Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer - Expect to Hear the Voice of God

I have three siblings I have an older sister her name is crystal and then I have two younger brothers Anthony and Jonathan I'm second in line I'm sort of right in the middle and we're all very very good friends my sister my older sister crystal and I are extremely good friends we actually were next-door neighbors for a large portion of our live five or six years we live right next door she has five children but her three boys she has two older daughters but her three boys are pretty much the exact same age as my three boys it's like we planned it or something we just kept having these boys and we lived next door to each other homeschooled our children really together so she did all the hard stuff I did recess and lunch that's what they came to my house for and it's just a zoo basically all day long six boys just running back and forth so we have spent a lot of our adult years really being very close friends but of course in our younger years we were sisters growing up together so we butted heads quite a bit crystal and I probably had a rivalry that started very very very early in our lives because my sister crystal was the very first child obviously in my family but the first grandchild for either side of the family so paternal grandparents maternal grandparents she was the first grandchild her name was crystal because she was the light of everyone's eyes so my grandparents were so thrilled that they finally had this grandbaby and of course I know there's something about that first grandbaby um that you just are so thrilled and excited about I've heard that from lots of grandparents and my grandmother in particular on my father's side she was so excited about this first grandbaby girl so for Christmas every year from the moment crystal was born she would send this box of stuff for her for Christmas inside of this box there would be things that little girls used to wear not this you know sort of casual skinny jeans stuff I'm talking about the hoop skirts you know with the ruffles on the bottom you remember when little girls used to wear those little fold-over socks that had the lace around the trim yeah those big hoop skirts and stuff we're in church on a Sunday they'd be spinning around because they want to see how high their skirt could get she sent little patent leather shoes little white and black patent leather shoes and just lots of sweet things she would send them the box would come with crystals name on it and I know what my grandmother was thinking she was thinking that she was gonna send things in crystal size and then all of us could just grow into all of the hand-me-downs and all of the stuff that she would soon grow out of I don't remember being so excited every year when the box came the box would come Crystal's name on it we would stand together and we would open up this box and I would be so excited as we took out every little skirt every little pair of socks and every little pair of shoes because I remember thinking that soon sister girl you're gonna grow out of all this stuff and it will all be mine but I remember there was one particular year I don't know it must have just been because I was a little bit older that year maybe 9 or 10 years old that I'm opening up this box with my sister and I remember that year not being excited about this situation anymore I remember opening up the box I remember pulling out the stuff and I remember feeling a little bit disconcerted about the fact that this stuff had not been specifically chosen for me this stuff had been chosen for her and I've been okay with hand-me-downs with secondhand clothes all of these years but all of a sudden I'm one of my own stuff I wanted something to come with my name on it that had specifically been chosen for me there ought to come a time in your relationship with the Lord where hand-me-down revelation just doesn't do it for you anymore there ought to come a little bit of disconcerting a little bit of maturity in your walk with God where you become a little bit unsettled to only be spoon-fed the Word of God from someone else to you now we thank God for our pastors and our teachers and our leaders that help us to rightly divide the word of truth but there ought to come a time in your life where you've decided you know what I want fresh revelation with my name on it that has come straight from God's Spirit for my life because you know we can be handicapped as Christians we can live our whole lives leaning on revelation that that a spoon-fed to us from other people instead of knowing that the exact same Holy Spirit of God that lives in that person whose faith we might rightfully admire that the same Holy Spirit of God that lives in them also lives in you to teach you all things and on the end of this conference what we want for you is so much of what Ali said a few moments ago when she stood on this platform that really this is not the end this is the beginning that when you leave this place it not it ought not be a period on the end of a sentence it really ought to be just the opening up of a brand new fervent vibrant relationship with Jesus that what you've had in this room you cannot wait to get home and to just um just cuddle a little bit and encourage a little bit and be in the Word of God of in prayer and in worship not because there's a crowd gathered but because the same God who is permeating this room is the same God who will be with you in your home in your room on your job in your life in your marriage the details of your daily circumstances you can hear the voice of God I'm so glad that you have come to this conference but if the only time that you expect to hear God speak to you is once a year at the conference you gonna be in trouble if you're waiting on breasts of God next year to actually experience the breath of God the