00:13:25
    Batesville, Indiana.
  • 00:13:26
    Vicki and I laugh because who's ever heard of Batesville?
  • 00:13:29
    >> Yeah, it's quite a small town.
  • 00:13:30
    >> It's quite small town, and yet there are amazing things
  • 00:13:33
    happening there.
  • 00:13:34
    And I love, love, love their leaders.
  • 00:13:36
    One of their leaders is Scott Henderson.
  • 00:13:38
    And I got together with him actually in December to hear what
  • 00:13:42
    it's looked like for him to actually start a group in his home
  • 00:13:47
    that has actually turned into a full-blown Crossroads Community
  • 00:13:50
    that gets together every week to watch services.
  • 00:13:52
    We call that a watch party.
  • 00:13:54
    They have a party and they watch Crossroads together.
  • 00:13:57
    And so I want you to meet Scott and hear a little bit about what
  • 00:14:00
    it's looked like for him to lead in his home, because I think
  • 00:14:03
    it's something that you can do from wherever you are right now.
  • 00:14:07
    >> Hello, Crossroads Anywhere.
  • 00:14:09
    I am here with my friend Scott Henderson, who I've known for a
  • 00:14:13
    couple of years now.
  • 00:14:14
    We are in his home in Batesville, Indiana.
  • 00:14:19
    Scott, you hosted Crossroads Anywhere in your house.
  • 00:14:22
    So this started -- It started about two and a half, three years
  • 00:14:26
    ago.
  • 00:14:27
    My wife actually became sick and had cancer.
  • 00:14:30
    And so she couldn't physically get to the Crossroads location
  • 00:14:33
    anymore.
  • 00:14:34
    And so when Crossroads came out with Crossroads Anywhere
  • 00:14:38
    livestream, we just started to stream it at the house and
  • 00:14:41
    people started to come.
  • 00:14:42
    >> So how have you invited people to do this with you?
  • 00:14:45
    Like what are -- What's the line you've used to get people to
  • 00:14:48
    come experience church in your living room?
  • 00:14:51
    >> So the first thing I do is I don't say church.
  • 00:14:53
    >> Okay. Great, what do you got?
  • 00:14:55
    >> I actually just say, "Hey, we're having Crossroads at the
  • 00:14:57
    house this weekend.
  • 00:14:58
    If you don't go to anything on Sunday or you don't go to church
  • 00:15:02
    on Sunday, you are absolutely invited no matter what you
  • 00:15:04
    believe, no matter where you're at.
  • 00:15:06
    We would love to have you here.
  • 00:15:07
    There's coffee.
  • 00:15:08
    There's sometimes doughnuts that people bring.
  • 00:15:11
    So it just -- we try to create a space where people that
  • 00:15:14
    wouldn't walk into a church building feel welcome here at home.
  • 00:15:18
    I would not be able to do this by myself, there's absolutely no
  • 00:15:21
    I mean, there's just not possible.
  • 00:15:22
    I can't invite everybody.
  • 00:15:24
    I can't brew all the coffee.
  • 00:15:25
    I can't -- I can't clean the house by myself all the time.
  • 00:15:29
    So it's a community of people that come together to make this
  • 00:15:33
    >> Yes, it's pretty sweet.
  • 00:15:35
    What has been the best part about doing it?
  • 00:15:38
    >> One, I think just living life together.
  • 00:15:41
    The second thing that's been incredible is seeing growth out of
  • 00:15:45
    these people.
  • 00:15:46
    One of the -- one of the most interesting weekends we had was a
  • 00:15:49
    was a service.
  • 00:15:51
    Afterwards, I have a hot tub and we had, I don't know, it's like
  • 00:15:56
    four or five or six people actually said, "I want to be
  • 00:15:59
    And we thought, "Well, where where can we do it?"
  • 00:16:01
    And we've got a hot tub, so let's do it -- Let's just do it
  • 00:16:04
    there.
  • 00:16:05
    So we we had baptisms after Crossroads service.
  • 00:16:09
    If I can start a church or Scott can start a church, I think you
  • 00:16:14
    can start a church.
  • 00:16:15
    Like whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever resources you
  • 00:16:19
    have, the friends that you have.
  • 00:16:21
    If God has given you any kind of desire just for your friends to
  • 00:16:27
    know Jesus, try some of these things.
  • 00:16:29
    Gather a group of friends together and host some people in your
  • 00:16:33
    home and see what God does.
  • 00:16:35
    >> Yeah, if you brew coffee they'll show up.
  • 00:16:36
    >> Right?
  • 00:16:46
    >> In 2015, God called our community to be a part of his plan to
  • 00:16:51
    expand the Kingdom of God into our neighborhoods, our city, our
  • 00:16:55
    country, and the world.
  • 00:16:58
    Our response to this God-sized mission was to say, "I'm In" and
  • 00:17:02
    we committed to radical generosity, giving $100 million towards
  • 00:17:07
    that goal over the course of three years.
  • 00:17:10
    Halfway through that journey as we grew, God gave us new team
  • 00:17:14
    members that wanted in on what God was doing too.
  • 00:17:18
    Those who joined during the Obsessed Journey expanded our
  • 00:17:21
    resources and reach even farther.
  • 00:17:24
    In the first three years of the I'm In Campaign, we accomplished
  • 00:17:27
    our original audacious goals by opening 10 new physical sites,.
  • 00:17:32
    Impacting the world through our reach out ministries in our
  • 00:17:34
    cities and internationally,
  • 00:17:37
    buying property for our camps ministry,
  • 00:17:39
    Upgrading our existing sites for greater capacity,
  • 00:17:43
    and expanding the reach of the gospel globally through streaming
  • 00:17:46
    Crossroads Anywhere.
  • 00:17:48
    And as if that wasn't enough to celebrate, we follow a God who's
  • 00:17:52
    vision for the restoration of his people is never ending.
  • 00:17:57
    He continues to open new doors and show us new ways to connect
  • 00:18:00
    our friends and family who are far from God and are not
  • 00:18:04
    interested in engaging business as usual church.
  • 00:18:07
    The financial commitments of those who joined the campaign
  • 00:18:10
    during the Obsessed Journey have allowed us to create new
  • 00:18:13
    content shared on new platforms.
  • 00:18:17
    We are now reaching 5 million people per month on social media
  • 00:18:20
    platforms.
  • 00:18:22
    There have been 4.4
  • 00:18:24
    million views of video content.
  • 00:18:26
    2.2 million minutes of Crossroads music have been consumed on
  • 00:18:30
    multiple platforms.
  • 00:18:32
    1.2 million total listens of podcasts and 340,000 page views of
  • 00:18:38
    published articles.
  • 00:18:41
    God's plan for what He wants for us and what He is going to do
  • 00:18:45
    through us is never done.
  • 00:18:48
    While many of us have completed our three-year commitments and
  • 00:18:51
    celebrated the good fruit of our investment in the Kingdom, our
  • 00:18:54
    teammates that joined during Obsessed are still running hard
  • 00:18:58
    towards the finish line of December 2019.
  • 00:19:01
    The seeds are planted and the fruit is so very good.
  • 00:19:05
    We cannot wait to celebrate the harvest with those who will
  • 00:19:07
    never have to wonder if their lives mattered.
  • 00:19:16
    [applause]
  • 00:19:17
    >> Man, that is a lot of amazing activity and a lot of people
  • 00:19:23
    who are better off because our church, because you are part of
  • 00:19:26
    this church.
  • 00:19:27
    So, so, so, so good.
  • 00:19:28
    It actually makes my brain swim to think about all the things
  • 00:19:32
    that've happened around here the last several years.
  • 00:19:35
    It is crazy.
  • 00:19:36
    And as Crossroads has gotten larger and larger and larger, it's
  • 00:19:40
    gotten harder and more and more, more difficult for me to lead,
  • 00:19:44
    actually, because the largest something gets in our culture,
  • 00:19:47
    the more paranoid people get about it.
  • 00:19:50
    The larger something gets, the more people assume something
  • 00:19:52
    weird must be happening right there.
  • 00:19:54
    The larger something gets, the more people say, "Well, they must
  • 00:19:57
    have some kind of hyper gagillionaire that helps write checks
  • 00:20:00
    or something like that."
  • 00:20:01
    And the truth is, none of that's true here in our church, this
  • 00:20:03
    thing called Crossroads.
  • 00:20:04
    We have been able to do what we've done because normal, average,
  • 00:20:08
    everyday people like you and I have been faithful, incredibly
  • 00:20:13
    faithful.
  • 00:20:14
    We had an amazing party a number of months ago for people who
  • 00:20:18
    made campaign commitments.
  • 00:20:20
    We're not in the campaign necessarily right now, but made
  • 00:20:22
    campaign commitments and finished.
  • 00:20:23
    It was an amazing party.
  • 00:20:24
    And we're not going to have another party that's gonna be
  • 00:20:26
    amazing as well in January for people who've finished on the
  • 00:20:30
    Obsessed Journey.
  • 00:20:31
    You made an Obsessed commitment, which was people coming in and
  • 00:20:35
    on the journey that we were on for the campaign.
  • 00:20:39
    And we're trying to pick up different pieces and try to make
  • 00:20:42
    different things happen.
  • 00:20:43
    And many, many people made commitments and I just want to
  • 00:20:46
    encourage you, remind you, please fulfill those, please.
  • 00:20:49
    Well, not just because we exist because of normal people giving
  • 00:20:54
    one hundred dollars, given a thousand dollars, but because it's
  • 00:20:57
    an important thing for your spiritual formation to finish what
  • 00:21:01
    you said.
  • 00:21:02
    And we love to party around here.
  • 00:21:04
    And so we're going to have a great one for those of us who have
  • 00:21:06
    completed the obsessed journey in January.
  • 00:21:10
    Now, one of the things that's fun for me is to work real hard
  • 00:21:15
    and play real hard.
  • 00:21:16
    Or another way to it is to have high purpose and have high play.
  • 00:21:21
    We're going to be doing a journey which is clearly not a
  • 00:21:24
    financial campaign that's our next series.
  • 00:21:27
    It is not, it is not. i
  • 00:21:28
    is not.
  • 00:21:29
    It is simply a Journey to build into you and I and help us in
  • 00:21:34
    And it's called the Play and Purpose Journey.
  • 00:21:38
    And most of us have an outage in one of these two things:
  • 00:21:40
    we're not sure what our purpose is in life
  • 00:21:43
    or we're not sure how to play in life.
  • 00:21:46
    I'm going to mentioned this in a moment when I get back up to
  • 00:21:49
    talk in a few minutes.
  • 00:21:51
    But Play and Purpose is a critical thing.
  • 00:21:53
    And we celebrate when we complete something because we've
  • 00:21:56
    completed the purpose.
  • 00:21:57
    We're gonna do that in January.
  • 00:21:59
    And I want us to all get ready for what I think might be maybe
  • 00:22:03
    the most significant six weeks, five weeks of your life.
  • 00:22:06
    It's called the Play and Purpose Journey.
  • 00:22:09
    And here's a snippet of what it's going to look like.
  • 00:22:20
    >> We're going to build a trampoline for the Steinway family.
  • 00:22:23
    These are some awesome folks that serve us each week.
  • 00:22:26
    They serve students and they serve kids.
  • 00:22:28
    They have nine of their own kid and they still do that.
  • 00:22:33
    Trampolines are all about clay.
  • 00:22:43
    I'm jumping on a trampoline.
  • 00:22:52
    This family is about to walk through this door.
  • 00:22:54
    They have no idea that we build a trampoline full of balloons.
  • 00:23:19
    >> And your life was meant to have restful play and meaningful
  • 00:23:22
    purpose.
  • 00:23:23
    Don't miss the Play and Purpose Journey starting September 14th
  • 00:23:26
    and 15th.
  • 00:23:30
    >> Well, we have up here an interesting thing that we did on
  • 00:23:33
    Saturday morning.
  • 00:23:34
    We had 1500 of our leaders from all of our different sites in
  • 00:23:37
    different places coming into Cincinnati for a leadership
  • 00:23:42
    morning, to learn about leadership, to be encouraged, to
  • 00:23:45
    And just it was really, really, really a powerful four-hour
  • 00:23:49
    block or something like that.
  • 00:23:50
    And at the end of that time, everyone had these flags and we
  • 00:23:54
    were able to write on there things that we thought that God was
  • 00:23:58
    saying to us.
  • 00:24:00
    And we were able to drive our flag into the hill and say, "God,
  • 00:24:06
    this is what I think you want me to do and I am going to go
  • 00:24:10
    through it.".
  • 00:24:11
    All these signs represent 1500 people who felt like God was
  • 00:24:15
    nudging them, God was working on something inside of them.
  • 00:24:19
    And let's just be honest right now.
  • 00:24:23
    I've never heard an audible word from God.
  • 00:24:26
    In fact, as I've heard all the people who was speaking this
  • 00:24:29
    series, I haven't heard anybody yet: Ali, Chuck, Kyle, who said
  • 00:24:33
    they've heard an audible thing of God.
  • 00:24:37
    There are people who've said they have heard actually a sound
  • 00:24:41
    wave from God.
  • 00:24:43
    I've not heard that.
  • 00:24:44
    I hope to hear that someday.
  • 00:24:45
    That would be great.
  • 00:24:47
    But I want to demystify hearing from God a little bit.
  • 00:24:51
    And I also want to in some ways mystify it.
  • 00:24:54
    It's a crazy, amazing thing.
  • 00:24:57
    Why is it that more of us don't hear from God?