oxygen of God to your life you gonna be in trouble listen I hope you've got a church on Sunday I hope you go if you do not go to this church that you go to a vibrant spirit-filled Bible teaching Church somewhere you need to be planted in the house of God so I pray that you recognize that this conference did not take the place of Sunday morning tomorrow at your church come on somebody ought to say amen to that your pastor ought to be so thrilled that you came to this conference because you bring tomorrow morning into the house of God a fire and a fervency to serve the people of God and to be in the setting of the presence of God so I pray you go to church on Sunday but if the only time you were hearing the Word of God is once a week on a Sunday you're gonna be in trouble I pray that you're in Bible study I know many of you are that once a week or twice a month you may meet up with a group of girls over a Bible study so that you can go deeper into the Word of God I pray that you do that but if the only time you are ever hearing God is when you are gathered with other people you are handicapped in your relationship with God we oughta we ought to desire you oughta hunger even if you're not quite sure how yet you oughta hunger for it to just be you and God over his love letter asking him to speak to you and to give fresh wind and fresh fire for the details of your life you can hear the voice of God there is a portion of scripture that speaks to this more clearly than any other I think it's been encouraging to me in my own life because I have a tendency that to sometimes become a little bit handicapped in this way that I enjoy so much listening to other people teach listening to the revelation that is the holy spirit has given them to share with us to edify me I become I can become a little bit handicapped in that I have to be encouraged myself to remember that I too can have my own personal relationship with Jesus where my spiritual ears are open to hear what it is that she wants to say to me from my life as a woman for my peace of mind and peace of heart from my life as a mother to the three sons that the Lord has given me to the husband that the Lord has given me to be married to for nearly twenty years now that he's got a word that is a sign just for me I've got to remind myself that I have the privilege to hear the voice of God as well and this portion of Scripture has helped me with that it is in the book of John John chapter 10 I'm gonna read to you verse 1 through 5 and then I'm gonna hop over to verse 27 and we're just gonna camp out there for just a few minutes on this final evening of this incredible conference that we've shared together John chapter 10 verse 1 through 5 says this truly truly I say to you he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep but climbs up some other way he is a thief and a robber but he who enters by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep to him the doorkeeper will open the door the sheep will hear his voice he calls his own sheep by their name and then he leaves them out freedom is in the voice of God when he puts forth all of his own he goes before them and the Sheep follow him because they know his voice verse five says and a stranger they simply will not follow they will flee from him because they do not know the voice of a stranger verse 27 my sheep hear my voice I know them and they follow me listen to that one-liner again there's a whole lot packed into that one-liner if you underline in your brick-and-mortar Bible like I do this is one of those verses that deserves to be underlined John 10:27 says my sheep this is what they do they hear my voice he says I know my sheep and they follow me a lot of times the details of what Jesus wanted to get across the truths that he wanted to communicate to us sometimes they are lost amidst the shuffle of some terminology and some some cultural nuances that we missed because we don't know the details of stuff like wheat and soil and grapes and those sorts of things oftentimes he will speak about things that unless we understand some cultural significance we'll miss out on the richness of what there is so let's just go back in time just a little bit to the Middle Eastern sheepfold in Jesus's day so that we can wrap some flesh around this and see how we have daughters of God can expect to hear the voice of God there are four details in this one line when we're gonna settle in for just a few moments tonight there are four details that are gonna help us to understand how we can make sure we leave this conference fully anticipating that we can keep this love affair going all year long until we meet again same time same place next year he says my sheep are the ones who hear my voice the very first thing Jesus points out in this one-liner John 10:27 is that my sheep are the ones who hear my voice he points out a relationship in the Middle Eastern sheep fold in Jesus's day a shepherd would have upwards of 100 sheep that might be in the flock that he'd be leading all day long throughout the day as the day wore on and everyone became tired it was time for the Sheep to sleep that one shepherd would take his all of his 100 sheep to a fold for the night in fact there might be upwards of 10 Shepherds that would bring their 100 sheep to one fold to stay for the night shepherd number one and number two and number three and number four all the way up to number ten they would all come to the same fold the fold was a bordered off or fenced off by by ab stones that had been gathered up into waist-high fence lining all the way around and there would be one entrance one opening there was no gate there there was no door there just an opening into the stone-lined fold and so all ten of the Shepherd would bring their 100 sheep there might be upwards of 1,000 sheep in the sheepfold to spend the night nine of the 10 Shepherds would