  • 00:25:01
    Maybe we've never heard from God or least we can't remember the
  • 00:25:05
    last time that we did hear from God.
  • 00:25:07
    I want us to consider that the reason -- part of the reason
  • 00:25:10
    might be the way that we live our life.
  • 00:25:13
    Part of the reason might be the speed at which we live.
  • 00:25:19
    God speaks to me not through an audible sound wave.
  • 00:25:24
    God speaks to me the way he's probably going to speak most
  • 00:25:27
    frequently to you, through the person of the Holy Spirit.
  • 00:25:30
    God exists in three people, three persons -- by the
  • 00:25:32
    way, we're going to go in the deep end today.
  • 00:25:34
    Are you OKoy with this?
  • 00:25:35
    I don't care if you are or not.
  • 00:25:36
    We're going there right now.
  • 00:25:37
    So God exists in three persons: God the Father, Got the son.
  • 00:25:41
    God, the Holy Spirit.
  • 00:25:42
    All one, all in harmony.
  • 00:25:45
    Jesus proceeded from the Father.
  • 00:25:46
    He's the son of God.
  • 00:25:47
    He's died for us.
  • 00:25:48
    When you receive Jesus in your life, when you
  • 00:25:50
    commit you life to Christ, the Holy Spirit, the third
  • 00:25:53
    person of the Trinity, actually inhabits your body.
  • 00:25:56
    And so when God speaks to you, it's from a prompting, a
  • 00:26:01
    nudge, an unawareness, something that comes inside of you.
  • 00:26:04
    Not inside of your humanness, but the divine actually being
  • 00:26:08
    inside of you.
  • 00:26:09
    The Holy Spirit actually comes inside of you.
  • 00:26:12
    Now the Holy Spirit is likened to something in the Bible.
  • 00:26:16
    Jesus, why has the Holy Spirit descend upon Him, descends upon
  • 00:26:21
    Him and says like a dove.
  • 00:26:23
    I think it's interesting like a dove, not like a crow; like a
  • 00:26:28
    dove.
  • 00:26:29
    How many of us have ever heard a crow?
  • 00:26:32
    [sound effect: Ga! Ga!].
  • 00:26:35
    Right, we've all heard crows.
  • 00:26:36
    The Holy Spirit comes on Jesus, not as this loud bird that's
  • 00:26:41
    never [sound effect: Ga! Ga!]
  • 00:26:45
    No, not as -- not as this bird that is loud and just swoops in
  • 00:26:49
    and is okay with all kinds of noise and chatter, but he comes
  • 00:26:53
    how many of us have ever heard a crow, by the way, who's ever
  • 00:26:55
    heard a crow?
  • 00:26:57
    Who doesn't have any eardrums?
  • 00:26:59
    Ma'am, you've never heard a crow.
  • 00:27:01
    I'm looking at you.
  • 00:27:02
    You've never -- raise your hand.
  • 00:27:03
    This is group participation time.
  • 00:27:04
    There you go.
  • 00:27:05
    Good. Wonderful.
  • 00:27:06
    How many of us now have ever heard a dove?
  • 00:27:12
    Okay, a few of us.
  • 00:27:14
    Dove. [sound effect]
  • 00:27:17
    A dove descends on -- the Holy Spirit is likened to a dove.
  • 00:27:22
    What this means is the Holy Spirit really enjoys calm.
  • 00:27:30
    He enjoys serenity
  • 00:27:32
    He enjoys when there's peace.
  • 00:27:35
    The reason we don't hear doves very often is because when
  • 00:27:38
    there's loud noises and a lot of -- doves, they just -- they
  • 00:27:40
    go, they leave.
  • 00:27:42
    Not a crow [sound effect: Ga! Ga1].
  • 00:27:44
    No, but a dove does.
  • 00:27:46
    See, most of us have crow like lives and not dove lives.
  • 00:27:50
    We live in the most stressed out, over taxed, overstimulated,
  • 00:27:57
    over to do listed generation in the history of the world, bar
  • 00:28:03
    none.
  • 00:28:05
    In The New York Post they put it this way:
  • 00:28:32
    Friends, we are the fastest paced culture in the history of the
  • 00:28:36
    world.
  • 00:28:37
    It's not just because of our time period, but when people come
  • 00:28:43
    from other countries either to immigrate here or to vacation
  • 00:28:47
    here, I hear from it over and over and over again, they all
  • 00:28:50
    tell me, "My gosh, there's just like an energy here.
  • 00:28:54
    There's a -- there's a pace of life," which is partially what
  • 00:28:59
    drives us economically and why we're such an economic engine.
  • 00:29:01
    It's also partially what drives us to have as many mental
  • 00:29:05
    disorders as we have, as much stress as we have, as much
  • 00:29:08
    paranoia, as much breakdowns as we have as much all sinners as
  • 00:29:12
    we have.
  • 00:29:13
    There has never been a faster paced culture in the history of
  • 00:29:16
    the world than America right here, right now.
  • 00:29:20
    When is the last time you didn't have a to do list?
  • 00:29:25
    When's the last time you didn't have a goal you were working
  • 00:29:28
    towards, any goal?
  • 00:29:29
    When's the last time you sat and didn't have Spotify playing?
  • 00:29:35
    When's the last time you sat on your couch and didn't watch
  • 00:29:38
    When's the last time you drove the speed limit, for one, and you
  • 00:29:44
    didn't listen to a podcast?
  • 00:29:46
    When's the last time you drove in silence?
  • 00:29:48
    When was the last time you just went inside of your house or
  • 00:29:51
    when you went out in the woods and just did this?
  • 00:29:56
    You just sat.
  • 00:29:57
    Shoot, if someone saw you just sitting and doing nothing
  • 00:30:00
    today, they'd think you ought to be committed to an asylum or
  • 00:30:03
    something like that.
  • 00:30:04
    What are you doing, man?
  • 00:30:05
    Chop, chop, chop.
  • 00:30:07
    In the midst of all of this cacophony, we expect the dove to
  • 00:30:12
    break through?
  • 00:30:13
    Now, to be clear, God can speak to you and I any way He
  • 00:30:17
    wants, anytime he wants.
  • 00:30:18
    And He can break through.
  • 00:30:19
    Absolutely he can.
  • 00:30:21
    I was telling you, unless we slow down, we're not going to hear
  • 00:30:26
    from God because the dove flees, the dove [sound effect].
  • 00:30:29
    He's not going to be able to get over the cacophony of what's
  • 00:30:33
    going on in our lives and in our hearts.
  • 00:30:35
    We need to slow down.
  • 00:30:38
    We need to have times where we slow... down.
  • 00:30:45
    We need to [simulates slow motion] slow... down...
  • 00:30:54
    Slow down.
  • 00:30:58
    Book of Psalms, God says:.
  • 00:31:06
    Be still.
  • 00:31:07
    Not be on task.
  • 00:31:09
    Be still.
  • 00:31:12
    Not be strategic.
  • 00:31:13
    Be still.
  • 00:31:16
    Not be multitasking.
  • 00:31:17
    Be still.
  • 00:31:20
    When we are still we up the likelihood that we might hear the
  • 00:31:25
    prompting of God, that we might [dove sound effect].
  • 00:31:28
    We might feel a nudge, the very voice of God that's coming from
  • 00:31:35
    inside of us and it's coming from God himself.
  • 00:31:40
    You know, I have -- I want to hear from God whatever it is and
  • 00:31:47
    And you probably do too.
  • 00:31:49
    And so we'll do all kinds of things to hear from God.
  • 00:31:51
    Like I will try a different church.
  • 00:31:53
    Will We'll go to a conference some place.
  • 00:31:55
    We'll. We'll read the latest cool book.
  • 00:31:58
    We'll, well, well, we'll just do a thing to try to try to heal
  • 00:32:01
    from him.
  • 00:32:02
    I've done some crazy things to try to hear from God.
  • 00:32:04
    Like I learned when I was younger that this book is the word of
  • 00:32:09
    To hear from God, you just the word of God in here.
  • 00:32:13
    So I would instead of adjusting my life to slow down and learn
  • 00:32:17
    to understand his cadence to me,
  • 00:32:19
    I would do things like I've gotta do something.
  • 00:32:21
    I'll do Bible roulette.
  • 00:32:22
    I'll do Bible roulette.
  • 00:32:23
    I'll say, "God, what do you want me to do with my life?"
  • 00:32:26
  • 00:32:29
    "And then he hung himself."
  • 00:32:31
    Oh, no.
  • 00:32:32
    You don't -- you don't want me to do that do you?
  • 00:32:34
    I got try something else.
  • 00:32:37
    Go and do likewise.
  • 00:32:38
    What? Go and do likewise?
  • 00:32:41
    I would do these things, just trying to short circuit my own
  • 00:32:46
    spiritual growth and trying to understand how to get something
  • 00:32:50
    from God.
  • 00:32:51
    I believe all of us have something to get from God and I believe
  • 00:32:56
    we can learn it from a story
  • 00:32:58
    It comes the book of 1 Samuel.
  • 00:33:02
    I'm. I'm carrying this book right now because part of what I
  • 00:33:07
    want to do, I've learned is sometimes I just have to change
  • 00:33:09
    things up.
  • 00:33:10
    I need to be fresh.
  • 00:33:11
    So I'm using more these days an actual fuddy-duddy paper Bible.
  • 00:33:17
    I know like, yeah,.
  • 00:33:19
    I'm actually reading a paper Bible these days.
  • 00:33:22
    For the last several years I've been all digital.
  • 00:33:24
    I do a part of my time with God still on the Crossroads app.
  • 00:33:28
    It's amazing, you should do that.
  • 00:33:30
    But I've also had my normal Bible reading on an app or on a
  • 00:33:34
    Bible in software on here.
  • 00:33:37
    I've done my journaling on here.
  • 00:33:38
    There's good reasons for it because I can search it, I can
  • 00:33:41
    access it any time.
  • 00:33:43
    All my stuff is in one place, all that stuff.
  • 00:33:44
    But recent I've said, you know what, I should do a change up and
  • 00:33:48
    I should go back and I should like use old paper Bible for
  • 00:33:52
    So, I've been doing that and it's been -- it's been good.
  • 00:33:56
    It's also been wild that I moved in and a lot of my Bibles
  • 00:33:59
    I used to have more Bibles in my house than you probably have
  • 00:34:02
    Kleenex in your house.
  • 00:34:03
    There was all over the place.
  • 00:34:04
    I was like, man, do I have any of these left around?
  • 00:34:06
    And I found this one.
  • 00:34:07
    I got this one here.
  • 00:34:08
    And I'm going to read for you this story that ties into how
  • 00:34:13
    somebody hears from God.
  • 00:34:15
    It's a story about a prophet by the name of Samuel and actually
  • 00:34:20
    a priest by the name of Eli.
  • 00:34:24
    In this time in the Bible there was a gap between God and
  • 00:34:28
    people.
  • 00:34:29
    And the priest stood between people and God communicating to God
  • 00:34:35
    on behalf of the people.
  • 00:34:36
    So the priest would make sacrifices and some such
  • 00:34:38
    thing, communicating a message to God.
  • 00:34:42
    And God would send His message to His people through a prophet.
  • 00:34:46
    So the prophet would send God's word to the people.
  • 00:34:49
    The priest would send the people's word to God.
  • 00:34:53
    And here we have Eli, who is a priest and a little boy who is
  • 00:34:57
    going to be one of the greatest prophets the world would ever
  • 00:35:01
    His mom, I don't know his mom's name, but her son is named
  • 00:35:07
    And she dropped Samuel off at the temple one day with Eli and
  • 00:35:12
    says, "I think God's doing something special in this kid.
  • 00:35:16
    I need someone to raise his game.
  • 00:35:18
    I want him to be under your wing.
  • 00:35:20
    Would you basically mentor him?".
  • 00:35:22
    And that's what Eli does.
  • 00:35:24
    And so hear what happens in 1 Samuel 3:2, here's what says:.
  • 00:35:40
    This is encouraging to me and it should be encouraging to you.
  • 00:35:42
    I mean, if you're sitting here right now and you're going, "I'm
  • 00:35:44
    hearing all these people hearing from God, but I'm not hearing
  • 00:35:47
    anything. What's wrong with me?".
  • 00:35:49
    There are times where the word of God is just rare.
  • 00:35:54
    There are times where you could be living a well-paced life,
  • 00:35:59
    doing the right things, and you could go long periods, years
  • 00:36:05
    without feeling the touch of God in your life.
  • 00:36:08
    This was one of those times where for whatever reason, God
  • 00:36:12
    wasn't speaking.
  • 00:36:14
    Just because you're not hearing from God, don't automatically
  • 00:36:18
    conclude that therefore there isn't any God or God's not happy
  • 00:36:22
    Sometimes friends, it just happens.
  • 00:36:25
    Sometimes we just go through dry periods where we don't hear or
  • 00:36:29
    And this is what's happening in Israel's history right here
  • 00:36:33
    and then.
  • 00:36:36
    So here's what it says in verse 4.
  • 00:36:39
    Samuel is now in the temple as a little boy.
  • 00:36:42
    He's sleeping in the temple.
  • 00:36:44
    And here's what happens.
  • 00:37:18
    Eli's not a parent here to Samuel, but this is what happens when
  • 00:37:22
    you tuck your kids in a bed, right?
  • 00:37:24
    Like they won't go to sleep.
  • 00:37:25
    I don't know why it is when kids get tucked in, every kid
  • 00:37:28
    becomes a dehydrated philosopher who needs a hug.
  • 00:37:31
    I don't understand.
  • 00:37:33
    I understand that.