turn around and go back into the nearest city to sleep for the evening there would be one Shepherd that would stay behind he would lay his body in the opening of the sheep fold and he would become the doorway to the sheepfold he would actually use his body as the barrier he would make sure to watch over the 1,000 sheep that were inside the fold that night and use his own body as the gate as the doorway to the Sheep to make sure that there was no predator or no stranger that tried to take advantage of the 1,000 sheets that were on the inside in the morning when a shepherd would return from the city to retrieve his flock the porter that's the shepherd the name of the shepherd that had stayed behind was called the porter the porter would lift his body up for where he was laying all night long he would see a shepherd coming from afar and he would take time to evaluate whether he recognized the shepherd he would want to determine whether or not this shepherd was a true Shepherd of one of the flocks that was inside if he recognized that it was a true Shepherd he would remove his body from the opening of the sheep foam the Shepherd would walk into the sheepfold that had ten different flocks and that shepherd would call his sheep with one call the 100 that were in relationship with that Shepherd would detect the call of their Shepherd and only those 100 would rise up out of the flocks that were gathered that night and follow their Shepherd out what mattered as to whether or not they understood that call was not whether they were black sheep or white sheep it didn't matter whether or not they congregated with a whole lot of sheep or a little bit of sheep it didn't matter whether they were the cool sheep or the cheaply discarded runs the only thing that mattered was whether or not they were in relationship with the Shepherd I've got a question for you today are you in relationship with Jesus Christ have you placed faith in Jesus Christ because the only way that you'll be able that I'll be able after this day is over to clearly hear the voice of God when we're not necessarily in the company of many others the only way to have an ongoing fervent fiery relationship with Jesus Christ is to make sure that you actually have a relationship with him and here's what you need to know our God doesn't have grandkids just because your mama placed faith in Jesus Christ does not mean that that trickle down into your life you got to make your own decision to have a relationship with Jesus and it doesn't matter whether or not you congregate with a lot of sheep or a little sheep whether or not you've done a whole lot of good deeds over the course of your life whether or not you've been singing in the choir on the praise he were taking meals to a friend doing good things Bravo to all of those things the question still remains have you decided to place faith in Jesus Christ as the only way the truth and the life I know it's not politically correct to say it but I will tell you that there still is only one way to have a relationship with God and that is through Jesus Christ many people often ask how could a God who is supposedly so good only gives 7 billion plus people on the planet from different cultures and different continents and different languages and different backgrounds how could a God who is supposedly so good only give all of those diverse people one way to have a relationship with him if he's so kind and so good how could there only be one way well that's a good question it's not the right question the question is not how could a God who is so good give us one way the question is how could a God who is so holy give us such unholy beings any way to have a relationship with him when you place faith in Jesus Christ you have an opportunity to have an ongoing conversational relationship with Jesus with him with God for him to speak to you for your spiritual ears to be heightened and quickened so that you have the opportunity to hear the voice of God you become a part of the family you have relationship I remember when I'd be sitting in church I was I was kind of born and raised in the church I'd go to the church that my father started when I was 1 year old he and my parents yeah my mother's still passed through the exact same church that they started when I was 1 so I know nothing other than being in a great healthy church where my own dad preaches the Word of God and I've been sitting on the first or second row of church as long as I can remember I still sit right there behind my parents with my in all my siblings and all of our kids we all sit together in church and we are taught the Word of God and I remember when I was young I used to be in the children's choir and I would be up there in the children's choir stand and I'd be sitting there and after we sang our one song for that particular service I remember you know we'd get a little fidgety because we were kids and now there was this long sermon and they had announcements and all the other stuff that went along with church and you're sitting there and you're still sitting on the choir in the choir loft at the time that's what we had you know these risers with chairs and you kind of sit there through the whole service we we'd start chewing a little gum we'd start writing notes and passing it to each other we start chuckling and nudging each other and acting up sitting right there up on the choir loss that I remember looking down to that first or second row where my mother was sitting and she might not see me for a while but after a few minutes I look down and catch her eye and she gives me that ma Mystere anybody know what I'm talking about when I say the mama said she didn't have to actually come up on the platform and say anything to me with that one stare a whole Rabb a whole conversation unraveled in my mind the consequence unraveled in my mind I got straightened up because