  • 00:37:34
    But Samuel looks like this.
  • 00:37:35
    Eli says, "No, Go.
  • 00:37:39
    Go back to bed.
  • 00:37:40
    Go back to bed."
  • 00:37:41
    The story continues.
  • 00:37:51
    So Samuel was hearing from God, even though he doesn't have a
  • 00:37:55
    relationship with God yet, because God can speak to anybody at
  • 00:38:00
    anytime for any reason.
  • 00:38:30
    So Eli realizes this is not a kid who's a dehydrated philosopher
  • 00:38:35
    in need of a hug.
  • 00:38:37
    He realizes, oh, no, this is one of those moments.
  • 00:38:41
    I think the high holy one is talking to you.
  • 00:38:44
    Here's the way it works, Samuel.
  • 00:38:45
    Go back.
  • 00:38:46
    Lie down.
  • 00:38:47
    If you hear it again. just
  • 00:38:49
    send him a message that says you're up for it.
  • 00:38:51
    Just say speak, your servant hears. Speak,
  • 00:38:55
    your servant listens, and this is what Samuel does.
  • 00:38:59
    I think it's interesting that Samuel gets communicated to during
  • 00:39:06
    the time of his day where he is the most slowed down.
  • 00:39:12
    It's when he's on his bed.
  • 00:39:15
    It's when he doesn't have the things on his to do list.
  • 00:39:18
    It's when he -- I don't know that a little kid would ever be
  • 00:39:20
    stressed, but whatever a little kid's got to do, this part of
  • 00:39:23
    the day is when he would be the most slowed down.
  • 00:39:25
    Maybe. Maybe.
  • 00:39:27
    Just maybe, this is really encouraging.
  • 00:39:29
    Maybe the simplest thing you and I can do to hear from God is to
  • 00:39:35
    do nothing some day, is to take a break some day.
  • 00:39:40
    Samuel slows down.
  • 00:39:44
    In the midst of the slowing down, he hears from God, but he also
  • 00:39:49
    has to tell God, "I'm listening.
  • 00:39:54
    I'm hearing you.".
  • 00:39:58
    Now, Samuel gets a message that is not the first message that
  • 00:40:02
    you would want to get.
  • 00:40:04
    He gets the message that relates to Eli.
  • 00:40:06
    Eli has been a leader in Israel and he's been a leader that's
  • 00:40:12
    been lazy.
  • 00:40:13
    There has been some dereliction of duty with him.
  • 00:40:16
    He's got some sons that are out of control and bringing
  • 00:40:18
    spiritual harm to people.
  • 00:40:20
    And he's just -- he's in cruise control.
  • 00:40:23
    He's coasting.
  • 00:40:25
    And Samuel has a message for him that he doesn't want to give.
  • 00:40:30
    He doesn't want to tell Eli exactly what God told Samuel.
  • 00:40:36
    And yet this is what happens.
  • 00:40:39
    God, says, Samuel, I declare to him that I'm about to punish his
  • 00:40:43
    house forever for the iniquity that he knew because his sons
  • 00:40:47
    were blaspheming God and he did not restrain them.
  • 00:40:51
    So tell him pain is coming his way.
  • 00:40:55
    This is really unusual.
  • 00:40:57
    This is real unusual.
  • 00:40:58
    Today when someone gets a word from the Lord, a prophecy, the
  • 00:41:01
    New Testament is really clear that the predominant way that
  • 00:41:05
    works is encouraging, is encouraging.
  • 00:41:08
    God brings us an encouraging word.
  • 00:41:10
    I don't know why it is we in our sick, twisted ways, we think
  • 00:41:13
    that if God was to talk to us, he'd give us a smack down.
  • 00:41:17
    No, we think that because we live such hectic and frenetic
  • 00:41:20
    lives, we're losing touch of the true value and character of
  • 00:41:25
    God,
  • 00:41:26
    That we assume that if He were say something to me, He would say
  • 00:41:29
    something that is not in line with who He is or His very
  • 00:41:32
    nature.
  • 00:41:34
    And because we're losing the ability to understand the God who
  • 00:41:37
    is, I'm just hearing more and more people who are renouncing
  • 00:41:41
    their faith, who are just saying "I'm no longer a Christian."
  • 00:41:44
    I've heard pastors and all kinds of folks over the last few
  • 00:41:47
    months, maybe just my social media feeds, that are just filling
  • 00:41:50
    up with people who are renouncing their faith.
  • 00:41:54
    When people renounce their faith, at least the ones I see
  • 00:41:55
    renouncing their faith, it's because of one of three reasons.
  • 00:41:59
    One, the person has a life that's not working.
  • 00:42:04
    Their life isn't working and they feel it's God's fault that
  • 00:42:07
    their life isn't working, that they're stressed out or that
  • 00:42:10
    this hasn't happening for them.
  • 00:42:11
    And so they're frustrated because really, really, it's about
  • 00:42:15
    their frustration with life, not God.
  • 00:42:17
    And they maybe haven't managed their life well, but they
  • 00:42:19
    can't -- They're not honest enough and bold enough to say that
  • 00:42:22
    to themselves and others.
  • 00:42:23
    "Hey, I've mismanaged my life.
  • 00:42:25
    I haven't done the right things.".
  • 00:42:26
    It's much easier to say, "Oh, there's no God. Look at
  • 00:42:28
    So, one possible reason.
  • 00:42:30
    Another possible reason, many people have not had a personal
  • 00:42:33
    relationship with God, they've had a philosophical
  • 00:42:36
    understanding of God.
  • 00:42:38
    Now, I remember when I gave my life to God, it was real, it was
  • 00:42:41
    -- it got personal.
  • 00:42:44
    It was no longer about theoretical principles, it was personal.
  • 00:42:50
    And when there is difficulty in your life and all you have is a
  • 00:42:55
    philosophy, and to be very, very clear, there are pastors who
  • 00:43:00
    are pastors because they like the philosophy of Christendom,
  • 00:43:03
    they like the philosophy of the Bible.
  • 00:43:05
    That is not the same as having a personal relationship with the
  • 00:43:10
    God who is inside of the Bible and outside of the Bible.
  • 00:43:14
    And when we don't have a personal connection, when there's
  • 00:43:17
    difficulty or when there's doubts, we're going to change
  • 00:43:20
    philosophy.
  • 00:43:21
    Or the third reason, the third reason we renounce our
  • 00:43:25
    faith, it's not because NASA just came back and there's new
  • 00:43:29
    images of the cosmos.
  • 00:43:30
    I've never heard of anybody renouncing their faith because NASA
  • 00:43:32
    came back with new images from the Hubble Space Scope.
  • 00:43:34
    And we go, "Oh, my gosh.
  • 00:43:36
    Whoo, well, that changes everything.
  • 00:43:37
    Oh, science has this new discovery?
  • 00:43:39
    I can't believe in God.".
  • 00:43:40
    I don't know anybody who renounced their faith because of what
  • 00:43:42
    science has said.
  • 00:43:44
    I like science.
  • 00:43:45
    Like it a lot.
  • 00:43:46
    I like it a lot.
  • 00:43:47
    There's never -- name that movie.
  • 00:43:50
    Dumb and Dumber.
  • 00:43:51
    You people are getting too young, Dumb and Dumber.
  • 00:43:53
    That's right.
  • 00:43:54
    You ever see Dumb and Dumber?
  • 00:43:55
    Yeah. It's good movie.
  • 00:43:57
    It is. Pretty
  • 00:43:58
    bird.
  • 00:43:59
    Where was I?
  • 00:44:01
    Never because of science or never because someone knocked on
  • 00:44:05
    their door with a new religion, they decide to embrace it.
  • 00:44:09
    It's because of these things.
  • 00:44:12
    And number three, because we're not up for God being God.
  • 00:44:16
    We struggle with having faith because God does whatever God
  • 00:44:22
    wants to do and He doesn't have to consult us.
  • 00:44:27
    He doesn't have to consult because he's God,.
  • 00:44:29
    He's the God of all that is.
  • 00:44:32
    Now that Samuel hears from God, he goes to Eli and he hems and
  • 00:44:38
    haws.
  • 00:44:39
    And Eli say, "Hey, man, hey man, don't -- don't short circuit
  • 00:44:43
    me. Tell me what he said.
  • 00:44:46
    I want to hear."
  • 00:44:48
    And Samuel tells him, your run's done.
  • 00:44:51
    Your run's done.".
  • 00:44:53
    And here is Eli's response, 1 Samuel 3:18:
  • 00:45:03
    He's the Lord.
  • 00:45:04
    He does as he pleases.
  • 00:45:06
    Eli doesn't like this.
  • 00:45:09
    Eli is not comforted by this message.
  • 00:45:11
    This doesn't mean that Eli's future is gonna be great.
  • 00:45:15
    But Eli doesn't lose his faith over this at all.
  • 00:45:18
    He recognizes that He is God and He will do what He will do what
  • 00:45:23
    He pleases.
  • 00:45:24
    And here's the key thing.
  • 00:45:26
    Here's the next level.
  • 00:45:27
    Once we slow down, once we slow down and we hear like a
  • 00:45:33
    [dove sound effect], we hear a sense.
  • 00:45:34
    We feel a prompting.
  • 00:45:36
    We have a nudging on something.
  • 00:45:38
    When we have that, the critical thing then is to do what we were
  • 00:45:46
    Samuel says, "Speak Lord, your servant hears.".
  • 00:45:52
    When God spoke to him this message, had Samuel not done what God
  • 00:46:00
    wanted him to do and he not said what God wanted him to say,
  • 00:46:05
    I'm pretty confident the messages from God would've stopped
  • 00:46:08
    coming.
  • 00:46:09
    Because God speaks to people who will listen.
  • 00:46:13
    When we say your servant listens, we've gotta listen.
  • 00:46:18
    These are -- This is very inspiring for me.
  • 00:46:21
    I mean all of these little little ones, like people just writing
  • 00:46:24
    stuff down like I'm resolved to not lust after Chuck Mingo.
  • 00:46:29
    Oh, gosh, I don't know why they said that.
  • 00:46:31
    Geeze, what's wrong with these people?
  • 00:46:33
    Well, whatever these things are, whatever is on here, the
  • 00:46:36
    inspiring thing isn't that people walked up and said, "I sense
  • 00:46:40
    God wants me to do this."
  • 00:46:42
    The inspiring thing is when these things get done.
  • 00:46:48
    The inspiring thing was Samuel speaking to Eli and Eli going, "I
  • 00:46:52
    got it.
  • 00:46:53
    He'll do what He pleases.
  • 00:46:55
    I got it."
  • 00:46:56
    The inspiring thing is when God put something on our heart and
  • 00:47:01
    we actually follow through and we do it.
  • 00:47:05
    Over the summer I try to slow down,
  • 00:47:07
    [slow motion effect] slow down.
  • 00:47:10
    I try to get into a different rhythm.
  • 00:47:13
    I try to take on less responsibility.
  • 00:47:16
    I try to get to different places that operate at different
  • 00:47:20
    paces, like a lake in Tennessee that a friend of mine lets me
  • 00:47:24
    use his house that's on it.
  • 00:47:26
    And I just go down and in slowing down I hear things that I
  • 00:47:31
    wouldn't hear in my normal -- my normal pace of life.
  • 00:47:35
    We invite -- Lib and I invite a bunch of people
  • 00:47:36
    down at different times come down.
  • 00:47:38
    Some of those were staff folks and they come down and I would
  • 00:47:42
    hear things that had they said the same thing and I was around
  • 00:47:47
    a conference table, I don't know that I would have heard it
  • 00:47:50
    because I would have still been stressed out about everything
  • 00:47:52
    else that was on my day.
  • 00:47:53
    But in a lower key environment when I heard things, like my
  • 00:47:57
    head would go like, "What? What? We're
  • 00:47:59
    doing that? Gee."I
  • 00:48:04
    got some clarity on things, I felt like I was nudging me.
  • 00:48:08
    I would think about people for random reasons that I would never
  • 00:48:12
    think about people.
  • 00:48:13
    And I would do prayer texts, pull out my phone and just say,
  • 00:48:17
    "Hey, you're on my mind right now.".
  • 00:48:20
    And I would just type out a prayer to God that that person could
  • 00:48:23
    see.
  • 00:48:25
    "Lord, help Ann, da-da-da, Amen"
  • 00:48:27
    And as this would happen, it happened more because I was slowed
  • 00:48:32
    People were like, "Oh my gosh, that was a perfect prayer for
  • 00:48:34
    me or that was the right time to connect me."
  • 00:48:36
    It happens because I was slowing down.
  • 00:48:40
    And also when I was slowing down, I would still do things that
  • 00:48:43
    weren't the good things to do.
  • 00:48:44
    But because I was slowing down, I was more introspective.
  • 00:48:47
    Like, why am I doing that?
  • 00:48:49
    Like, I Facebook creeped on more people than I ever have in my
  • 00:48:52
    life.
  • 00:48:53
    I have more downtime like I wonder what that person is up to and
  • 00:48:56
    go on there.
  • 00:48:58
    Ah, I knew it.
  • 00:48:59
    I knew they were weird.
  • 00:49:01
    And then as I would do this, God would nudge me and go
  • 00:49:04
    like, "Brian. What's up with all the joy of judging people via
  • 00:49:09
    What's all -- what's this sick fetish you have of just trying to
  • 00:49:12
    find out something that somebody isn't doing right?"
  • 00:49:15
    "Yeah, you're right.
  • 00:49:16
    God, sorry, sorry, sorry.
  • 00:49:18
    I won't do anymore.".