I knew the expression of my mother why because we're part of the same family in fact there has been a time in your life I know where you and your girlfriend had this funny experience that happened to you and maybe you're trying to communicate the experience to somebody else who wants to know what's so funny what are you laughing at and you're trying to to get them in on the joke for them to actually understand what is so hysterical about this and the more you talk the more perplex that person looks because they don't they don't understand what's so funny about what you're talking about no matter how much you try to communicate it they just don't get it because they're not a part of that connection when you place faith in Jesus you become a part of the family of God you have access to certain expressions you have access to certain insight that you would not normally have access to listen to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19 in the amplified bible I love it so much it says therefore you are no longer Outsiders exiled migrants aliens excluded from the rights of citizens but you now share citizenship with the Saints God's own people consecrated and set apart for himself you belong to God's own household you are part of the family of God in that great the first chapter of the book of Romans is compelling for many reasons but one of them is that it says that general revelation is available for all of humanity in other words the psalmist says the fool says in his heart there is no God because if you just look up to the heavens if you look around at the mountains if you see the oceans and try to figure out how in the world all of that water stays separate from the land if you don't recognize the hand of God staying the oceans from the land if you look at the mountains and don't realize looking at the stars and the sun's and the moon's and the galaxies that there has got to be a god somewhere the psalmist says you're a fool because general revelation tells us there is a god I'm grateful for general revelation I'm grateful for the things I learn about God just by looking at him we learn about the creativity of God the character of God just by looking at what he is created that's general revelation and if you're like me you appreciate general general revelation but if you're also like me then I know you don't just want general revelation you want some specifics you want some details you want to know whether God's will for you is that you would take this job or whether he'd prefer that you take just this job you'd like to know whether or not you should live in this neighborhood or whether or not you should live in this neighborhood you'd like to know if that that function you're feeling and full-time ministry is for you or whether it's to be a minister on the corporate job that the Lord has settled you in you'd like to no single woman whether you should marry this guy or this guy don't we wish that was the problem whether to marry this guy or this guy Lisa Harper we want clarity we want specifics and details for our lives first corinthians 2:14 says that people that are not believers that do not have a relationship with jesus christ they can't understand the specific truths that are given to God's Spirit it'll all sound like given to God's Spirit for us it'll sound like foolishness to those who done that do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and here's why when I was growing up my parents were pretty strict about several things one of them was that we didn't watch a lot of TV during the week there that wasn't really for religious reasons just we were busy there were four kids are lots of different after-school activities we're busy homework to do dinner dishes to get done we don't have time for television so we really could only watch television on the weekends and we didn't have cable we didn't have satellite we didn't have any of that it was just regular basic channels I remember that after I moved out getting ready to get married and I got this apartment I was setting it up for Jerry and I for after we got married when he would be joining me in that apartment one of the very first things I did was called a cable man I was so excited the Cable Guy came over I'll never forget it my television was an actual box back then and it was sitting in a in an armoire and he moved it out from from in front of the wall and he hooked up all of these cords and cables in the back he put it back in place he came around to the front she handed me a remote control and he said hit the Guide button I remember hitting the Guide button and watching all the options the menu of options flash across the screen I was so amazed at all the and I was angry that my parents had deprived me my entire life of all of those options all of those television channels did not magically create the moment that the Cable Guy showed up those channels had always been available I had just now received the right hook up so that I could gain access to those channels listen God is speaking God wants you to hear his voice but you need the hook up so that you can detect the channels that will allow you to have access to God speaking personally and intimately to you and the hook-up is the Holy Spirit at the moment you get saved you receive the greatest gift you will ever receive this side of eternity and that is the Holy Spirit of God listen to me the Holy Spirit is not a ghost or a wind or a fire or a dove he's often symbolized by those things in the scripture but y'all that ain't who he is the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity not third because he is least in values just third because he is the last to be revealed to us in the pages of Scripture but all of the power all of the glory all of the authority all of the grandeur of God the Father is in the person of the Holy Spirit which means when you place faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you that means that all the power all of the glory all of the grandeur all of the greatness of God the Father now lives on the inside of you the Holy Spirit is your hookup so that now you can detect the spiritual channels that will allow you to hear the voice of God and so then you'll feel the red light of conviction and that red light will mean sometimes you will feel the yellow light of dis-ease and a lack of peace and that yellow light will mean slow down sometimes you will feel the green light of peace over a circumstance the green light the wind of God's favor pressing you forward and that green light means go the conviction of God's Spirit begins to well up in your heart and in your life because when you're in relationship with Jesus the Spirit of God begins to govern your your circumstances and your your a convictions and as you yield to him as you walk in obedience to him you will find that his voice grows and louder and louder and louder and helping to govern your your decisions and your choices surrendering to the Holy Spirit the filling of God's Spirit as he out works his fruit and his gifts in your life the Holy Spirit is your hook listen this is why sometimes you sit in that movie the exact same kind of movie you would have watched before you became a believer in Jesus and you sit there seeing the same images you've seen hearing the same jokes you've always seen listening to the same language you have always seen but on this day you're sitting there with your girlfriends and you're just a little bit uneasy about what's up there on that screen and you can't figure out why in the world you feel so uneasy when this is what you've always done that's the Holy Spirit convicting and challenging and tweaking and toning and molding you into the image of Jesus Christ it's called sanctification somebody say sanctification sanctification is the process by which you become molded into the image of Jesus where you begin to sink like Jesus and talk like Jesus and walk like Jesus and want to honor Jesus in your actions it's when you're doing the same things you've always done but there's something about it now that just doesn't sit right with you don't fight that that is the Spirit of God speaking to you so for many of us we have sucked this little conviction about a relationship that we're in single woman the relationship that you're in there's something about it that just doesn't feel right to you and you've been fighting to hang on to this relationship when the Holy Spirit has been trying to sever it trying to show you there's something better for you that there's something a different direction that it wants to take you don't ignore that prompting on the inside that's how the Holy Spirit speaks and once you have that connection the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you you should expect to hear the voice of God in fact that's the second thing that Jesus says in this passage he says my sheep there's the relationship he says what they do is hear my voice that's the results of the relationship he says the result of the relationship is that you will hear my voice it's what you should expect you should anticipate that what you'll do as a daughter of God is hear the voice of God you should expect that when you have your quiet time that God is going to speak a fresh word over your life you should anticipate and know that while every time you sit over the pages of Scripture it won't seem like it is specifically for you that there will always be something that God is trying to declare about himself over your life because I want you to know that sometimes you look at people on this platform maybe like me or like Lisa or like pastor K or likely or Becky you might look at someone like your pastor and you must think that every single time we sit over the pages of Scripture it's just freshen for a vent and fiery and we're here in God and it's all amazing every time but sometimes y'all sometimes the quiet time is just about the Jebusites and the Hittites and they're fighting the amur rights and then those i'ts ate the other eyes and we don't know what anybody know what I'm talking about yes you know what this has to do with my personal life but because I expect to hear God because I go into it anticipating that there's something in here for me then at least I always pray and say but Lord what does this teach me about your character that you want me to know what does this image show me about your personality or what you would say or wouldn't say I want to know you as much as I possibly can through the scriptures even when sometimes it is dry I expect to hear the word of God you should come to church this way anticipating that there is a word for you not just a general word for everybody but there's a specific word for you your heart ought to be heightened your spiritual ears ought to be open detecting a word that might come from the platform for you from your pastor for you but also when you're standing in line waiting for the bathroom at the Women's Conference you want to be eavesdropping on conversations that are happening around you because God can use anyone anytime to speak a word that echoes in the hollows of your heart God speak that he says would you please have your spiritual ears open and expect that you child of God have the privilege to hear from your daddy expect to hear the word of God aw Tozier great theologian says that only those who expect to hear God actually will because if you don't expect to hear him then every time God speaks you will say it was just a coincidence every time God speaks you will say oh that was my own idea every time God speaks you will discount it as anything and everything except what it is but Deuteronomy 30 God told the people my word is not so hard that you have to send a prophet into the heavens to get it for