  • 00:49:21
    Had I Facebook creeped back in my normal mode, I probably
  • 00:49:27
    wouldn't have been introspective on it at all.
  • 00:49:30
    But when we slow down and then when we do what God
  • 00:49:36
    is prodding us with God goes, "Ho, ho, there is a child,
  • 00:49:41
    there's a woman, there's a man that I'm going to take special
  • 00:49:44
    interest in."
  • 00:49:46
    Did you hear about this child that went to Smoky Mountain
  • 00:49:49
    National Park and they saw this little heart shaped rock.
  • 00:49:53
    They thought it was awesome.
  • 00:49:54
    They took it home.
  • 00:49:55
    And then they realized they took it home they were stealing
  • 00:49:57
    federal property.
  • 00:49:58
    That's what everything is in a national park.
  • 00:50:00
    I don't know this little child realized it or their parent told
  • 00:50:03
    them, but this this this little girl sent the rock back with an
  • 00:50:07
    apology letter to the Park Service.
  • 00:50:10
    And the Park Service said, "Yeah, if everyone who -- if all the
  • 00:50:13
    millions of people who visit our parks, if everyone takes
  • 00:50:15
    a momento, our parks are going to be decimated."
  • 00:50:19
    It's impressive is this girl, this little girl had a sense of
  • 00:50:23
    what was right and just sent it back and was just a beautiful,
  • 00:50:26
    wonderful.
  • 00:50:27
    Maybe it was God that spoke to her?
  • 00:50:29
    I don't know.
  • 00:50:30
    But I know this, all of us know this.
  • 00:50:33
    The people you want to speak to are the people who listen to
  • 00:50:35
    you, right?
  • 00:50:37
    Friends who don't listen what you say, you just don't talk to
  • 00:50:39
    them.
  • 00:50:40
    People who you manage at your workplace, if they don't follow
  • 00:50:43
    through on your feedback, you just stop managing them.
  • 00:50:46
    And then you wait for them to not perform and they get fired.
  • 00:50:50
    I wonder if God isn't too unlike this.
  • 00:50:52
    I wonder if God is encouraged to speak with some people more
  • 00:50:57
    often because some people are more often willing to just do
  • 00:51:01
    what God says, to actually follow through with what God says.
  • 00:51:05
    Later on in Samuel's life, after this story, after he has
  • 00:51:08
    learned this lesson of slowing down and then doing -- doing
  • 00:51:15
    what God says, he says this:.
  • 00:51:27
    Does the Lord more up for religiosity than he is for actually
  • 00:51:31
    doing what he says?
  • 00:51:39
    He's saying to do what God says is better than going to church
  • 00:51:43
    for yet another service.
  • 00:51:45
    That is the most important thing.
  • 00:51:49
    It's a sacred trust when God put something on our heart, when
  • 00:51:54
    the dove [dove sound effect].
  • 00:51:57
    It's a sacred thing when you get a thought that you realize
  • 00:52:01
    that's probably Jesus, when you get an impression, when you get
  • 00:52:07
    a word that wasn't generated initially by you.
  • 00:52:12
    It's a sacred trust that's put into you.
  • 00:52:14
    And when you have that, however seemingly insignificant might
  • 00:52:18
    be, you've got -- you gots to move.
  • 00:52:21
    You've gotta move.
  • 00:52:22
    Now, last week, Kyle told a story that was pretty impactful.
  • 00:52:27
    Didn't Kyle do a great job last week.
  • 00:52:28
    He did.
  • 00:52:29
    Someone just told me that he's wearing the same exact shoes that
  • 00:52:32
    I have.
  • 00:52:33
    Yes, he was.
  • 00:52:35
    That's -- let's remind ourselves that someone at Adidas gave me
  • 00:52:38
    these.
  • 00:52:39
    I don't know how much we're paying Kyle from him to own shoes
  • 00:52:41
    like this, but nonetheless, he did an amazing, amazing job
  • 00:52:45
    talking about a very tender moment when he had left staff.
  • 00:52:49
    And then I basically had him do the opposite.
  • 00:52:53
    Story as it went, he came and told me, as he said, I was very
  • 00:52:57
    gracious that he was leaving staff.
  • 00:52:58
    I'm about people going forward with whatever God wants him to
  • 00:53:01
    do, whether it's here or wherever it is.
  • 00:53:03
    So I as like, yes.
  • 00:53:04
    Great can I support you that's good? Great.
  • 00:53:07
    He then told you that I was in workout clothes when I came back
  • 00:53:11
    to talk to him.
  • 00:53:12
    Here's why.
  • 00:53:13
    Here's the story behind the story.
  • 00:53:15
    When I get up in the morning, I hear some of you, you go running
  • 00:53:17
    in the morning, you workout in the morning.
  • 00:53:19
    That's wonderful.
  • 00:53:20
    Good for you and good for you. [laughter]
  • 00:53:23
    I don't do that.
  • 00:53:24
    If I -- if I get up and I start working out in the morning, like
  • 00:53:28
    my metabolism kicks in and I'm like, chop, chop, let's go.
  • 00:53:32
    I'm going to be like, I'm going to be on it.
  • 00:53:34
    Right?
  • 00:53:35
    I'm not going to slow down for the rest of the day.
  • 00:53:37
    So this is me for me.
  • 00:53:39
    So when I wake up, the first thing I do is I sit with God.
  • 00:53:43
    I want to try to hear from God.
  • 00:53:45
    I want to read the Bible.
  • 00:53:46
    I want to -- I want to sip some decaf coffee.
  • 00:53:49
    I want to encounter in still way.
  • 00:53:53
    Now, later on in the day, and I never know when it is, I get
  • 00:53:56
    -- I'm a member of the gym that's the closest thing to the
  • 00:53:59
    office.
  • 00:54:00
    And so when I've got like an hour, boom, I get out.
  • 00:54:03
    So my hour that day was one after Kyle had talked to me.
  • 00:54:08
    So boom, I got out.
  • 00:54:09
    .
  • 00:54:10
    I get on the elliptical and I'm on the elliptical doing my deal.
  • 00:54:13
    And I'm just, "Kyle..."
  • 00:54:16
    And as I'm doing this thing and thinking about it and
  • 00:54:18
    going on the elliptical, I get this prompting: "Tell Kyle I
  • 00:54:23
    don't want him to leave staff."
  • 00:54:29
    That sounds kind of precocious of me, but it persisted, it
  • 00:54:33
    And I thought, "Umm..."
  • 00:54:37
    And then as I was wrestling with it, I didn't want to do it.
  • 00:54:39
    I don't.
  • 00:54:40
    I thought and I was like, I got more convinced.
  • 00:54:43
    No, this is this thing that Jesus wants.
  • 00:54:45
    So then I've got a timing issue.
  • 00:54:48
    I think he's given two weeks, so I can do it sometime in the
  • 00:54:51
    next two weeks.