you or someone to the other side of the sea to get it for you he says my word is in your own heart and it's in your own mind God speaks to regular girls like you and me mothers and and wives and single women and working women and retired women and grandmothers and aunts and high school students and university students you don't have to have a seminary degree to hear the voice of God you're his daughter and that relationship that family makes it so that you should sit on the edge of your seat in anticipation that you can hear the voice of God it means that when there are divine intersections that other people call coincidence you can see the fingerprints of God on that it means you look back over your history and now in hindsight you can see the footprints of God that guided you every step along the way you because you are a daughter of God what other people call luck you call Providence because your God is sovereign that you don't trust in the stars to bring you luck on you trust in the creator of those stars who is aligned in your step and when you're governing your path expect to hear the voice of God it is your birthright because you are a part of the family Jesus says there's a relationship my sheep he says there's a result they hear my voice and then he says there is a reason relationship a result and a reason he says here's the reason I know my sheep that's the reason why you should expect to hear him he says because girl I know you I called up a friend of mine who this as many years ago now but I called up a guy I knew that worked with sheep and cattle to ask him a few questions about this passage because I don't know if you can tell by looking at me or not but I'm not really a sheep and cattle kind of girl so I pulled up someone who is and I asked him a question about this whole knowing the sheep business I wanted to know about this he said well it's interesting Priscilla actually that is a nuance back in the Middle Eastern sheep fold in the first century in Jesus's day that's a nuance that is very unique and specific to that time period the knowing of the Shepherd and the Sheep he said that Shepherd would spend hours upon hours upon hours a day just spending time with his 100 in that flock they would sleep together they would eat together they would play together they would work together they would be an intimate relationship with each other so that their scent so that they knew the scent of the shepherd so that they knew the voice of the ship of the tone of the shepherd he said in fact they knew each other so intimately that the shepherd could of course call all 100 but the Shepherd could also change the tone of his call just a little bit and call one out of his 100 that's how intimately they knew the shepherd he said Priscilla with the advances of modern technology we don't know the ship that are sheep anymore he said we use helicopters and sheepdogs and we've got them fenced in and we brand them or we put an electronic device on them so that we just don't even have to have a relationship he said the other day I walked into the gate where my sheep were and they scattered because they don't know me I'm in relationship with them I'm like a stranger to them because modern technology has made it to where the sheep and the shepherd don't have to have intimacy anymore I want to tell you how much I like you appreciate the advances in modern technology but in the next breath I want to tell you how the more advanced it becomes the more options that are available to us every single time I think the enemy's six more on the edge of his seat in applause because there's yet another thing to distract us from knowing our Savior and having intimacy with him y'all our children don't know what it's like to just sit in the presence of God and potentially hear of the Word of God the Holy Spirit beckoning them because all throughout the church service they're busy playing another game of candy crush because we haven't taught them how to just sit still apart from modern technology and the reason we haven't taught them is because we haven't taught ourselves there's no boundary there's no margin it is overrun our lives and with the advances of modern technology we have walked away from the beautiful stepping one step after the other the walk of relationship with Jesus Christ there's a man named Henry Blackaby she was this man has such a faithful long diligent relationship with Jesus where he is a scholar for sure but what the nuances of his books and devotionals give you it's not just the nuances of study it's a man who now in his 80s I believe has walked with Jesus he happened to be at my church once and I cornered him that's what I do with people who I admire their relationship which is I just corner him I get all up in their business and I said how do you know when God is speaking to you how can we hear the voice of God you all I had a spiral notebook and a pen out I was ready for a seminary class I was waiting for him to give me details I had bullet points listed down so that I'd be prepared to write everything down that he was going to say that man looked back at me and he said here's the secret to hearing God the more you know God the more clearly you can hear him the more intimate your relationship with Jesus the more quickly you will be able to determine when it's the voice of a stranger you'll be able to detect when it's your ego talking and not God you'll be able to determine when it's fear talking and not God you'll be able to tell when it's the enemy you do know you have an enemy y'all you know you have an enemy and the enemy doesn't come to you dressed in a red jumpsuit in a pitchfork and say hey it's me 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 14 says he disguises himself like an angel of light he wants to look and sound as close to the will of God for your life as he possibly can that's my Spurgeon