  • 00:54:52
    Well, maybe.
  • 00:54:53
    Maybe. Maybe I'll get done with this workout and then I'll go
  • 00:54:56
    But I know how these things work, once you sense that God's
  • 00:54:59
    saying something, the longer I wait, the more likely I won't do
  • 00:55:03
    So as I'm on that thing, I'm like, "Okay, God done."
  • 00:55:07
    I leave immediately.
  • 00:55:08
    I'm sweaty.
  • 00:55:09
    I'm not going -- I'm going.
  • 00:55:11
    So that's why I walked in, I said, "Hey, Kyle."
  • 00:55:13
    And that's when I said to him what he told you that I said last
  • 00:55:16
    Had I waited, I don't know what would have happened.
  • 00:55:21
    I know for many of you, you think that, you know, Kyle just gave
  • 00:55:25
    a good message last week and that's kind of cool.
  • 00:55:27
    Kyle was impacted.
  • 00:55:28
    If you've gotten anything from Crossroads over the last ten
  • 00:55:32
    years, there's things his fingerprints are on that you have no
  • 00:55:35
    idea about, that you would not have been blessed were he not
  • 00:55:39
    And that could be said about a lot of different staff members, a
  • 00:55:42
    lot.
  • 00:55:45
    Had I waited, I don't know if he goes home and he feels
  • 00:55:48
    like, "Okay, good. I got that off my chest.
  • 00:55:50
    I'm definitely gone now.".
  • 00:55:51
    Maybe he doesn't have an open heart to reconsider.
  • 00:55:55
    I don't know.
  • 00:55:56
    Here's what I know, though.
  • 00:55:57
    When God puts something in your heart, dude, you need to freakin
  • 00:56:00
    do it.
  • 00:56:01
    You just need to do it.
  • 00:56:02
    Stop dicking around and just go, this is personal.
  • 00:56:07
    It's personal, what God is doing to me right now, it gets
  • 00:56:09
    personal.
  • 00:56:10
    It's personal with me and Him.
  • 00:56:13
    You are His child.
  • 00:56:15
    He wants to speak to you and He wants you to say, "Speak, Lord,
  • 00:56:23
    your servant listens.".
  • 00:56:26
    Your servant, your servant.
  • 00:56:29
    What happens if all of this and all of this gets done?
  • 00:56:34
    Oh, my gosh.
  • 00:56:35
    The world literally changes.
  • 00:56:39
    Jesus says, "You are my friend if you obey me.".
  • 00:56:46
    Jesus says, "I want to spend
  • 00:56:48
    time with you." That's what a friend is. "I want to spend time
  • 00:56:50
    with you, if you will obey me.
  • 00:56:52
    If you will do the things that I'm saying.".
  • 00:56:57
    I'm going to spend the last seconds of this series and today
  • 00:57:05
    enabling you to hear from God right now.
  • 00:57:09
    Why don't we pray and I'm going to give you some silent space to
  • 00:57:13
    slow down and maybe God's going to speak to you right now.
  • 00:57:17
    So here we go, let's just bow our heads.
  • 00:57:18
    Let's bow our heads and actually let's take our hands, put your
  • 00:57:23
    hands up in an upward -- put them on your lap just palms up.
  • 00:57:28
    Palms up on your lap.
  • 00:57:29
    It's the universal sign for receiving.
  • 00:57:32
    Receiving.
  • 00:57:34
    God, I ask you speak to everyone right now.
  • 00:57:41
    And what I encourage you to do as you listen to this, just say,
  • 00:57:43
    to mutter to Him under your breath, just say Him silently,
  • 00:57:47
    "Speak, Lord, your servant listens."
  • 00:57:49
    Let me hear that.
  • 00:58:16
    Amen.
  • 00:58:19
    If there was a thought that was running through your mind and
  • 00:58:21
    wouldn't let go of and you think that that's the kind of
  • 00:58:25
    thought that Jesus would approve of, if there was something
  • 00:58:27
    came out of nowhere and just stuck in you.
  • 00:58:30
    I encourage you, run that by one person who you're confident
  • 00:58:36
    walks with God, run it by them.
  • 00:58:39
    And then do it.
  • 00:58:41
    And watch your life change.
  • 00:58:42
    Watch your relationship with God go to a whole different
  • 00:58:46
    stratosphere.
  • 00:58:48
    He wants to know who is a servant and who listens.
  • 00:58:51
    All right.
  • 00:58:52
    Have a great week.
  • 00:58:53
    We'll see you next week.
  • 00:58:54
    It's been a great series.
  • 00:58:55
    Thanks for coming.
  • 00:58:56
    Have a great week.
  • 00:58:58
    >> Hey, thanks so much for joining us for this week of How to
  • 00:59:00
    Hear God.
  • 00:59:01
    I hope that this week you're walking into the next week with a
  • 00:59:05
    ear a little bit more tuned to what God has to say to you.
  • 00:59:10
    Next week we have a special week because all of our community
  • 00:59:14
    pastors are gonna be speaking live in the midst of their
  • 00:59:16
    communities.
  • 00:59:17
    And so if you live near a Crossroads location, you want to get
  • 00:59:20
    to that building next week to hear from your community pastor.
  • 00:59:24
    It's gonna be a great one.
  • 00:59:25
    We'll see you next week and we hope you have a great week.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Chaser—a few questions after the weekend service to start conversations. If this is your first time in a group, or your group has new members, take a few minutes and introduce yourself. Two truths and a lie is always a good place to start.

  1. There are a ton of ways to hear from God. Let’s try one called Bible Roulette. Grab a Bible. (Digital or paper is fine.) Pick a random chapter and verse and read it out loud to the group. Then, discuss what verses you shared. Were they random? Or is God saying something to your group right now?

  2. One of the things that can distract us from hearing God’s voice is noise. Take 2 minutes and write down all the things that cause noise and distraction in your life. Even if those things are “good” things. Write ‘em down and then share the list with your group. (Spotify, Podcasts, Netflix, Road Rage, Meetings. etc.)

  3. When things are quiet, we can hear better. Read this story about a guy named Samuel out loud. What stood out to you? Share with your group?

  4. Let’s try out the advice Eli gave Samuel. Out loud, as a group say “Speak, for your servant hears.” Then sit in silence for 3 whole minutes and listen for the quiet nudge of God. When time is up, share whatever was in your mind.

  5. The other side of hearing is obeying. For those people in the group that heard God say go and do something during your quiet time, or in service this weekend, share it. And share what you’re going to do about it.

More from the Weekend

Let’s turn down one distraction this week. During your commute (whether it’s to work or school, or getting ready to start work at home) don’t listen to any music or podcasts. Be in the moment and listen for the quiet voice of God.

0 people are discussing these questions

(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

You must include at least one person

Got it! Enjoy your discussion.


Aug 24, 2019

Recent Series