wrote this he said that we must not only pray that God will help us to discern between good and evil between right and wrong but we gotta pray that God will help us to discern between right and almost right and the way to do that is to have intimate relationship with him because the more you know him the more you'll be able to detect when what you are hearing or sensing is not from God the more you know what his love letter says the more you'll be able to recognize when there is something that has spoken to you or said to you or bubbling up in your heart that is contrary to the Word of God you'll know that is not my God because he would never speak in contradiction to his own word the more you know God the more clearly you can hear God my brother's name is Anthony the one that comes right after me he's Anthony jr. Anthony has my father's name they're both Tony Evans Tony Evans senior and Tony Evans jr. he's got my dad's name he talks a little bit like my dad he's got the same mannerisms as my dad he has the same build as my dad he's very very much like my father they look very similar my mother has a picture of my father when he was 18 years old graduating from high school he had a sport coat on and a bowtie his head was tilted just like this and he had a little side grin and at 18 years old my brother took a picture with a sport coat on as he was graduating from high school with a bow tie he had a little side smile with his head tilted she put them in a frame next to each other they look almost identical I have seen my brother used this to his advantage I've been there at times when someone has called the house for my father and he's picked up the phone but because he sounded so much like my dad the person didn't know they weren't talking to my father so Anthony hung in hung on the phone for a little while and got all the juicy details before he handed the phone over to my father I've seen him used it to his advantage but I will tell you that there is one person that even though he's been able to trick a lot of people through the years there is one person he's not able to trick and that's me and the reason is because I've spent my whole life getting to know the two Anthony's so when one of them calls me in the first few seconds of the phone call before they even said much of anything I am able to detect which one of the Anthony's I'm talking to why because I've spent my life getting to know them the more you just get to know Jesus the more you hang out with him the more in prayer you talk to him and then ask him to open up your spiritual eyes to see and detect his answers in your life as he allows coincidences as he allows paths to cross as he allows you to be in settings like this where he is speaking a general word that then becomes specific to you when you feel like you're the only person sitting in the room and the word is illumined and made specific to you the more you learn his personality and the tone of his voice and the way he treated Moses and Joshua and Esther and Ruth way he handled saul of tarsus and how Saul became Paul and the disciples and those people that were here in the New Testament the more you realize how he related to them you discern and determine that these people actually are exceptions to the rule they're examples to me of how God wants to also relate to me and the more you know him the more clearly when the enemy comes into your path you will be able to determine right away that's not my god cuz I know my god and my god wouldn't say anything like that my sheep there's the relationship they hear my voice there's the result I know them that's the reason I know them we've got intimacy with each other and then here's the response Jesus says my sheep follow me that's how they respond they don't negotiate with me they don't ignore me they don't try to circumvent what I've told them they don't try to pass it off to someone else my sheep follow me and Jesus Tuesday when the Shepherd would call his one hundred flocks to leave one pasture on a journey toward another even if there was still green grass all around the Sheep the Sheep would follow the Shepherd away from what appears to be a plush a plush place where they could still feast where there might still be clear beautiful water fresh water for them to drink they might not understand why the Shepherd is leading them away from this plush place but they would still follow if the Shepherd called and the reason why they would still follow is because they believed they had a Good Shepherd they believed that if he was calling them there must be greener pastures there must be Stiller more fresh vibrant waters that he's leading them to they trusted the Shepherd enough to just go when he said go the Lord has spoken some things over your life over the past 48 hours or so that you and I have been together he has he said to someone go home and forgive he said realign your priorities he has told someone to go home and and celebrate that spiritual discipline of celebration you need some rejoicing back in your life he has spoken to somebody in this room and he's told you to give him your a little bit so that he can multiply it to pull those treasures out of the drawer so that he can get busy multiplying those things in your life he has told you to turn around leper and be grateful to respond to him and gratitude to not forget to come back and be grateful eucharistia he has given you specific instructions now the question becomes will we be a host of women who are hears of the word and not doers or will we be those that have heard what God's Spirit have said to us and we go home and respond in obedience [Music]

Channel: Going Beyond Ministries

Views: 1,277,793

Rating: 4.8742824 out of 5

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Id: Fks_l16qJwg

Length: 44min 48sec (2688 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 14 2019